Local government

The railroad company is asking Baltimore’s City Council to sign off on the rights to build under public land. But residents want them to wait.

The city appealed to the federal housing agency earlier this year to get back part of that lost funding.

Rev. Kobi Little, the president of the Baltimore NAACP, and Joshua Harris, vice president of the Baltimore NAACP, were both suspended this week by the national organization.

Advocates warned that without more support from the mayor’s office, the revived commission would serve as an “exercise in futility.”

Baltimore County Councilman Pat Young is trying to change a recently passed law that will put a referendum on the fall ballot to expand the council for the first time since 1956.

“Gas-powered leaf blowers are effectively pollution generation machines,” said Councilman Ryan Dorsey.

Not only are ballot measure efforts relatively cheap compared to electoral politics, they’re effective. Baltimore City voters rarely reject charter amendments.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. has nominated Joseph W. Dixon, the former chief of Gainesville, Florida, to lead the county Fire Department. He would be the county’s first Black fire chief.

Pharmacy giant Walgreens will pay Baltimore $80 million to settle a lawsuit the city brought against it and other drug companies as part of an overdose epidemic that’s plagued the city for years, Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said Tuesday.

Whether the Democrats’ new fervor will translate into policy changes and more housing is less certain, as Gov. Wes Moore and others who have tried already know.

Neighbors entered the normally locked gates surrounding the C.P Crane plant site to hear that their efforts paid off. C.P. Crane will become a waterfront park.

Baltimore has won $322.5 million in settlement monies from opioid manufacturers and distributors, which the city plans to use to address the overdose rate.

Marylanders have a chance to transform the state into the nation’s center of Black political power, electing a Black governor, attorney general and U.S. senator.

Anne Arundel County residents’ opposition to a bill prohibiting combustion engine-powered leaf blowers led to the bill’s withdrawal.

The needs of this growing population are largely invisible in discussions about the future of Lutherville-Timonium, says community organizer Jenny Torres.

Does the “girl” in “water” still work for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works? City officials aren’t saying.

The Annapolis Democratic Central Committee chose Harry Huntley to replace former Alderwoman Elly Tierney, who is moving to Cape Cod.

Harry Huntley was chosen by the Annapolis Democratic Central Committe to finish Elly Tierney’s term as an alderman representing Ward 1.

Baltimore City sued Juul Labs in 2020, accusing the company of deceptive marketing campaigns aimed at children and teens by offering flavored vaping pens without disclosing their high nicotine content.

Baltimore County is among the state's most diverse, but its council is all male and almost all white. Can that change?