CFG, which serves the national healthcare and multifamily housing markets, will work with Arctaris Impact Investors, a national investment firm that lends in underserved communities. CFG’s investment will help fuel the firm’s Baltimore Investment Program.

“This partnership expands our efforts to improve the lives of others throughout Baltimore,”  Erik Howard, CFG Bank president, said in an announcement Tuesday, adding that Arctaris has a unique strategy in the region.

Arctaris has made five investments in the Baltimore area, including a planned conversion of the Embassy Suites hotel in partnership with GoodHomes. The former hotel, which closed during the pandemic, will be converted into 303 affordable housing units by summer 2026 under a $30 million plan.

Including that development, Arctaris has invested about $50 million in city projects, said Anita Graham, the firm’s managing director. The firm launched its Baltimore program in 2016 in partnership with the Abell Foundation and Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund.

CFG will purchase Arctaris Impact Notes, a way of earning credit under the Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages banks to lend in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

“We take a holistic approach to community redevelopment that starts by considering the needs of the community,” while investing in businesses, infrastructure and housing, said Jonathan Tower, Arctaris’ founder.

CFG, the largest Baltimore-based bank, has grown from $1 billion in assets at the end of 2019 to more than  $5.3 billion in assets at the end of 2024.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

The state Motor Vehicle Administration will work with the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families to steer donations to the Maryland Veterans Trust Fund. The nonprofit group helps veterans and their families who are facing temporary financial hardships with expenses such as rent, mortgage payments and utilities.

“The Maryland Veterans Trust Fund exists to meet veterans where they are — often in moments of crisis — and provide timely, meaningful assistance,” said Heather Geraldes, the fund’s executive director, in an announcement.

The donation option, along with expanded veterans services offices, will help make support for veterans more accessible across the state year-round, MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer said in an announcement.

The MVA has opened veteran service program offices in nine MVA branches across the state, including new locations in Annapolis and Waldorf. The offices, open by appointment from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, are staffed by professionals who help veterans apply for benefits.

These offices have helped more than 6,000 veterans, dependents and survivors secure more than $54 million in federal benefits.

The MVA also offers services specifically for veterans and military personnel. Some include waivers to skip the skills test when applying for a commercial driver’s license; an exemption from state emissions testing for active-duty personnel stationed out-of-state or overseas and “veteran” labels on driver’s licenses for easier access to benefits.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

Davis, a “Pilots N Paws”  volunteer who has been flying his Cessna 172XP for two decades, said the rescue animals make surprisingly cooperative passengers.  At 3,000 feet, even yapping puppies quiet down and nod off. On the descent, again at 3,000 feet, internal clocks seem to buzz the animals awake.

“They pop up like, ‘Oh, are we there yet?'” Davis said.

But Davis’ hope of piloting future flights and saving dogs took a nosedive in July. The FAA denied his medical certification application, saying he fell short of medical standards following an October aviation medical examiner appointment. Davis filed an appeal.

A few years back, the retired NASA aerospace engineer decided he would only fly the aircraft with a co-pilot. He is 92. Davis finds himself with plenty of company, one of 14,473 U.S. pilots age 80 and over with active certificates as of December, Federal Aviation Administration data shows. Certificates show medical exams are up to date.

“For a 92-year-old, this man is pretty spry, you would never know it,” said Michele McGuire, a fellow pilot and Westminster resident who spent 16 years flying missions with Davis for Pilots N Paws.

The South Carolina-based nonprofit rescues and flies abandoned, injured or abused animals around the country from shelters to permanent homes. Davis and McGuire have traveled to about 100 airfields along the East Coast and rescued more than 600 dogs.

Davis filed an appeal to overturn the FAA’s decision, with another doctor’s support. He contends that an assisted living facility in Westminster, where he lived for two years, misdiagnosed and overmedicated him with an antipsychotic medication, which, under FAA rules, disqualifies him from flying. Davis disagreed with his treatment and medication regimen, so he moved out of the facility in September and lives on his own.

Davis dismisses the idea of being too old to fly. While commercial airline pilots must retire at 65, the FAA sets no maximum age for private or general aviation pilots. Davis is a young pup when looking at the history of ageless pilots.

