The University of Maryland Athletics program has announced the launch of Maryland Marketplace, that allows fans and supporters to purchase shoutouts, videos, social media posts, and even ad pitches from their favorite student athletes. The platform, which is similar to Cameo, allows the student-athletes to maximize earnings through Name, Image, Likeness (NIL). The platform includes former Maryland student-athletes like Stefon Diggs, Steve Blake, and more.

Per UMTerps: Maryland Athletics announced the launch of the Maryland Marketplace, one of the first licensed school Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) marketplaces in college sports. The Opendorse-powered marketplace will maximize NIL support for Terrapin student-athletes. Maryland is among the first programs nationwide to provide a single marketplace platform to send supporters to access student-athletes and offer NIL opportunities. The marketplace gives Maryland fans, brands and sponsors the ability to browse, book, pitch and pay current and former Terp student-athletes for NIL activities in one compliant platform, built specifically for the athletes’ needs.


Jared Bernhardt was on the men’s lacrosse team at the University of Maryland for five seasons. He led Maryland as the school’s career leader in goals with 202 and points with 290. In 2021, his fifth season with Maryland (one season was cancelled due to Covid-19), he won the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s best collegiate player. On Tuesday, he made the Atlanta Falcons roster as a wide receiver.

Bernhardt isn’t a stranger to football– he played football in high school in Florida, where he was a quarterback in a triple-option offense and compiled more than 4,000 all-purpose yards and more than 30 touchdowns over his final two seasons. Following the death of his father, who was a football coach at Hofstra, Brown, Central Florida, and Penn State and was the director of football research for the Houston Texans, Bernhardt decided that he would utilize the NCAA’s “five to play four” rule, which allows athletes one year of eligibility in another sport after they have exhausted eligibility in their primary sport, and play college football.


Per the Maryland Department of Transportation: Bottles. Food wrappers. Plastic bags. Cigarette butts. Cardboard boxes. Litter on Maryland roadways can take many different shapes and forms, but they all waste money and resources, and threaten the health of our environment.

During the past eight years, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) has spent $60 million – averaging more than $7 million annually – to clean up 14 million pounds of litter along our state roadways. That money could have been spent to improve pedestrian and bicyclist facilities, augment transit connections or undertake other critical transportation projects to make our roadways safer and more accessible for all users.


Per Amanda Winters, Maryland.gov blog: Total Wine & More, the largest independent wine retailer in the nation, is growing its presence in Montgomery County, Md. and creating more than 180 new jobs in the state.

The company – located at 6600 Rockledge Drive in Bethesda – is planning to renew its existing lease and add up to 75,000 square-feet at its headquarters. Total Wine is currently on track to employ 654 full-time workers at the facility by the end of 2022, and will add its new employees over the next five years.


From the Office of the Maryland Comptroller: Comptroller Peter Franchot urges eligible Marylanders to act fast and apply for the Student Loan Debt Relief Tax Credit Programfor Tax Year 2022. Applications must be submitted by September 15. “Going to college may seem out of reach for many Marylanders given the huge expense, but tax credits like these help make it possible. I urge everyone to apply now before time runs out,” Comptroller Franchot said. “Any way to bring down the cost of higher education is a big benefit.”

The program, which is administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission(MHEC), provides an income tax credit for Maryland residents making eligible undergraduate and/or graduate education payments on loans from an accredited college or university. To be eligible, you must claim Maryland residency for the 2022 tax year, file 2022 Maryland state income taxes, have incurred at least $20,000 in undergraduate and/or graduate student loan debt and have at least $5,000 in outstanding student loan debt upon applying for the tax credit.


On Friday Maryland’s highest court granted Lee Boyd Malvo, the now 37-year-old convicted D.C. sniper, a new sentencing hearing. In 2006, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge sentenced Malvo, who pleaded guilty, to six life sentences without the possibility of parole for his role in the killing of six people. In a 4-3 ruling filed Friday, the Maryland Court of Appeals determined Malvo was due a new sentencing hearing, citing the 2012 Supreme Court case Miller v. Alabama, which says life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment.

