Best Champion
Tawanda Jones
How many people do you know who have turned down a million bucks for something they believe in and for someone they love? Not just say they would turn down the cash, but really do it?
If you’re like us, the answer to that is one person, and that one person is Tawanda Jones.
When police pulled her brother Tyrone West out of a car he borrowed from her and killed him on July 18, 2013, Jones didn’t believe the state’s explanation that said he died, accidentally, from a combination of a bad heart and the heat. In the 12 years since then, she has hosted a West Wednesday protest every single week. Various politicians promised to help, hoping for the support of her growing movement for their own political gains, and then hesitated when the time for action came.
But Jones held on. She did everything possible to keep the case alive, even having her brother’s body exhumed and a new autopsy performed. And when the city offered a settlement, she turned it down because it would prevent her from talking about the case.
Finally, this May, an independent audit of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner vindicated Jones’ long struggle and declared her brother’s death a homicide.
But as much as Jones has fought for her bother, that fight has also been on behalf of the families of so many of the people killed by Baltimore Police, from Freddie Gray — the Uprising would not have happened without her — to Bilal Abdullah, Pytorcarcha Brooks, and Dontae Melton, who were killed by police this summer.
Why Do You Still Have a Job?
Chad Williams, executive director of WNADA
Chad Williams, executive director of the West North Avenue Development Authority, has faced allegations of harassment, stalking, and retaliation from former employees and was the subject of an external investigation over the claims, but he still oversees the redevelopment of the West North Avenue corridor and millions of dollars in funding. Williams was hired in 2022 despite previously being the subject of a federal investigation over his handling of sexual harassment complaints at a Nevada housing authority and accused of sexual harassment at two different workplaces. While in Las Vegas, he was charged with felony and misdemeanor battery charges after “punching a sleeping woman, throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the ribs and face,” and he later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence charges while actively serving as WNADA’s director.
In the face of a mountain of evidence of abuse and the recent investigation highlighting “significant concerns…regarding psychological safety, morale, and workplace consistency,” at the organization, its governing board has seemingly done nothing. City and state officials remain silent on the matter, and no disciplinary actions have been taken.
Women have been brave enough to come forward despite potential retaliation. But as it now stands, the board’s inaction highlights that the justifiable fear of their experiences being invalidated or ignored is front and center.
Biggest Show of Solidarity
May Day in Baltimore
Thousands of Baltimoreans flooded downtown streets on May 1 in one of the city’s largest labor demonstrations in recent memory. Over 50 organizations — from unions like 1199 SEIU and the Baltimore Teachers Union to grassroots groups — united against Trump administration policies including mass ICE detentions and attacks on academic freedom. Seven feeder marches converged at McKeldin Plaza, representing struggles from worker justice to solidarity with Palestine. Hannah Pursley, who was laid off from her job working with immigrant children due to federal cuts, captured the moment: “All these issues are intertwined — worker issues, the genocide in Palestine, immigration reform. We’re all here as neighbors, as community members, to show up and show out together.”
Best Reminder We Can Still Rise Up
The Anniversary of the Uprising
For old heads, it might be hard to fathom that today’s 25-year-olds were only 15 in 2015, when the entire city essentially shut down normal operations for more than a week after tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the in-custody death of then-25-year-old Freddie Gray. Gray was chased down after making eye-contact with police in a “high-crime area.” Video of the incident, taken by neighbor Kevin Moore, of two white officers dragging a screaming Gray into the back of the police van — from which he emerged with a severed spinal cord — infuriated a nation in what was still the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement. People all over the country and the world were having solidarity protests with Baltimore, where, for a brief moment, when protestors rhetorically chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” it was literally true.
Ten years later, in the summer of 2025, police chased, shot, and killed Bilal Abdullah, a beloved arabber, in the same neighborhood as Gray. Then, a little over a week later on a mental health call, Baltimore cops shot and killed a 70-year-old woman named Pytorcarcha Brooks in her own home. And then, when Dontae Melton approached a police car for help in a mental health episode, they handcuffed him and held him prone on the street for nearly an hour because the sergeant thought it would be bad “optics” to try to help him. His June 25 death at the hospital later that night has been ruled a homicide.