For example, Harry Moyer, the Guinness World Records’ oldest qualified male pilot, flew on his 100th birthday in 2020. Robina Asti, recognized that same year as the world’s oldest active female pilot and flight instructor, gave her final lesson at 99. Brig. Gen. Charles E. McGee, the oldest living Tuskegee Airman in 2021, was still flying at 102. Asti died in 2021, and McGee died in 2022, and Moyer was invited in August as a guest at the USS Hornet – Sea, Air and Space Museum in California.

Davis belongs to a group of aviators known as UFOs. The United Flying Octogenarians 1,700 global members all have acted as a certificated pilot in command on or after their 80th birthday, its website says.

Davis disputes the FAA denial for medical reasons

Representatives of Brightview Westminster Ridge, where Davis was being seen by a psychiatric nurse according to medical records, did not respond to several requests for comment.

The FAA, contacted by The Sun, said it is not responding to media inquiries during the government shutdown.

Besides listing Seroquel use, the FAA denied Davis’ airman medical certificate “due to your history of atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease that has required treatment, heart valve disease, and glaucoma (suspect)”, according to a certified July 7 letter from the FAA’s Office of Aerospace Medicine.

Davis said he has no heart disease and no glaucoma and is being treated by a cardiologist.

“It is a nightmare,” Davis said. “I’m spending my life justifying myself. Technically, if you pass a physical, there should be no worry that you’re 92 years old. Not everyone is the same.”

Aviation medical examiners, who are physicians trained by the FAA but paid by their patients, say the medical certification system is not pre-set to “no,” as long as someone can fly safely. Exams assess current health and medical history and look for any issues with vision, night vision, hearing and processing time.

On Aug. 5, Davis’ physician — not his aviation examiner — wrote a letter to the FAA’s Aerospace Medical Certification Division saying his patient is “stable” and “mentally fit.”

The letter says Davis was first prescribed Seroquel in November 2023 after a series of distressing events, including a car crash in which his niece was killed. It described the mediation as a “situational response, and “not part of a chronic or ongoing psychiatric condition.” The medication was discontinued in March 2024, the letter said.

“He is not experiencing depressive episodes, suicidal ideation or any other mental health concerns,” Dr. Ernesto Mendoza’s letter said. “He remains mentally fit and demonstrates no psychiatric limitations that would interfere with the responsibilities and safety requirements of an airman.”

Mendoza did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Flying is in my blood.’

For now, Davis is grounded, unless he’s a passenger. His $200,000 plane sits in a hangar at Carroll County Regional Airport, where it’s being repaired. He’s been hunting down parts, and with a pilot friend, has removed pieces that lay nearby, awaiting a mechanic.

For Davis, flying is freedom.

“It’s wonderful,” says Davis, an Army veteran who served as a first lieutenant in Greenland and Fort Benning.  “You can go so many places. Flying is in my blood.”

Davis, a dog lover who used to raise Great Danes and German Shorthaired Pointers, lights up when talk turns to Pilots N Paws.

The online forum links rescue groups and shelters with people in other parts of the country seeking pets. Pilots respond to posts and volunteer for and arrange trips. Since its founding in 2008, the group has flown 250,000 animals, some abandoned, some injured in natural disasters. They’re mostly dogs and some cats, but have included sea turtles, birds, reptiles and once an injured dolphin.

Flights by 6,000 pilots in all 50 states allow for much-quicker trips than by auto from areas with high numbers of abused animals to areas with high numbers of permanent homes, said Kate Quinn, Pilots N Paws executive director.

“John really stands out over the years for his loyalty to the mission and helping the organization to grow,” Quinn said. “He seems like the Energizer Bunny.”

She added that pilots fit the mission well as they tend to be planners and good at thinking on their feet, and she said people in the rescue world “really come to cherish the pilots and stay close and keep in touch.”

McGuire had been Davis’ hangar neighbor at the Carroll County airport and recruited him years ago to volunteer. At first, he was a student — he didn’t get his pilot’s license until age 69 — and would accompany her, before becoming licensed.

“It’s a good reason to fuel up the planes,” McGuire said. “It was always a good feeling.”

Davis recalled one close call, thanks to heavy fog.

“Sometimes, you look at the weather, and you see it’s five miles behind, 10 miles behind,” said Davis. Once, while returning from a mission, “the next thing you know, I’m in complete whiteout. The ground can’t see it because it’s fog,” which doesn’t show up on radar.

