george nilson

• Politics

Now officially Baltimore mayor, Jack Young inherits city's problems — particularly violent crime

Bernard C. “Jack” Young became the 51st mayor of Baltimore on Thursday, his new role made official by Catherine Pugh’s resignation.

By Ian Duncan

May 2, 2019

• Politics

It's 'possible' that Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh resigns Thursday, city solicitor says

Baltimore City solicitor Andre Davis said it is “possible” that Mayor Catherine Pugh may resign Thursday.

• Politics

Baltimore House delegation endorses bill to end state control of city police; ex-city solicitor warns of liability

Baltimore’s delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates has unanimously voted to endorse a bill that would give the city full control of its police department — a change City Council members have sought for years. The city police department was established in the 19th century as a state agency.

By Luke Broadwater

Mar 8, 2019

• Politics

Baltimore Mayor Pugh defends ex-police chief De Sousa as he prepares to face tax charges in court

The day after Darryl De Sousa resigned as Baltimore police commissioner in the midst of a federal tax investigation, Mayor Catherine Pugh said she "owned" the selection of him and defended his record fighting crime.

• Maryland

Is Baltimore responsible for damage from riots? Question spans 1968, 2015 — and a father and son

U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III is presiding over a suit merchants filed against Baltimore for damages to their businesses in the 2015 Freddie Gray riot. In a historical twist — or perhaps conflict of interest? — his father was city solicitor who in 1968 argued the city wasn't liable.

By Jean Marbella

Apr 27, 2018

• Politics

City Council bill would make Baltimore inspector general independent from mayor

Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey has submitted legislation to make the city’s inspector general independent from the mayor's office to try to alleviate concerns that the current system protects high-ranking administration officials. 

By Luke Broadwater

Mar 19, 2018

• Maryland

Korryn Gaines' family won one of the largest awards ever against Baltimore-area police. Will they see the money?

The family of Korryn Gaines on Friday won a $37 million verdict against Baltimore County police — one of the largest jury decisions against law enforcement officers in Maryland history.  But will they actually see the money? 

• Maryland

'Nobody is off limits': Baltimore's new inspector general says she'll root out waste and fraud

Just days into the job, Isabel Cumming, Baltimore’s new inspector general, says she plans to reinvigorate the office.

By Luke Broadwater

Feb 13, 2018

• Opinion

Alternative Fact of the Week: Baltimore is hanging cops out to dry

No, Fraternal Order of Police, Baltimore didn't change its policy on paying punitive damages in civil suits against cops, and thanks for dredging this issue up at a particularly inopportune time.

• News

Baltimore police union balks at policy requiring officers to pay some legal damages themselves

A group of five Baltimore police officers could have to personally pay out $40,000 for a jury verdict that found they acted maliciously in the course of an arrest, a development that prompted a warning from the officers' union.

• Politics

Pugh plans to announce new Baltimore inspector general to fill long-vacant position soon

Mayor Catherine Pugh is expected to soon announce the hiring of a new inspector general soon to fill the position that has been vacant for more than a year.

By Yvonne Wenger

Dec 27, 2017

• Baltimore City

Deputy City Solicitor David Ralph to leave Pugh administration

Deputy City Solicitor David Ralph to leave Pugh administration

By Luke Broadwater

Sep 19, 2017

• Opinion

Baltimore must stop gagging victims of police brutality

Whether it's legal or not, Baltimore's practice of requiring police brutality victims to agree to gag orders as a condition of a settlement is a terrible idea.

• Maryland

Pugh names federal Judge Andre Davis as Baltimore's new city solicitor

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said Wednesday she is hiring federal Judge Andre M. Davis to become the city's top lawyer.

• Opinion

Baltimore police under state control for good reason

There is an ongoing public discussion of the nature of the Baltimore Police Department's status as a governmental agency — both historically and going forward. I write in the hope of shedding some useful light on this seemingly mundane but substantively important question.

• Opinion

Former Baltimore solicitor offers advice on leadership

Baltimore's long-serving city solicitor, who was fired by the city's outgoing mayor, offers words of advice to the incoming one.

• Sun Investigates

A month later, Baltimore police surveillance program still shrouded in secrecy

A month after being revealed, the aerial surveillance program that Baltimore Police Department officials have repeatedly insisted was never secret remains heavily shrouded from the public.

By Kevin Rector

Sep 23, 2016

• Sun Investigates

Few in City Hall knew about Baltimore police surveillance program

Key members of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration learned about city police's air surveillance program only as a business magazine published an extensive report, or in the days surrounding the article's release.