Protests and vigils around all of these were small and populated by friends, family, and die-hard activists, though if ICE had done exactly the same things, the No Kings-MSNBC liberals might have found the nerve to muster a mass picnic at Patterson Park. The Uprising should remind us: Black Lives Matter whether they are taken by the super villain or a local cop. And that we don’t need the national TV news divisions of giant conglomerates to tell us when we can and cannot rise up. And it’s not that we shouldn’t be protesting ICE and Trump, but we should remember the spirit of ‘15, when the city controlled its own organic uprising and didn’t need permission from The New York Times.
Most Forgotten Population
Unsheltered residents
In any normal scenario, destroying someone’s home and possessions would be a crime. But that’s not the case for Baltimore’s unsheltered population, which has been the subject of more than two dozen encampment sweeps this year.
The plights of the population, the majority of whom report having substance use disorder or mental illness, have seemingly been ignored in Charm City. They are stripped of the only place they can call home, forced to opt for the streets or city shelters — the latter of which are often described as the worst option.
Shelter residents have described infestations of bedbugs, cockroaches, mice, and rats. They’re also often unaware of the process to file grievances about safety, cleanliness, and other matters, according to a survey by the local nonprofit Housing Our Neighbors.
For many, the extreme temperatures are easier to bear than the city-funded shelters, which are not regulated by the state. And with winter coming, the fact that anyone would choose the streets is an indictment of housing policies and social programs in Baltimore.
Worst Way to Kick Us While We’re Down
BGE and DPW Rate Increases
Baltimore Gas and Electric and the Department of Public Works hit struggling residents with a brutal double punch in 2025. BGE’s gas delivery rate has increased 50% since 2020 (and nearly triple the rate of inflation since 2010) while company profits soared to $485 million. City Councilmember Antonio Glover received a call from a constituent contemplating suicide over bills that tripled. Meanwhile, DPW raised water and sewer rates 3% and 15% despite $188 million in unpaid bills — with only 42% collected from commercial accounts. Healthcare worker Ricarra Jones reported union members’ bills jumping from $250 to over $500 “due to the greed of BGE executives.”
Biggest Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Johns Hopkins University
Let’s be clear: JHU’s lifetime list of atrocities against Baltimore is longer than this blurb will allow, and notably includes a history of gentrification and redlining, a BPD-adjacent private police force, and this past spring, a refusal to stand behind its international students during a Trump admin crackdown. But the most recent affront of Hopkins v. Baltimore is the proposed Data Science and AI Institute facility on the Hopkins Homewood campus. The construction plan promises to cut down almost 100 trees, some of which are publicly owned, in service of building new artificial intelligence research facilities on campus.
Hopkins continues to ignore pleas from the community to save the northern red oaks on the 3100 block of Remington Avenue, entering into yet another battle with neighborhood residents over its stewardship of shared green spaces, or more realistically, its lack thereof — the Instagram account @bmoreagainstdsai posted video of polluted storm runoff in the same area of Remington, related to JHU’s Agora construction site.
Unsung Hero
Baltimore Harm Reduction
From fighting the racist War on Drugs to ensuring those who use drugs in Baltimore stay alive, harm reduction has met the moment in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, Charm City Care Connection, Behavioral Health Leadership Institute, and the SPARC Center are just some of the nonprofits making up a movement rooted in compassion and care. With them, drug users can experience humane treatment that respects their autonomy.
Without them, the drug war would win — and that’s not something Baltimore can afford.
An Entirely Avoidable Economic Crisis
Trump administration cutting federal jobs in Maryland
Elon Musk’s DOGE slashed 15,100 federal jobs in Maryland by August — the most of any state. DOGE claims to have saved billions by targeting waste, but it gutted funding for cancer research and agencies protecting consumers and regulating Musk’s own companies, while actually costing taxpayers $135 billion, one analysis found. Laid off workers with decades of experience face a grim job market and a reeling local economy built on $150 billion in federal spending. Eliminating USAID ended hundreds of Maryland jobs, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths globally, and threatens an additional 14 million lives over five years.
A Show of Courage
Student movements in support of Palestine
Another October 7 passed, marking two years since Israeli forces launched a deadly barrage of attacks on Gaza at a scale that would have been impossible without the financial and political support of the United States. Student activists stepped up and put their education on the line to demand their institutions divest from and sanction what has been determined by the UN to be a genocide in Palestine.
With the threat of losing federal funding for allowing criticism of Israel, considered by the government to be anti-semitic, university administrations and police have cracked down on student protests, encampments, and speech. Detained students endured expulsions, arrests, suspensions, and harassment as they disrupted business as usual at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, Towson University, Goucher College, and other nearby campuses.