An air traffic controller assured him of clear weather below, and “I took it on down, and the rest of the trip was a cup of tea,” Davis said.

He flew even while in the assisted living home he and his daughter chose after his wife,  Linda, of 35 years died in 2021. Because his two daughters live out of state, the idea was to get help with laundry, meals and everyday tasks. When independent living was full, he said he opted for assisted living.

Along with working on the appeal, Davis spends his time meeting friends and tending to his aircraft. He hopes to be back in the sky, in control.

“It’s like the end of something,” he said. “It does hurt. There’s no getting around it. This meant a lot to me.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

But as the district continues to shift from office-focused to become more livable, walkable and safe, it’s crucial to keep up momentum to woo investors, residents and businesses, Shelonda Stokes, the group’s president, told The Baltimore Sun. That has become more challenging with uncertainty over project funding and Baltimore area residents hard hit by the longest ever U.S. government shutdown.

“When you have a time where people are not working, there’s instability in the market,” Stokes said. “In that way, that is a huge challenge. We really need to link arms here, to do more with less.”

The partnership, which promotes economic development in downtown’s core and offers services to a 106-block business improvement district, was to present updates on downtown and a future vision during its annual meeting Wednesday night at M&T Bank Exchange on West Fayette Street.

When Stokes took on the leadership role five years ago, as the pandemic took hold and downtown investment stalled, “they were saying downtowns were dead,” she said.

But plans put in place with the help of the city, state and other partners are providing a solid framework to “really reimagine downtown in the way that we all wanted to see it as this neighborhood, this multifaceted live, work, play, art, culture connected center,” Stokes said.

During fiscal years 2023 through 2025, the partnership received $34 million in state capital funds, which have paid for security services and public space improvements, such as upgrades to Hopkins Plaza and Center Plaza and the development of a soon-to-open Strategic Operations Center, according to the group’s annual report.

About $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding has gone to litter prevention, graffiti removal, technical help and funding for small businesses, the report, to be presented at Wednesday’s meeting, shows.

Downtown is following a 10-year blueprint developed last year to enhance quality of life, safety and cleanliness as part of Mayor Brandon Scott’s Downtown RISE initiative, likely to require billions of dollars in public-private investment. So far, the Downtown Partnership has awarded $2.5 million in Downtown RISE funding, including grants to minority-owned and women-owned businesses and new businesses, including some in previously vacant spaces.

The master plan also calls for rebuilding sidewalks, roads, parks and public transportation.

Progress this year included work on the Liberty Dog Park, a dog park and urban plaza with seating, pathways and open space being built on a former traffic median and slated for completion in 2027. Another initiative, the Eutaw Street Vibrancy Project, is getting underway with plans for storefront and façade improvement to make Eutaw Street safer and more visually appealing.

The next phase of downtown redevelopment will focus on making the downtown area more livable, Stokes said. Part of that means enhancing areas near popular destinations such as CFG Bank Arena to keep visitors from merely driving in and out of the city.

“People come in and go out,” she said. “That’s how downtown was designed.”

Helping to maintain and boost investment in the downtown core will be crucial, she said, as the city advances major projects such as the redevelopment of Harborplace and the potential expansion of the Baltimore City Convention Center.

The group also works with shelters and health care organizations to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness. The partnership in 2025 worked with 200 people lacking shelter and was able to place 175 of them in temporary or permanent housing.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com, (410) 332-6672. 

Movers must register to offer services within the state, labor officials. Registered movers will be listed on a searchable database on the labor department’s website. The new rule takes effect on March 1.

Under the new requirements, a person or company may not charge for household moving services in Maryland using a commercial vehicle unless they register and prove they meet liability, cargo and workers’ compensation insurance coverage standards under Maryland law.  Requirements apply to in-state moves, regardless of where a company is based.

“This registry will make it possible for Maryland consumers to verify that moving companies carry insurance and are in compliance with Maryland law,” Portia Wu, state labor secretary, said in an announcement.

Insurance requirements should also help protect movers who are injured on the job or have expensive items damaged during a move, Wu said.

Applications will be available starting Dec. 1 through the labor department’s Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

Officials encouraged moving companies to review regulations, gather documents and sign up for the household goods movers email list for further notices.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672 

Constellation, the nation’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, is offering state regulators a long-term menu of options that could include expanding natural gas, nuclear, and/or battery storage facilities.