By Yvonne Wenger

Sep 9, 2016

• News

Cummings: Commissioner Davis 'apologized profusely' for not disclosing surveillance program

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis "apologized profusely" at a meeting with Rep. Elijah Cummings for failing to disclose a secret aerial surveillance program that has been operating for months above Baltimore, Cummings said Friday.

By Kevin Rector

Sep 2, 2016

• Opinion

Baltimore solicitor was too good for unjustified firing

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired City Solicitor George A. Nilson on Aug. 19. The mayor did not discuss the termination with Mr. Nilson. Nor did she explain her actions to the public. In a stunning show of cowardice, she delegated that messy business to a subordinate. Thus ended — without justification because there is none — nearly a decade of Mr. Nilson's exemplary service to the city. The episode should not pass, however, without public recognition of the accomplishments of

• Sun Investigates

Baltimore's policy of deleting emails after 3 months scrutinized

Baltimore officials are studying record retention policies in city government and considering possible changes.

By Luke Broadwater

Jul 16, 2016

• Baltimore City

ACLU challenges FOP lawsuit attempting to limit civilian review board access to files

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is challenging a lawsuit brought by the Baltimore police union to block a civilian review board from examining police disciplinary records.

By Jessica Anderson

Jul 14, 2016

• Baltimore City

Baltimore settles police brutality lawsuit for $150,000

Baltimore's Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a $150,000 payment to settle a lawsuit alleging police brutality.

By Luke Broadwater

Jul 13, 2016

• News

Freddie Gray case: Training evidence barred from Rice trial, which starts Thursday

In pretrial motions in the trial of Lt. Brian Rice, prosecutors were dealt a blow

• News

Win or lose in court, Marilyn Mosby remains a controversial figure as supporters and opponents dig in

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby instantly became one of the most controversial figures in America — lauded as a hero by the left and decried as a demagogue by the right — when she brought charges against six police officers in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. More than a year later, her repute is even more debatable.

By Luke Broadwater

Jul 3, 2016

• Sun Investigates

Critics of Baltimore school board secrecy have little recourse

When the Baltimore school board revealed this month that it had secretly hired a new CEO, city and state officials were incensed that the panel had circumvented a process that would have given them and the public a say. But they have little recourse beyond airing their grievances.

• News

Sewage soiling thousands of city basements, but another decade of repairs looms

Sewage backs up into Baltimore homes more than a dozen times a day, on average. Repairs to fix the sewage system are expected to extend another decade.

By Scott Dance

May 14, 2016

• Maryland

City solicitor: Baltimore police turning over final documents in DOJ investigation

Baltimore's top lawyer said Wednesday the city is in the process of turning over the final documents to the Department of Justice as it nears the end oaf civil rights investigation into investigation into the pattern and practices of the Baltimore Police Department.

By Luke Broadwater

May 11, 2016

• Baltimore City

Baltimore pays $30K to settle lawsuit after police crash

Baltimore's spending board on Wednesday agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a lawsuit involving a woman who was injured in an accident caused by a police officer speeding to the scene of a potential shooting.

By Luke Broadwater

May 11, 2016

• Business

At the Baltimore city-county border, sometimes homes get lost

The State Department of Assessments and Taxation estimates that there are more than 400 properties that straddle the city line, incurring property taxes in two jurisdictions and receiving what residents describe as sometimes haphazard delivery of public services.

By Natalie Sherman

May 8, 2016

• Maryland

Judge applies $200,000 cap to settlement over objections from officer shot in training exercise

A federal judge accepted an offer by Baltimore City to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a police trainee who was accidentally shot during a 2013 training exercise, citing a state law that caps such payments at that amount. But the trainee rejected the settlement as inadequate and plans to appeal.

By Kevin Rector

Apr 15, 2016

• News

City wants to settle 2013 police trainee shooting case for $200,000

• Maryland

Baltimore, CSX reach $1.2 million settlement in E. 26th Street collapse

About 20 families will share in a $1.2 million settlement after Baltimore's spending panel signed off Wednesday on an agreement with CSX over the East 26th Street collapse in 2014.

By Yvonne Wenger

Jan 27, 2016

• News

Baltimore police body camera bid, still not made public, under legal review

Baltimore's spending panel agreed Wednesday to buy body cameras for more than 2,500 police officers, but the Rawlings-Blake administration said the price — expected to be in the millions of dollars — will not be made public for at least a week.

By Yvonne Wenger

Jan 20, 2016

• Baltimore City

Baltimore Police to upgrade cellphone tracking equipment

Baltimore officials agreed Wednesday to spend $30,000 to upgrade its controversial cellphone tracking technology.

By Yvonne Wenger

Jan 20, 2016

• News

Baltimore prosecutors reviewing cases involving police officer

Baltimore prosecutors are reviewing open cases involving a city police officer amid questions about his credibility, as more than 20 defense lawyers have joined forces in a rare effort to obtain his internal-affairs records.

By Alison Knezevich

Jan 10, 2016

• News

Family alleges man's suicide was result of Baltimore police shooting, mistreatment

The family of a man who was shot by a Baltimore police officer in February says the police department treated him so poorly while he was recovering in the hospital that he committed suicide rather than return for more treatment.

By Kevin Rector

Dec 28, 2015

• Opinion

Baltimore doesn't need outside legal representation in DOJ investigation

If the DOJ investigation into the Baltimore Police Department finds that there is a pattern or practice of civil rights violations then it is prudent for a local government to retain the services of a lawyer or other expert with experience in negotiating consent decrees with the DOJ. It is incongruous, however, for the city to hire outside counsel to defend its interests during an investigation that the city requested.

• Politics

Council leaders say they will block plan to pay $2M for outside lawyers in police investigation

Leaders of Baltimore's City Council say they plan to block Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal to pay $2 million to outside lawyers to represent the city during a federal investigation of the police department.

By Luke Broadwater

Dec 10, 2015

• Baltimore City

Baltimore spending board approves $2 million in legal fees, sends to council for consideration

City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young was the lone member of Baltimore's spending board to vote Wednesday against the Rawlings-Blake administration's decision to pay outside legal counsel $2 million for representation in the federal probe of the Police Department.

By Yvonne Wenger

Dec 9, 2015

• Maryland

City solicitor defends hiring of outside counsel in Justice Department probe

• Obituaries

William C. Stifler III, lawyer and former chief real estate solicitor for Baltimore, dies

William C. Stifler III, a retired lawyer who had been chief real estate solicitor for the city of Baltimore, died of complications of dementia. He was 74.

By Frederick N. Rasmussen

Nov 30, 2015

• Baltimore City

Baltimore to collect 'pennies on the dollar' from Sparrows Point's $7.3M overdue water bill

Baltimore's government is in line to recoup only "pennies on the dollar" from Sparrows Point's $7.3 million overdue water bill, officials say.

By Luke Broadwater

Oct 27, 2015

• News

Records show city police had long urged seat belt use in vans

At the time of Freddie Gray's death last spring, the Baltimore Police Department had been waging a nearly three-year campaign urging officers to use seat belts for detainees transported in police vans, newly obtained documents show.

By Luke Broadwater

Oct 17, 2015

• Politics

Mayor plans to offer Davis contract with significant severance package

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake plans to offer interim police commissioner Kevin Davis a contract with a significant severance package if he's approved as Baltimore's next permanent police chief. Under the terms of the deal, Davis would be paid $200,000 annually though June 30 of 2020. He would be eligible to receive 75 percent of one year's salary — at least $150,000 — if a new mayor should fire him without cause.

By Luke Broadwater

Oct 13, 2015

• Maryland

Baltimore approves $95,000 settlement in 'rough ride' lawsuit

Baltimore's spending panel voted unanimously Wednesday to pay a woman $95,000 to settle her lawsuit that included allegations that she was subjected to a "rough ride" in a police van in 2012.

By Luke Broadwater

Oct 7, 2015

• News

Hearing on Freddie Gray trial location to play out amid tensions

As attorneys argue in court Thursday over moving the Freddie Gray case out of Baltimore, the tensions driving the discussion will be on full display outside, with traffic diverted and police staging around protesters calling for justice.

• Baltimore City Paper

City approves $6.4 million payment to Freddie Gray's parents; says it's from Wall Street

• News

Baltimore to pay Freddie Gray's family $6.4 million to settle civil claims

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration plans to pay Freddie Gray's family $6.4 million as a settlement for civil claims in his arrest and death — an extraordinary payment in a lawsuit against city police.

• Maryland

Baltimore settles lawsuit claiming police horse bit disabled child

A Queen Anne's County woman has accepted $20,000 to end a lawsuit in which she alleged that a Baltimore police horse maimed her disabled daughter's hand.

By Mark Puente

Aug 13, 2015