Sure, students were afraid of what their political organizing might mean for their degrees. For their job offers. For their sense of safety on campus. But bravery doesn’t let fear stop its motion, and neither did they. Scenes of graduation gowns fluttering alongside Palestinian flags flooded the news cycle as students spoke out during ceremonies. Student-organized political art events raised thousands of dollars for Palestinian families. Student governments drafted and approved resolutions to divest from Israel and other companies fueling human rights violations across the Global South. The courage to defy the rituals of empire, to take direct and radical action, and to deeply understand the role and responsibility of belonging to an academic institution is a hallmark of anti-imperialist, anti-racist student movements. Their bravery calls into the future and the past, falling on the ears of a world where Palestine frees us all.
Smelliest City Award
The inescapable pistachio tide
As the sweltering summer heat dissipated and the leaves started to change, Baltimore enjoyed gorgeous early fall weather that demanded spending time outdoors.
But for nearly two weeks in October, the city endured its longest “pistachio tide” on record, a charming local phenomenon in which sulfur bacteria rise from the Inner Harbor’s depths, turn the water a nuclear shade of neon green, and perfume the air with an unmistakable rotten-egg funk. The stench was so potent it permeated from the Inner Harbor all the way up to North Baltimore.
It’s all triggered by a “turnover event,” when sudden temperature shifts send cold, heavier water sinking and force low-oxygen, bacteria-rich water up to the surface — a “natural” occurrence made worse by stagnant, concrete-lined basins and decades of pollution in the Inner Harbor.
Ah, the joys of waterfront living.
Why Are You Like This?
Ivan Bates
Fans of “I Got a Monster,” the true-crime thriller for the ACAB crowd by Beat-affiliated writers Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg, might be wondering “What the fuck happened to Ivan Bates?” who as a defense attorney was a dedicated and dogged opponent of corrupt cops. We don’t have any answers to that, but it is obvious that, like many attorneys, he supports whatever position will win. And, after winning the seat of top prosecutor from the embattled Marilyn Mosby on a right-wing, tough-on-crime platform, he has followed that path further and further from the person he appeared to be a few years back. He freed Keith Davis Jr. at the beginning of his term and that’s about the only positive thing he has done, even going back on his long-held position on the Adnan Syed case and withdrawing Mosby’s motion to vacate the charges.
Part of it may be that Bates is still so obsessed with Mosby that he has to try to be her opposite in every way. Going back in time, or into the grim Trumpian future, he embraces the prosecution of minor, non-violent offenses such as sex work and drug possession. He wants to keep more kids — and more people in general — in jail longer. And, more than anything else, he wants to take credit for Baltimore’s historically low homicide rate, and so attacks anything, such as Safe Streets, that might steal some of his shine.
And that’s where he’s just like Mosby — he’s glory-hungry and messy as fuck. He endorsed the David Smith ticket during the mayoral election as part of his general suck-uppery to the right and part of his ongoing feud with the mayor, which recently jumped the shark when he sent a letter — which, oh surprise, became public — breaking up with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. The breakup is over the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, which has a lot of real problems, but Bates seemed to focus on his top priority: MONSE also trying to take credit for the drop in crime.
Really, the only thing that could make Bates worse is an alliance with Trump. But hey, Ivan, there’s still 2026, huh?
Biggest Question Mark
The future of Poppleton
There’s a perverse logic to the way so much “development” happens or doesn’t in Baltimore that can be seen nowhere so clearly as in Poppleton, where the city began using eminent domain to seize residential property from residents to give to an out-of-town developer over 20 years ago.
To justify using the power of eminent domain, the city claimed the neighborhood was blighted, crime-ridden, and empty — and then their property seizures and the ever-cascading failures of the development company La Cité and its principal Dan Bythewood proved their thesis, creating vast swaths of empty land. Despite claims that the development would transform the working-class, largely Black neighborhood into “Soho,” Bythewood has succeeded in building only two apartment buildings in the last two decades.
But many of the long-time residents of the neighborhood who began trying to save their neighborhood in 2004 were still fighting for it in 2025 after gaining significant victories over the last few years, most notably the removal of Sonia Eaddy’s home from the development plan and the creation of a Sarah Ann Street historic district to save a row of distinctive alleyhomes that had been occupied by Black families since the 1870s. The city seemed poised to finally get out of the development deal with La Cité.