The company said Monday it is prepared to invest more than $20 billion in some combination of one or all three energy sources, which could generate up to 5,800 megawatts of power generation and battery storage projects.

The proposal was one of three submitted by a Friday deadline in response to a state request for such plans. Part of an effort to rein in utility bills and help Maryland produce more of its own energy, the state is seeking developers to build power generation stations under a new law fast-tracking such projects.

The law was part of a package of energy bills designed to lower the amount of energy Maryland relies on from other states, reduce the need to build additional transmission lines and allow the state to determine its energy sources, such as natural gas, nuclear, solar or other generation.

The Public Service Commission, which regulates Maryland’s public utilities and energy development, plans to pick generation sources within nine to 10 months to move quickly through a “certificate of public convenience and necessity process,” required to build energy stations.

Constellation says its proposals aim to meet rising demand for electricity, lower utility bills and usher in the next generation of zero-carbon and low-carbon energy resources as the state competes to attract data centers and other businesses to spur economic growth. Company officials tout the plan as a way to boost production without seeking any electricity rate increases that could come from utilities as plant owners.

Constellation argues that the biggest driver of rising electric bills in Maryland has been the cost of building and maintaining wires that deliver power rather than power generation. Generation, meanwhile, is not regulated by the state and paid for with private investment and has stayed flat for 15 years.

The company’s announcement came a day after PJM Interconnection, the electric grid operator for Maryland, Washington and a dozen other states,  warned that electricity demand continues to outpace the addition of new generating resources. Despite the trend, PJM said in the announcement that it has sufficient resources to serve 67 million people in its footprint this winter. Most of the new generation added since last winter has been solar power, PJM said.

“PJM is working on multiple levels with all of our stakeholders to reverse this trend of demand growing faster than we can add generation,” Aftab Khan, PJM’s executive vice president of operations, planning and security, said in a statement Monday.

Constellation’s proposal includes near-term battery storage and gas generation proposals and longer-term investments in new and existing nuclear power plants. Emissions-free energy would make up the bulk of the investments, boosting Maryland’s clean energy resources from around 50% to nearly 70%.

The company could proceed in several ways depending upon energy policy and direction set by the state from an array of choices, Joseph Dominguez, Constellation’s president and CEO, said in an interview Monday.

“We are not in the business of building things our customers don’t want,” Dominguez said.

More certainty is needed, for instance, on questions such as how much of a role natural gas will play. Some support new natural gas development and necessary pipeline work, while others oppose it, preferring instead to build more transmission and import power from other states.

Constellation’s plan focuses on investments and expansion of nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable energy, although natural gas remains an option.

That includes state-of-the-art battery storage that could be co-located at Constellation’s Perryman generating station in Aberdeen, which would release electricity to the grid quickly during times of peak demand; and six units of existing but out-of-service gas-fired power generators that could be brought to Maryland from Constellation facilities in the Midwest and New England. Later, those plant units could potentially convert to operating on carbon-free hydrogen.

Longer term, the company proposed investments in up to 4,000 megawatts of new and existing nuclear projects, including extending the life of the two-reactor Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center by relicensing the plant for another 20 years, preventing shutdowns in 2034 and 2036.

The energy firm is also exploring the construction of new advanced nuclear units at Calvert Cliffs, which would double the site’s output.

Constellation was one of only three developers that submitted proposals. Brandywine-based Alpha Generation proposed increasing capacity at its Keys Energy Center in Brandywine, a natural gas-fired generator. Total Civil Construction & Engineering submitted a proposal marked “confidential.”

A group of climate activists is calling on the Public Service Commission to approve applications for clean energy projects and do so quickly to take advantage of federal funding sources that will run out under the Trump administration.

“The urgency for clean energy and storage projects … is clear as federal tax credits are phased out and federal support for renewables dissipates,” said the group, including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Center for Progressive Reform, Earthjustice and others. “Renewable energy sources are the fastest and cheapest to bring online.”

Evan Vaughan, executive director of MAREC Action, a group that advocates for renewable energy growth in the Mid-Atlantic, said PJM has made strides in reducing the wait time for project developers to wait in line for a permit. For competitive developers of wind, solar and storage, challenges remain, such as high interconnection costs.

