Eleven days after gunfire ripped through a block party at South Baltimore’s Brooklyn Homes public housing complex, questions about how the event escaped the notice of police and the housing authority remain unanswered. Hundreds of people went to Brooklyn Day, an annual party held almost every summer for the past three decades, and a series of shootings just after midnight July 2, left two dead and 28 others with injuries.

Complaints were filed against 19.8% of Montgomery County police officers last year—234 out of a force of 1,181, according to a report from the department. The first-of-its-kind summary was discussed at a public hearing with the County Council on Tuesday afternoon. But members of the council’s public safety committee and an advocacy group want more information, saying the report doesn’t show the full story.

Thirteen local organizations working to combat food insecurity in the area received $350,000 in grants this month from The Community Foundation of Frederick County. The Community Foundation awarded one-year grants, financed by money awarded to the county by the U.S. Treasury Department, to local nonprofits whose programs alleviate food insecurity, according to a news release from the foundation on Wednesday.

 

Maryland is welcoming transgender individuals with open arms — but there’s nowhere to put them, a Baltimore nonprofit says. On June 5, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, signed an executive order to protect gender affirming health care in Maryland as legislation seeking to outlaw such care sweeps across the nation, mostly targeting minors.

Main Street is more than the center of business and local history in Mount Airy, Md. It’s where the Frederick-Carroll County line bisects the town and determines where children attend school and how much property taxes residents pay. That invisible demarcation dictates how businesses are licensed and how city officials apply for grants.

On Thursday, the public will have one more chance to give their opinions about whether solar panel projects should be banned on farmland in Carroll County. Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m., Thursday, in Room 311 of the Carroll County Office Building, 225 N. Center St., Westminster.

Actor Nicole Ari Parker and I grew up in Baltimore around the same time, but we never met. Because it’s Smalltimore, though, I knew people who were like, “Didn’t you go that party at the thing where she was that time?” or “Girl, I used to take dance lessons with her.” We didn’t run in the same circles — Parker went to Roland Park Country School, I was a public school kid — but I can now say she is, sort of, part of a group of old friends.

Frederick resident Mia Mason, a Democrat, is running for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, trying to become the first openly transgender person to serve in the legislative body. Mason, a U.S. military veteran, also ran for Congress in 2020. She lost to Republican incumbent Andy Harris in the 1st District, 63% to 36%.

In the second month of the yearlong effort to renew Medicaid coverage for 1.8 million Marylanders, 17,000 more people have lost their health insurance for “procedural” reasons. This brings the total of avoidable coverage losses to 42,000 over two months. Of the 139,000 people up for renewal in June, 12% lost insurance for preventable reasons, meaning they either did not receive or understand renewal notices or did not provide requested documents in time.

The months have flown by, the expiration date looms ever nearer and the self-stylized “All-Star break gift” that Orioles chairman John Angelos promised still hasn’t arrived. The Orioles’ lease at Camden Yards expires at the end of this year, but for all the uncertainty that surrounds the situation, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred hasn’t changed his stance since December, the last time he publicly commented on the long-term future of the Baltimore franchise.