Baltimore passes $4.6 billion 2026 budget with funding for migrant communities, vacant housing and traffic projects
The council approved the budget in a 13-2 vote, according to our partners at The Baltimore Banner. The approved budget includes nearly $7 million in amendments that authorize fine and fee increases.
"We were able to produce a budget that invests in Baltimoreans of every background and age, from youth programs to critical support for older Americans through the HUBS program," Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen said in a statement. "We also secured critical commitments that will fund parks, playgrounds and pools in neighborhoods throughout the city, empowering our residents to build community while enjoying the best that our city has to offer."
Baltimore budget addresses federal funding cuts
According to Mayor Scott, the city's budget addresses federal funding cuts that have been carried out at the direction of the Trump administration.
The cuts, which aimed to lower government spending, have impacted universities, medical and research facilities and community resources.
"In recent weeks, we've worked together to make sure this final budget reflects the current and future needs of our residents, and takes into account the harmful and haphazard funding cuts we're facing from this federal administration," Scott said in a statement.
Mayor Scott still needs to sign the 2026 budget into law.
Funding for public safety
According to The Baltimore Banner, the 2026 budget also includes $400,000 for Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates' Office.
The funding allows his office to review police body camera footage. The money comes after Bates requested more funding following the expiration of state grants.
Ultimately, the council voted to move $112,000 from the State's Attorney's Office to the Inspector General's Office to pay for a probe into the Department of Public Works (DPW).
Bates praised the 2026 budget for its commitment to fostering a safe community, but noted that the proposal to strip a position from his office should have been discussed.
"This action neither reflects the spirit of true collaboration nor acknowledges the urgent needs we face as a city," Bates said in a statement. "As we make strides in reducing violent crime and rebuilding trust in our justice system, efforts to undermine that work for political reasons are both short-sighted and counterproductive."
The $112,000 will fund a new position with the Office of the Inspector General, allowing the office to address a backlog of 27 cases, along with 33 that are currently under investigation, Councilwoman Odette Ramos said.
The budget also cuts $1.2 million from the Baltimore Police Department that was allocated to vacant civilian positions.
Funding for migrants, vacant housing and new projects
The nearly $2 million allocated to the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs will be used to provide legal support and other resources for migrant communities in the city.
An additional $1 million will be used to expand the Department of Housing and Community Development to bolster the city's vacant housing reduction strategy.
The funding will allow the department to increase staffing and file more cases that will lead to the rehabilitation of vacant properties, according to Councilwoman Ramos.
The budget also includes nearly $1 million for traffic control projects, $750,000 to launch a curbside composting program in the city and additional funding to create a Department of Consumer Protection and Business Licensing to streamline the city's licensing process.
Under the budget, the city's sanitation workers will receive long-awaited pay raises.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Florida continues capital punishment record with execution date for triple murderer
A Florida man convicted of a triple murder and arson is scheduled for execution, as the state continues its record-breaking pace of capital punishment under Governor Ron DeSantis. David Pittman, 63, is set to die on 17 September, following a death warrant signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Pittman was found guilty of fatally stabbing his estranged wife's sister and parents before setting their house ablaze. This execution would mark the 12th scheduled in Florida this year, a figure that extends the state's recent record for capital punishment. The previous highest annual total since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 was eight executions in 2014. Florida has already carried out nine executions in 2023, surpassing any other US state. Texas and South Carolina currently rank second, each having conducted four executions. Two other men, Kayle Bates and Curtis Windom, are also awaiting execution later this month in Florida. A total of 28 people have been executed so far this year in the U.S., exceeding the 25 executions carried out last year. It ties 2015, when 28 people were also put to death. Pittman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991 on three counts of first-degree murder, according to court records. Jurors also found him guilty of arson and grand theft. Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a divorce in May 1990, when Pittman went to the Polk County home of her parents, Clarence and Barbara Knowles, officials said. Pittman fatally stabbed the couple, as well as their younger daughter, Bonnie. He then set fire to the house and stole Bonnie Knowles' car, which he also set on fire, investigators said. A witnessed identified Pittman as the person running away from the burning car. A jailhouse informant also testified that Pittman had admitted to the killings. The Florida Supreme Court is already scheduled to hear an appeal. An appeal will also likely be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Associated Press