But, once again, everything is as uncertain as ever, as La Cité has been sued by its own contractors and business partners, plus the Poppleton community association, and a fair housing federal complaint was indefinitely stalled by Trump’s election.
When Baltimore City tried to cancel the development deal with La Cité due to lack of progress and funding back in 2024, you might have thought this nightmare was over. Like the monster in a horror movie, La Cité somehow keeps coming back, promising now that the neighborhood will be developed by Ryan Homes while residents still wait with no word from the city or La Cité about what’s really going on.
A Never-Ending Evil
The state and city’s relentless pursuit to lock up Black Baltimoreans
Even more than crabcakes and club music, Baltimore has excelled at putting its Black residents into cages. And though there have been many improvements since the height of Martin O’Malley’s zero tolerance, when police made 100,000 arrests in 2005, the city’s leadership continues to prioritize incarceration. This is especially troubling in the case of pre-trial incarceration, where people are held, sometimes for years, without being convicted of any crime. And because they haven’t been convicted of a crime, these prisoners are exempt from many of the protections convicted people get — like the right to go outside.
In 2017, bail reform was supposed to fix this. But in 2017, 5,838 people were being held pretrial in Maryland, and at the end of 2024, 6,890 were being held while “presumed innocent.” Even worse, this population includes children who are charged as adults and held in adult facilities without bail while waiting for a trial, some 20% of whom have the charges dismissed outright when they finally reach court.
And it’s no surprise that both the city and Maryland at large incarcerate Black people at far higher rates than white people. This is especially true of drug arrests in Baltimore City, which are overall down, but in 2024, 92.5% of people charged with drugs in the city were Black. Those are some numbers that would make Stephen Miller proud, and yet the city’s Democratic Black leadership continues back such carceral measures as a solution to our problems.
Worst Web of Businesses
Smith family holdings
As a conscious consumer, it’s getting harder and harder to avoid businesses that don’t have Smith family money behind them. A Smith supporter need only visit Harbor East, which has been overrun by landlord-adjacent Atlas restaurants with racist dress code enforcement. Alternatively, they could stop by Curio Wellness dispensary Far & Dotter for weed that was once in a dumpster, or tune into FOX45 for Jimmy Kimmel this weekend — while they still can.
The proof is always in the pudding where David Smith and his family are concerned: everything they touch is imbued with right-wing politics and capitalist sensibilities, and that touch is expanding its reach with every new business venture. Indeed, the Smith family often feels like a hydra: cut off one poisonous head, two grow back. That’s generational wealth, baby.
Biggest Thieves
Meds and eds getting sweetheart tax deals
Baltimore’s largest hospitals and universities use $47 million in city services annually while paying just $6 million total under the current Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement. If fully taxed, these properties would generate $120 million yearly. When Mayor Brandon Scott announced a new deal gradually increasing the total payment to $12 million by 2030, the With Us For Us coalition wasn’t celebrating — the deal came before legislation giving residents a voice in the process could pass. Compare that number to a growing list of cities with far more equitable deals: Yale alone pays New Haven $22.5 million annually. Johns Hopkins has a $13 billion endowment, but Baltimore taxpayers foot the bill.
Kujichagulia Award
Walter P. Carter Institute’s Community Leadership & Empowerment Program
Kujichagulia is a Swahili term that means “self-determination.”
Former Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter, community organizer Aaron Maybin, and deputy chief equity officer for the Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights Kristerfer Burnett were guided by the idea that leadership and progress can come from the ground up, for us and by us, when they announced the Community Leadership & Empowerment Program this year.
The free, 10-week program is an initiative of the Walter P. Carter Institute for Leadership & Service. Walter P. Carter was a well-known civil rights activist in Baltimore, and the father of Jill P. Carter. Participants learn how policy is born, the mechanics of local government, and the importance of values-based leadership.
It’s an essential way of making sure that the next generation of leadership knows how to serve the people, not power.
“He lived his purpose in organizing, educating and mobilizing people to lead themselves,” Jill Carter said about her father to The Afro this past July. “He knew change would never come from the top, so he worked to build it from the ground up—from the grassroots in our communities.”
Fondest Farewell
The end of “On The Record”
After nine years on WYPR’s airwaves, “On The Record” ended in October. We’ll miss it very much. “On The Record” was the antithesis of the loud, one-sided talk radio that has been a hallmark of what often passes for journalism right now. The show was always thoughtful in its approach to subjects and subject matter. Host Sheilah Kast, later joined by co-host Ashley Sterner, guided conversations that helped listeners slow down and consider issues concerning our city and our world. We were lucky enough to be guests on the show a few times and were impressed by the way whip-smart producers Maureen Harvie and Melissa Gerr could weave together an informative and interesting narrative for their listeners.
