MARC Train sits at Savage rail station on the Camden Line by Maryland Transit Administration.

Tentative agreement between railroad unions and Labor Department averts strike

A strike threatened to shut down service starting Friday on freight trains, Amtrak, and commuter rail services across the country, including in the Washington region. This morning Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and President Joe Biden announced that negotiators had reached a deal. Workers will receive their main demand, which was unpenalized time-off for medical procedures.  (7News)  

Amazon announces more affordable housing investments in the region

Amazon is using money from its $2 billion Housing Equity Fund to fund more than 1,000 affordable housing units in DC across 8 projects. The goal is to prevent displacement caused by the company’s growth, though an earlier analysis from the Washington Post found only 6% of units created by the fund had gone to the lowest-income renters. Amazon will also fund three housing partnerships in Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, and Alexandria. (Disclosure: Amazon is one of GGWash’s grant funders. In keeping with our editorial policy, funders maintain no oversight of editorial decision-making.)  (Colleen Grablick / DCist)  

How pricier ride-hail trips could impact some DC neighborhoods

Businesses in DC benefited from the popularity of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, particularly in neighborhoods where there are no Metrorail stops, like Ivy City and H Street. As prices for ride-hail have risen over the last year, businesses say they’ve seen fewer visitors, and data shows less foot traffic in such places this summer compared to 2021 and 2019.  (Jacob Wallace / Bisnow)  

Fairfax County moves forward with renaming Lee and Lee-Jackson highways

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 in favor of renaming Lee Highway and Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway to Route 29 and Route 50 to remove reference to Confederate generals. Next, the Commonwealth Transportation Board needs to approve the Board’s resolution. More than 230 signs will need to be replaced.  (Hector Alejandra Arzate / DCist)  

Home sale recording practices cause concern in Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood

Community leaders in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore are concerned that the way property sales are being recorded by the city, by their appraised value, versus their actual resale value, is driving up property taxes and putting pressure on residents (the AMI in the neighborhood is $29,000) to continue to afford their homes.  (Rielle Creighton / ABC 7)  

DC, Alexandria in top cities this year with new apartments

A new data analysis founds that Alexandria and Washington DC are in the top 20 cities by number or apartments built in the first half of 2022, with 1,799 and 2,528 built respectively. The Greater Washington region has as many as 12,176 projected new apartments by the end of 2022.  (Emily Leayman / Patch)  

How MDOT archeologists serve as advocates for historical and cultural resources in Maryland

Maryland’s Simpsonville Mill and Elkridge Furnace in Howard County were recently highlighted as places where highway archaeologists working for the Maryland Department of Transportation work to preserve artifacts found before road construction begins and minimize the impact of highway construction on historic and cultural sites.  (Maryland Matters/Stateline)  

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