For nearly a decade, Soul Mega brewing has basically been a side project for Elliott Johnson, a Howard University graduate who lives in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood. But after coming out on top in a nationwide contest with other brewers like him, he鈥檚 confident his passion is going to pay off.

Johnson is this year鈥檚 winner of the Samuel Adams Brewing and Business Experienceship, giving him the chance to meet one-on-one with Boston Beer Company co-founder Jim Koch. The goal isn鈥檛 to learn how to brew beer 鈥� Johnson鈥檚 Metropolis IPA helped him win the competition 鈥� this is about turning his brew into a better business.

鈥淚t provides coaching and mentorship in various aspects of the business through procurement, supply chain, finance, marketing,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e get to go out to Boston for a week and spend time with the business advisors and the CEO, and we also get to do a collab beer with them as well.鈥�

Johnson鈥檚 degree from Howard University is in finance, so he was ready for some of the business aspects of the beer industry.

鈥淗onestly, like the thing I found was the hardest so far is understanding the supply chain economics 鈥� and kind of how to push and grow the brand throughout your immediate territory,鈥� he said.

Johnson said he hopes Samuel Adams can teach him about how to turn a small concept into a brand with fanfare and room for future growth.

“I mean, they’re pretty much the pioneers of craft beer,” he said.

Earlier this year Johnson quit his full-time job to go all in on making Soul Mega happen, so the timing of all of this, he said, is perfect.

鈥淭here’s a point in every small business or a budding brand’s trajectory where they hit a place where they’re experiencing things they hadn’t experienced before,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淪o, the coaching piece is really crucial for us because although yes, I think we make great beer, as far as learning how to scale the business and operate some of the corporate functions, that’d be really valuable for us for sure.鈥�

Right now, you can find Soul Mega in various stores around D.C., Maryland and Delaware. Getting into Virginia is next on his list.

Long term, he鈥檒l continue to contract brew out of D.C. Brau鈥檚 facility in Northeast D.C., where he makes about 300 cases a month, calling them 鈥済reat production partners.鈥�

Johnson is still putting together the plans to make his trip to Boston, but he said the collaboration beer with Sam Adams should be out in the first part of 2027. Eventually he鈥檇 like to be able to have his own facility and live up to the mantra that is Soul Mega.

鈥淪oul Mega really means really passion magnified,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淪o, it is a reminder and a statement to all others to pursue their passion and just follow their dreams.鈥�

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PerVista AI, based in Prince George’s County, is providing enhanced security at Northwest Stadium in Landover and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, home of the Falcons.

The focus is less on what鈥檚 happening inside the stadium 鈥� that鈥檚 what metal detectors and magnetometers are for. PerVista is focused on potential threats outside the stadium.

鈥淭he goal there is to make sure we’re protecting tailgating experiences, making sure that the parking lots are clear and making sure that fan experiences are safe against the threat of firearms,鈥� PerVista AI CEO Vennard Wright said.

鈥淚f someone pulls out a gun, we do have a data set of firearms and we’re making a match frame by frame against that data set,鈥� he said.

鈥淏ut we don’t rely on artificial intelligence alone. We have a 24/7 operations center where, whenever a threat is detected, it goes into our operations center and a human actually verifies whether it is a firearm or not.鈥�

Wright said the goal is to enhance safety where thousands of fans might be gathered and their guard might be down, whether it鈥檚 because they鈥檙e socializing and tailgating with friends or because they鈥檙e walking to the stadium gates. Similar technology is used at Bowie State University, and in smaller venues, such as churches and local governments.

As threats evolve, PerVista鈥檚 goal is to be on the lookout, without it feeling like you鈥檙e being closely watched.

鈥淭he goal really is to make sure that we are protecting people without them feeling like their information is being at risk of privacy violations,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淪omething to emphasize is that we’re not looking for people; we’re looking for weapons. So we’re not retaining any of the images unless there is an actual incident.鈥�

Which means, if everyone is having fun and there鈥檚 no problem, there鈥檚 also no recording.

鈥淭he only time those are activated is when there is the assumption that there is a crime underway,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淪ame thing with our technology. If nothing is happening, our technology does nothing. The only time it kicks into play is when a gun is detected, and that’s when the workflow kicks off.鈥�

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Alongside the pier of Libbey鈥檚 Coastal Kitchen and Cocktails, right next to where the Bay Bridge makes landfall on Maryland’s Kent Island, stood six guys in a boat weighed down by more than 30 bags full of oyster shells. Next to them on the boat鈥檚 bottom was a bunch of concrete and fabric mixed together into a half-cylindrical object.