Black lives — and Black bodies — matter
Henrietta Lacks mural and wax figure
In 1951, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital harvested some cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman from the historically Black community of Turner Station. Those cells, collected without her permission, came to be known as HeLa and are responsible for a wide variety of medical innovations even today. While Hopkins and countless researchers and scientists have been credited for those discoveries, Lacks herself was mostly relegated to the shadows until about 15 years ago when the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” was published.
You can’t appreciate the importance of the medical research these cells helped make possible without also acknowledging the culture of medical racism that allowed the cells to be obtained in the first place.
This year, Lacks was recognized twice: with a new figure at The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum and with a mural not far from Johns Hopkins Medicine’s East Baltimore campus.
“This statue stands as more than a tribute,” Baltimore County Councilmember Julian Jones said at the unveiling of the wax figure, per The Afro. “It is a declaration that Black lives, Black bodies and Black contributions to society and science matter.”
The mural was spearheaded by Ariana Parrish, executive director of Nosreme Baltimore, and painted by artist Shawn Perkins.
“Our mural project aims to honor Henrietta Lacks’ extraordinary legacy and bring awareness to her story and its ethical implications,” organizers said. “By celebrating her life and contributions, we strive to educate the community about the importance of informed consent and the critical role that Black women have played in advancing science and medicine.”
Most Disappointing Political Move
Governor Wes Moore vetoes reparations study
Some of us are old enough to remember the reliable General Assembly tug-of-war between our mostly Democratic leaders and our former governor, a Republican: legislators would pass something reasonably progressive and Larry Hogan would make a big show of vetoing it.
Imagine our surprise when lawmakers again found themselves staring into the face of another gubernatorial veto. This time from Maryland’s first Black governor, Wes Moore. In May, Moore vetoed legislation that would have established a state reparations commission to study the effects of slavery and anti-Black policies on Black Marylanders and then make a report on their findings by 2027.
“While I appreciate the work that went into this legislation, I strongly believe now is not the time for another study,” Moore said in a letter addressed to State Senate President Bill Ferguson. “Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”
The blowback from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, organizers, and advocates was swift and succinct.
“At a time when the White House and Congress are actively targeting Black communities, dismantling diversity initiatives, and using harmful coded language, Governor Moore had a chance to show the country and the world that here in Maryland we boldly and courageously recognize our painful history and the urgent need to address it. Instead, the State’s first Black governor chose to block this historic legislation that would have moved the state toward directly repairing the harm of enslavement,” the caucus said in a joint statement.
“Governor Moore’s rejection of the reparations bill is highly problematic because Governors and state legislators from other states can point to a Black Governor’s veto of a reparations commission and the rationale provided as an excuse to reject similar legislation. Indeed, it is ironic that the White Governors of California and New York signed legislation to create reparations commission[s] while the Black Governor of Maryland vetoed a reparations bill that passed the state legislature with overwhelming support,” said Ron Daniels, convener of the National African American Reparations Commission.
“If a state with so many democratic African Africans in political leadership from the top down cannot deliver on taking this sensible step for reparations; I shudder to think about the message that it will send across the nation in our community and beyond,” Rev. Dr. Huber Brown said in an op-ed published in Baltimore Beat in June. “What would it say about the Democratic party if they can’t deliver for the Black community even when they have all of the cards in their hands?”
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a grassroots think tank in Baltimore, began a campaign in November asking Marylanders to urge their representatives to override Moore’s veto.
Best Lowdown, Evil-Ass, Fascist, Fear-Mongering, Powergrabbing Bullshit
Demonizing immigrants and those who stand up for them
Sometimes we like to think of our city as the Republic of Baltimore, where normal reality doesn’t quite apply (“Baltimore is not real,” as Beat boss Lisa Snowden often says) and where national notions go to die. But when it comes to the fascist fascination with finding new ways to inflict suffering on immigrant communities, we are, unfortunately, a part of the United States. Nowhere was all of this more clear than in the administration’s obsession with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was arrested by federal agents in PG County, detained in Baltimore, and accidentally deported, against a court order, to El Salvador. Rather than admit a mistake, the Trump administration has contorted itself to find ways to make the man and his family suffer.
