Local government

The Baltimore County Council on Monday could decide whether to ask voters to consider a ballot measure to expand from seven to nine members. Some say the council, which is now composed of seven men and only one person of color, is not representative of the increasingly diverse county.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s use of the phrase “Black jobs” caught the attention and ire of many Black Americans, including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.

In court documents filed on April 15 but not previously available in Baltimore Circuit Court, Patriot Steel Fabrication Inc., a firm based in Church Creek, Dorchester County, asserts that Chasen Cos. owes the business more than $915,000.

City officials and their lawyers claim global beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, along with six other companies, used deceptive business practices and created a public nuisance, while causing harm to people’s health and the environment, according to a lawsuit filed late last week.

Brandon Chasen’s development company is dialing back its national expansion plans and slowing its pace in Baltimore, too.

The proposal follows action by Maryland leaders last year to raise the floor pay for most other workers, and comes on the heels of a contentious fight over the minimum wage for tipped workers down the road in Washington, D.C.

I joined more than 150 people Sunday as part of the inaugural Harbor Splash organized by the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore.

The Maryland Child Alliance is trying to gather enough signatures for a ballot measure that would give new parents who give birth or adopt a child a one-time $1,000 cash payment.

We are in a season of replacements, of dominos lined up for the chain reaction fall. As many as six political vacancies in Annapolis either have been filled or will be by early next year. It’s a rare moment of political instability, and voters will have almost no say in the outcome.

Petitioners filed more than 23,000 signatures on Thursday, far more than the proposal needs to appear on November’s ballot.

Rachel D. Graham, BOPA’s CEO, said she isn’t concerned about the possible lapse in funding, citing confidence in the city’s commitment to “doing what’s best” for city artists.

Howard County officials on Tuesday broke ground on a project to add an indoor pool at the North Laurel Community Center, ending a decadeslong wait.

City leaders, health care providers and law enforcement can work together to provide treatment, prevention and other strategies to confront Baltimore’s drug overdose crisis, directors of health and public innovation efforts at Johns Hopkins University say.

A Baltimore spokesperson said that Mace was released after two groups of people got into an altercation, but people who attended think something else happened.

Baltimore County Public Schools announced it is redistricting for the sixth time in two years.

Baltimore County Councilman Izzy Patoka said he immediately regretted dissing Glen Burnie and he apologized.

The City Council didn’t introduce a single amendment to the mayor’s proposed budget.

Baltimore voters who might've passed up the opportunity to cast their ballots during the primaries must fully participate in November because of what's at stake nationally, journalist and professor E.R. Shipp says.

The proposed charter amendment would ban residential development, buildings taller than 100 feet and other “private use inconsistent with the parks’ public nature” in the Inner Harbor and 19 other city parks.

The Anne Arundel County Council has adopted a $2.31 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.