The day before National Oyster Day, seven more guys wearing wetsuits climbed into that water to help their favorite bivalve.

The goal was to build new oyster beds around the pilings left over from an old pier near Libbey鈥檚. It鈥檚 not because the restaurant is looking to source new appetizers 鈥� it鈥檚 just to help clean the bay.

鈥淲e were worried when people would bring the boat here and tie up, and then you know a freighter goes by and the boat starts doing this,鈥� said Walt Petrie, one of the owners of Libbey鈥檚, as he moved his hands up and down. 鈥淲e tore it out.鈥�

The leftover pilings still stand tough and now, there鈥檚 a special tool that can work to restore oyster habitats around those pilings. It鈥檚 called an oyster cuff and it was invented by Niels Lindquist, CEO of North Carolina-based Sandbar Oyster Company.

鈥淭hat was a combination of cloth, plant fiber cloths and then cement to harden it up,鈥� Lindquist said. 鈥淪o it’s proving to be very effective in attracting oyster larvae and then protecting them for the early stages of their growth and then just being basically a catalyst for oyster reef creation.鈥�

The cuffs installed at Libbey鈥檚 were taken to a hatchery in Cambridge first, where a million oyster larvae were planted on them, as well as on the 36 bags of shells also set up around the pilings.

Together, a team led by John Consoli of Kent Island wrapped six bags of shells around each piling, and then two of those cuffs were strapped around a piling.

鈥淚f you looked at cement pilings, concrete pilings, they have beautiful oyster communities growing on them. Then you can see a wood piling right next to it, and you won’t see many oysters at all,鈥� Lindquist said.

鈥淭he reason for that is those pilings are treated to be toxic to a large suite of marine organisms that basically degrade wood,” Lindquist added. “You don’t often see many oysters growing on them. We thought that we could basically put a cement-type material on that cuff on the piling and develop a nice community on that where the wood itself would not support a good community of oysters.鈥�

鈥淚n about a year or two or three, they’ll have a little mini oyster reef at six of these pilings,鈥� Consoli said.

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The team set out at low tide Tuesday, but even then, the jellyfish-infested water was a good 7-8 feet deep and the current running through there was still really strong. Those who were in the water used ropes, life preservers and a ladder to help stay anchored where they needed to be.

Then the six guys in the boat would hand the material to those who were in the water, working like a delicate assembly line to get them all in the water. In all, it took about 90 minutes. Not bad for a first-time installation of this material on Kent Island.

鈥淭he way I look at it is, there’s at least one new oyster in the water here,鈥� Consoli said. 鈥淎nd I’m hoping there’s 300,000 or 500,000.鈥�

鈥淥ne adult oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 can’t imagine 500,000 or a million, what they can do.鈥�

Consoli has also grown his own oyster habitat in the water by his house, and most of the guys who were there with him were also doing the same. The hope is that the ease and effectiveness of this project will inspire others along the water to do the same thing.

鈥淗opefully 鈥� you’ll see a nice oyster community growing on the cuff,鈥� Lindquist said. 鈥淚n this part of the bay, there aren’t a lot of larvae in the water to recruit to any of the hard structures here. Hopefully, in the future, with more restoration efforts, there will be many more.鈥�

With the number of private piers and pylons all around the Chesapeake Bay, never mind the different waterfront restaurants and homes there, the volunteers who came together for this installation see this as a simple but potentially powerful way to help restore the bay.

鈥淚’m just thrilled because I just think it’ll set us up for success,鈥� Consoli said. 鈥淚 have like 80 people on Kent Island now who are growing oysters who weren’t growing oysters a year or two ago. Now they can even do this if they have the deep enough water. They can do piling cuffs, too. So I’m excited. I think it can only lead to positive things for the bay.鈥�

Consoli said the project at Libbey鈥檚 cost a few thousand dollars, and that included two four-foot-long cuffs around a total of six pilings, plus the bags of oysters. The oyster larvae was the most expensive part. The jellyfish swimming around were just a painful hassle.

鈥淚 got stung all over. My hands have been stung. They got into my gloves,鈥� Consoli said afterward. He wasn鈥檛 the only one.

鈥淓verybody got stung. It’s a badge of honor.鈥�

But it was clear that he, and everyone else who were in and on the water, believed it was worth it.

鈥淥ne thing we need to do is get the bay cleaned up,鈥� Petrie said. 鈥淭his would be a great if this works here and they can do it in other places. Just imagine how it helps to clean the bay.鈥�

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In a , researchers noticed differing patterns in brain activity as children were listening to words and trying to process what they were hearing.

