Baltimore City’s distribution of tax credits is both inefficient and highly skewed in favor of wealthier neighborhoods, according to a review of the city’s tax credit programs by the city’s Bureau of the Budget and Management Research. Developers and homeowners in economically strong neighborhoods such as Canton and Riverside received a disproportionate share of the $126.7 million granted by the city in property tax breaks this year, the report found, while many historically neglected neighborhoods received little of that investment.
Baltimore tax credit system is ‘highly inequitable,’ city budget office report says
Opinion: Fatal shooting of teen underscores need to strengthen safe firearm storage laws
Even in a city accustomed to gun violence, Saturday’s horror in West Baltimore was a gut-punch. A 15-year-old girl was shot and killed by a 9-year-old boy. Whatever the child’s intent in bringing the loaded gun to the home of teen-age Nykayla Strawder, there is no doubt that the tragedy is a direct result of what might generously be described as carelessness. Were it properly stored, the boy never should have been able to access the weapon, which is registered to a relative who is a security guard. Nykayla died on her family’s front porch, killed by a single shot. She left behind grieving family and friends, including parents who want charges brought against the gun’s owner.
Baltimore County bill would exempt waterfront businesses from Maryland environmental rules
Hospitality businesses that want to build or expand construction on their Baltimore County waterfront properties could soon be exempt from state waterway protection regulations, per legislation under the County Council’s consideration. An attorney with a nonprofit that’s focused on restoring the Chesapeake Bay’s health says the proposed bill flouts Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Protection law, designed to prevent additional runoff — and other pollution — from flowing into the nation’s largest estuary.
Baltimore ARPA official responds to criticisms that city’s pandemic stimulus is moving too slow
Baltimore is spending its $641 million in federal COVID-19 aid as quickly as similar cities elsewhere, officials told City Council Tuesday, responding to council member criticisms the money isn’t being spent with enough urgency nor being used to resume core services curtailed during the pandemic. Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs director Shamiah Kerney told members of City Council’s Ways and Means Committee during a quarterly update that Baltimore is keeping pace with other similarly sized cities in the disbursement of money from the American Rescue Plan Act, the sweeping federal stimulus package aimed at boosting the economic recovery from the pandemic in communities across the country.
Georgia Angelos enters sons’ legal fray, sides with eldest in battle for father’s firm
Georgia Angelos on Tuesday not only entered the fray but has chosen sides in the legal battle between her two sons over the future of their storied and ailing father’s Baltimore firm, the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos PC, and his majority ownership of the Baltimore Orioles. In a filing in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Georgia, 80, praised her elder son John, 55 and the Orioles’ chief executive officer, while accusing her son Lou – an attorney at the law firm – of bitterness and elder abuse by trying to sell the practice to himself.
Annapolis food blogger is ‘a surgeon in the kitchen’ on ‘Great American Recipe’
Before the pandemic, Annapolis food blogger Robin Daumit was best known for winning a trio of Food Network shows. She won all three, including “Guy’s Grocery Games,” Guy Fieri’s supermarket scramble that has more in common with bumper cars than Michelin-star cooking. Daumit had fun, but in retrospect, she found limited satisfaction in, “trying to knock people off in 45 minutes.” “After COVID hit,” Daumit says, those opportunities became less appealing.
Total Wine renews lease, plans to add jobs and increase space at Bethesda headquarters
Total Wine & More, a Bethesda-based company that is the nation’s largest independent wine retailer, has renewed its lease on its headquarters located at 6600 Rockledge Drive, the Maryland Department of Commerce announced Tuesday morning. The press release did not specify the duration of the lease, and a representative of Total Wine & More could not be reached for comment. In addition to renewing its lease, Total Wine is also expanding in Maryland.
Cox calls FBI Mar-a-Lago search ‘police state tactics,’ while Hogan warns of divisions
Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick), the GOP nominee for governor, joined the chorus of Republicans who condemned the FBI’s execution of a search warrant Monday at Mar-a-Lago, former President Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home. The reaction of the man Cox is hoping to replace, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, was more nuanced. In a series of Facebook posts late Monday and Tuesday, Cox said “this FBI raid of Trump’s home is nothing short of communist stasi police state tactics.”
Baltimore finance department sent $2 million refund to wrong party, Inspector General reports
A series of cascading errors by Baltimore’s finance department and city vendors led the Bureau of Revenue Collections to inadvertently send the wrong entity a check for $2 million, nearly $60,000 of which has not been recovered, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General. The chronicle begins after a third-party vendor responsible for processing numerous city payments bungled a payment meant to satisfy a company’s roughly $1 million property tax bill, accidentally paying Baltimore on behalf of a different organization, the owner of which held about $1,600 in outstanding property tax.
Opinion: Board of Elections made big mistake, but will get things right
The decertification of the Frederick County election results is a huge embarrassment for the county Board of Elections and one more headache for election officials everywhere who are trying to defend the integrity of the electoral process. Election workers “discovered a discrepancy between the total number of votes in the certified results and the number of accepted mail-in and provisional ballots” in the District 3 County Council race, according to a statement from the board. Officials blamed human error for the problem. Yes, we know, to err is human. But what a terrible year to make a bad mistake.