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Lee O. Sanderlin

Lee O.

Lee O. Sanderlin is an Enterprise Reporter for The Baltimore Banner. Before joining The Banner, Lee was a reporter at The Baltimore Sun where he wrote about abuses of power, gun violence and legislative issues, among other topics. A North Carolina native, Lee has also worked in his home state and in Mississippi, where he was an investigative reporter assigned to the statehouse. Lee is a graduate of Appalachian State University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he completed an investigative reporting fellowship. In his spare time he likes long walks, spending time with his friends, playing golf and, during the season, watching App State football.

Latest content by Lee O. Sanderlin

The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts has removed CEO Rachel Graham after just seven months on the job.
BOPA votes to oust CEO as arts group faces financial peril
Graham’s departure is “effective immediately,” BOPA interim Chair and CEO Robyn Murphy said at the close of a special meeting Wednesday. Murphy was temporarily appointed to both roles while the board searches for new leadership.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 02: Former Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD), President Biden's nominee to be the next Commissioner of Social Security, testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on November 02, 2023 in Washington, DC. If confirmed O'Malley would replace former Commissioner Andrew Saul who was fired from office by President Joe Biden in 2021.
O’Malley resigns from Social Security Administration to run for DNC chair
O’Malley’s candidacy to lead the Democratic National Committee comes at a time of soul-searching and finger-pointing in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
The school system also agreed to perform an audit of grade changes at three randomly selected schools for the next three years.
Baltimore schools settle lawsuit backed by Sinclair executive David Smith
The settlement doesn’t involve the exchange of money and required Jovani Patterson, the lone remaining plaintiff, to acknowledge the school system hadn’t broken any laws or violated any rules.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 11: Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley testifies before the Senate Committee on the Budget at the U.S. Capitol on September 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. The hearing was entitled "Social Security Forever: Delivering Benefits and Protecting Retirement Security"
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley exploring run for DNC chair
Former Maryland governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley is among the names being floated to lead the Democratic National Committee after latest Trump victory.
DPW worker Timothy Cartwell was fatally struck by a garbage truck while working in this alley in the 1800 block of Baker Street on Friday.
Sources: Public Works employee died due to ‘driver error’
The driver of the garbage truck backed into the sanitation worker, pinning him against a wooden light pole, the sources said.
David Smith is the sole funder of the group working to shrink city council.
David Smith wanted to cut Baltimore City Council. He united it instead.
“It was kind of a gift that David Smith and the proponents of the bill gave this city,” said Zac Blanchard, who unseated a Smith-backed candidate in May.
Voters cast their ballots for the 2024 general election at Wise High School in Upper Marlboro.
4 things we learned from election night results in Maryland
Being popular doesn’t guarantee victory, and other lessons from Tuesdays election results.
Mayor Brandon Scott is seen ahead of a community walk around the Four by Four neighborhood on May 7, 2024.
Brandon Scott gets a second term and a chance at a legacy
Baltimore gets four more years of Scott and his progressive, if not incremental, agenda.
The ballot measure would have reduced Baltimore the City Council’s size by six members.
Baltimore rejects smaller City Council — and Sinclair’s David Smith
City officials had made a late push against Question H, warning residents that approving the measure, which sought to cut the City Council to eight members from 14, would reduce representation and mean poorer constituent services.
A view of the Baltimore City Council chamber where the president conducts business inside Baltimore City Hall on September 11, 2024.
Who signed the petition to shrink Baltimore City Council? It’s not who you think
Critics have said the ballot measure to shrink the Baltimore City Council will disenfranchise majority-Black neighborhoods. A Banner analysis found the vast majority of signers live in those neighborhoods and are Democrats. But why did they sign?
Albert Nickerson, a county commissioner in Kent County is pictured on his in-law's farm on October 18, 2024.
In Maryland’s smallest county, the politics of change take center stage
High property values and relative population density have given the town an outsized importance in the county’s economic picture.
The Dali cargo ship begins to move from the Key Bridge wreckage site on the morning of May 20, 2024, in Baltimore.
Owner, operator of ship that hit Key Bridge settle with DOJ for $100 million
The owner and the manager of the container ship that caused the Key Bridge collapse, killing six bridge workers, have agreed to pay more than $100 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department. DOJ blamed the Singapore-based companies for a “cascading series of failures.”
The interior of Viva Books in downtown Baltimore was badly damaged in a fire that officials say started underground.
City still searching for cause of underground fires: ‘Can’t guarantee safety’
“We don’t have a sense of when it may happen again, we don’t have a sense of what to do differently,” Councilman Mark Conway said.
A Half Marathon runner sports a crab hat during the Baltimore Running Festival on October 19th, 2024 in Baltimore, MD. Eric Thompson for The Baltimore Banner.
‘I finished.’ The pain and joy of the Baltimore Marathon
Willy Fink and Sara Kenefick were the winners in the Baltimore Running Festival event.
Baltimore Police, Fire and the City Office of Emergency Management on the scene of a collision near the intersection of Cathedral and Centre Streets in Baltimore on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.
Runaway garbage truck rolls downhill, kills its driver
A 41-year-old garbage worker was outside of the garbage truck he was operating when it began to roll.

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