Politics

Two Baltimore city agencies tasked with helping keep streets safe have hearings Monday at the annual city council budget meeting as violent crime rises. Officials are questioning what the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement — otherwise known as MONSE — are doing to stop rising crime in the city. There have been growing concerns over staffing issues in the State’s Attorney’s Office, while MONSE, which works to prevent violence, is being questioned on whether its unique work is making a difference.

A plan by Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s office dealing with waiving fees for development projects has raised concerns among some residents that the measure could lead to favoritism for certain developers at taxpayer expense. In response to criticism of the legislation, the County Council on Monday postponed a scheduled vote on the bill until July.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby deflected responsibility for a lack of prosecutors in her office while lashing out at media reports about the staffing shortages during a Baltimore City Council hearing Monday night about her agency’s budget. Mosby, a Democrat who this year is seeking her third term as the city’s elected prosecutor, is asking the City Council for $39.6 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, a modest increase over this year.

A new 30-second ad touting former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez in the Democratic primary for governor began airing on Baltimore TV stations Friday. Only it wasn’t made or paid for by Perez’s campaign. The authority line at the end of the ad says it was paid for by Maryland Opportunity Inc., a political action committee that registered with the Maryland State Board of Elections earlier this spring. Little is known about the people behind it. In the board of elections filing, the committee chair is listed as Selena Lewis.

A House work group on marijuana legalization will hold its first meeting since the legislative session on June 14, Judiciary Chairman Luke Clippinger said Friday at the Maryland State Bar Association’s legal summit. That information came as news to Sen. Brian Feldman, a key champion of cannabis legalization in the Maryland Senate who was serving on the same panel as Clippinger at the MSBA conference. Feldman said he had expected more collaboration between the two chambers, which have a host of issues to sift through in the coming year, both ahead of and after a November referendum on legalization that is expected to pass.