Category: Baltimore News

Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton recently expressed her relief after Maryland’s highest court upheld a judge’s decision to dismiss her criminal charges on bribery and perjury. “I am overjoyed and glad that it’s finally over, and I thank God for doing only what he could do—that’s uphold the innocent,” Holton told the AFRO in a […]

Baltimore City residents are widely perceived as apathetic to the city’s political process, but many have a lot to say about the city’s upcoming mayoral election. The AFRO took to the city’s streets, schools, restaurants and supermarkets to ask everyday Baltimoreans what issues matter most in the city. Public safety, property taxes and job creation […]

A trial for the contentious legal case involving the state and a coalition of students and alumni from Maryland’s four HBCUs has been postponed until December. The presiding judge over the federal case, Catherine C. Blake, ordered the state and coalition to have “continued mediation” until a jury trial now scheduled for the first week […]

The nation’s oldest Black lawyers and judges association will host its 86th annual convention in Baltimore later this month. The D.C.-based National Bar Association (NBA) will draw an estimated 1,200 Black lawyers, judges, educators and law students to Baltimore for the convention, which will be held at Hilton Baltimore in downtown July 31 through Aug. […]

When people hear “jury service,” they usually think of a trial jury. But there is another kind of jury, comprised of the same pool of citizens, that plays an equally important role in our justice system: the grand jury. The grand jury was established by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Federal grand juries are […]

The public is invited to receive information and express its views on the proposed redistricting plan for the state’s Legislative and Congressional redistricting. Jeanne D. Hitchcock, chair of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC) recently announced the schedule of the 12 hearings; the first of them is 11 a.m., July 23 in the Hancock High […]

Gay marriage advocates took to Baltimore City Hall July 12 to revive the same-sex marriage debate with the announcement of a new coalition, which plans to lobby the measure during next year’s General Assembly session. Marylanders for Marriage Equality includes a handful of progressive activist groups, including Equality Maryland, an LGBT lobbying group; Progressive Maryland, […]

The recent endorsement of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake by a longtime alliance of Black pastors incited a fiery debate on social networking sites last week. Community activists and everyday citizens expressed disdain for the endorsement and its process. “This is shameful, disgusting and repulsive. Shame, Shame, Shame,” Rev. Cortly CD Witherspoon wrote on his Facebook wall. […]

State utility regulators drafted a set of policies July 7 that would require electricity providers to scan public areas around the state for stray electricity. The Maryland Public Service Commission, during a day-long rule making session, mulled over “The Deanna Camille Green Rule,” which was proposed by the parents of the 14-year-old electrocuted in Druid […]

An outspoken principal, who openly protested violence in her school’s Northeast Baltimore community after one of her students was fatally shot last May, was abruptly dismissed from her job June 27. Parents, students and community leaders are now rallying for Dr. Camille Bell’s position at Montebello Elementary/ Junior Academy to be reinstated. A cluster of […]

After months of shaking hands and participating in mayoral debates, City Councilman Carl Stokes, D-12, decided not to run for mayor and filed for his 12th District seat instead. He made the decision the morning of July 4, one day prior to the filing deadline, he told the AFRO in a phone interview. “It was […]