Category: Baltimore News

Baltimore finance officials say they project an $80 million city budget shortfall in 2012 and “virtually flat” revenues for the next three years. When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake took the helm as Baltimore’s top official last February, one of her most daunting tasks was closing the $121 million budget gap. She and the City Council enforced […]

Maryland’s public schools were recently ranked the number one public school system in the country by a national education newspaper, the third straight year the state has received the honor. Education Week, the country’s leading education publication, gave Maryland public schools a “B-plus” rating on its “Quality Counts” assessment, which judges school systems across the […]

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley introduced the state’s final report for implementing federal health care reform at Baltimore’s Coppin State University Jan. 10, part of a series of public meetings on state issues. The report outlines 16 recommendations including the creation of an Office of Health Reform and legislation establishing the structure of Maryland’s health insurance […]

Tessa Hill-Aston, the fifth female president of the Baltimore City branch of the NAACP, was sworn in Jan. 13 at the New Fellowship Christian Community Church in Park Heights, Baltimore. Hill-Aston, 60, also serves as the city housing administrator and is the chapter’s first female leader since the legendary Enolia P. McMillian reigned more than […]

An early morning melee at a downtown Baltimore nightclub has left two people dead including another Baltimore police officer, but this time the officer’s death was at the hands of one of their own. A phalanx of police vehicles raced to the Select Lounge nightclub on North Paca Street in the wee hours of January […]

Despite controversy surrounding his nomination and City Hall’s vacancy filling process, the Baltimore City Council selected William “Pete” Welch to replace his mother as councilperson for the ninth district. The council voted 10-3 in his favor at a public meeting Jan. 11. Immediately following the vote, Welch took the oath of office, flanked by Council veteran […]

On a vacant parcel less than a mile from its campus, Coppin State University commenced the first phase of a revitalization project over 10 years in the making. The venture calls for streetscraping, infill development and an investment in human capital to revive the Coppin-Heights neighborhood. The school even created a non-profit—the Coppin-Heights Community Development […]