鈥淚ndividuals with autism who have the most difficulty communicating and understanding speech, they have a higher level of neural noise,鈥� said Kevin Pelphrey, a University of Virginia School of Medicine professor and one of the study’s authors.

He compared neural noise to the static in a radio signal.

“If you’re trying to tune in and get a good sound coming through the speakers, if it’s kind of mistuned, then you have more noise,” Pelphrey said.

Individuals with autism have higher levels of that kind of background noise, Pelphrey said.

The new discovery will help researchers figure out better ways to treat the symptoms some children with autism experience.

“That’s exciting to us because for the first time, it’s kind of moving beyond simply describing autism, which you know is important, but really trying to understand what are the brain mechanisms involved in autism,” he said.

“That will lead to us being able to actually do something about the symptoms, in this case the difficulties in processing speech.”

Pelphrey said being able to measure the amount of neural noise inside someone’s brain provides more insight into how they process speech and allows for more personalized care and instruction.

鈥淭hat would allow learning to happen much faster, much better, more extensive, so much better outcome for the child,鈥� he said.

There鈥檚 an additional benefit.

鈥淲e suspect that this inability to process speech also leads to a great deal of anxiety,鈥� Pelphrey said.

鈥淵ou know, imagine kind of like being in a crowded room and you’re really trying to understand what somebody’s speaking 鈥� it increases your anxiety in general and decreases your understanding of what’s going on in the world, which then leads to a lot of anxiety.鈥�

This isn鈥檛 likely to lead to a cure, but hopefully it improves the social communication abilities of some people with autism. This study is ongoing, and he said one of the sites where the research is still happening is Children鈥檚 National Hospital. They鈥檙e also looking for more participants.

鈥淎nybody interested in participating, they should just feel free to reach out to us,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve expanded both to younger children than we studied in this particular paper, but also to young adults.鈥�

鈥淲e’re even getting very interested in aging and autism and trying to understand healthy brain aging using these same methods. So pretty much study anyone that’s interested across all age ranges.鈥�

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The owner of a popular bagel shop on Maryland’s Kent Island isn’t minding the store right now. That鈥檚 because of his other job 鈥� with the Minnesota Vikings.

Andrew DePaola founded DePaola鈥檚 Bagel and Brunch about three and a half years ago in Stevensville.

DePaola is from northern Baltimore County, but said his time at Rutgers University taught him about good bagels.

鈥淛ust as a kid growing up, I loved bagels. I loved eating them right out of the bag,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then going up to New Jersey, spending years up there, I think kind of refined my palate a little bit with sandwiches and cream cheeses and spreads and things of that such.鈥�

His experiences visiting family on Kent Island, which he now calls home, also taught him that good bagels and cream cheese were missing there.

鈥淢y wife and I would come back to Maryland in the offseason, visit her sister and her husband in Kent Island, and we’d go out, have a good time, wake up the next morning, and just be like, 鈥業 always wish there was a place to grab like a bagel sandwich,鈥欌�� DePaola said.

So he opened one.

When DePaola is not in town, his parents, who used to run a restaurant in Baltimore County, supervise the business.

鈥淗onestly, I saw an opportunity, and I was hoping it would do well,鈥� he said.

Occasionally, he鈥檒l bring samples to his teammates and coaches in Minnesota. Their feedback is helpful, he said, and sometimes it shows up on the menu.

鈥淐ouple ideas that actually come from some of the guys on the team, some players, some coaches, just throwing in their input, like, 鈥楬ey, you should really try this in one of your cream cheese spreads. Or I wonder if this would go good as a bagel,鈥欌�� DePaola said.

DePaola can also boast of being the only long snapper in NFL history to be picked for the Pro Bowl four seasons straight, according to the Vikings.

At this point, DePaola is less the baker and more the quality control guy. He credits an expert he hired as the one who really gets her hands in the dough. But business is going well enough that a second store is at least something he and his family are willing to think about.

鈥淚 don’t know if we’ll open up another one,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat would be great if we could figure that out. But if not, I’m having a great time with the one location.鈥�

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Advocates for the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse say if they can鈥檛 find a new place to put it, it鈥檚 a matter of when and not if it will fall into the ocean.

The lighthouse sits right on the line where the Delaware Bay feeds into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Henlopen in Lewes. Giant rocks were used to help form an underwater wall of sorts in the late 1800s and early 1900s to provide extra support for the 76-foot-tall structure.