“Maryland should focus on making proactive investments in transmission infrastructure, so you can have efficiencies of scale and forward planning so communities don’t react negatively,” he said

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com or (410) 332-6672.

New York-based MAG Partners said it’s leaving its job shaping the future of Baltimore Peninsula, a mixed-use development south of Interstate 95 on a former industrial site.

The firm, brought in by Kevin Plank’s investment arm and other owners, announced the plans late Thursday on social media, with CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin calling the emerging neighborhood “some of the best work we’ve ever done.”

Plank’s firm Sagamore Ventures and Goldman Sachs, owners of the 235-acre development, opted not to renew MAG Partners’ contract.

MAG Partners led a rebrand of the site, previously called Port Covington, and worked to complete a $500 million first phase of construction, including two apartment buildings, a hotel, two office buildings and a park.

“Their work helped bring this vision to life — overseeing the successful lease-up of residential, commercial, and retail assets, and establishing the identity of the district,” a spokesperson for the development said in an email to The Sun. “With the first phase now close to stabilization — residential fully leased and office leasing outpacing peers — we are entering a new phase.”

Part of the evolution entails finding new partners in the coming months to lead future phases, the spokesperson said.

The vision for the massive project, touted as one of the largest urban revitalization efforts in the U.S., includes up to 14 million square feet of shops, restaurants, office space and housing, plus 40 acres of parks, across 45 new city blocks.

MAG Partners said in its social media post that it helped open more than 1.1 million square feet of development, including 450 residential units, a Club Volo sports complex and 13 new food and beverage tenants, while launching weekly programming, including free waterfront events.

The residential portion includes the 162-unit 250 Mission apartment building, the 254-unit Rye House apartment building and a 121-unit residential building with an extended-stay hotel.

MAG Partners had announced several new tenants recently, including global staffing firm Insight Global, based in Atlanta and the University of Maryland’s satellite campus for the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ Flex MBA program.  Architecture firm Ayers Saint Gross has signed up for 25,000 square feet and plans to move by spring.

The site has beat out competing but older spaces elsewhere in the city. More than 53,000 square feet of office space was signed in July, August and September, which accounted for more than half the city’s new commercial deals during that time, real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield had reported. MAG Partners said it has leased more than 60% of office space.

The new buildings have sprouted alongside Sagamore’s earlier developments, Rye Street Tavern and Sagamore Spirit Distillery.

But vacancies have plagued both office and retail components, and the project hit delays during a pandemic that altered the use of and demand for office space.

Gilmartin had said the team sought to attract tenants from outside the city and state, rather than merely relocating tenants within the city. However, critics raised concerns that additional office space would lead to higher vacancies elsewhere in the city, at a time when tenants are fleeing older commercial areas for upgraded, newer spaces.

Plank, the founder of Under Armour, spearheaded the project a decade ago, after anonymously buying up partially vacant, formerly industrial land for redevelopment starting in 2012. His plan always involved carving out space for Under Armour to build a new global headquarters campus to anchor the neighborhood.  The sports apparel maker relocated from Locust Point to a signature, five-story building for 1,200 workers on the Baltimore Peninsula last fall.

Early on in its planning, Baltimore Peninsula sparked controversy when Sagamore sought and the City Council approved a record-breaking $660 million in tax increment financing bonds to help support the development, which has faced delays, changed focus and been scaled back over time.

Construction began on what was then known as Port Covington in 2019. It was temporarily suspended in April 2020 shortly after the coronavirus pandemic hit.

An earlier vision of the mini-city involved creating the nation’s next big biotech hub, rivaling life sciences cores such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Mission Bay in San Francisco. Before that, the site had been pitched as “Cyber Town USA” by cybersecurity industry firms that had hoped to move in there.

MAG Partners, brought in with MacFarlane Partners, a San Francisco-based Black-owned development and institutional investment firm, were expected to lead all future development outside the initial phase.

Gilmartin began her career as an economic developer under former New York Mayor Ed Koch and later served as an executive for Forest City Ratner Cos. before founding her own firm in 2020. While at Forest City, Gilmartin spearheaded development of high-profile New York City projects, including the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the New York Times building in Times Square.

At Baltimore Peninsula, Gilmartin’s firm took the reins from Weller Development Co. Founding partner Marc Weller, a longtime friend of Plank’s, had been involved before Sagamore pitched the idea for Port Covington to city officials in 2016. Weller, who had previous experience in Washington-area real estate, headed what was then Sagamore Development Co.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

Hospital officials’ concerns center around how they will be paid and regulated, how they will manage costs across Medicare and Medicaid, and how the shift could impact operations and stability.

