. On December 2, 2025, Ivan Bates — the elected State’s Attorney for Baltimore City — sent a seven-page letter to Brandon Scott, striking a sharp blow to one of the central pillars of the city’s post-2020 crime-reduction strategy. In that letter, Bates announced that his office would “no longer directly coordinate with MONSE” — effectively decoupling prosecutors from the city’s flagship violence-intervention machinery. The crux of Bates’s argument: MONSE and its affiliated pr

When Maryland lawmakers floated the idea of raising the state’s minimum wage to $25 an hour , the proposal landed like a thunderclap across the state’s business community. For advocates, it’s a long-overdue correction — a bold attempt to bridge the widening gap between paychecks and the cost of living. For small and medium-sized business owners, it’s an existential question: can they survive it? A Push Rooted in Pain and Promise Maryland’s current minimum wage — $15 an hour s

Pras Michel: From Hip-Hop Fame to a 14-Year Prison Term — and a Question That Lingers WASHINGTON — On Thursday afternoon, the former hip-hop star and founding member of The Fugees, Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, now 52, was handed a 14-year federal prison sentence. The landmark judgment followed his 2023 conviction on 10 counts—including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government—in a sprawling political-finance and influence scheme. But while the courtr

Officer Robert Parks faces up to 65 years in prison as city leaders vow accountability amid renewed scrutiny of policing practices. Updated November 2025 BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Police officer seen in a viral video allegedly using his patrol car to chase down a man in Park Heights has been formally indicted  on multiple felony charges, including attempted second-degree murder , in a case that has reignited debate over police conduct and accountability in the city. According

In a dramatic turn late Sunday evening, the United States Senate cast a pivotal 60-40 vote to advance legislation aimed at ending the ongoing government shutdown. This procedural vote clears the path for a larger funding package that would reopen federal agencies, provide back-pay to furloughed workers, and extend government funding through late January — all while leaving unresolved key health-care subsidy questions. What the Deal Includes The agreement would fund the govern

Baltimore — In the shadow of a summer block-party massacre that left two dead and nearly two-dozen wounded, a quiet but determined effort has taken root in one of the city’s most embattled neighborhoods. The program, known as Safe Streets Baltimore, seeks to treat gun violence not merely as a crime problem but as a public-health emergency — one that can be interrupted, redirected and healed. Launched in 2007, Safe Streets was modeled on the Chicago-based Cure Violence interve

Chasing Trust: A Viral Baltimore Police Video and the Hard Question of Reform Baltimore Police cruiser at dusk near an alley in Park Heights The clip is barely a minute long. It begins in the fading light of an early-evening Tuesday in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore. A marked patrol car edges into an alleyway. A man runs. The police vehicle follows. Then it crashes through a fence into a yard. There are no gunshots. No screams. But the scene’s urgency — captured o

Why the Israel–Hamas Conflict Still Hits Home in Baltimore By Kevin Wilder | Politics As Usual | October 2025 – Baltimore, MD Omri Miran, a released Israeli hostage, embraces his father, Dani Miran in Reim on Monday. Photograph: Israel Defense Forces/Reuters When the final hostages were released from Gaza earlier this month, the world exhaled — a small mercy in a long and painful story. Across the ocean, families in Israel cried tears of relief, and diplo

Here’s a rundown of the most notable Maryland laws that take effect on October 1, 2025 —what they do, who’s affected, and where they came...

Charlie Kirk’s Killing Should Alarm All of Us The news of Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting at Utah Valley University hit like a thunderclap....