‘We’re Doing This Purely Out Of Love’
An overdose prevention site installation provided Baltimoreans with a sense of what places where people use drugs without fear of arrest—or death—would actually look like.
One reason why The Real News Network calls Baltimore home is because we know that the struggles that the people in this majority-minority city face (unequitable access to resources like education, clean air, and transportation, for example) are the struggles people face all over the globe. By reporting from the Baltimore trenches, we hope to keep our friends and neighbors abreast of what’s going on in our city, but also hope these stories will resonate with people united in the struggle everywhere.
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Announcing a new criminal justice journalism fellowship in Baltimore
The Real News Network and Just Media are partnering to launch a new fellowship program that empowers Baltimore writers that are passionate about reporting on criminal justice issues from their communities’ lived experiences.
How Maryland is preventing prisoners from getting college degrees
“Atiba” Demetrius Brown is taking correspondence courses while incarcerated in Maryland, but because of a new decree by the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services, he can’t take his exams.
Baltimore Police Sergeant sued for civil rights violations was accused of rape in 2010
Documents obtained by Battleground Baltimore show that Baltimore Police veteran Welton Simpson Jr. allegedly sexually assaulted his wife and threatened her with his police weapon.
Training Days: Leaked disciplinary records of a Baltimore cop hired ‘post-Freddie Gray’ exemplify the limits of police reform
Documents investigating Officer Luke Shelley, once touted by local news as the future of the department, shows years of questionable searches, mishandled evidence, alleged ‘profiling,’ and more.
‘It could happen any day now’: Maryland abortion providers prepare for end of Roe v. Wade
Even though Maryland has strong abortion protections, healthcare providers and organizers are bracing for a huge influx of out-of-state abortion seekers if and when the Supreme Court overturns Roe.
‘More vicious without a badge’: Leaked disciplinary records reveal a notorious Baltimore cop’s shocking behavior
Marilyn Mosby’s list of 300 police with ‘credibility issues’ includes Melvin Hill. Battleground Baltimore investigates this former cop with dozens of allegations against him, including ‘criminal misconduct’ and making a ‘false statement.’
Johns Hopkins students commemorate 74 years since the Nakba
“For us as Hopkins students and students in America in general, we try to disconnect and not normalize the State of Israel—not offer it legitimacy,” one organizer said.
Workers at Maryland’s first unionized Starbucks describe their fight for workplace democracy
On the day they became the first unionized store in Maryland, we spoke with four Starbucks partners about their fight for an inclusive, safe, and democratic workplace.
Seven years since Baltimore Police killed Freddie Gray, five years into the consent decree
While those in charge talk up technocratic change and ‘progress,’ police corruption and dysfunction continues.
Maryland Gubernatorial Transportation Forum
Join us at The Real News Network studio and live online to hear from leading gubernatorial candidates about their visions for Maryland’s transportation future.
In Baltimore’s backlogged courts, defendants pay for their own home detention or risk years in jail pretrial
‘E-carceration’ was expanded during the pandemic as a stop-gap solution to prevent people charged with crimes from languishing in unsafe conditions. Advocates want it to be permanent—and free.
Cannabis closer to legalization, ‘Defund BPD’ is back
A week of battling billboards and debates about overspending on the cops, as legal weed in Maryland just became a little more likely.
Battleground Baltimore: The police killing of Donnell Rochester
In this month’s roundup of Baltimore news, Baltimore Museum of Art workers want their union recognized, reckoning with ‘zero tolerance,’ and more.
Workers demand Baltimore Museum of Art live up to ‘progressive’ bonafides and let them unionize
An exhibition recognizing security guards’ contributions to the museum is about to open, but the BMA’s director won’t recognize museum staff’s wall-to-wall union.
Reckoning with the legacy of Baltimore’s ‘zero tolerance’ crime policy this election year
As Democrats once again embrace the policy of increasing police power to reduce crime, the devastating effects of Martin O’Malley’s mayorship cannot be forgotten.
Maryland’s huge surplus two years into the pandemic is bad, actually
The governor and other local elected officials tout a $7.5 billion dollar budget surplus and consider what to do with it–beyond temporarily suspending the gas tax.
Marilyn Mosby, the trials of Keith Davis, and the death of Tyrone West
The embattled State’s Attorney claims she has been targeted for her policies, but activists and police violence victims’ family members question her progressive bonafides
Baltimore City’s $1 Homes proposal rejected by City Council
The much-hyped and frequently criticized bill that would let residents purchase a vacant property for just one dollar is finished—for now, at least.
Battleground Baltimore: Burning Vacants and Cynical Real Estate Speculators
In this month’s roundup of Baltimore news, delinquent vacant property owners, a whole bunch of police and crime data, and more.
What impact have Marilyn Mosby’s ‘progressive’ non-prosecution policies had?
Amid claims by the indicted Baltimore State’s Attorney that her politics have made her a target of the federal government, Battleground Baltimore looks at three years of decarceration.
Baltimore harm reductionists demand Democrats finally decriminalize drug paraphernalia
Decriminalizing needles, syringes, and cookers in Maryland would save lives, reduce the spread of disease, and stabilize communities amid the overdose crisis, advocates again argue.
30 years of gun seizures in Baltimore haven’t kept the city safe
An analysis of police and crime data from 1990-2021 shows what experts elsewhere are saying: Police going after guns has little to no effect on violence reduction.
Johns Hopkins University sat on unoccupied apartments for over a decade just to demolish them
‘Dilapidated’ buildings owned by the prestigious university illustrate the extent to which Baltimore City enables real estate speculation at the expense of residents.
Right-wing media attacks Baltimore City schools, and Gov. Larry Hogan refuses to fund them
As anti-public education rhetoric traveled from local to national news, Maryland’s Republican governor boasts of a budget surplus and demands more money for police.
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