Getting out the word: As the country's affordable housing crisis worsens, Baltimore Renters United speaks to tenants about their legal rights and options in rent court. About 25% of tenants evicted in the city become homeless, the group says. tinyurl.com/zjatbewr

LATEST: Scott administration claims full power over the Baltimore Office of the Inspector General and dismissal of its lawsuit that Judge White said could proceed ….and accuses fraud watchdog Isabel Cumming of aligning with "interests adverse to the city." tinyurl.com/mpdfyk2c

Getting out the word: As the country's affordable housing crisis worsens, Baltimore Renters United speaks to tenants about their legal rights and options in rent court. About 25% of tenants evicted in the city become homeless, the group says. tinyurl.com/zjatbewr

Bill to repeal term limits in Baltimore hits choppy waters. Councilman Blanchard introduces an amendment to keep term limits, but extend council members’ to three terms instead of two. tinyurl.com/y22upj53 Chairman @electryandorsey.bsky.social recesses committee w/o calling for a vote.

A historic downtown pumping station will be rehabbed, while a crucial Westside sewer project is delayed. tinyurl.com/4kt7xnma The differing fates today of two big infrastructure projects – one serving downtown and the harborfront and the other centered in West Baltimore.

[email protected] releases his Second Term Action Plan. tinyurl.com/9m26xtfh Adding a sixth “pillar,” the modernization and maintenance of Baltimore’s infrastructure, Scott's plan “turns ambition into accountability,” says City Administrator Faith Leach.

Inspector General finds 15 city executives were kept on the payroll well after they left Baltimore government tinyurl.com/p24zykem The @mayorbmscott.bsky.social office says the IG report “sensationalizes” a common HR practice.

Baltimore’s most popular trash and recycling facility – on city-owned land long coveted by a developer – can be closed and not relocated as long as certain conditions are met, says final report by @MayorBMScott's Task Force. tinyurl.com/3xedvft8

DPW's Sisson Street Trash Transfer facility could close within three years - if renovation of the Reedbird facility is finished and other conditions are met by then, the final report by @mayorbmscott.bsky.social Task Force says. tinyurl.com/3xedvft8

The Baltimore County Council pension bill: Too little too late. tinyurl.com/4vjxu233 Complicit in a convoluted pension grab, lawmakers are trying to save face now . . . with a bill that could set the county up for a lawsuit. [OP-ED]

Yes, Baltimore, we can have nice things - that big Middle Branch project is taking shape tinyurl.com/2unzatu2 Wetlands are being returned to their marshy glory, but with hiking/biking trails and other features to delight nature lovers and uplift neighborhoods. By @danrodricks.bsky.social

Plan by @mayorbmscott.bsky.social for her watchdog office would "eviscerate its independence," @isabel_cumming said in a statement today. tinyurl.com/c5w5vnrk The legislation he is proposing “is not accountability, it is control.”

Mayor Brandon Scott previews legislation that cripples the independence of Baltimore’s inspector general. tinyurl.com/bdfbdrvr Announcement comes on same day as Wall Street Journal describes “taxpayer outrage” over mayoral spending and his battle with IG Cumming over access to City Hall records.

The latest Baltimore speed camera locations and a new program targeting oversized trucks. tinyurl.com/5d26v3rw

Council members weigh in on why they're voting no on the IG records access bill. tinyurl.com/ys5f3evv "I am a humongous fan of our Inspector General," @odetteramos said, but "I cannot pass a law that we have not had that deliberative process on."

Councilman Mark Conway says he will force the City Council to hold a vote - tonight - on his Inspector General records access bill . . . ... So far, they've avoided going on the record about it. tinyurl.com/r23vm88f

Back from the dead: Councilman Ryan Dorsey's effort to repeal term limits for Baltimore electeds that were approved by the voters in 2022. tinyurl.com/kjy92vjx (It's on the agenda to be introduced at tonight's City Council meeting.)