鈥淭he breakwater upon which it sits is gradually sliding into a large scour hole about 140 feet deep, right at the end of the wall itself,鈥� said Ron Parks, the president of the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation. 鈥淥ver time, obviously, we don’t know how quickly, but depending on how storms, hurricanes come up the coast, it could very easily jeopardize the structure.鈥�

The lighthouse is situated on a 40-foot-wide caisson that sits atop the wall of rocks. But the more those rocks keep moving underwater, the more likely that lighthouse is to eventually tip over.

鈥淭here are actually places where the rocks have fallen off the wall and down into the hole,鈥� Parks said.

It鈥檚 dangerous enough that members of the public can no longer tour the lighthouse anymore.

鈥淭here’s nothing we can do to prevent it because the (Army) Corps of Engineers maintains and is responsible for that rock wall,鈥� Parks said. 鈥淎ll we can do is maintain the lighthouse structure itself.鈥�

That maintenance costs thousands of dollars a year. Repairing the rock wall, Parks said, comes with an estimated cost of $90 million to $120 million. But for $4 million to $7 million, the lighthouse could be dismantled and transported onto land. He said boaters have made clear they don鈥檛 want to see it moved to land.

The problem is, after the city of Lewes recently said no to relocating the structure there, no one else seems willing to take it either.

鈥淚f there’s a threat to its existence, then the only way that we can guarantee its future is to put into place a plan and then execute it to guarantee that it will still stand,鈥� Parks said.

鈥淲e’re really at the mercy of the community to, in effect, help us come up with a place to so that it can have a permanent location,鈥� Parks said.

鈥淏ut if you’re going to restore it, you certainly want to be able to let the public have access to it as almost a museum for that kind of maritime heritage and history,鈥� he continued. 鈥淪o it would require parking or some kind of egress to it, and just like many of the other lighthouses that have been restored, there’s usually some sort of a keeper’s cottage where administration would happen or there’d be some sort of a gift shop.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the lighthouse itself,鈥� he admitted.

As if the situation isn鈥檛 complex enough, the lighthouse is also still in operation. It鈥檚 a navigational beacon in the Delaware Bay waters, so the Coast Guard also has some say over its future.

鈥淭hey operate the light and the foghorn and the solar panels and the batteries that make it go,鈥� Parks said. 鈥淲e own the building, the structure itself. So we would have to come to some kind of a compromise whereby we would move it after they had erected some sort of a tower or replacement for the light itself.”

鈥淚t’s kind of a complicated situation and we knew that it was going to involve many players, many separate conversations going on simultaneously,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut we have to start with just the vision, just the idea, and why it matters, in order to bring the community up to speed. Then we can hopefully draw together a coalition of individuals, organizations, administrations, perhaps within the city or the county government, and also the Delaware Historical Society.鈥�

Finding a way to preserve the Harbor of Refuge lighthouse, as difficult as that is, isn鈥檛 an insurmountable problem to solve, Parks said. But he knows there鈥檚 only so much time to come up with the right solution.

鈥淭he next big storm could certainly damage the wall even further,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚’m hesitant to suggest that kind of an immediate threat. But on the other hand, it’s irrefutable that the wave action from storms and the ongoing tidal motion has had the effect on the wall that the Corps of Engineers is reporting.”

鈥淚t’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when,鈥� he said.

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More than 400 kids participating in summer camps put on by nonprofits throughout Maryland and the District met in Anacostia Park on Friday for a full day of field day fun.

There were about 100 volunteers spread across a giant field, overseeing campers from around a dozen different locations as they played soccer, inflatable sumo, football and tug of war. They also played with slime, did art projects and learned a few things about healthy living.

The 鈥渟ummer Olympics鈥� style of fun was a collaboration between So What Else and Mentoring Through Athletics. They do it every summer.

鈥淲e’re bringing kids back to the fun of outside. You won’t see any devices out here,鈥� said Ashley Montgomery, of Mentoring Through Athletics. 鈥淵ou’re going to see good old-fashioned fun. We have limbo. We have tug of war. We have slime making. We’re doing things that we did once as kids, and that our kids can actually experience it as well.鈥�

鈥淥ur camps are very 鈥� in some ways they’re basic,鈥� said Dave Silbert, of So What Else. 鈥淏ut in some ways they’re very holistic and well-rounded. All of our camps are free, so we have to meet kids where they are, and we have to build teamwork and build safety, fun.鈥�

鈥淭hen you kind of get up that pyramid into learning and education and skill building,鈥� he added.

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As the day goes on and the air gets hotter, collaboration and sportsmanship also become lessons that the leaders here hope to impart.

