If approved by the county council, Walker would replace Kelly Madigan, who has served in the role for the past five years.

Callers on Kim Klacik Live expressed their outrage, with Klacik insisting, “This is ridiculous. Kathy Klausmeier needs to resign. The fact she’s playing games and then comes out with a name Khadija Walker …?”

Former State Senator Jim Brochin criticized the move, calling it “an insult to every Baltimore Countian” and “comical” compared to retaining Madigan. Brochin alleged that the decision was influenced by former County Executive, now Congressman, Johnny Olszewski, whom he described as “the puppetmaster.”

“Johnny’s clearly the puppetmaster,” Brochin said. “He’s told multiple people it’s the biggest mistake he’s ever made cause what he got was good government… and he got a watchdog.”

Olszewski, however, denied any involvement in the decision and indicated his support for Madigan.

Madigan will continue as the county’s inspector general until the county council confirms the new appointee.

Brochin noted that there is no requirement for the council to vote on the appointment, suggesting, “The right thing to do in my opinion is to do nothing. You just don’t bring the appointment up… you say appreciate it, interim county executive, but we’re gonna take a pass for the next 16 months.”

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Organizers had spent months preparing to transform a two-block stretch of York Road into a vibrant music and arts festival. However, just five days before the event, Conway announced that the city refused to issue the necessary permit.

“Unfortunately, politics got in the way and they refused to approve the permit and we are no longer going to do it there,” Conway, who sponsored the event, said.

Conway claimed that he had been working with city officials for weeks to secure the permit, but last-minute obstacles thwarted the festival’s plans. He attributed the cancellation to political retaliation.

“There is retaliation, and unfortunately in politics, the administration is taking efforts to thwart anything I do” he said.

Conway has been a vocal critic of Mayor Brandon Scott’s recent actions, including opposing a budget proposal to transfer $7 million from the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund to the mayor’s office.

“I was the only person to stand up against it and say I do not feel comfortable,” he said.

Political analyst John Dedie suggested that Scott may be uncomfortable with those challenging his decisions.

“I think the mayor resents some of the people looking to take more of a leadership of a position on issues,” Dedie said. “He wants to be the conductor of the orchestra and there are others who want to move at the beat of their own sound of the music.”

Earlier this year, Conway’s efforts to address the opioid and overdose crisis were also halted when the mayor canceled a scheduled hearing.

In an email to constituents, Conway apologized for the festival’s cancellation, stating that the city’s barriers “defied both precedent and common sense.”

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The city invited six companies to bid on the project, but only two responded with vastly different proposals. One submitted a bid of $1.2 million, while the other proposed $300,000.

Ultimately, the city awarded the project to the highest bidder, Fearless Solutions, whose bid was three times higher than the other.

The company’s owner, Delalai Dzirasa, is a contributor to Mayor Brandon Scott’s campaign and the husband of Baltimore City’s Deputy Mayor Letitia Dzirasa.

“This is a professional service contract. They went out and talked to multiple contractors and decided to go with Fearless,” said Mayor Scott.

Initially, Fearless Solutions’ contract was valued at $1.078 million. However, five months after securing the deal, the company requested an additional $887,000 to complete the project. Seven months later, the city approved another request for a quarter-million dollars, bringing the total cost to over $2.2 million.

Despite the ballooning costs, there is still no website.

“There is no website at this time. In fact, the company we hired stopped working for the city a year ago yesterday,” said Inspector General Isabel Cumming.

A report by Cumming’s office determined that the city should have opened the project for competitive bidding instead of inviting a select few companies. “That type of thing should be competitively bid and put out to many groups as possible,” said Cumming.

In response to the report, the city stated, “The cost was not the result of uncontrolled spending, but rather a structured response to project demands that became clearer as implementation progressed.” The Baltimore City Information Technology department acknowledged the need for improved planning and more explicit scoping in future digital infrastructure initiatives.

Cumming says the project is proving to be a financial burden for city taxpayers. “All this is paid by taxpayer money. We paid for a website that we still don’t have.”

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“They tried to break me on so many different levels and make an example of me for what I stood for,” Mosby said. “Had absolutely nothing to do with anything I did wrong. I withdrew my own retirement savings that I put away every two weeks to buy property. That was the extent of what I was accused of.”

