Local government

We’re deep into local budget season in Maryland, when decisions are made for spending nearly $28 billion on priorities and problems. Here’s what I learned by listening to hours of budget addresses this spring.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball filed emergency budget legislation Monday to provide up to $14.5 million in additional funding to the school system for the coming fiscal year.

The Maryland Child Alliance is back to collecting signatures to create a fund for parents of newborns.

A package of five bills will attempt to make it easier to build and redevelop Baltimore City properties.

Maryland wanted to make poor areas greener but instead it boosted the already rich and green neighborhood of Roland Park in Baltimore.

Nearly 1.3 million gallons of sewage overflowed in a Columbia townhouse community, the county health department said Friday. The agency has issued a precautionary health alert.

Only $2 million is slated to be available to community organizations interested in applying for grants this upcoming year.

Liberty Reservoir, one of the region’s key water resources, has dropped to its lowest point in nearly two decades.

The biggest political conversations in Howard County often happen at the Wilde Lake Village Starbucks.

It’s become of the mayor’s signature policies, but advocates are pushing him to up the ante.

City officials know of at least 12,000 federal employees who work in Baltimore, but there are untold more who commute to other locations or work from home in the city.

Dr. Ben Carson, who served as Donald Trump‘s housing secretary, is trying to turn 33 acres that he and his wife own into a solar farm.

Curtis Bay Energy and one top official pleaded guilty in 2023, but a judge cleared the former plant manager on all counts.

Buying the hotel would strengthen the Baltimore developer’s position downtown, where it already owns or controls multiple properties nearby, including Harborplace.

A Baltimore Banner analysis of city records and social media posts found that Bates spent at least 44 days outside the city since he took office, excluding personal travel which does not need to be approved by the city spending board.

‘Wait to see what’s coming,’ Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said Thursday.

The number of people using Baltimore’s emergency shelter system for overnight stays has doubled in the last two years, the latest city data shows.

Educators, parents, residents and others urged the Howard County Council to provide additional funding for the school system, which is warning that program and staff cuts will be necessary without additional dollars.

The 52-year-old Westminster woman’s arrest by ICE agents while in her car drew national attention.

Not long ago, a lush canopy blanketed Takoma Park’s old homes, but today, hundreds of trees across the city are gone.