Emily Hofstaedter

4 days ago | wypr.org | Emily Hofstaedter

Some Baltimore council members are demanding the budget for MIMA — the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs — be doubled. MIMA Director Catalina Rodriguez-Lima paused to collect herself during a Monday night budget hearing as she described the way in which her agency is helping families prepare for separation when parents get deported as the Trump administration ramps up deportation quotas. Rodriguez-Lima stifled a sob.

1 week ago | wypr.org | Emily Hofstaedter

Baltimore City Councilmembers went late into the hours Wednesday night grilling leaders at the Department of Public Works on how its $1.3B FY 2026 budget proposal would keep workers safe and improve services. Last year two sanitation workers died on the clock, including Ron Silver II’s death from heat stroke. Supervisors will use GPS monitoring on the trucks, and text message alerts to ensure workers are taking mandatory breaks in high heat, explained DPW Director Khalil Zaied.

1 week ago | wypr.org | Emily Hofstaedter

After a Memorial Day weekend packed with Artscape, Sowebo Arts and Music Festival and more, the city is starting to see answers to the question — is Baltimore ready to be a multi-festival city? Late Sunday afternoon, Hamilton Outlaw was strumming away on one of the four stages set up around the seven-block festival radius. A young man, who looks to be in early elementary school, comes by to give me unsolicited, but appreciated, food recommendations.

2 weeks ago | wypr.org | Emily Hofstaedter

The latest cooperative survey found 238 million blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay waters of Maryland and Virginia in winter 2025, down 25% from 317 million last year. The data set from the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, a joint effort by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, showed declines across the female, male and juvenile populations. Juvenile recruitment marked its sixth year of decline.

3 weeks ago | wypr.org | Emily Hofstaedter

The Baltimore City Council is considering whether a citizen task force should weigh in on how much the city’s major nonprofits — like Johns Hopkins University and Lifebridge Health — contribute to the city budget. As nonprofits, these 14 institutions do not pay property taxes but instead have a PILOT or payment- in- lieu- of- taxes. Combined they pay $6M annually for city services like policing, snow removal, road maintenance and more.