Breaking: Anthony Barksdale, Baltimore’s deputy mayor for public safety and a former deputy Baltimore Police commissioner, whose tenures in both roles corresponded with steep declines in gun violence, is dead at 53. W @emilyopilo.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/obituaries/a...

In a new statement, Sen. Dalya Attar, charged yesterday in federal extortion scheme, admits she did have a consultant followed and her family did capture an illicit video of the consultant. But she says it was legal. www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

New: This successful furniture chain owner sprinkled tens of thousands of dollars among Maryland politicians before becoming a Baltimore cop at age 48. Now he’s federally indicted in a political blackmail scheme www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

A union election will be overturned and rerun as a result of social media posts from Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming that interfered with the process, a judicial panel for the union ruled this week, @emilyopilo.bsky.social reports www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Update: More than two years after being charged, former Dunbar High School football coach Lawrence Smith pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he stole $215,000 as a city schools police officer by lying about working overtime www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Ex-Baltimore cop Daniel Hersl, who went to prison for his role in Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal and was released early due to cancer, has died www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

New: Top Maryland prosecutor who investigated police-involved deaths is leaving post, weeks after unit’s first charged case went bust www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

New: Maryland State Police Col. Roland L. Butler Jr. is out, and the Moore administration has tapped state senator and former Prince Georges County sheriff Michael A. Jackson as his replacement www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

My latest: For 7 years after Black Guerilla Family gang leader Ricky Evans pleaded guilty, nothing happened in his case. Or so it seemed. He spent that time helping the feds solve dozens of murders and other acts of violence: www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Both of The Sun’s reporters who covered the governor and General Assembly - and did a good job I might add - have left

They tried the ritzy out-of-town developers. They tried local ones. They even tried breaking up the quagmire that is the "Superblock" into bite-size parcels. All failed. Then, it burned. What's next for the stagnant development? w/ @emilyopilo.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/economy/supe...

Baltimore County government lately:

NEW: A few weeks ago, @muckrock.com shared the Brady list for Baltimore County. Scanning it, I noticed the police chief was on there. I then spent weeks trying to figure out why. But no one — not the state's attorney, nor the police department — is explaining it. www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Person stabbed outside of Towson Town Center in critical condition, suspect arrested www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

The Sagamore Pendry’s striking Fernando Botero horse sculpture is gone - it belonged to Kevin Plank and was among art taken back after he sold his stake in the hotel www.thebanner.com/culture/arts...

Baltimore Councilman Mark Conway files to challenge U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

“Why would you take your eyes off her?”: Mom says state agency knew foster teen was ‘high risk’ before placing her in hotel, report @leeosanderlin.bsky.social & Jessica Calefati www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

A Baltimore-area serial rapist is appealing his case. One survivor is fighting back www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Baltimore has reached an agreement with local nonprofit institutions to gradually increase the payments each gives the city annually in place of taxes to cover the cost of services, reports @emilyopilo.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

“The disagreement about what happened that morning at The Bun Shop has stretched over 4 years and cost county taxpayers $190,000 — legal fees and a settlement paid to Murray that the county requested remain sealed.” More great @rkobell.bsky.social reporting: www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

Tonight:

Just this morning in Baltimore County: 55 yr old man accused of fatally shooting his wife, 56, in Monkton www.thebanner.com/community/cr... 89 yr old man kills his 87 yr old wife & then himself in Timonium www.thebanner.com/community/cr... A “suspicious death” of woman found in home in Sparks area

NEW: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore plans to shut down one of the state’s aging prisons in Jessup, moving inmates and staffers to other facilities rather than spending hundreds of millions of dollars on repairs. www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Tuesday night at the Pratt Library I’ll be talking to Chicago economist Jens Ludwig about his new book on gun violence, “Unforgiving Places” calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/jens-l...

