Politics

Frederick’s mayor and aldermen will determine the fate of plans to rezone a shopping center along West Patrick Street, following a vote by the city’s Planning Commission. The commission voted unanimously Monday night to recommend approval of the master plan to redevelop the Westridge Shopping Center along Frederick’s Golden Mile to the mayor and aldermen.

Polish up your ruby slippers. In six weeks, a much talked-about Broadway-bound production of “The Wiz” will ease on down the road and into the Hippodrome Theatre for its world premiere — pouring millions of dollars into the local economy and potentially elevating Baltimore’s importance nationwide as a theater destination. The revival of “The Wiz,” the iconic, 1975 all-Black musical retelling of “The Wizard of Oz,” will be the first show to take advantage of financial incentives the Maryland General Assembly approved last year.

One member of Maryland’s eight-man congressional delegation, Rep. David Trone (D-6th), is running for U.S. Senate. Another, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th), thought seriously about a Senate bid before deciding to seek reelection. Two members of the delegation, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th), who is 84 years old, and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-2nd), who is 77, are the constant objects of retirement speculation.

A new(ish) bill, known as the Walkable Urban Streets Act (CB 69), aims to help create safer, more walkable, and more bike-friendly areas throughout Prince George’s County’s local centers and transit stations. How might it accomplish this? Join a virtual activists’ briefing on Tuesday, August 15 with Councilmember Eric Olson as he discusses why this type of design is needed and how Prince George’s County can have less car-centric streets.

Baltimore’s nominee for police commissioner faced an early test in his tenure leading the agency when a series of shootings at a Brooklyn neighborhood block party wounded 30 people, two fatally. Richard Worley, who was tapped as acting commissioner less than a month before the early July tragedy, points to how he handled the aftermath as indication of his leadership potential. Worley implemented a comprehensive internal review of the police’s actions, expected to be released soon, and acknowledged shortcomings in a tense City Council hearing weeks later.

LaTonya Cunningham spends hours each day looking for housing. The 47-year-old is searching for something better than her current living arrangement, a basement room on North Fulton Avenue, where she sleeps on the floor on top of a blanket. When she wakes, she walks through neighborhoods in West Baltimore looking for rental signs with affordable prices. So when Cunningham heard that, for the first time in four years, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City was opening preliminary applications to get onto a waiting list for public housing, she promptly signed up.

Mount Airy water and sewer customers will see an increase in their bills starting Sept. 1. The Mount Airy Town Council voted 4-1 to approve the rate increase during a town meeting Aug. 7. Council member Stephen Domotor was the lone vote against the rate hike. Town officials had proposed the rate increases as a way to help the town reduce a $274,546 shortfall in the fiscal 2024 operating budget. Domotor said he voted in opposition because the increases do nothing to address a capital budget deficit, which stands at $208,500.

In the past year, Maryland’s U.S. Attorney’s Office has prosecuted cases against 20 defendants who committed COVID fraud with losses totaling an alleged $40 million. The office established its COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force in August 2022 and has since seen its criminal prosecutions of pandemic fraud-related cases “significantly increase,” Public Affairs Specialist Marcia Lubin told The Center Square.

Another newsy tidbit came out of Baltimore City Councilman Eric Costello’s decision to run for reelection — the Democrat endorsed Council President Nick Mosby in his bid for another term as leader of the legislative body. “I support him 100%. And I’m asking every single person in this room to do the same thing, because this is the type of leadership we need in Baltimore City,” Costello said at a Wednesday night fundraiser, facing a crowd that included a slew of prominent business leaders, former Mayor Sheila Dixon and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates.