This year, there was no shortage of news. Our selections range from the best, the bravery of pro-Palestine student protesters, and the worst, Larry Hogan’s cowardice. Baltimore Beat staff enumerates some of the best and worst moments from our (virtual) newsroom.
Worst of Maryland politics: Larry Hogan
Many Baltimoreans winced when former Gov. Larry Hogan, who pitches himself as a practitioner of realpolitik with no partisan loyalties, jumped into the race for Maryland’s open U.S. Senate seat. Luckily, voters saw him for who he was: a run-of-the-mill conservative grifter.
As governor, Hogan villainized Black residents during the Baltimore Uprising, killed the Red Line transit project and attempted to cut education funding. Despite this, he ran as though he were a moderate — something belied by the fact he was endorsed by President-Elect Donald Trump.
Maryland is better off without Hogan in politics. Begone, Larry, and remember that the people of Baltimore and Maryland as a whole will not fall for your charade again.
Worst of the Rich: David Smith
Baltimore County native David Smith is a prime example of why so many people hate the rich.
Since taking ownership of The Baltimore Sun earlier this year, he’s quickly tarnished the reputation of what once was the city’s paper of record. Smith has driven out many talented journalists and its pages have become polluted with racist, right-wing fearmongering rhetoric more befitting of Fox News. The features desk has been cut, shrinking the scope of coverage and leaving crucial blindspots in the culture of Baltimore. That’s not to mention the pompous, poorly-written commentary of co-owner Armstrong Williams.
The millionaire rightfully drew additional criticism after he bankrolled an unsuccessful campaign to reduce the size of the Baltimore City Council this year, which would have diminished political representation in a city proud of its neighborhood-centric feel.
At the end of the day, Smith doesn’t even live in the city, so he should keep his hands — and money — out of it.
Worst Transparency: Baltimore City and the Overdose Crisis
Baltimore’s government officials aren’t known for their transparency by any means. However, their unwillingness to comment on the unprecedented overdose crisis has been a massive disservice to drug users and their loved ones.
More than 8,000 Baltimoreans have died of overdoses over the past decade. Yet Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration has repeatedly refused to comment on any matters related to drugs or the overdose crisis for most of this year, even going as far as to pressure city council members to cancel public hearings.
Officials have said this will change after litigation is over. But hundreds have died in the meantime, and we owe it to our neighbors to put this massive public health issue front and center.
Worst Ghoster: Baltimore Mayoral Candidates
This year, Baltimore Beat published two election guides aimed at the needs of Baltimore’s youngest voters — one before the primaries in April and another before the general election in November. We wanted to hear what young people had to say about the state of politics in the city. They told us what they wanted local electeds to do, and many told us they felt ignored by people in power here. We used what they told us to survey candidates. We got some great responses from people running for city council president and city council — even from people who were running uncontested. We got no response from the three leading candidates for mayor: Brandon Scott, Sheila Dixon, and Thiru Vignarajah.
“Young people in those communities are often described as violent, scary, ruthless, disrespectful, ignorant, or even as thugs,” wrote Morgan State University student and East Baltimore native Keniera Wagstaff in an opinion piece we published in our voter guide. “Most of those descriptions come from individuals who are too scared to even talk to these young people to get their perspective.”
It’s too bad that the young people we spoke to felt unheard and it’s also too bad that Scott, Dixon, and Vignarajah confirmed their feelings.
Worst Local Disaster: Key Bridge Collapse
In the early morning hours of March 26, Baltimore was thrust into national spotlight in the worst way possible: the Francis Scott Key Bridge was hit by container ship Dali and collapsed. Six maintenance crew workers from the Hispanic community died and a landmark was ripped from the city.
In the days and weeks following the collapse, we saw racist and anti-immigrant talking points and discussion on the airwaves and social media. Far-right commentators and GOP government officials called Governor Wes Moore, Mayor Brandon Scott and Black members of the Maryland Port Commission “DEI hires.”The six workers who died and their grieving families were also subjected to xenophobic theories and anti-immigration hatred. Baltimore once again found itself in the crosshairs of racist imagery and undue criticism.
Despite this, the people of Baltimore showed up in support. Community members held vigils and raised money for the families of the fallen; The Real News Network, the Baltimore Banner, The Baltimore Sun, and WYPR, among other news outlets, mobilized to report on the collapse and communities impacted. Spanish speaking reporters like Clara Longo de Freitas and Daniel Zawodny at the Banner and The Real News’ Editor in Chief Maximillian Alvarez were able to tell the stories of the grieving families and the growing Hispanic community in Baltimore. With an estimated $2 billion required to rebuild the bridge, time will show the resilience and fortitude Baltimoreans have.
Best Hard Launch: Mayor Brandon Scott’s Wedding
If there’s one thing Mayor Brandon Scott enjoys, it’s keeping locals on their toes. The public was surprised last year when Scott, known until then to keep his personal life private, shared that he and girlfriend Hana Pugh would soon welcome their first child, a baby boy named Charm Jamie. With Baby Charm’s arrival only weeks later, we should have guessed that Scott’s wedding would take us by surprise as well. We wouldn’t be the only ones in shock. This August, guests thought they were going to an engagement party when he tied the knot with Pugh in a small Walther Gardens ceremony. We were caught off guard, but nonetheless, very excited to see photos of the glowing bride and groom just hours afterwards. Congratulations to the Scotts, whose family will soon expand by one with a new baby girl.
Worst Narrative: Criminalization of Black Youth by FOX Baltimore
The youth of our city are the future, because they carry within them the potential to bring great and positive change to our city and the state of Maryland. You’ve read it in our poems, seen it in the way we’ve collaborated with Wide Angle Youth Media, and felt it during the many protests and city-organized events over the summer. You know who hasn’t seen this? FOX Baltimore, to no one’s surprise.
In the midst of a summer curfew that has no deterrent on crime, FOX 45 reported on the “unruly crowd” of Black teens and youth looking to celebrate their summer in Fells Point, in a city that has a lack of third spaces for them. As Fells Point remains a majority white neighborhood with a wide range of businesses, the idea that this “unruly crowd” of Black youth congregating is meant to drum up the false narrative surrounding youth crime in the city and that Black teens are “out of place” in this neighborhood.
This only serves to paint Black youth — and by extension Black people — as an entity and collective mass that needs to be controlled and kept to their designated zip codes. This is in spite of statistics showing that youth crime is decreasing and devoid of the context for these youth gatherings. Shame on FOX 45 for perpetuating this, but it’s unsurprising considering FOX News’ track record, and legacy media’s history with the damaging idea — and subsequent rewordings — of the “superpredator.”
Worst Employer: Baltimore Department of Public Works
Over the short span of four months, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) managed to fail two of its employees: Ronald Silver II and Timothy Cartwell, both of whom took their last breaths on the job. Baltimore was under a Code Red Extreme Heat Alert August 2, when Silver, a sanitation worker, died of hyperthermia during a stop along his sanitation route in Northeast Baltimore. The father of five had been complaining about chest and leg pain prior to collapsing on the porch of Gabrielle Avendano’s home on Guilford Avenue, where he requested some water. On Nov. 8, waste collector Timothy Cartwell was working in West Baltimore when he succumbed to injuries after being trapped in a narrow alleyway between a trash truck and utility pole. The devoted employee was one of eight siblings. Since the tragedies, both grieving families have joined DPW employees to protest unsafe conditions and demand accountability from city officials. In our opinion, they shouldn’t have had to, as these deaths should never have taken place.
Biggest Sacrifice: Palestinian Journalists
In a little over a year since October 7, 2023, over 40,000 confirmed Palestinian people — and a projected 186,000 according to medical journal The Lancet — have been killed by Israeli forces using U.S. made-and-funded weapons. Millions are displaced, and the man-made humanitarian crisis continues to grow. We’ve seen the protests in the streets of Baltimore and encampments at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and across the country, showing solidarity towards the Palestinian people and their struggle towards independence from apartheid oppression. Israel’s systemic targeting and assassination of Palestinian journalists can’t go unmentioned.
As of December 2, at least 137 journalists and media workers in Gaza have been killed, the vast majority being Palestinian, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. This marks the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ started collecting the data in 1992. Other Palestinian journalists have been injured, assaulted, surveilled, and lost family members to Israel’s bombing campaign, as seen with multiple Al Jazeera reporters. And yet legacy media has been disappointingly silent about their deaths.
Journalism isn’t a crime. Our hearts go out to the families of reporters who’ve died doing what other newsrooms think they’re doing: not letting democracy die in darkness.
Worst Political Decision: Killing the Baby Bonus
On August 29, the Maryland State Supreme Court ruled to block the Baltimore Baby Bonus Fund, an initiative dedicated to giving $1,000 to new parents, from appearing on the ballot. The decision came following a challenge by Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council, who argued that the ballot measure would be unconstitutional. Just days after the Baby Bonus’ decision was announced, Scott announced plans for a similar childcare stipend pilot program for employees of the Baltimore Police Department.
Best Ongoing Initiative: Affordable Housing
Baltimore needs more affordable and mixed-income housing, plain and simple. We’re heartened by the work we’re seeing in Park Heights, Johnston Square, Edmondson Village and on the old Perkins Homes site to fill that need.
