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Alissa Zhu

Alissa

Alissa Zhu reports on the drug overdose crisis in Baltimore as a New York Times Local Investigations fellow working in partnership with The Baltimore Banner. Previously she was on the investigations team at the Clarion Ledger in Mississippi and covered local government for the News-Leader in her hometown of Springfield, Missouri.

Latest content by Alissa Zhu

Amanda Vlakos was found dead of an overdose in September while enrolled in PHA Healthcare, a recovery program that offered free housing.
They entered treatment. Drugs, overdoses and deaths followed.
Baltimore addiction programs draw patients with free housing while collecting millions. Some say one program—PHA Healthcare—offered little help.
A parent completes her ballot while her children wait by her side at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Md. Voters across Howard, Anne Arundel and Harford counties approved several ballot measures Tuesday.
Howard County voters approve ballot measure to establish inspector general’s office
Howard County voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to create a new inspector general’s office.
Almost 6,000 people have died from overdoses in the last six years in Baltimore, the worst drug crisis ever seen in a major American city.
Baltimore’s lawsuit against opioid companies can proceed to trial, judge rules
Baltimore Circuit Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill said he's confident that the case will eventually reach the Maryland Supreme Court.
Members of the BRIDGES Coalition hold a demonstration in front of City Hall in Baltimore, Wednesday, July 10, 2024.
Baltimore reaches second opioid settlement with CVS on the eve of trial
The settlement brings the city’s total recoveries to $90 million.
People protested the city’s response to overdoses at City Hall in Baltimore last month.
As opioid deaths plague Baltimore, the city’s strategy is silence
Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration has opted to remain silent on the city’s response to overdose deaths as it navigates litigation with opioid makers and distributors.
Dr. Ihuoma Emenuga after being sworn in as health commissioner by Mayor Brandon Scott at Baltimore City Hall, March 20, 2024.
Fired Baltimore health commissioner under criminal investigation
Dr. Emenuga is the subject of a criminal investigation that focuses, at least in part, on work she did at a health care provider while also serving as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Passengers sat in a darkened terminal for more than 90 minutes Saturday after a power outage delayed flights at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Power restored at BWI after planes were grounded, passengers left in the dark
The outage happened at around 6 p.m. Airport officials acknowledged the outage at 6:12 p.m. on X, saying efforts were being made to restore the power.
Members of the BRIDGES Coalition hold a demonstration in front of City Hall in Baltimore, Wednesday, July 10, 2024.
A councilman wanted to hold a hearing about overdoses. He got shut down.
A hearing to examine Baltimore’s opioid overdose crisis was abruptly canceled Wednesday morning as a dispute between Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council member who’d called the meeting boiled over and became public.
Discarded Narcan nasal spray sits on Retreat Street in Baltimore on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023.
$20M to pay lawyers: Where money from Baltimore’s opioid settlement will go
Questions abound about how the money will be used to combat overdoses.
The exterior of Baltimore City Hall.
Council will hold four hearings examining city’s response to overdoses
The Baltimore City Council will hold at least four oversight hearings examining the city’s response to its unprecedented overdose epidemic.
Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway listens during a hearing with members of the Baltimore City Council’s Public Safety and Government Operations Committee inside Baltimore City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
City Council to examine city’s overdose response after Banner/Times report
Councilman Mark Conway plans to introduce legislation on Monday to convene a hearing in late June.
A person in Baltimore receives Narcan, an overdose antidote.
Seniors in Baltimore are being devastated by drugs: 5 takeaways
The city has become the U.S. overdose capital, and older Black men are dying at higher rates than anyone else.
A horrific number of older Black men are dying from overdoses in Baltimore
Many are dying from fentanyl and other drugs. The hardest-hit are Black men in their 50s to 70s, a group that Baltimore’s changing economy left behind.
Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, then health commissioner, in her office in January 2023. She was later promoted to deputy mayor of health, equity and human services. According to a memo obtained by The Banner, she will leave City Hall in June.
Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore’s top health official, to leave job next month
Deputy chief of staff J.D. Merrill will serve as Dzirasa’s interim replacement.
Cassidy Fredrick, 6, sits on the headstone of her father, Devon Wellington, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore, MD on April 7, 2024.
‘I love you in the sky, daddy’: Stories from Baltimore’s overdose crisis
Unprecedented overdose rates from fentanyl and other drugs have left signs of loss across the city.

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