The year 2025 did not sunset quietly in Baltimore County.

December was one of the busiest of news months. The CEO of the Baltimore County Public Library departed her job after the firing — and subsequent re-hiring — of 14 part-time librarians. And Inspector General Kelly Madigan, after battling for her job, announced she was departing for Howard County.

There was also the disturbing matter of a paramedic who not only couldn’t keep things in his pants, but broadcast the results far and wide.

Driving while Black still perilous in Baltimore County

In a county that is only about 30% Black, Baltimore County police officers stopped Black drivers over 80,000 more times than white drivers between 2018 and 2024, according to a Banner analysis. Black drivers made up 57% of total traffic stops during that period. Traffic stops in the county have been so disproportionate that the Baltimore County Police Department ranked worst in racial disparities among larger police departments in the state every year between 2018 and 2024. And Black drivers are not only more likely to be stopped, but also more likely to be ticketed. Many Black residents already knew about the disparities. Now everyone else does, too.

That time AI thought a student’s potato chips were a gun

In late October, Baltimore County police officers surrounded a group of Kenwood High School students, guns drawn, after the Omnilert AI Gun Detection System warned school leaders that a student had what appeared to be a gun. It turned out to be a bag of chips. School officials called for a review of the AI system. Doritos may not be great for your health, but eating them should not be a crime requiring armed officers.

That time a troubled employee used AI to frame his principal

Technically, it was 2024 when Dazhon Darien used AI to malign his boss, Pikesville High School principal Eric Eiswert. Darien, who was then the school’s athletic director, made a recording purporting to be Eiswert making racist and antisemitic comments. Eiswert was put on leave while officials investigated. In 2025, Darien was arrested, charged and sentenced to four months in county jail, though the FBI separately arrested him on child pornography charges. Eiswert, now a principal at Sparrows Point Middle School in Edgemere, sued the school system for failing to correct the record immediately regarding the impersonation and damaging his reputation. He settled the suit in October for an undisclosed amount.

The first woman county executive – and the race to replace her

At the beginning of 2025, the Baltimore County Council appointed longtime state senator Kathy Klausmeier to succeed Johnny Olszewski Jr., who won a seat in Congress. Klausmeier became the first woman in the job, but agreed she would not run for the position permanently. That set up a race in which three Democratic councilmen — Catonsville’s Pat Young, Pikesville’s Izzy Patoka, and Woodstock’s Julian Jones — are running against each other. They’re joined in the race by Nick Stewart, a former school board member.

The changing face of the future County Council

Since the council was created in the 1950s, it has been overwhelmingly white and male. The council has never elected a Black woman, or anyone Latino or Asian. Only five women have ever served. The council, and the voters, voted to expand from seven districts to nine, and many diverse candidates have filed to run. Women of color running include Makeda Scott, a former school board member; Sharonda Huffman, a longtime housing advocate; Arkia Wade, a community advocate; Danita Tolson, an NAACP leader and nursing professor; and Mandy Rammell, a longtime Olszewski aide. The next council may look a lot more like the county.

Mangione attempts to distance himself ... from Mangione

The Mangione name was well-known in Baltimore County long before Luigi Mangione was arrested a year ago in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street. After the arrest, Luigi Mangione remained in the news constantly, as details of his post-college life dribbled out and the world wondered what exactly happened to the Gilman School valedictorian who finished the University of Pennsylvania with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. All of that attention was not great for Luigi’s cousin, Del. Nino Mangione, who is running for a council seat in the newly drawn but mostly still northern and Republican district now held by councilman Wade Kach. Nino Mangione would be a change for the council; he’s far more conservative and pro-Trump than the current makeup.

The paramedic who shouldn’t have

Where to even begin with this one? A Baltimore County Fire Department paramedic is being investigated after he allegedly masturbated and urinated in shared common spaces inside the county’s fire stations. The paramedic posted videos of those acts to his pages on subscriber-only websites, including OnlyFans, as well as free social media pages. It’s not the first time the fire department has found itself in hot water over troubling behavior, but we can hope it is the last. No charges have been filed.

The CEO fired 14 part-time librarians, then found herself out of a job

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Baltimore County Public Library CEO Sonia Alcántara-Antoine told 14 part-time librarians over Zoom that their jobs were eliminated. They were escorted from the building, some with only an hour to collect their things. Outrage ensued, and the CEO rehired the librarians two days later. By December, she was the one out of a job as the library board worked to repair relations with the union, employees and patrons.

The inspector general holds on to her job, then leaves on her own terms

County Executive Kathy Klausmeier surprised the county’s first inspector general, Kelly Madigan, when she told her in May that she would not reappoint Madigan. After she set up a process to choose a new nominee, the public rebelled, and the council declined to confirm her. So Madigan stayed. Banner reporting later revealed that the county hired Madigan her own attorney and she sued a former employee — information the public did not know. The county ended up paying the former employee $100,000 to settle the case, which remains under seal. Madigan, in the meantime, announced she was going to become Howard County’s new IG.

Todd Crandell, a loaded Glock, and the future of Dundalk’s representation

Councilman Todd Crandell has been open with his colleagues about his struggles with alcohol, but most of them did not know the particulars of an incident at his Eastpoint Mall office in June 2024, when police transferred him to the hospital after he opened his drawer to show a fully loaded handgun. When officers refused to uncuff a belligerent Crandell, he shouted, “I will shove my Glock up your ass.” Subsequent reporting revealed that the councilman was absent at community events, did not return calls and does not update his social media to communicate with constituents. The council, however, stood by him; he has not said whether he is running for re-election.

The Days Cove saga

It wasn’t necessarily a huge surprise that a landfill was seeking a state permit to double the amount of treated leachate it discharges into tributaries of Gunpowder River. But it was shocking to learn the landfill was on state parkland, had a lease with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and had paid the state agency $20 million over the past three decades in lease payments. Many nearby residents oppose the permit and want the construction landfill closed. They may get their way, but not as quickly as many wish. A proposed new state lease requires the dump to shut down by 2030 and the site to be capped by the operator for re-use by 2033. The state, meanwhile, could reject the expanded permit.