Feisty reporting, thoughtful commentary and fabulous photos. A rundown of Baltimore Brew's 26 awards for journalistic excellence this year from the Maryland Delaware DC Press Association. tinyurl.com/yrsxpj9m

Scenes from the hearing on the bill to give Baltimore Inspector General Cumming her powers back . . . including the Law Department “gotcha” that wasn’t. tinyurl.com/23mbzedw

Board of Estimates is told that $153 Million taser & body-worn camera contract with Axon could be drastically cut. @mayorbmscott.bsky.social's appointees approve it anyway. The Baltimore Police Dept acknowledges they didn't look at competitors before hooking up with Axon. tinyurl.com/47b5978d

Also opposing MCB’s North Ave. parking variance request: Former BMZA Director Rebecca Witt. tinyurl.com/mry934nx The difficulty MCB claims derives from its reliance on “suburban land use models developed in an era of abundant land, segregated uses and universal automobile dependence."

Baltimore to spend record amount on new police technology via single-source contract. Axon contract with @baltimorepolice.bsky.social started at $11.6 million, climbed to $46 million and will now soar by another $153 million if approved by the Board of Estimates tomorrow. tinyurl.com/3kdvcns3

[email protected] and City Council are under pressure as @mayorbmscott.bsky.social -aligned developer MCB seeks parking variance for a W North Ave project that residents say will cause traffic congestion and crashes endangering bike riders, kids and other pedestrians tinyurl.com/522v3hb6

Baltimore's parking-averse City Council is put to the test as prominent developer David Bramble asks for more of it tinyurl.com/522v3hb6 Residents are glad MCB's Reservoir Square will have a grocery store, but angry abt a design they say will make this part of North Ave more congested and dangerous.

The Brandon Scott image Inspector General Isabel Cumming posted was bad, but Senate President Bill Ferguson exploiting it to shut her watchdog work down and take power away from that important office is shameful. tinyurl.com/3z3zkma5 [OP-ED]

[email protected] wraps up a week’s stay in Spain for a Bloomberg CityLab conference where he described his success in reducing the number of vacants in Baltimore. tinyurl.com/3jbeb9nd Next up: Las Vegas, in search of commercial and retail developers. #ICSCVegas

Baltimore DPW says there will be no layoffs in fiscal 2027. tinyurl.com/mrysnyyp The agency is eliminating 144 positions (many of which are currently vacant) that “no longer align with current operational needs."

Despite TWICE being elected to head Local 44, Baltimore sanitation worker Stancil McNair has been barred from the union hall, relegated to assembling trash cans, while an insider assumes many of his duties. tinyurl.com/8sa3u7fe Members cry foul, demand answers from @afscmemd.org .

Veteran of Baltimore’s civilian police oversight sues over removal from charging committee. tinyurl.com/2trxfhr8 Part of the long-running debate over civilian boards’ powers, with some critics calling this one “a watchdog whose leash remains in the hands of the mayor.”

Tuerk House and a councilman get fierce pushback from West Baltimore residents.https://tinyurl.com/4uwe9pa5 Longtime provider of substance use disorder services' plan to buy property on MLK Blvd triggers passionate testimony about unsafe communities getting no help from the City.

Chief of staff for @mayorbmscott.bsky.social formally complains about "deeply offensive" and "racist" post by Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming . . . who today apologized for it, saying "accountability starts with me." tinyurl.com/4m6bwpsf

BREAKING - Judge Pamela White tonight rules in favor of Inspector General Isabel Cumming and against @mayorbmscott.bsky.social , denying the City's motion to disqualify her lawyers and allowing her suit for records access to proceed. tinyurl.com/3b9zy9c4

Baltimore judge, hearing the @mayorbmscott.bsky.social administration's case against Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, appears skeptical. tinyurl.com/62wck64f What if blocking her subpoenas is “perceived as...denying the IG the opportunity to engage in their duties – that’s not a conflict?”

Judge is being asked by the @mayorbmscott.bsky.social administration to seal parts of Inspector General Isabel Cumming’s lawsuit against the City. tinyurl.com/mwe9p44a City argues that Cumming included privileged information that needs to be kept from the public. Court hearing today.

