When state Democrats unveiled their proposed congressional districts in 2011, one of the central justifications for the squirrely lines in Western Maryland was a need to "maintain" the Interstate 270 corridor.

The decision to lump Republican Western Maryland in with Democratic portions of Montgomery and Frederick counties in the 6th Congressional District wasn't about diluting GOP influence, the argument went: It was about keeping the growth-heavy biotech region of the state within one district.

The Baltimore Sun's "Shocking Force," an investigation into Taser misuse in Maryland, has been recognized by the Associated Press Media Editors.

The investigation by reporters Doug Donovan and Mark Puente earned the Al Neuharth Award for Investigative Reporting. APME announced the award Friday in a news release.

"The Baltimore Sun combined database reporting, outstanding storytelling and clear delivery in this report, which has resulted in changes in Maryland and, likely, elsewhere around the country," the judges wrote.

The letter Pamela Evans received from Baltimore Housing told her something she already knew: the two adjoined rowhouses behind hers were going to be knocked down in an emergency demolition.

In fact, the two Riverside properties were gone already, knocked down a day before the letter was written, two before it was postmarked.

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, Evans had just returned from moving her family's belongings to a new house in Columbia, when she heard the knocking of an excavator on a vacant rowhome around the corner.

When Mayor Catherine Pugh announced her first budget proposal in March, highlights of the $2.8 billion spending plan included millions in increased funding for schools and police, the return of speed cameras, refinancing the city-owned Hilton Hotel and a modest tax cut for homeowners.

But newly released agency-level details have revealed other notable plans:

The budget would ground one of the police department's four Foxtrot helicopters, saving about $1 million.

Disability rights advocates are concerned that three top jobs in special education at Baltimore City schools have been vacant for months.

The unfilled positions include executive director of special education, director of due process and parent response, and director of citywide, separate public day and nonpublic programs.

"All three of them have a major bearing on the delivery of special education," said Leslie Seid Margolis, managing attorney with Disability Rights Maryland. "These are critical positions and they need to be filled."

Five Baltimore police officers involved in the 2015 arrest and death of Freddie Gray have been charged with violating department rules, with three of them facing termination, The Baltimore Sun has learned.

The three who face firing are Officer Caesar Goodson, who was driving the van where an autopsy determined Gray suffered fatal injuries; and supervisors Lt. Brian Rice and Sgt. Alicia White, according to sources with knowledge of the case.

Comptroller Peter Franchot's office sees no problem in its use of state social media accounts to publicize a survey created by his political campaign committee.

But others do.

Franchot, a third-term Democrat, has launched a task force in an effort to change Maryland laws governing the beer industry following a high-stakes struggle in the General Assembly this year over legislation affecting small craft brewers and international liquor giant Diageo's proposal to build a Guinness brewery in Relay.

Donna Von Den Bosch climbed to the attic of her home so she could watch the footage alone.

The images flashed on her computer screen: the police car, the churches, the priests.

Her heart raced.

"I'm 60," she told herself, again and again. "I'm not 15 anymore."

Von Den Bosch was watching the trailer of the upcoming Netflix documentary "The Keepers."