3 minutes ago
- Associated Press
President Trump's Marijuana Fix? DEA's Program Exposed: Promises Made, Promises Not Kept
' As President Trump weighs marijuana rescheduling in the coming weeks, the DEA's track record reveals years of mismanagement, empty promises, and patients left waiting,' stated MMJ CEO Duane Boise. WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / August 17, 2025 / President Trump's decision to potentially reschedule marijuana is the first serious step in decades to break through the bureaucratic logjam that has kept patients and scientists waiting. For years, the DEA has promised a functional marijuana research program. For years, those promises have been broken. DEA's Promises on Paper In its Final Rule (85 Fed. Reg. 82333, Dec. 18, 2020), the DEA pledged that marijuana manufacturing licenses would be tied to FDA science and genuine medical research. The agency declared: These were the promises. The Harsh Reality But DEA's actions told a different story: The only company that meets DEA's own published criteria - MMJ BioPharma, with two FDA-filed INDs and an Orphan Drug Designation - has been stalled while non-scientific registrants received licenses. Promises Made, Promises Not Kept DEA's marijuana program has been a case study in mismanagement: President Trump's possible rescheduling decision shines a spotlight on this failure. By moving marijuana to Schedule III, he has forced the issue back into the open and made clear that real reform will require DEA accountability. The Path Forward Patients deserve more than empty promises. They deserve consistent, reproducible, FDA-approved medicines. They deserve agencies that follow their own rules. And they deserve leadership that keeps its word. With rescheduling now on the table, it is time to hold DEA to account for the gap between its promises and its performance. President Trump has taken the first step - now the DEA must be compelled to deliver. MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT: Madison Hisey [email protected] 203-231-8583 SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings press release
CNN
5 minutes ago
- CNN
These city leaders want to expand HBCUs beyond the South. Here's why they say it's critical as DEI is under attack
Kei'Yanii Dawson dreams of attending a historically Black college where she can take classes and engage in campus life with more students who look like her. But Dawson, a junior at a majority-White private high school in San Francisco, said that would likely mean going to school far from home and taking on more debt for housing and out-of-state tuition. However, a growing movement to expand the presence of HBCUs into more communities outside the South could soon give students like Dawson easier access to a Black college. Officials in cities such as Boston and San Francisco say they are actively working to bring satellite campuses of HBCUs to their communities, hoping to strengthen the pipeline for Black students to pursue higher education and to grow and diversify their local economies. 'I feel like if there was a satellite (HBCU) here in San Francisco, it would just be so much easier,' Dawson said. 'An education coming to me instead of me going so far, there's definitely more benefits from that, money-wise.' Advocates for HBCUs insist these proposals are critical as the Trump administration targets diversity, equity and inclusion programs at predominantly White institutions, such as Harvard University, and as Black students seek schools where they feel included and celebrated. President Donald Trump has decried DEI initiatives as 'illegal and immoral discrimination.' Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed a 2026 fiscal year budget that would cut $64 million in funding for Howard University, the nation's only federally chartered HBCU. The National Institutes of Health also canceled a $16.3 million grant for Florida A&M University's pharmacy school as part of Trump's effort to end DEI programs. US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher on Thursday struck down two administration actions that threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions with DEI programs, ruling the Education Department violated the law, according to The Associated Press. Despite his administration's attacks on DEI, Trump signed an executive order in April supporting HBCUs. 'This order will continue the work begun during my first Administration to elevate the value and impact of our Nation's HBCUs as beacons of educational excellence and economic opportunity that serve as some of the best cultivators of tomorrow's leaders in business, government, academia, and the military,' it read. HBCUs were first established in the mid to late 1800s, when legal segregation in the South prevented Black students from enrolling in existing colleges and schools in the North imposed quotas on the number of Black students who could attend. During this period, HBCUs became the primary means of providing a college education to Black people. Today, the majority of HBCUs are located in the South. Keith Lezama, CEO and founder of Building Bridges Education — a nonprofit dedicated to providing New England students with access and pathways to HBCUs — said he supports the expansion of Black colleges. He said many Black families in communities without HBCUs are not aware of their impact. HBCUs 'are a movement that has allowed access when access wasn't allowed,' Lezama said. 