Mosby, who was convicted by a federal jury, expressed the personal toll the legal battles have taken on her life. “I lost everything. I lost my marriage, I lost my career. I lost my house, I lost my car, I lost my home. It was a lot,” she said.

Sean Kennedy of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, a long-time observer of Mosby’s legal career, criticized her stance. “Somehow Marilyn Mosby believes losing her car and losing her house makes her the victim? I wanna introduce her to some real victims here,” Kennedy said. He further accused Mosby of dishonesty, stating, “Marilyn Mosby lied in order to steal in order to profit.”

Mosby also criticized current City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, accusing him of using her situation for political gain. “Ivan Bates has used this opportunity to try to hurt me,” Mosby said, referencing an attorney grievance complaint Bates filed against her regarding the Adnan Syed murder case. Mosby’s office had previously convinced a judge to vacate Syed’s conviction.

“The newly elected state’s attorney is playing politics. Just like Trump,” Mosby said. “He ran on a platform of reversing everything in my office that I did.”

Kennedy, however, praised Bates, stating, “Ivan Bates is, who he has always been, and is proving that successfully. Violent crime is down because of Ivan Bates.”

Despite the challenges, Mosby expressed no bitterness about her situation. “What happened to me I have no bitterness in my heart … I have nothing but gratitude,” she said.

Mosby did not reveal any future plans.

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David Williams, a taxpayer advocate, criticized the budget, saying, “Nobody should be cheering this budget because it’s more than last year and they’re raising taxes and fees.”

The new budget is over a billion dollars more than the city’s budget a decade ago, despite a decrease in population.

Councilman Yitzy Schleifer, a Democrat, voted against the spending plan, stating, “It’s not fair to the people who built this city to now be forced to leave the city because of the high taxes and fees which this budget increases.”

Baltimore’s budget per capita is among the highest in the nation, at $7,648 per resident. This figure surpasses spending in other major cities, including Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Despite some council members calling for a restructuring of spending, the budget passed with two dissenting votes.

“We’re not here to be a rubber stamp. We’re here to do a job,” said Democratic Councilman Mark Conway, who also voted against the budget.

Williams also challenged the City Council’s action.

“The city needs to be more serious about cutting spending and making sure they have the resources to have city agencies do their job and not ask city residents to pay a dime more in fees, taxes or anything else,” he said.

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The audit highlights a lack of processes to ensure previously reported deficiencies have been corrected and to confirm that criminal background checks have been conducted on employees.

The audit uncovered that one employee, who works directly with juveniles, has a criminal record, including convictions for assault and possessing a dangerous weapon. Additionally, a previous FOX45 investigation revealed that the department had hired Joel Caston, a convicted murderer, who now serves as an administrator.

David Williams, a taxpayer advocate, expressed concern over the repeated issues within the department. “These are repeated problems and that should be a problem to everyone in the state,” Williams said.

The audit also identified longstanding procurement issues, noting that over a three-year period, DJS paid 57% of its vendors with ‘direct voucher payments,’ which bypass the normal purchasing process and are difficult to track. Auditors found that DJS had paid $1.5 million for an invoice that had previously been denied.

Furthermore, the audit revealed that DJS employees were working double shifts without supervisor approval, and in 2023, 10 employees received overtime payments that far exceeded their regular earnings. The agency’s overtime budget was over by $4.5 million.

“It really wreaks of incompetence,” Williams said. “We’re talking about general procurement responsibilities they’re not following through with. When you don’t have foundation strength of procurement process you’ll have a lot of money prone to waste, fraud and abuse and we’re seeing this in this report.”

DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi acknowledged that many of the problems began before his tenure but stated, “Our team has made it a priority to identify and address operational weaknesses both prior to and throughout the audit period. Upon receipt of the preliminary findings, we acted swiftly and proactively to begin correcting the deficiencies outlined in the report.”

Despite these efforts, Williams remains skeptical. “There is enough responsibility to go around and no one is taking responsibility. Someone needs to step up and be a leader and ensure this does not happen again,” he said.

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During the interview, Moore highlighted his administration’s accomplishments, saying, “We passed the most aggressive housing package of any governor in recent history.”

He also expressed his frustrations with the political climate in Washington, saying, “I think there’s a level of frustration. There’s not a chaos… it’s an anger.”