This week a billboard is rising on property by the Jones Falls that developer Seawall intends to buy. Resurrecting a billboard at the Potts & Callahan property disappoints some who had hoped the land would become a green, park-like amenity for Baltimore tinyurl.com/mv8hm6e9

Inspector general calls on court to force @mayorbmscott.bsky.social administration to comply with its subpoenas. tinyurl.com/bddb2trn In an amended complaint, IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming asks how her office can root out fraud and waste . . . if it cannot access city records?

Flying low, loud and . . . A LOT: tinyurl.com/mrx72jp9 The increase in low-flying tourist and police helicopters over Baltimore is endangering public safety. The FAA needs to act. [OP-ED] @mayorbmscott.bsky.social

Workers at the first MOMs Organic Market to unionize now being paid less than staffers at non-unionized MOM's locations? tinyurl.com/5cb8znpc Ex-employees say pay disparities and harsh policies at the busy Hampden location belie the chain's high-minded core values.

TV tower owners (WBAL, WJZ and WMAR) and contractor to pay $2M after raining lead paint flakes on neighborhood. tinyurl.com/4n6r6c4e Settlement reveals owners knew the north Baltimore structure contained lead-based paint, but then hired an unaccredited company to repaint it.

Unionized workers at the Hampden MOM's Organic Market decry pay discrimination. tinyurl.com/5cb8znpc They say giving them lower weekend pay and fewer paid holidays than non-unionized MOM's locations, doesn’t jibe with the chain’s high-minded core values.

Security guards working for city contractor set to strike tomorrow. tinyurl.com/4xfb5eje Abacus Corp. employees plan to rally in front of Baltimore City Hall on Thursday as part of their walkout.

In Baltimore, "low bidders" often return to the Board of Estimates seeking millions to finish the project. tinyurl.com/2kuabvxu A proposed charter change would end competitive bidding. But what would replace it?

. @zekecohen.bsky.social won’t support Mark Conway's bill to restore Inspector General Isabel Cumming's access to records ... that @mayorbmscott.bsky.social abruptly curtailed earlier this year. tinyurl.com/2kuabvxu

Citing a history of stormwater violations, the @chesapeakebayfdn.bsky.social urges Baltimore to deny a stormwater waiver for the Johns Hopkins University's DSAI project. tinyurl.com/3mjdn7n3 "What they're doing is clearly not working."

[email protected] says IG Cumming’s request for records access is illegal and her suit should be thrown out. tinyurl.com/47b9mztm Faced with a subpoena seeking documents about one of his programs, he argues the OIG’s subpoena powers only apply to entities outside city government.

Councilman Mark Conway is introducing a bill to give Inspector General Cumming back her access to city records tinyurl.com/2kkz2m7d Why did @mayorbmscott.bsky.social curtail her powers? “Where there’s smoke there’s fire – my hope is the fire's not someone in the mayor’s office pulling strings."

In Baltimore, for No Kings day, thousands of protesters turned out, denouncing Donald Trump with expletives, chiding him with Thomas Paine and Mr. Rogers quotes and using the President's own rude words: "Quiet, Piggy!" to rebuke him. tinyurl.com/3t4aea3b

Paula Hollinger, former state senator who fought for women’s reproductive rights, dies at 85. tinyurl.com/yveha7ft Barely taller than Barbara Mikulski but, similarly, wielding big influence, Hollinger represented Baltimore County for nearly 30 years in Annapolis.

Developer Seawall, extending its reach to the Jones Falls, is chided for leaving much of Baltimore out. tinyurl.com/jhxdz4n9 Does uplifting a city waterway mean eateries & apartments? At an otherwise convivial meeting, some raw moments around development, gentrification and race.

Trying to get in front of a hot-button issue that’s dogged him, CP Zeke Cohen calls for a 1-year ban on data centers. www.baltimorebrew.com/2026/03/24/t... Some say Baltimore's already behind other jurisdictions and needn't wait a year, but shd put strict zoning restrictions on these facilities now.