Maryland’s current rate-setting system has evolved over time  and today aims to contain overall health care spending and better manage chronic conditions to keep patients out of the hospital unnecessarily. Under that system, the state sets its own rates for hospital services, with public and private insurers and self-paying patients paying the same amounts. Hospitals in Maryland that fail to meet targets must lower their rates. Medicare pays higher rates in Maryland than in other states, while commercial insurers pay less, under the system, which is designed to keep providers’ costs below the national average.

The voluntary state model is designed to curb the growth of health care costs, improve population health and promote healthier living by emphasizing primary care. Last year, under the Biden administration, state officials signed an agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that’s set to take effect in January. Maryland and Vermont are the only states that have moved past the application stage.

But changes could be brewing under President Donald Trump, and state and federal officials have been negotiating revisions for months. In September, CMS announced several changes, such as focusing on preventive care, including chronic disease prevention and adding payment reforms for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries.

What could change in Maryland?

A key change for Maryland would eliminate an option for states to set rates for Medicare. The state has been granted a waiver to do so since 1977, allowing the state Health Services Cost Review Commission to set hospital rates for all payers, including Medicare fee-for-service hospital rates. Under Maryland’s “total cost of care” model, uncompensated care, self-paying patients and bad debt from those who can’t afford care are built into rates.

CMS “will permanently revoke the waiver that allows HSCRC to set Medicare FFS hospital rates on January 1, 2028,”  an AHEAD model term sheet dated Aug. 15 says. “The HSCRC will not have any role in determining Medicare FFS hospital payments from 2031 onwards.”

Officials are currently working to finalize amendments based on the term sheet.

Maryland Department of Health officials say they hope to preserve elements of the current health model that will protect affordability and access to care as they negotiate an agreement with CMS and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

They argue Maryland has driven down health care costs while improving access and quality across the state. State and federal initiatives to expand health insurance in Maryland since 2007 have reduced Maryland hospitals’ costs for caring for patients without insurance or the ability to pay. That in turn reduced health care costs by more than half a billion dollars through 2023, a December 2023 analysis of health care data showed.

“We are very mindful of the broad impact of the AHEAD model in Maryland, across multiple constituencies including individuals, employers, insurers and health care providers, in addition to hospitals,” a Maryland Department of Health spokesperson said in an email to The Baltimore Sun. Officials did not elaborate on details.

A spokesperson for the Health Services Cost Review Commission said the health department’s response is “reflective of our answers as well.”

Just a tweak, at first

Changes will likely be minimal at least for the first couple of years, said Gerard Anderson, director of Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management. The AHEAD model will be implemented in phases through 2034. The proposed revocation of Maryland’s Medicare waiver would not happen before 2028.

“Maryland has been doing the total cost of care model for many years,” Anderson said. “This is just the next iteration.”

If Maryland’s Medicare waiver is revoked, Maryland would use the same payment system as Medicare, “which would be a serious problem for Maryland hospitals. They would have to change their entire payment and delivery system,” Anderson said.

Hospitals also would lose about $3 billion to $4 billion a year in federal funding, which is now embedded in the Medicare waiver, and would need to raise rates to adjust.

Similar goals, different strategies

Federal officials are considering ways of aligning Maryland’s model with the Trump administration’s goals, say parties involved in negotiations.

Questions remain about how  “the federal government is going to look at the unique reimbursement model in the state of Maryland and align it with where they want to take the federal Medicare AHEAD program,” while still managing costs and ensuring access, said Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of University of Maryland Medical System, the state’s largest health care provider of hospital-based services.

“The hospital industry wants to get more clarity from the state and the feds as to exactly how this is going to work to ensure that we can still deliver on missions that we’re in business to deliver,” he said. The state has managed to “deliver value to our communities in terms of health care outcomes, health care quality and managing costs. We want to ensure that that ability is retained in whatever is negotiated going forward.”

A spokeswoman for the Maryland Hospital Association said the group has no “firm answers at this point” regarding impact.

“The state is still working out their agreement with CMMI and we’re unclear of all of the details,” said Amy Goodwin, the spokeswoman.