Political scientist John Dedie criticized the interview, describing it as “softball galore without follow-ups” and suggesting that Moore’s portrayal of Maryland’s state of affairs was skewed.

“It sounds good, but the reality of what happened in Maryland is two different things,” Dedie said.

Moore, who has been a frequent guest on national television, has long faced questions about his political future.

When asked about a potential 2028 presidential run recently, Moore responded, “I am not focused on anything except making sure that this is Maryland’s decade.”

On “The View,” he further clarified his stance, stating, “I am not running. I’m not running.”

Despite the speculation, experts believe Moore’s national appearances benefit him more than the state.

“He has much more to gain than the state of Maryland has to gain by him doing the interviews,” said Dedie. “But in politics, it’s about ‘I,’ it’s about me… it’s about how will this help me.”

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However, the grants are limited to those located within a specific downtown area, bounded by Howard Street to the west, Pratt Street to the south, and I-83 to the east. This decision excludes popular dining districts such as Little Italy, Fells Point and Federal Hill.

Gia Blatterman, a restaurant owner, expressed frustration over the exclusion. “We don’t even have the opportunity to join in this venture from the city,” she said.

Mayor Brandon Scott defended the decision, stating, “We talked about this, [it] is all a part of Downtown Rise, and it wasn’t just the city. We worked with our partners at Downtown Partnership to make sure we’re doing everything to lift up downtown.”

Despite the mayor’s defense, restaurant owners in Little Italy feel neglected. “If the city gave everything to us and we failed, it’s one thing, but when you don’t have support from the city and you’re hanging on… it’s not good business. The city has to do their part too,” Blatterman said.

Applications for the grants are due by the end of next month, offering a glimmer of hope for those who qualify. However, for many, the struggle to recover without city support continues.

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David Fink received two citations in one week.

“Both my wife and I thought it was a higher speed limit. We didn’t think it was 25.” He added, “Granted, it would’ve taken someone with an I.Q. higher than a toothbrush to verify what the actual speed limit is there or they would have to actually care, but they don’t.”

Councilman Isaac ‘Itzy’ Schleifer says the issue reflects deeper problems in the city’s photo enforcement division. “It’s just dishonest, and they’re really stealing from the public when you issue tickets they shouldn’t get, and their two choices are go to court or pay the 40-dollar ticket.”

A spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Transportation acknowledged the error, saying, “There was a mix-up on Cross Country Blvd where the subcontractor mistakenly hung a 30 mph instead of the correct 25 mph sign. As soon as this issue was discovered, the cameras were paused until the correct sign was installed.”

Fink, considering further action, remarked, “I’m looking at a class action actually,” and questioned the city’s priorities, saying, “I don’t wanna see a city that’s so concerned about my violating the law going 12 over the speed limit but not concerned with their compliance of the law that they drafted. That bothers me.”

The city is now working to cancel tickets and refund affected drivers, but the incident has sparked broader concerns about traffic enforcement practices.

Schleifer asked, “You don’t issue tickets when you put the wrong speed limit down. Now, how many other places in the city is this going on?”

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“For the past year, the city has relied on speed humps to slow traffic on this stretch of Glenmore Avenue,” a local resident said.

However, two weeks ago, the city began removing the speed humps and introduced a new traffic design intended to slow drivers by creating a zigzag pattern on the road.

“This all happened in a day,” said Chris Harris, a resident. “The speed humps were smoothed out the day before they put all lines down one day and it’s been a nightmare ever since.”

Transportation officials presented the new plan at a virtual hearing last fall, with City Councilman Ryan Dorsey endorsing the initiative. “I think it’s really important that we try new things,” Dorsey said.

Officials believe the design will slow traffic, with one stating, “We definitely wanna make it uncomfortable for users to just fly through.”

Despite these efforts, residents report that drivers are ignoring the new road markings. “The double yellow doesn’t exist,” said one resident, noting that the street is being treated like a freeway.

Another resident, Mikey Bracco, said, “It just seems to be done, I don’t wanna say thoughtlessly, and disregarding the input of the people who live here.”

Residents are now appealing to City Hall, hoping for a solution to address the speeding issue.

“Maybe, just maybe, someone will listen,” said one resident, adding, “It’s only a matter of time before we get a major accident here.”

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