'A movement that instills a sense of pride, resilience that produces amazing leaders in our communities and across the world. To know many of these institutions do this without the same resources (as predominantly White colleges), is something that can be seen as a national model of what excellence looks like in education.' In June, Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell filed a hearing order proposing the establishment of an HBCU satellite campus in Boston. He said during a June 25 city council meeting that Boston is known for being a college town, 'but we do not have a single HBCU.' The closest HBCUs to Boston are Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Lincoln University, both more than 300 miles away. HBCUs, Worrell said, are known for producing a higher percentage of low-income, first-generation Black college graduates than majority-White institutions. 'If we are serious about building a diverse workforce here in Boston in tech, health care, education, government, then we need to be just as serious about the pipelines that people get here,' Worrell said. Establishing a satellite campus is a lengthy process that could take years to complete, advocates say. Worrell said it is not yet clear if or when the HBCU would open in Boston, and officials have not yet decided which school the city will partner with. Boston is hosting a listening session on August 26 to allow community members to share their thoughts on what they want to see in a satellite campus, he said. Worrell will consider their feedback in his proposal for the school. He also hopes to work with HBCUs on an initiative that would allow students at local institutions to transfer credits to the satellite school when it opens. Officials from Huston-Tillotson University, a small private HBCU in Austin, Texas, say they are also working to establish an off-campus instructional site in San Diego. California has the largest out-of-state student enrollment at Huston-Tillotson, said Archibald Vanderpuye, the university's provost and vice president of academic affairs. The school is located about 1,300 miles from San Diego. 'Our partners are looking at ways to increase access to and completion of college degrees among underrepresented minority students by providing them with meaningful HBCU experiences,' Beverly Downing, associate provost at Huston-Tillotson University, said in a statement. Downing said there is growing interest among students and families in expanding the school to California. 'We started getting a lot of calls and getting requests for a presence there so that the students would have a choice of whether to come out to Texas or to take courses (in California),' Downing said. The university plans to launch the off-campus instructional site in San Diego with a business administration program in spring 2026, Downing said. Plans for the San Diego location are underway and the school is required to obtain numerous approvals, including for the off-campus instructional site plan and accreditation, Downing said. In San Francisco, officials are also in active discussions about bringing an HBCU satellite campus to the city, Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for Mayor Daniel Lurie, said. Lutvak said he was unable to provide details on a timeline or which Black colleges are in discussions with city leaders. The conversations follow the city's launch of the Black 2 San Francisco initiative last year, which seeks to 'create a satellite campus partnership with several HBCUs, including a physical location in San Francisco, and a full suite of academic and professional programming.' Former Mayor London Breed said last year that an HBCU campus in San Francisco would 'boost our downtown and our economy, while bringing new minds and ideas to grow within our world-renowned culture of innovation.' Harry Williams, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, said developing satellite locations for HBCUs across the country will help increase the number of Black Americans in the middle class. HBCUs produce 70% of Black doctors and dentists, 50% of Black engineers and 35% of Black attorneys, according to the United Negro College Fund. Williams said HBCUs have higher retention and graduation rates among Black students. Black students can also experience a sense of belonging and culture at HBCUs that they may not find at predominantly White institutions, where DEI and affirmative action are under attack, Williams said. 'Being in a place where you are wanted, that's the key,' he said. 'These institutions were created for African Americans.' Some people, however, oppose expanding HBCUs to other communities. 'You want to attend an HBCU, then move to a city where the school history and culture already exist,' one user posted on X. 'Our resources are stretched enough. Plus, our cities depend on the migration of students from the North.' 'One of the lures of HBCUs is the historical part and putting a satellite campus somewhere random disconnects that,' another user posted on X. 'Especially in Boston.' Brandon Graham, founder and CEO of Our HBCUs Matter Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to educational programming for high school and HBCU students, said he believes it will be challenging for satellite campuses to replicate the connections and experiences students receive on an HBCU's main campus. However, he said there are creative ways to achieve this. HBCUs must 'ensure that you cultivate programmatic models and bring in alumni for those folks who are local to then be able to share and cultivate that synergy that you initially get on an HBCU campus,' said Graham, a graduate of both Clark Atlanta University and Tennessee State University. Graham said he is confident that HBCUs have the connections and resources to expand their reach to communities across the country, just as predominantly White institutions have done. 'It will have positive effects on the institutional educational branding, on its financials, as well as on its ability to cultivate a very diverse alumni base across the country,' Graham said. 'This next level of satellite campuses is going to diversify and transform the way an HBCU education can be provided.'
