Paywalled, briefly:

Salisbury’s fight over downtown development escalated this week as Green Street Housing expanded its lawsuit against the city and its founder declared downtown closed to investment.

“Downtown development in Salisbury, Maryland is dead,” David Layfield said Friday. “It died the day [Mayor] Randy Taylor took office.”

The amended complaint alleges Salisbury breached a 2022 development agreement, denied Green Street access to an adjacent parcel promised under a 99-year, $1 parking lease and refused to sign a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.

Taylor called the amended case “a weird one,” saying the project lacks final approval and adequate parking.

Layfield said Taylor’s actions threatened “generational destruction” of capital investment. Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Chambers agreed the effects could be long-lasting.

“There is no doubt the anti-business atmosphere that now surrounds [the] city will have long-term impacts on the attractiveness of not only the city, but surrounding jurisdictions when developers and entrepreneurs seek new investment opportunities,” Chambers said.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/08/28/salisbury-developer-expands-5m-lawsuit-city/

Paywalled, briefly;

Wicomico officials and advocates traded barbs Thursday in competing news conferences over allegations that resident care and working conditions are deteriorating at the county-run nursing home.

After hearing what County Council Attorney Robert Benson characterized as “hundreds, if not thousands, of complaints,” council members advanced emergency legislation Aug. 18 to establish an oversight board for the facility.

County Executive Julie Giordano, at a news conference inside the county government building, called the measure an overreach that may violate the county charter.

“If the council passes this legislation, it will be challenged, end of story,” she said.

State Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes said investigators described the home as meeting only the minimum standards.
Workers and volunteers said staffing levels were alarmingly low at the 102-bed facility.

A town hall is scheduled for Monday August 31 at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Salisbury to discuss the issues surrounding the nursing home.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/08/28/wicomico-nursing-home-giordano-competing-press-conferences/

Paywalled, briefly:

Maryland farmers say rising equipment costs and weaker markets for some crops are squeezing their businesses, pressures they attribute in part to federal tariff policies.

A Wicomico County farmer who raises crops and livestock, said rising costs have forced him to lay off workers. Gov. Wes Moore has also increased vehicle registration fees, Wright said, pushing him to spend twice as much on registration for trucks he uses on his farm.

“One truck used to cost $1,000 a year, and now it’s $2,000,” said the Wicomico farmer. “I use 10 trucks on my farm.”

The cost of operating farms has risen by $4.6 billionin the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

With the 2026 gubernatorial election less than two months away, the farmers interviewed by The Sun said they want the next governor to reduce taxes and ease regulations they say add to their costs.

A Dorchester County crop farmer, said his soybean sales haven’t kept up with operation costs, particularly after China, one of the United States’ largest soybean markets, turned to other countries in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.

Continued state efforts to expand renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, could increase competition for farmland.

Relief could prove difficult, economists say.

Maryland’s budget outlook could make state financial relief difficult. Lawmakers already face projected budget shortfalls over the next five years, said JP Krahel, an accounting professor at Loyola University Maryland.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/08/31/maryland-farmers-wes-moore-taxes-tariffs/

Paywalled, briefly:

Easton will allow the pro-Trump signs outside Gay’s Seafood & Deli to remain through November’s election, defusing an enforcement dispute that spilled into a boycott call and exposed a widening political divide in one close-knit Eastern Shore community.

The signs’ size and number prompted a town code enforcement notice earlier this month.

A Democratic Central Committee member called them “illegal MAGA” signs and urged a boycott of the seafood restaurant, drawing a public rebuke from Talbot County Sheriff Joe Gamble.

The DCC member later apologized and withdrew the boycott call.

“We’re a small community here, and we support our local businesses,” said Sheriff Gamble.

That support, however, sometimes came wrapped in the national political hostility.

While some Facebook commenters called for civility, others branded the DCC member a communist or socialist, disparaged newcomers and told him to return to the Western Shore.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/08/28/easton-maga-signs-gays-seafood-enforcement/

Odd behavior for grown men, but it’s a sinking ship, what do you expect?

Her contempt for constituents of color on full display