Politics

Baltimore City Council has formed an investigative committee to study Mayor Brandon Scott’s plan to sign a management agreement for the city’s underground conduit utility system with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. The committee, which is authorized by city code and has subpoena powers, was announced Monday by Council President Nick Mosby during the group’s virtual lunchtime meeting. The council voted unanimously Monday evening in favor of creating the committee.

Denise Reid has an unfortunate level of knowledge about gun violence, with 11 family members shot or killed. That includes her son, Tevon Terrell, who succumbed to his injuries in April 2009, more than two years after a bullet severed his spinal cord and paralyzed him from the neck down. Reid, a 58-year-old Baltimore City resident, still doesn’t know who specifically shot her son, but she memorializes him through advocacy with Moms Demand Action’s Maryland chapter.

Gov. Wes Moore’s plan for a year of service by the state’s youth began to take shape last week with the introduction of a bill to establish and fund the program. HB 546, the Serving Every Region Through Vocational Exploration Act of 2023, was introduced Thursday. It marks the next step in Moore’s goal of making Maryland a state of service and lays out the expectations for participants and administrators.

Two years ago, ProPublica showcased the remarkable tale of a doctor who saved physical evidence from more than 2,000 rape exams starting in the 1970s, years before police began to preserve forensic DNA. Baltimore County police tested just a tiny portion of the samples decades later and solved more than 80 cold cases; they made dozens of arrests and exposed serial rapists, including a man who assaulted at least 25 women and murdered one. The evidence also exonerated an innocent man and gave survivors life-changing closure. Baltimore County law enforcement could have prioritized testing such a fruitful trove. Instead, it falls through loopholes in laws meant to preserve rape kit evidence and expedite testing.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will accompany U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin on Tuesday to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address. Cardin invited Moore “to celebrate renewed prospects for robust federal-state partnerships” in the state, according to a news release from Cardin’s office. Maryland is poised to make advancements in infrastructure, transportation, public health and safety and the Chesapeake Bay, Cardin said in the release. “From the passage of the American Rescue Plan to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the return of Congressionally Directed Spending projects, Maryland is ready to leverage important investments in our state and local communities,” he said.

Calling the proposed agreement with BGE “completely lopsided in all aspects,” the Baltimore conduit division has quietly written a scathing response to Mayor Brandon Scott’s plan to end the franchise fees paid by the utility in favor of promised investments in the underground system. “Very difficult to understand why the City would even entertain this sort of arrangement,” says the Department of Transportation (DOT) staff report, objecting to a draft agreement struck between BGE and the city that was revealed last week by The Brew.