We have yet to be full-on invaded like so many other cities, though we should be prepared because it is likely coming, but the Proud Boys and Three Percenters — oh, we mean ICE officers — have still brought a lot of suffering to our streets. In its Baltimore Area of Responsibility, ICE made 2,280 arrests in the first seven months of 2025. People are held in ICE’s Baltimore Field Office for extended periods, where they have been forced to sleep on the floor and denied medical care and contact with family or lawyers. And, as intended by the ghoulish gestapoids intent on obeying Stephen Miller, these attacks have stoked fear throughout the community.
But, Baltimore being Baltimore, we’re pushing back with CASA Maryland, Baltimore Rapid Response Network, and the Free State Coalition, in addition to small groups of neighbors organizing responses. Hell, even a couple of our representatives are stepping up, with Chris Van Hollen traveling to El Salvador to try to free Abrego Garcia. The rest need to step the fuck up, because the bad guys sure are.
How Not To Be a Leader
Bill Ferguson
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson is living proof that Democrats, too, bend their knees to President Donald Trump. That became abundantly clear when Ferguson, who “legislates” in a state with a liberal trifecta, refused to support mid-cycle gerrymandering.
Trump successfully pressured his minions in states like Florida and Texas to redraw congressional maps to gain more conservative seats, therefore bolstering support for his assault on public health, minorities, and the rule of law. However, as California stepped up to fight fire with fire, Ferguson cowarded in the face of high-stakes partisan conflict because “The legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous and the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic.”
Maryland needs strong leadership, and Ferguson has proved to be a weak, moderate Democrat with a reputation for halting progress. He has been instrumental in killing innumerable bills, such as those that would legalize life-saving overdose prevention centers, in the name of maintaining the status quo.
He also wields his power over the city for selfish purposes — in 2022, he threatened to pull state funding for the city’s free bus service, the Charm City Circulator, after learning that the city was considering eliminating a low-ridership route through Locust Point (where car ownership rates average 90-96% of households) in favor of a route through Cherry Hill, where 54% of households do not own vehicles.
With a fascist strongman helming the White House, states like Maryland can’t get complacent in their moderate, blue bubble. Radical, authoritarian leadership on Capitol Hill requires equally radical responses to protect our most vulnerable. Ferguson is incapable of providing that.
Most Notable Silence
Brandon Scott on national TV
Mayor Brandon Scott is on a roll. Not in terms of policy, but in terms of showing face on national television networks.
Back in August, Scott appeared on national television at least five times in just three days in response to President Donald Trump claiming crime in the city was out of control. One would never know by watching his appearances on CNN and MSNBC, but the mayor also has a quiet side.
As he was beefing with the president, he and his administration failed to offer any meaningful response to Trump’s July executive order, which aimed to criminalize homelessness, ramp up forced institutionalization of those with mental illnesses and substance use disorders, and defund life-saving harm reduction programs.
But that’s just nitpicking, right? After all, with a photographer taking glamor shots at public events and social media influencers clamoring over his tenure as mayor, Scott has helped bring attention to Charm City — and bolster his national profile.
The city deserves some positive media attention, we’re not disputing that. But residents don’t care about their mayor conversing with some talking heads on national TV. They want action, and they want Baltimore to be a city for everyone. Appearances on national media networks with hosts who have never been to the city won’t bring us any closer to that.
Somehow Everything Has a Baltimore Connection
Luigi Mangione
Technically Luigi Mangione made headlines last December when he was arrested in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but that was after our 2024 Best Of issue published so we’re giving ourselves a pass here. In the days after Thompson was fatally shot outside of a hotel in New York City, the country was glued to television screens hungrily awaiting more information about who could have been behind the brazen early morning killing. People argued about the motive behind it, the expertise the killer must have, how he got away, and every other detail possible. Thompson’s death became symbolic of the country’s frustration with the healthcare system and corporate entities that make millions of dollars off of the backs of poor and working class residents.
Because we live in Baltimore, only three hours away from New York but worlds away in our local news cycle, the manhunt wasn’t really top of mind for us. That is, until whispers started to spread online that the suspect might have been a Gilman graduate. (In true Baltimore fashion, Mangione was identified first by the high school he attended.)
Working in local news, you become familiar with the joke that there’s always an unexpected Baltimore tie to major national news events. This was the day we threw in the towel and accepted that Baltimore, with all its eccentricities and absurdities, would always find a way to make a captivating national news story about itself. The city is a Leo, after all.