鈥淭he larger lesson that I would love for kids to see is one: you can make relationships with people that you never met,鈥� said Montgomery. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing wrong with being social again. I think it’s also great to be able to connect with people from other camps, compete and still have fun.鈥�

Some of the kids who were participating all made clear that the fun and activities were the best part of the day. There was as much laughter during inflatable sumo wrestling as there was in tug of war. The social aspects was also something cited by the kids.

The afternoon is spent with a big kickball tournament, and that鈥檚 where the competition can get fierce, and Silbert said the staff can sometimes play a part in that.

鈥淪o you’re able to take those examples and take those lessons each and every day with these kids because every day there’s a there’s a crying child or an upset,鈥� said Silbert. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to teach them some adversity and teach them how to handle adversity.鈥�

鈥淲hether it’s as an athlete, whether it’s as a student, whether as a parent, whether as a child, you have to be able to overcome adversity,鈥� agreed Montgomery.

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During the school year, struggling families can rely on free and reduced cost breakfasts and lunches to ensure their kids are eating well.

But in the summer, it just gets harder. Nonprofits like Brighter Bites try to make it easy.

Since 2018, the organization said it has served more than 60,000 families, 30,000 children, and distributed four million pounds of produce to families in Prince George’s County and D.C.

“In the greater D.C. metro area, the rates of food insecurity have increased. And it’s everybody – it’s the middle class,” said Rajni Sood Laurent, senior program manager for Brighter Bites’ Greater DC Metro team. “Hunger doesn’t go away. The need doesn’t go away.”

Every day, Brighter Bites sets up at 2-3 locations, filling up bags with fresh produce meant for families who find it鈥檚 hard to buy those groceries while dealing with cuts to jobs and SNAP benefits and rising prices in the grocery store.

The nonprofit sources its produce through donations from the Capital Area Food Bank. During the school year, it brings the food directly into school communities, so families can pick it up when they pick up their kids.

In the summer, Brighter Bites shifts to community partners like art centers, libraries, daycares and health centers.

This summer, Brighter Bites is distributing produce from nine sites across the region. On Thursday, it was partnering with another nonprofit, the Creative Suitland Arts Center.

“It almost was the easiest decision we’ve made this year,” Rina Campbell, Creative Suitland’s program director, said of the partnership.

Noting that Suitland is considered a food desert, Campbell said the weekly distributions are a huge help, and one that also aligns with the mission of an arts-focused nonprofit.

“Healthier kids means healthier minds, means whole bodies,” she said. “Fuel means more creativity. More creativity means the arts just never stop.”

Brighter Bites hands out recipes and tip sheets along with the food.

鈥淲e really try to give families a wide variety — things that they’re familiar with, but also things that maybe they’ve never tried before,鈥� said Laurent. 鈥淲e want to get them past some of those, 鈥業 don’t like this. I’ve never tried this before,鈥� and really introduce them to a wide range of fruits and veggies that are going to help them take care of themselves.”

鈥淲e’re really all about just making it easier, especially during this time when we know that it is a lot harder for families in our community,鈥� she added.

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The program kicks off this fall, and Monique Alston, chair of Bowie State’s Department of Nursing, said the timing couldn’t be more critical.

“For us to combat the nursing shortage, we need faculty and staff to teach the next generation of nurses,” Alston said.

The idea is to take experienced nurses, especially the ones newer nurses turn to when they鈥檙e still learning the ropes, and give them the credentials and tools to do that work in classrooms and labs.

“Some people just have an innate gift that they’re able to connect with others and to share their wisdom,” Alston said. “We want those that are passionate about just having those interpersonal relationships with the next generation.”

Alston said the program can accept as many as 30 students, but acknowledged filling all those slots when it begins isn鈥檛 likely. But for those who would consider it, the school also has 15 available scholarships to help cover costs.

鈥淚t is a great opportunity for our future nursing professionals as we look at the nursing shortages across the country,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re identifying that there’s a great need for more nurses, whether at the bedside, whether in advocacy, with telehealth.”

And for Bowie State to increase its enrollment and get more nurses into the pipeline, it needs people who can educate them.

Beyond the Ph.D. launch, Bowie State’s nursing program also received millions of dollars in grants to help improve its simulation center, where nursing students can practice on mannequins and drill for the real deal upon graduation.

Other grant money will help with keeping students enrolled in college through graduation.

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Users are able to connect the various health and wellness apps they may already have on their phones and smartwatches and also upload any health records they choose to.

ChatGPT鈥檚 announcement cited the 300 million people who asked health-related questions to its chatbot already and said it hopes to provide one single place that can help people better understand everything from lab results to what their doctor may have told them. But doctors who have studied chatbots and health-related questions aren鈥檛 so sure it鈥檚 a good idea – yet.