A spokeswoman for GBMC HealthCare said the system has been “closely monitoring” the transition.

” As we evaluate changes in health care policy, we remain committed to maintaining patient access to high-quality care while supporting hospital sustainability,” said Krystina Wales, the spokeswoman. “GBMC remains confident in our ability to navigate health care policy changes while upholding our mission of health, healing, and hope for the communities we serve.

Suntha added that the parties have similar goals of reducing costs and cost increases.

“Hospitals are always going to require the resources to ensure that we can continue to provide access,” Suntha said.

Negotiations are ongoing

Some say the negotiations appear promising. Many of the physicians’ concerns have been addressed, said Gene M. Ransom, the CEO of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society. That includes keeping “care redesign programs” in place, such as one that incentivizes physicians to provide additional care and lower-cost services to Medicare patients.

“The two parties have very different views of the world and very different ideas, but they’re kind of trying to work together to figure out how to do it,” Ransom said. “At any given time, there can be a detail that can cause problems or cause this thing to go awry, but so far we’re positively moving in a direction to try to keep something in place that doesn’t create chaos.”

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

The Maryland Public Service Commission ordered investor-owned utilities in the state to ramp up plans to shift to clean energy, strengthen grid resilience and reduce consumer costs. The PSC issued the order after reviewing proposals from BGE, Delmarva Power & Light, Potomac Electric Power (Pepco) and Potomac Edison.

Legislation that took effect last year seeks to prepare the grid for an increase in electricity demand from electric vehicles and other clean energy technologies. The  DRIVE Act requires utilities to develop “time of use” rates that will incentivize EV charging and other electricity use during off-peak hours. Utilities are required to propose pilot programs to pay customers and third-party aggregators for the use of battery storage and other systems.

Maryland aims to end sales of new gas-powered passenger cars and light trucks by model year 2035. The state’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulation took effect in January 2024, requiring manufacturers to continuously increase the percentage of vehicles sold that emit no pollutants. At least 43% of vehicles each manufacturer sells in the state must be zero emissions by model year 2027, under the regulations.

But those plans hit a snag this year, after President Donald Trump blocked California’s rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars, the first in the nation.

Trump signed a resolution, saying that under the previous administration, “the federal government gave left-wing radicals in California dictatorial powers to control the future of the entire car industry all over the country.”

Maryland had adopted California’s rule after that state set its own clean air standards through Clean Air Act waivers. California is challenging Trump’s move in court.

The state commission’s order is one step in the phasing in of policies to govern new technologies using the grid, Frederick H. Hoover, the commission chair, said in an announcement.

“By making the grid as efficient as possible, it will lower the overall amount of energy, thus reducing costs to customers,” Hoover said.

The PSC order approved utilities’ time of use rates but requires new proposals for virtual power plant and vehicle-to-grid pilot programs to be submitted within three months. Such programs are testing ways that small, decentralized energy sources can support the grid.

The commission found that utilities’ current proposals target only a small percentage of the DRIVE Act’s peak demand reduction goal and that they need to encourage participation from commercial, industrial, and residential customers.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com and (410) 332-6672.

The Residential Energy Equity Grant program supports energy efficiency and solar energy projects that reduce energy usage and pass on benefits to qualified residents, the Maryland Energy Administration said Tuesday. It is open to nonprofit groups and local government entities.

The 2026 program includes solar technology, covering the design and installation of solar photovoltaic energy systems for qualified residences. Grants are also available for projects that advance electrification and zero-emission technologies.

The program “helps income-qualified Marylanders in all parts of the state make home energy improvements that deliver long-term utility bill savings, healthier and safer homes and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” Paul G. Pinsky, energy administration director, said in the announcement.

Low-income households have three times higher than average energy burdens compared with higher-income households, based on the share of monthly income spent on energy, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Grants can be used to update outdated and inefficient lighting, appliances and heating and cooling systems.

Adding a solar system further reduces energy cost and consumption because the energy is produced at nearly no operating cost. Under the state’s net metering law, solar energy that exceeds a home’s usage can be sold back to the grid.

An information session is planned for 10 a.m. on Nov. 5 via Google Meet. The deadline to apply is Dec. 18 at 3 p.m.

For more information, contact Program Manager Angel Saules at residentialenergy.mea@maryland.gov or 410-537-4000.

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