Sunny today, not humid, highs in the mid 80s. A little warmer tomorrow.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Gov. Larry Hogan’s team announced the “Maryland Grand Slam,” a new incentive program that’ll offer tax credits and up to $7,500 in grants to new homebuyers in the city. The program will draw from $2 million in state funds, and $1 million from the city. During a press conference with Tiffany Robinson, an assistant housing secretary for Gov. Hogan, the mayor said the program proves that city and state leaders can collaborate on efforts to improve the city.
At Wednesday’s Board of Estimates meeting, the city approved $280,000 in new police misconduct settlements. During the meeting, Council President Jack Young called for these settlements to start coming out of the Baltimore Police Department budget instead of the city’s general funds.
Young: “Let it hit them in the pocket. If their budget is being affected, maybe they will change their behavior.”
In the last few years, the city has spent millions to settle lawsuits against police for alleged misconduct and brutality.
Over 1,200 city employees made over $100,000 last year, according to publicly released data (neatly organized by the Sun here). The salary data doesn’t tell the whole story – some of Baltimore’s housing officials also receive federal paychecks. Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano is one of the highest paid officials in the city, but nobody seems to know exactly how much he earns (somewhere between $214k and $274k).
Free weekly paper b will cease littering after its August 27th edition. The Baltimore Sun Media Group says that while the tabloid was profitable, there was too much content and advertising overlap with the Sun’s weekend section and City Paper (purchased by BSMG last year).
Ouch. For the first time since 2007, the O’s found themselves on the wrong end of a no-hitter pitched by Mariner Hisashi Iwakuma.