鈥淭hey have a specific disclaimer on the website saying that it’s not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of any diseases, but the problem is that people are already using ChatGPT for health advice and for diagnosing and treating diseases,鈥� said Dr. Nick Tiller, a research associate at the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and聽the author of a new book titled 鈥淭he Health and Wellness Lie.鈥�

鈥淗aving this more personalized system is only going to increase their reliance, not decrease,鈥� he warned.

In April, he led , looking at the ability of artificial intelligence to provide accurate health information. The results then were not reassuring.

鈥淲e found that a third to half the time, AI chatbots will provide either problematic or highly problematic responses to health and medical questions,鈥� Tiller said.

鈥淔or ChatGPT Health, in particular, the most recent data that we have found, that in 52% of genuine emergencies, the chatbot recommended an assessment period of 24 to 48 hours. So that’s a delay that, in a real patient, could mean the difference between life and death.鈥�

However, Tiller also conceded that the AI models he used for the study are by now outdated and inferior to the ones that are being used today. But since he hasn鈥檛 seen the current models audited yet, he鈥檚 still not sure it can be trusted.

鈥淢y concern is that the public are effectively going to be the guinea pigs for this for this new health-specific AI chatbot, and there’s absolutely no indication that it’s going to be able to give reliably good responses,鈥� Tiller said. 鈥淚t could give you a perfectly coherent and cogent response 50% of the time, and the other third to 50% of the time it could be completely way off base. And with health questions, you kind of need to be reliably good.鈥�

The one thing he鈥檚 not concerned about? Privacy. OpenAI said the information you provide won鈥檛 be uploaded to train models or provide you with target ads.

鈥淎I has enormous potential to improve access to healthcare,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut rolling out a system like this before it’s been shown to be safe and effective is frankly irresponsible, and it could end up doing more harm than good.

鈥淚f you think the answer is important, and if you think the accuracy of the answer is important, then I wouldn’t ask an AI chatbot,鈥� he added. 鈥淚n the future, it will absolutely be a very powerful tool, but we’re not there yet, and we need to be patient.鈥�

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Darryl Barnes, a former state delegate, resigned after roughly 10 months in his new job, but said the resignation was made under duress and that his first amendment and due process rights were violated.

He also alleges both leaders defamed him as the planning board fought with the county council over budget allocations.

Barnes鈥� lawsuit asks for him to be paid out the rest of his term, which would have gone into 2029. He鈥檚 also seeking attorney fees and punitive damages against Oriadha and Braveboy.

The lawsuit claims Barnes was compelled to leave his job despite there being no statutory violations nor a finding of wrongdoing. In fact, he said he鈥檚 cooperated with an outside investigation that began in March 鈥� an investigation that鈥檚 found no wrongdoing on his part.

He said the pressure campaign began after he raised concerns about money the county council allocated out of his agency鈥檚 budget and gave to other recipients 鈥渨ithout guidelines, competitive process, or documented need.鈥�

Eventually a state law was passed prohibiting the council from doing that outside of the normal budget process. When the council then transferred nearly $40 million this year, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission sued the council. A judge has put a hold on that part of the county budget, with the matter slated to go to court in the future.

Barnes also alleged that ultimatums and even job offers made by others connected to Braveboy, in and out of county government, were dangled in front of him, and when he resisted, the county council scheduled a hearing to remove him from office. His lawsuit alleges the outcome of that hearing was already decided days before it was scheduled to take place.

The lawsuit also quotes an article published by 黑料不打烊, alleging that Braveboy defamed Barnes in June when she responded to a question from 黑料不打烊鈥檚 John Domen by saying, 鈥淭hey wanted to give themselves a 99% increase in the director’s office. The chair was asking for a 鈥� over $300,000 salary. So, you were asking me why they wanted to take money meant for residents and give it to themselves?鈥�

It also alleges defamation on the part of Oriadha after her comments to The Banner made two weeks before, saying she falsely accused Barnes of illegal, fraudulent and unethical conduct.

Barnes鈥� lawyer declined further comment. A spokesman for Braveboy鈥檚 office also declined to comment, and Oriadha never responded to a text message asking for her response.

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The Prince George’s County Council approved a resolution creating what’s called an Extraordinary Development District at the National Harbor site where the Sphere is going to be built.

The vote was 8-0, and the discussion about the creation of the zone was briefer and far less substantive than discussions surrounding the project that will play out over the coming months.

“It’s just creating the district,” Council Chair Krystal Oriadha said. “It allows for the county executive, park and planning, all of the stakeholders behind the scenes to start working on the framework.”