Best City Upgrade: Cherry Hill Charm City Circulator Route
In June, the city’s Department of Transportation began running the Cherry Route of the Charm City Circulator, connecting the city’s southern peninsula to downtown with a new free bus line. In its first month of service, the route serviced more than 10,000 people, a number that has only grown since. The line has quickly become the third-most utilized Charm City Circulator Route, with more than 18,000 riders in November.
Best Champion: Danielle Brown
It’s rare that the families of victims of police violence are allowed the grace to simply grieve. Often, they must also turn into criminal justice advocates and communications experts. They must learn policy and how to speak to the media. And while the police have a healthy budget, gifted to them by city officials, they must do this all for free.
Danielle Brown has been a relentless champion for her son Donnell Rochester since 2022, when he was killed by Baltimore City Police Officer Connor Murray. This year, she appealed to Maryland’s first Black governor, Wes Moore, to call for Attorney General Anthony G. Brown to prosecute Murray.
“Officers Murray and Robert Mauri shot at Donnell multiple times with the fatal shot going through his passenger-side window. They cruelly let him bleed out on the street instead of taking him to a hospital,” she wrote in an open letter to Moore. “He was only 18 years old and was a senior in high school. He was a vibrant, funny, loving young gay man and he should still be here. It has been almost two years and we still have received no justice.”
Worst Utility Company: Baltimore Gas & Electric
BGE seems to relish in the power they have over Baltimore residents. A series of lengthy power outages this summer cost Harwood residents several hundreds of dollars in spoiled groceries, medication, and pet food; interfered with their internet access and ability to work from home; and left them without air conditioning during one of the hottest summers in recent memory. When they and city and state officials asked about being compensated for how they were impacted, the company pointed them to an online form and said “good luck.”
The Baltimore Sun reported in September that even as BGE rates have gone up, giving the company more money to improve their infrastructure, the number of their pipes leaking hazardous gas is four times as high as other similarly sized utility companies. It’s led to natural gas explosions, like one that killed a homeowner and a BGE contractor in Bel Air in August.
What exactly are we paying for here?
Best X-it: Baltimore Bluesky
Last year, we talked a lot about how after Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it to “X,” the app experience has gone down the toilet. Far-right trolls, racists, and bots have flourished on the app, and X even played a part in promoting pro-Trump ads and campaigns for president-elect Donald Trump. We had enough, and flocked to new social media homes, to mixed enthusiasm.
However, there’s a social media platform that may be the new home Baltimore Twitter is looking for. Introducing: Bluesky.
What sets Bluesky from other X alternatives like Threads is that it isn’t owned by a crazy billionaire and that (so far), the experience has been remarkably positive. What’s more, the Feeds system and “Starter Pack” feature allows for users to customize the “skeets” they see and quickly build community. This proved true as multiple Baltimore Starter Packs made the community transition from X to Bluesky near-seamless. It also helps that a lot of folks are tired of X’s nonsense, and for the better!
Biggest Question Mark: Harborplace Revitalization
It’s no secret that the Baltimore Harborplace is a shell of itself. Baltimore-based real estate company MCB Real Estate is spearheading efforts to “revitalize the Inner Harbor.” Their plan includes a new park, a new amphitheater, ample green space, over 250,000 square feet of retail space, climate-resistant promenades, and two residential buildings. This looks promising, and it could be a game-changer for the city and people of Baltimore. Yet there’s a level of uncertainty and concern that surrounds MCB Real Estate, warranted and otherwise.
Current over policing of Black youth in the Inner Harbor raises concerns about whether the practice will continue and if Baltimore youth will have a place there. MCB Real Estate and Mayor Brandon Scott’s relationship also raised concern and scrutiny, as seen with the new headquarters of MOED and hearsay of “backdoor deals” and favoritism.
Question F passed with 60% approval, clearing the way for the creation of a new Harborplace. Let’s hope this upcoming change will be for the better.
Best Truth-Teller: Ta-Nehisi Coates
The 2015 release of “Between the World and Me” made journalist, writer, and Baltimore native Ta-Nehisi Coates a liberal darling. The book is framed as a letter to his son about what it means to be Black in America. However, Coates shook all that up and off this year with the release of “The Message.” The book, in which he addresses his students instead of his son, examines the role of writing and teaching, and chronicles Coates’s trip back to Africa and back to himself. But that’s not what got morning talk show hosts going. It was his challenge of the narrative around Gaza. For decades, both Democrat and Republican politicians have been lockstep in their claim that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” Coates dismantled that argument by discussing the lives that Palestinians live under apartheid with the studied and measured words of a journalist.
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