Malvo was 17 years old when he and John Allen Muhammad (41-years-old) began a killing spree in DC, Maryland and Virginia for a three week period in October 2002 before they were arrested later that month at a Maryland rest stop. Muhammad was executed in 2009 for his role in the shootings.  In 2017, Malvo filed a motion to correct what he claimed was an illegal sentence under a Maryland law, based on a 2012 US Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders. Per court documents, “Recent Supreme Court decisions have held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not permit a sentence of life without parole for a juvenile offender convicted of homicide if the sentencing court determines that the offender’s crime was the result of transient immaturity, as opposed to permanent incorrigibility. That constitutional constraint applies retroactively. However, a court that imposes a sentence in a discretionary sentencing regime need not make an explicit finding as to a juvenile offender’s incorrigibility. In a case where sentencing took place prior to the recent Supreme Court decisions and where the sentencing judge may have determined that the defendant was not permanently incorrigible, the defendant is entitled to be resentenced to ensure compliance with the Eighth Amendment. The terms of that sentence remain within the discretion of the sentencing court.


The Maryland Renaissance Festival, which takes places annually at 1821 Crownsville Rd in Annapolis, returns this Saturday for their 46th season.  The festival will be open weekends from August 27 through October 23 and tickets can be purchased at www.rennfest.com.  Per the event’s website:

“The 27 acre Village of Revel Grove comes to life each autumn with more than 200 professional performers on ten stages, a 3,000 seat arena with armored jousting on magnificent steeds and streets filled with village characters. Join His Most Royal Highness King Henry VIII in the forests and glades with over 140 artisans exhibiting crafts in their own renaissance shops, five taverns featuring cool libations, 42 food and beverage emporiums providing a vast array of succulent and sweet treats to sate even the most hearty of appetites.


The 2022 Maryland State Fair started on Thursday, August 25th at the Timonium fairgrounds (2200 York Rd. Lutherville-Timonium, MD). The schedule is different this year, focusing more on weekends by opening Thursdays through Sunday (and on Labor Day) for three consecutive weekends with the last day on Sunday, September 11th (opening hours are available below). Rap superstar Nelly, legendary rock band Styx and country music singers Niko Moon and Lauren Alaina will also be performing at an event called the “2022 Live! ON TRACK! Concert Series at The Maryland State Fair.” The concerts do require separate tickets.

“We are pleased to host the full Maryland State Fair this summer with thousands of talented individuals and fun-loving fairgoers participating from Maryland’s great cities, towns, farms, mountains and shores,” said Maryland State Fair General Manager Andy Cashman. “Our goal is to provide a variety of safe, enjoyable and educational experiences to help make memories for a lifetime.” The 141st Maryland State Fair will feature the thrills and chills, sights, sounds and aromas of numerous Midway and Kidde Land rides, games, and fun fair food provided by Deggeller Attractions. For those with a more local palate, the Maryland Foods Pavilion, Dairy Bar, and Chesapeake Craft Brew & Wine Garden, will showcase fresh from the farm and Chesapeake Bay food and drinks. A list of all of this year’s events can be found here.


Mid-Atlantic families will have something fun to howl about as Great Wolf Lodge, North America’s largest family of indoor water park resorts, has announced that its newest resort in Perryville, MD (located in Cecil County, northeast of Baltimore City) is scheduled to open in August 2023. Great Wolf Lodge Maryland will be the company’s 20th resort in North America, and their largest.  It will offer 700 family-friendly suites, a 126,000-square-foot indoor water park, a 57,000 square-foot entertainment center, and 12,000 square-feet of conference space. The resort is currently offering 25% off reservations at www.greatwolf.com/maryland.

Great Wolf Lodge, which broke ground in July 2021, will sit on 48 acres on the western edge of Cecil County, for what is being dubbed as “a convenient family getaway destination for guests living throughout Maryland, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and many other Mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas.” Offerings include the indoor water park that has a variety of indoor pools and slides and is open throughout the year. The adventure park touts engaging attractions for the whole family, and daily events and activities are included in the cost of your stay.


“Every child in Maryland deserves access to a world-class education, regardless of what neighborhood they happen to grow up in,” said Governor Hogan. “We are proud that Maryland leads the nation in expanding opportunities for women and girls. While there is always more work to do, it is especially gratifying that this study recognizes our commitment to closing the gender gap in the computer science and STEM fields, where we have made great strides. This is another example of how we are truly changing Maryland for the better.”

Education. According to the report, “Maryland took the top spot in the ranking’s education category, placing first among its peers for lower gender disparities in math and reading scores for eighth graders, and third among them for four-year public college graduation rates. Experts say Maryland, under the last two governors – a Democrat and a Republican – has prioritized K-12 education even as other states have scaled back funding.


Per The Office of Governor Hogan:

Governor Larry Hogan today issued the following statement after the state’s Traffic Relief Plan received final approval from the Federal Highway Administration following a series of delays: “This is a major milestone for the most important transportation project for the National Capital Region in the last 50 years. With the Biden administration’s final approval, we are ready to move forward with this transformative project.”


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