The creation of the zone will, among other things, allow the county to also create a Tax Increment Financing plan to help finance the project.

“The establishment of the Extraordinary Development District gives us the tools we need to ensure that the financing package that we are proposing moves forward,” County Executive Aisha Braveboy said. “I think today’s unanimous vote shows that we’re all aligned in bringing this very important project to the county.”

Several on the council were clear, however, that certain terms must be met in order for the project to win final approval. While that question wasn’t on the table Monday, leaders from several unions were on hand to address the council at the start of the meeting. They all called on the council to condition approval of the Sphere with a project labor agreement.

“The Prince George’s County Sphere project should include a project labor agreement to ensure this historic development delivers lasting economic benefits to the residents of Prince George’s County,” said Roxy Mejia with the Painters and Allied Trades Union.

“It’s time for the Sphere development team to begin negotiating labor agreements with us,” said Victoria Leonard of the Baltimore-D. C. Metro Building Trades Council. “These labor agreements are essential to ensure that jobs created by this project are quality, family-supporting jobs for county residents.”

Sam Stern, of UNITE HERE Local 25, told the council that union representatives have not yet been able to sit down with corporate officials behind the Sphere to negotiate labor agreements.

When it came time for the council to discuss the measure, members were sympathetic to those causes.

“I’m just so honored that this project is coming to District 8,” said Ed Burroughs, who represents the National Harbor area on the council.

He added he nearly proposed an amendment requiring a project labor agreement before this vote.

“I think it’s so important when we have these large projects that come into the county that we recruit, hire and train Prince George’s County residents on these jobs,” he said after the vote.

“It’s really important to us to have the PLA for accountability,” Oriadha said after the vote. “For me, that’s what I’m looking for.”

During the vote, council members Wanika Fisher and Tom Dernoga also expressed support for the idea, with Dernoga saying he’ll vote no on anything else related to the project unless he’s certain “labor is satisfied” with their role in the project.

Representatives from the entertainment venue said they feel it’s too early in the process to talk about project labor agreements, according to a source involved in talks between the Sphere and the county. The company’s previous projects, including the Sphere in Las Vegas, have employed union workers. Representatives said they plan to work with unions on this project, too.

The company would be reluctant to enter into a project labor agreement if it drove up costs by 10% or more, according to the source.

Braveboy also wasn’t willing to say it’s PLA or bust.

“It’s important to have labor at the table,” she said. “I’ve always put labor at the table. I think it’s also important to have our minority business community at the table as well and the community that is going to be impacted. So everyone and everyone’s issues and concerns and their support too for what they want to advocate for should be a part of the conversation, and it will be at the appropriate time.”

Asked directly if she would be OK if the project didn’t have a project labor agreement, Braveboy said what was important was a community benefits agreement.

“Those individuals who own businesses here should have an opportunity to benefit,” she said, adding that those who live in Prince George’s County should have the opportunity to work in the county. “There should be some concessions given to the impact that it will have to the residents who live closest to National Harbor. It’s what we did when we established National Harbor to begin with.鈥�

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One of the bills would see the property tax rate jump to five times the normal rate for properties left vacant and dormant.

Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, the lead sponsor of the legislation, said the current system gives property owners little reason to act. Some of the current fines for code violations can be as low as $1,000 a year, which in her words is 鈥渘othing鈥� for the banks that might own the property.

A second bill increases penalties for owners whose vacant properties become run down or blighted.

Oriadha gave two examples of blighted properties in her own district.

In Temple Hills, a former bar has been vacant and boarded up for a decade despite its proximity to a Metro station.

“But they are not motivated to do anything with it to sell it, to renovate it,” Oriadha said.

And across from her own home, she said a fire-damaged, boarded-up house has attracted drug activity for years.

“There’s nothing anyone can do about it,” she said.

The goal of the legislation, Oriadha told 黑料不打烊, isn’t to collect more tax revenue. It’s to push owners to sell, renovate, or find tenants for properties that drag down surrounding home values and leave commercial corridors looking neglected.

“Sometimes we understand that we need to have stricter rules, regulations and laws to move the businesses in that way and motivate them to be partners in the community,” Oriadha said.

Another bill seeks to reward county residents who take a picture of code violations and alert the Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement to problems.听They would receive a share of the fines collected by the county on that property.

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Nearly 100 acres of woods and parking lots near the Bowie State MARC station are about to get a dramatic makeover aimed at reshaping Maryland’s oldest historically Black university and the surrounding community.

Area leaders gathered at the train station Tuesday to to remake the county- and state-owned land next door.

