A city program funded by federal pandemic aid is running far behind its stated goals, even after expectations were tamped down

Demands from the Baltimore candidate come as the city must earmark close to half of its $641 million American Rescue Plan Act spending package before the end of the year.

While the two downtown hotels will initially serve as temporary shelter for unhoused residents, leaders intend to convert the buildings into longer-term, subsidized housing units.

The contract with a Colorado-based contractor spans five years, but could be extended for up to three more, for a total cost of up to $100 million.

The deal comes nearly three years after the mayor called executing such a purchase his “top priority.”

The trio of bills advanced out of the council’s seven-member Economic and Community Development committee with just one member, Councilman Ryan Dorsey, voting in dissent.

The proposal to ban all tobacco products in Baltimore stadiums is backed by Mayor Brandon Scott and follows similar steps by most other MLB cities.

Councilman Zeke Cohen’s proposal to establish an independent redistricting commission could compete with a separate plan to reform the mapmaking process put forward by Council President Nick Mosby.

The benefits of the strategy were most profound in the first year before abating somewhat afterwards, the researchers found.

The City Council president argued Wednesday that Baltimore residents shouldn’t conflate mistakes he’s made in his personal life with his work in City Hall.

Maryland lawmakers, for the fourth consecutive year, will consider a bill that would enable Baltimore’s mayor and City Council to set a higher property tax rate for vacant, blighted and abandoned properties.

Since the start of the pandemic, Baltimore has quietly made headway towards closing its digital divide. But without action from Congress soon, nearly 80,000 households risk losing low-cost internet connections.

The priorities outlined by Dixon don’t differ widely from those of Scott, whom she hopes to unseat in the Democratic primary this May, and one leading expert on Baltimore crime questioned whether the former mayor’s strategy brings anything “truly new” to the table.

The documents show how Mayor Brandon Scott came to support Baltimore’s sweeping new inclusionary housing law despite 11th-hour changes and warnings from his agencies about the financial consequences.

The signature count is well above the 10,000 required for the proposal to appear on November’s general election ballot.

The Baltimore Department of Public Works claimed a mostly vacant office tower in downtown Baltimore used more water than any other property owner in the city.

The first-term Democratic governor said he hopes to see passage of the legislation aimed at tightening release opportunities for some incarcerated people convicted of sexual assault, like the man charged in the September killing of Baltimore tech entrepreneur Pava LePere.

Two months after Baltimore County’s new economic development director abruptly resigned, County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. has nominated a senior deputy administrator to temporarily lead the department.

In addition to reforming the timeline and public input requirements of the redistricting process, the council president’s proposed charter amendment would strip the ability of future mayors to veto the City Council’s plan.

Leaders in Baltimore’s homelessness office have indicated in recent weeks that the city is nearing a deal to acquire one or more hotels.