Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has endorsed Democratic Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin when he retires at the end of his term. Alsobrooks joined Scott, Baltimore’s Democratic mayor who is himself seeking reelection, at the Zeta Center in Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood Tuesday to accept the endorsement. Emphasizing their past partnership as local leaders, Scott said Alsobrooks best understands the needs of cities compared with other candidates in the race.

At 6-foot-5 and roughly 350 pounds, Joel Johnson-Liphart is a big man. So when, according to police, he hit his caretaker at their group home last week in Linthicum, it must have hurt. Then the 25-year-old allegedly struck her repeatedly with a metal stepladder before trying to strangle her. The attack took place at an Arc of the Chesapeake group home six years after another violent outburst involving Joel. That one resulted in the death of his grandmother at their home in Arnold.

Harbor East and Harbor Point were hailed as the bright spots in an otherwise sagging office and commercial market during a meeting Tuesday of Greater Baltimore’s real estate brokers. Spencer Levy, senior economic adviser at CBRE, offered the crowd at the Sheraton Baltimore North in Towson a dose of hard reality and even some optimism in a market battered by sky-high interest rates and lack of financing.

Good eats in Hamilton-Lauraville are nothing new. The northeastern side of the city is home to beloved dining spots like Maggie’s Farm, Koco’s Pub, Taste This, Zeke’s Coffee and Silver Queen Cafe. More recent additions include Cafe Campli, a restaurant serving dishes from Italy’s Abruzzo region, Diasporan Soul, a Jamaican-American fusion spot and Arcola, a neighborhood coffee shop.

The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday approved an increase in funding for security grants for nonprofits and religious institutions that may be susceptible to hate crimes in wake of the Israel-Hamas war. The council voted unanimously to add $311,700 to bolster the existing program, the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The funds are coming from undesignated reserves in the county’s budget. The grants allow organizations to pay for security guards, cameras and other safety measures.

CASA, the Maryland-based immigrant rights group, has taken a lot of criticism over its statements about Israel for which it has now apologized. But that criticism has extended to its simultaneous pursuit of taxpayer-funded contracts and advocacy. I discussed its non-profit structure in a previous post. Today let’s discuss its political spending. CASA’s structure, like that of many other non-profit advocacy groups, is complicated. It operates through three primary entities:

 

Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan told the council Tuesday that having authority to obtain noncounty records without being required to first request them is essential to her role in upholding county accountability. The Baltimore County Council is taking up two bills requested by County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. One bill would codify the Office of the Inspector General in the county’s charter, and the other would enable Madigan to subpoena noncounty records at any point during her office’s investigations of government fraud, waste and abuse.

Gov. Wes Moore made one appointment to the Anne Arundel Circuit Court and one to the Anne Arundel District Court to replace two retiring judges, his office announced earlier this month. Judge-designee Ginina Alexandra Jackson-Stevenson will fill Glenn L. Klavans’ role on the circuit court while Jennifer Michelle Alexander will replace John P. McKenna Jr. on the district court. “Anne Arundel County has gained two exceptional legal minds who will undoubtedly make meaningful and lasting impacts in the county and in the State of Maryland,” Moore said in a statement.

I love supporting Black-owned businesses. There’s a certain level of joy I get out of seeing thriving Black business owners in the neighborhoods where they grew up giving back to their communities and living out their dreams. Seeing the passion, creativity, and resiliency in Black-owned businesses is exciting, especially in a city like Baltimore. People from outside of Baltimore don’t get it: Our swagger, our culture, our history that gives us the freedom to operate like we do and have the can-do attitude to push through any obstacle.

The town’s strategic planning process will continue but not until January, officials decided this week. On Monday, the Berlin Town Council voted 3-2 to continue working with Salisbury University’s Business, Economic and Community Outreach Network (BEACON) for phase two of the town’s strategic plan. Concerns about limited participation from residents so far, however, prompted officials to delay public input sessions until January.