PERSPECTIVE: REMEMBERING THE GLORY DAYS OF WBAL-RADIO: The news came in a series of texts from friends and former colleagues, and it’s taken a few days to process their impact. On Thursday morning last week, WBAL Radio laid off 22 employees and announced lineup changes that eliminate the bulk of its local talk-show programming and gut the station’s award-winning news department. WBAL produced talented journalists such as John Patti, Sue Kopen, Alan Walden, Anne Kramer, Bill Vanko, Linda Foy and Larry Roberts. Mark Miller/Baltimore Fishbowl.
COLUMN: ANCHORLESS TV NEWS IS BAD FOR JOURNALISM: In journalism, a news anchor is the grounded support that holds down all the moving parts around them, from the meteorologist to the field reporters. WMAR-2, an ABC affiliate owned by E.W. Scripps, laid off more than a dozen producers, photographers and anchors earlier this month as they switched to anchorless streaming. Having watched several newscasts of the station’s new cobbled-together format, I can say it’s sort of like an anchorless boat — floating all over the place. And it’s not good. In fact, it’s bad for journalism. Leslie Gray Streeter/The Baltimore Banner.
MOST HOTELS FLOUT STATE LAW ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING TRAINING: Nearly four years after Maryland passed a law requiring that lodging establishments — such as hotels, motels and inns — train every employee to recognize human trafficking, nearly 90% of the state’s 765 properties have failed to submit certifications to the state according to Maryland Department of Labor records. Ruben Castaneda/The Baltimore Sun.
NEW IT TAX COSTLY TO SOME COMPANIES, BRINGS IN MUCH LESS TO STATE: A new tax on IT services that Gov. Wes Moore introduced last year is costing one Columbia technology company an additional $15,000 a month, prompting it to raise prices and scale back some services, including cybersecurity. The tax itself has produced far less money for Maryland than lawmakers expected. The state collected $112.8 million in its first fiscal year — about 77% less than initially projected. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
HARBORPLACE REDEVELOPER SLATED TO GET MASSIVE TAX BREAK: The Baltimore Development Corporation has awarded a sweeping tax break to P. David Bramble’s real estate company to reconfigure Baltimore’s Inner Harbor with commercial, retail and high-rise apartment buildings. The designation of Harborplace as a recipient of a Payment in Lieu of Taxes under new Downtown RISE legislation could potentially reduce the project’s property taxes by 95% for as long as 25 years. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.
DISABILITIES SERVICE PROVIDERS IMPERILED WAITING FOR MEDICAID TO BE RESTORED: After more than two years of erroneous Medicaid disenrollments, communication challenges and slow responses from state agencies, the nonprofits and companies providing developmental disability services say they are nearing a financial breaking point. Developmental disability service providers say they won’t be able to absorb the costs of months of unpaid care much longer while their clients wait for Medicaid coverage to be restored by the state. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
STATE SAVES PLANTATION AND ITS BLACK HISTORY: Long Hill plantation house and more than 400 acres around it will soon become Wetipquin Creek State Park, the first state park in Wicomico County, after the Maryland Department of Natural Resources bought it for $3.3 million earlier this year. Now, every county in the state has at least one state park. The state purchased the property to prevent a significant piece of Maryland’s Black history from being lost or erased amid federal efforts to remove references to slavery, civil rights and Indigenous rights from museums and public spaces. Shayla Colon/The Baltimore Banner.
MARYLAND, 21 STATES & FTC SUE AMAZON OVER ADVERTISING SCHEME: The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from 22 states – including Maryland – sued Amazon Monday, claiming the online retail company used artificial bids to inflate costs for advertisers, bringing in tens of billions of dollars. The complaint alleges that Amazon used an “invented auction participant” to drive up prices for advertising placements and sponsored product spots on its online store. Alex Brown/Maryland Matters.
MOORE CALLS OUT TRUMP SUPPORTER LOOMER OVER RACIST COMMENTS: Gov. Wes Moore is calling out right-wing political activist Laura Loomer and Trump adviser over hateful comments she made toward Florida Rep. Angie Nixon on social media. On Monday, Loomer defended calling Nixon a “ghetto Black communist b—-” on X, which is just one of several posts receiving major backlash from both sides of the aisle. “You attack and insult Black women because you believe peddling racism is good for your clicks and your business model,” Moore, a Democrat, wrote on social media. Jessica James/WJLA-TV News.
ARUNDEL SCHOOLS BARRED FROM USING STUDENTS’ PREFERRED NAME WITHOUT PARENTS’ OK: Anne Arundel County Public Schools staff cannot use transgender students’ preferred names if their parents oppose it, according to an internal document, a change that comes after conservative groups challenged the school system’s approach to gender identity. Teachers union president Kristina Korona told members in an Aug. 20 email that the new guidance undermines district policy on acceptance and inclusivity and “will begin harming affected students immediately.” Jessica Calefati/The Baltimore Banner.
COLUMN: THE HOGAN COURT AND REDISTRICTING: This is exactly where state Senate President Bill Ferguson warned Maryland that messing around with congressional boundaries would lead. “The Hogan Court.” That’s not its name, of course. It’s the Supreme Court of Maryland. But critics often use the label to dismiss decisions by the top of the state’s judicial branch, dominated by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s appointments. It is a convenient misunderstanding of how the two-term governor reshaped Maryland courts — nominating a record 190 judges in eight years. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
WORCESTER COUNTY OK’s FIRST OF ITS KIND FUNERAL/FOREST PLAN: A funeral company that turns human bodies into soil plans to use a Worcester County field to grow a forest — a greener answer to cemeteries, its backers say, and an experiment its neighbors say they did not sign up for. The 14-acre conservation site near Snow Hill would be the first of its kind east of Washington state, Earth Funeral says. The process could avoid the land consumption and chemicals of conventional burial, but nearby farmers say no one knows its long-term effects. Josh Davis/The Baltimore Sun.