Baltimore County investigators say they’ve solved 44-year-old cold case murder of Lochearn neighborhood’s “Mr. Fix It” www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Baltimore fire investigators don’t know what caused the five-alarm fire that burned down the historic city-owned Superblock, with the once-vacant structures deemed to be too unsafe to inspect before they were torn down, documents show www.thebanner.com/economy/grow...

Teen girl in foster care found dead at the Baltimore hotel where she’d been living; death comes week after publication of audit that criticized state for placing 100s of foster children in hotels instead of homes www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

He got $1.6M from the state for being wrongfully convicted, but in his lawsuit against city cops, specialist lawyers brought on by city unearthed him discussing paying witness to recant. “We do not simply write checks,” city solicitor says www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Exciting Baltimore Banner news: Audrey Cooper, experienced newsroom executive, named to top editing job www.thebanner.com/community/au...

Trump pressured Virginia’s top federal prosecutor to resign. Could Maryland’s be next? U.S. Attorney Hayes under pressure over Schiff, Bolton probes www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Sign up for the free Banner Book Club talk, which is tonight!, here: events.humanitix.com/bannerbookclub

FTC to Pikesville men who resold Taylor Swift tickets for profit: You need to calm down www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

Insightful profile by @justinfenton.bsky.social

Baltimore just went *16 days* in the peak of summer without a homicide. That streak ended earlier today when a 38-year-old man was fatally shot around 1 am in the 2500 block of W Franklin St

How the selection of a new Baltimore County inspector general set off a public furor

Not so fast: Federal officials halt proposed Northeast Maglev train

New: We’ve been foreshadowing this for months, but Aberdeen’s slow-motion breakup with the minor league baseball team that its favorite son Cal Ripken brought to town more than two decades ago appears about to go down this week www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/aberd...

Belinda Conaway called the allegations “unsubstantiated” without elaborating and did not respond to requests for comment today

New: Baltimore’s register of wills office spent over $1M on media and promotions, including $200k for unaired TV show as well as manicure sets, that audit finds couldn’t be justified www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

My latest:

This story gives readers a rare peek behind the curtain. Read what happened between Gov. Wes Moore and lawmakers before he vetoed a reparations bill. @thebaltimorebanner.com

NEW | The pipes beneath Baltimore, which date to the 1890s, keep catching on fire and launching 323-pound manhole covers into the air. And there’s no consensus why. w/ @emilyopilo.bsky.social: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

Update: A suspected “bad batch” of drugs that sent at least 27 people in West Baltimore to the hospital last week contained a drug that research chemists had not seen before in Maryland or any other states where the program tests drug samples: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

Support local journalism by helping The Banner bring more impactful stories to Maryland communities. All contributions made by midnight on Thursday, July 17, will be matched, up to $10,000. buff.ly/gJzVAAN

NEW: Research proves empirical what @lizbowie.bsky.social and I heard from many Baltimore City students: Long and complicated commutes on public transit limit their options even in Baltimore's universal school choice system. We spoke with the researchers. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...

Data analyzed by @thebaltimorebanner.com shows that despite Trump promising his mass deportation campaign would go after violent criminals, 60% of immigrants arrested in Maryland have never been convicted of crimes. Only 13% committed violent crimes www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

The latest: The number of people hospitalized after experiencing suspected overdoses rose overnight to 27 after a possible “bad batch” of street drugs swept through West Baltimore on Thursday www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen fought back against the Trump administration’s plans to keep the FBI headquarters in D.C., by hitting them right where the money is — in Congress. For the moment, he won. The budget process, though, is far from over. tinyurl.com/2t7934x5

UPDATE: At least 15 people have been rushed to the hospital for suspected overdoses in Baltimore’s Penn North neighborhood while search and rescue crews canvass the area for more cases, officials said. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

In the span of about 30 minutes, Baltimore Police officers who arrived at the scene of a 70 y/o woman’s behavioral health crisis went from telling a family member they had no ability to enter the home to breaking down the front door with a Taser in hand: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...