Baltimore Brew

11/07/2025

Appeals court overturns Marilyn Mosby's mortgage fraud conviction - and lets her keep the Florida condo - but upholds the two felony perjury convictions.

The judge's instructions to the jury about determining the venue of the crime were "overbroad," the majority in the 2-1 ruling said.

Mosby contended that prosecutors failed to show that the crime was committed in Maryland and that Griggsby’s instruction was erroneous.

“I reject both arguments,” Judge Niemeyer wrote, in a dissenting opinion.

“There was ample evidence for the jury to conclude that Mosby both prepared and transmitted the false gift letter in Maryland and that venue in that forum was therefore proper.

The judge's instructions, he said, were proper.

The dissenting judge in 2-1 decision criticizes the majority for ignoring a well-established rule governing the venue where criminal conduct takes place.

11/07/2025

Eric Costello takes a job with Baltimore’s Atlas Restaurant Group.

The former councilman discloses that he is now director of government relations for the politically-plugged-in hospitality group.

The former councilman who represented South Baltimore and downtown discloses that he is now director of government relations for the politically-plugged-in hospitality group.

09/07/2025

2025 is already headed towards setting records for heat-related illness.

During a deadly week of hot weather in June, ER visits for heat-related illness spiked dramatically and seven people died, data from the Maryland Health Department show.

With more very hot weather on the way, the State Health Department advises people to be aware of the warning signs of heat-related illnesses.

08/07/2025

Baltimore Police Department garage, undergoing expensive repairs, evacuates Crime Scene Unit bays after ceiling starts to crumble.

(The ever-escalating cost of repairing the garage rose once again after parts of the concrete basement caved in on May 20.)

The ever-escalating cost of repairing the garage rose once again after parts of the concrete basement caved in on May 20. Fortunately, no member of the Crime Scene Unit was injured.

03/07/2025

Nancy S. Grasmick State Education Building on Baltimore's Westside temporarily condemned as unsafe, after chunks of masonry crash down on the sidewalk.

As with State Center, this 114-year-old building is not going to be renovated but the workers here will instead, at some point, be moved to other leased office space.

The 114-year-old building on Baltimore’s Westside is the headquarters for the Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

03/07/2025

Millions spent on City website redesign being handled by company with close ties to Mayor Brandon M. Scott

Yesterday's new report by Inspector General Cu***ng has striking details on the awarding of a contract to a company we've identified as Dilali Dzirasa's Fearless Solutions.

(On the same day the report is released, Scott announces he's re-hiring his wife, Letitia Dzirasa, as deputy mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services.)

Report by Baltimore Inspector General Cu***ng fleshes out the details of a contract awarded to Fearless Solutions, owned by the husband of Letitia Dzirasa, who was rehired as a deputy mayor yesterday.

01/07/2025

Celebrated cartoonist KAL had plenty to say about Donald Trump and plenty of skill at drawing him.

A few examples below from his weekly editorial cartoon feature in The Baltimore Sun . . . which the paper's new owners just killed.

Once the Sun's new Trump-aligned owner David Smith came along, KAL (aka Kevin Kallaugher) told The Brew, it was only a matter of time before the axe fell. A two-time Pulitzer finalist, he'd worked for them for 31 years. https://tinyurl.com/4at8yfbb

01/07/2025

The Baltimore Sun fires its longtime cartoonist - Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher.

His dismissal on Friday - after 31 years at the newspaper - stung, the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist told us, but "it was only a matter of time" before the Sun's conservative new owner made his move.

KAL's biting cartoons over the years have lampooned Trump and the Republicans who enable him, mayors going back to Schmoke, governors going back to Schaefer and, before he bought the paper, Sinclair's David Smith himself.

After a 31-year career at The Sun, he’s pretty sure his progressive views ran afoul of conservative broadcast mogul David Smith, who’s owned the paper for less than two years.

01/07/2025

Former CEO of Strong City Baltimore pleads guilty to a misdemeanor, as larger federal investigation fades away.

Other Strong City execs are no longer the focus of the federal criminal investigation, sources tell The Brew.

Other executives at Strong City are no longer the focus of a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office, sources tell The Brew.

30/06/2025

Starting tomorrow, Baltimore water and sewer rates are going up again.

It's the second phase of this year’s 19% increase – the highest cumulative hike since 2000.

A typical household bill for water and sewage is expected to rise to $155 in July – up from $143 this month and $130 in January.

30/06/2025

An unacceptable lack of candor about a Baltimore County zoning bill.

What was unusual here: that a lawmaker actually got caught hiding important information from the public. [OP-ED]

On this occasion, what was unusual was that a lawmaker actually got caught hiding important information from the public. [OP-ED]

27/06/2025

In Station North, new life for an old funeral parlor.

Welcome to “The Parlor,” where the embalming room is now a public restroom, the casket showroom is an opera singer’s studio and the chapel is soon to be the new home of No Land Beyond.

Welcome to “The Parlor,” where the embalming room is now a public restroom, the casket showroom is an opera singer’s studio and the chapel is soon to be the new home of No Land Beyond