Casino News, Bongino Mulls A Gubernatorial Bid, The Economic Impact Of The Baltimore Grand Prix, and "The Lines Between Us"

Maryland will likely have four operational casinos by summer of next year. The owners of the Rocky Gap Lodge and Resort in Western Maryland say that their facility will be up and running in June of 2013. The Rocky Gap casino is expected to employ 350 people, and its owners say it'll focus on hiring Western Maryland residents (via the Baltimore Business Journal). Maryland already has 3 casinos -- Maryland Live! in Anne Arundel County, Hollywood Casino Perryville in Cecil County, and Casino at Ocean Downs in Worcester County. Plans are in the works for a casino in Baltimore: "Horseshoe Casino Baltimore" is expected to open in 2014. And voters have approved a casino in Prince George's County, but that won't be open until 2016, at the earliest.

Next year, there'll be a new bus route to take people from BWI Airport to the Maryland Live! Casino. The bus route will likely be ferrying folks to and from the casino by April -- rides would cost one dollar (via the Baltimore Sun).

And the group overseeing the state's casino gambling program has its first leader. Yesterday, the newly created "Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission" selected Kirby Fowler to be its first president. Fowler is the president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, and had served as chairman of the Maryland Lottery Commission, which the new Commission is replacing (via the Baltimore Business Journal).

The numbers are in for the second annual Baltimore Grand Prix. A new report says the three-day Labor Day weekend event had an economic impact on the region of $42.3-million dollars. That's about $5-million less than the inaugural Grand Prix had a year ago. The report said 131-thousand people attended this year's event, which is about 30-thousand less than in 2011. Race organizers are downplaying the report, saying they only had a hundred days to pull the event together, and that they will accomplish a whole lot more before next year's Grand Prix (via our wire service; more here and here from the Baltimore Business Journal; more here from the Baltimore Sun).

Republican Dan Bongino says that he might run for Governor in 2014. Bongino lost his bid for the US Senate this year to incumbent Democrat Ben Cardin; the Republican picked up 27 percent of the vote, compared to Cardin's 55 percent. Bongino says he "honestly (doesn't) know" if he'll run for Governor; but says if he does, he holds several advantages over other potential Republican candidates -- including statewide name recognition from this year's race, as well as a statewide organization that included about 3-thousand volunteers (via the Gazette).

On today's edition of Inside Maryland Politics, WYPR Senior News Analyst Fraser Smith talks to WYPR's Karen Hosler about the relationship between former Speaker of the House, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer.

"The Lines Between Us" is WYPR's year-long series about inequality in the Baltimore region. “The Lines Between Us” airs every Friday at 9am on Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast. Sheilah brings us this preview of today's episode.

All previous episodes of "The Lines Between Us" are available here. 

An audit shows that the city of Baltimore mismanaged a grant of more than nine-million-dollars designed to help the homeless (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

More than a dozen people who work for the Frederick Memorial Healthcare System could lose their jobs on Monday -- because they haven't yet recieved flu shots (via the Frederick News Post).

A more restrictive noise ordinance is being considered for the Harford County town of Bel Air. Town commissioners on Monday will consider placing limits on "vibration intensity" -- after some complained that they could feel sound vibrations from others' homes, even though the decibel level was within the law. At this point, Bel Air doesn't have any mention of "vibration intensity" in its noise law; state law already allows police to crack down on noise vibrations that "travel further than sound" (via the Baltimore Sun). 

Anne Arundel County police will be conducting their 95th DUI checkpoint in Laurel this weekend. Officers will set up shop along Route 198 near Race Track Road and near Brock Bridge Road tonight in hopes of curtailing a recent rash of fatal DUI crashes. Extra roving patrols will also be part of the effort (via our wire service and the Laurel Patch).

And in sports: the Ravens will be in Pittsburgh on Sunday night to take on the Steelers. The Ravens lead the AFC North at 7 and 2; the Steelers are a game behind, at 6 and 3.