Community issues

We've assembled a team of award-winning journalists to help cover local government, education, health, children and families, food and culture.

After three people were shot and two were stabbed at a chaotic Cinco de Mayo celebration in Laurel late Tuesday, police said they had charged a man with the stabbing and were searching for another man in the shooting.

Dwight Rust Jr. who is accused of killing his wife, Michelle Rust, in a 24-year-old Baltimore County cold case, can be released on home detention while he is awaiting trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Kimberly Klein was on probation for previous offenses. Police also removed her from her home.

A 37-year-old man driving a dirt bike died after crashing with an SUV near Hanlon Park in West Baltimore on Tuesday evening.

Utz Quality Foods issued the recall this week after learning a chip seasoning containing dry milk powder it uses for various Zapp’s and Dirty brand flavors might have been infected.

A Baltimore County judge sentenced the teenage getaway driver in the Rodgers Forge shooting that severely injured a beloved youth soccer coach to 25 years in prison.

Baltimore’s spending board Wednesday approved a no-bid, $153 million contract for AI-enabled body cameras, Tasers and data management software for the police department.

Amy Sherald, who took the art world by storm with her paintings of Black life, attended the 2026 Met Gala with a dress inspired by a work of her own.

Testing sites across the harbor ranged from “poor” to “fair,” according to 2025 water-quality data published Wednesday by the nonprofit Blue Water Baltimore.

What caused the plane that was landing at Newark Liberty International Airport to strike the truck remains unclear.

Access to 40 local broadcasting stations nationwide was restored for Xfinity customers on Tuesday as a 35-day contract dispute between Comcast, which owns Xfinity, and broadcasting company E.W. Scripps, came to an end.

Questions revolve around the idea that Baltimore County is at a tipping point and is headed in the wrong direction.

After searching for ways to trim costs on the multi-billion-dollar tunnel replacement, Amtrak is eliminating plans for one of three ventilation facilities.

The case began in April 2024, when Kelly Madigan, who was then Baltimore County‘s inspector general, sued Patrick Murray, who had been then-County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s chief of staff.

A Towson therapist is setting up a self-guided tour of Ladew Topiary Gardens part of a movement that uses nature to improve mental health.

An easy-to-get, loosely regulated loan used to buy rental properties has exploded in popularity across the U.S. since the pandemic, with Baltimore and other postindustrial cities at the forefront, a Banner analysis of national mortgage data found.

Maryland campaign finance law allows for spending at restaurants but says campaign spending is only permissible if expenses would not have occurred but for the campaign.

Antisemitic graffiti painted on a Brookeville school building over the weekend has prompted a police investigation, increased security and a reprimand from the governor.

The Baltimore City Fire Department said it had contained a hydrochloric acid leak from a railcar in South Baltimore and that it poses “no threat to the surrounding community.”