“New housing, retail and future commercial development adjacent to the Bowie State MARC station means more affordable places for Marylanders to live and work and more ways to grow the state’s economy,” Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said.

鈥淏ut the greatest impact won’t be measured in dollars alone,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淚t’ll be measured by what becomes possible. Local economies will grow, communities become more connected, emissions decline, less time is spent stuck in traffic. So that means Marylanders will have more time for family, more time for life.鈥�

The project is split between two parcels. Mosaic Development Partners will lead the redevelopment of nearly five acres of state-owned land west of the MARC station.听

That site alone could support more than 400 new housing units, officials said, and will include space for businesses, generating an estimated $108 million in state and local tax revenue.

D.C.-based developer Gragg Cardona Souadi is leading the build-out of the other parcel, a 93-acre “campus village” between the railroad tracks and Laurel-Bowie Road.

Renderings released by the state show new buildings on the Bowie State campus and significant development on the west side of the train tracks, where a small parking lot and not much else sits now.

鈥淵ou’re going to see a whole new innovative community bringing businesses here, small and larger scale businesses, to partner with our university on research, on keeping our curriculums current,鈥� Bowie State President Aminta Breaux said. 鈥淏ut most importantly, you’re going to see a number of amenities connecting us to the larger community.”

Breaux said she has been pushing for this development since her 2017 arrival. She called the housing component especially critical.

“We hope that it will provide housing for our students, especially for our graduate students who need more apartment-style housing,” Breaux said. “But also, we hope it will serve the community because affordability and housing 鈥� these are issues that we are facing today.”

“This is about investing in our long-term economic future, expanding housing opportunities, creating new jobs, attracting private investment and growing our commercial tax base,” Prince George鈥檚 County Executive Aisha Braveboy said. 鈥淏owie State will be cemented as the epicenter for progress, innovation and economic empowerment.鈥�

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At the Insp墨r on Embassy Row in Northwest D.C., residents of the hotel-turned-senior living apartments get their meals delivered by Ralph, who wears a tuxedo 鈥� sort of.

You see, Ralph is a robot, and the tuxedo is a design on a screen where the torso would be on a human. Four shelves on its back hold food and drinks from the kitchen, which it carries to dining rooms separated by a long hallway.

鈥淚 think it’s cute,鈥� said Joel Hirsch, one of the many residents who have taken to the robot, according Insp墨r staff.

鈥淚t’s actually very helpful, however, because it saves the serving staff a lot of having to go back and forth themselves. So they’re able to take care of the people in the dining room without having to go back and forth to the kitchen,鈥� he said.

Residents named the robot Ralph, but the idea of having the robot server came from chef Richard McCreadie.

鈥淚 actually had gone to a Chinese restaurant and they had a fleet of robots and they were doing exactly the same,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey were picking it up from the expediting station, taking it to the table and let the waiter know that they were there, and the waiters would come and serve it to the table. And I thought it was a great idea.鈥�

That鈥檚 how it works at Insp墨r too.

鈥淚t saves me a lot of running because usually if there’s nobody to spare, I have to run back and forth,鈥� McCreadie said.

Ralph’s “face” is a touch screen with different table numbers. When a cup of coffee or bowl of yogurt is ready to go out, McCreadie or someone else on staff labels the dish and tap the table or room it鈥檚 being delivered to.

The robot begins to play classical music as it rolls down the hallway 鈥� with the occasional 鈥渉ere comes the robot, pretty and smart鈥� coming from the speaker too.

Ralph moves at a little less than half its top speed, but the audio warnings are a necessity.

鈥淲e have residents who may have low vision, and if they hear something coming, they know to move rather than just see the robot,鈥� Insp墨r General Manager Amanda Glendinning said.

When the robot reaches its programmed destination, it announces itself by saying, 鈥淵our delicious meal is here. Please take the dishes on the first tray.鈥�

Once it senses that something has been picked up off its shelf, it begins to go back to the kitchen area, saying 鈥淓njoy your meal. I’m leaving to complete a new task.鈥�

Insp墨r began using the robot last fall. Early into the two-month trial period, the staff realized this was something that would work.

鈥淭he residents just get such a kick out of him,鈥� Glendinning said. 鈥淭hey were the ones who really pushed for us to keep Ralph 鈥� chef did, but also the residents. So that’s where I really saw 鈥極K, let’s keep him. Let’s make it work.鈥欌��

Hirsch said the first time he saw it, he thought it was just like R2-D2. Even a year ago he never would have imagined seeing such a thing.

鈥淓verybody loves the robot,鈥� Hirsch said. 鈥淚t’s cute, but it actually does fulfill a useful function.鈥�

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