The council also lays out proposed amendments to Baltimore’s charter that would end the practice of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder and allow lawmakers to “create discrete funds to benefit specific programs.”

Johns Hopkins University says its Data Science and AI Institute project is following Baltimore’s environmental procedures, despite the state saying it could be liable for “significant” penalties for sediment discharge violations.

Asked why Mayor Brandon Scott has curtailed the watchdog’s powers, he says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. My hope is that the fire is not someone in the mayor’s office pulling strings in an improper way.”

In the city and the suburbs, thousands turn out to join a national protest against the Trump administration, decrying the U.S. war against Iran and its crackdown on immigrants at home.