The Mayor for Life used government contracts, development opportunities and political power to build Washington, D.C.’s Black business class. (BALTIMORE – July 20, 2026) – Invariably, when I meet people from Washington, D.C., and the conversation turns to Marion Barry, I hear some version of the same statement: “Marion Barry gave me my first job.” I have heard it repeatedly from Washingtonians of different ages and backgrounds. To me, that is one of the most revealing measures of the man’s legacy. Long before “workforce development” became fashionable political language, Marion Barry understood that a young person’s first job could change…

If you can’t bring love, don’t bring hate (BALTIMORE — July 20, 2026) — Early Monday morning, I received a phone call. It turned out that the caller wanted to know why I had said positive things about Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in a recent clip posted online. It’s simple: He is our leader. People can choose whether to support him. That is an individual decision. As the publisher of BMORENews.com, which has continually served this city for the past 24 years, I choose to speak life over Mayor Scott, Baltimore, and its people. Supporting Baltimore does not mean surrendering…

(BALTIMORE – July 18, 2026) – This is a message to everyone working to make Baltimore City better—beginning with Mayor Brandon M. Scott and extending to all those entrusted with the enormous responsibility of rebuilding and reimagining our city. They are being asked to rebuild a plane that is already in the air. Today’s leaders, many of whom are Black—including our beloved Mayor Brandon Scott—inherited a Baltimore that struggled to pivot following the decline of the industrial era. Thankfully, Baltimore’s world-class colleges, universities, hospitals, and research institutions helped keep the city academically, medically, and intellectually grounded throughout that transition. But…

Wylie Funeral Homes founder and newly honored namesake of “Al Wylie Way” will be recognized August 5 at the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center in West Baltimore. (BALTIMORE – July 18, 2026) — BMORENews.com is proud to announce that Albert P. “Al” Wylie, founder of Wylie Funeral Homes, will receive the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award during The Doni Glover Show LIVE on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Justice Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center, 1315 Division Street in Baltimore. In full transparency, I am the son of a funeral director and mortician. Pops is long…

(BALTIMORE – July 17, 2026) – The first people to introduce me to fashion were my parents, Doc and Lillie Glover. They kept me sharp as a tack. After all, I was the son of a funeral director. My father conducted funerals from the funeral chapel, and our family lived upstairs. I am talking about 1968, 1969, and 1970. Patterson Park and Lanvale, Easter Sunday, and regular trips to church. My father was deeply involved in the church at Perkins Square Baptist, located at 2500 Edmondson Avenue, where he served as treasurer. Church was not an occasional activity in our…

(BALTIMORE – July 16, 2026) – One of the best parts of journalism is admitting when you don’t know something. During my recent interview with Baltimore Gas and Electric President and CEO Tamla Olivier, she asked me a question I wasn’t expecting. She explained that, just a few years ago, wholesale electricity capacity prices in our region had been around $29 per megawatt-day. Today, she said, they’re closer to $329. Then she looked at me and asked what that should mean. Looking back, I don’t think I gave my best answer. Maybe I sensed a trick question. Maybe I didn’t fully…

(EASTSIDE POET GARDEN – July 14, 2026) – When people think about Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, they think about championships. They think about politicians, military leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, judges, doctors, and Hall of Fame athletes. And they should. But there’s another side of Dunbar that deserves just as much recognition—the side built on service, on community, on the understanding that leadership isn’t measured only by titles or trophies, but by how many lives you touch along the way. There are people who are the salt of the earth. People who understand people, and understand how to bring people together.…

“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”— Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (BALTIMORE – July 14, 2026) – Our generation’s mission may not be simply to invent artificial intelligence. It may be to govern it wisely. The question is no longer whether AI will transform civilization. It already has. The question is whether we possess the wisdom to ensure that the infrastructure powering it strengthens humanity rather than diminishes it. I recently watched The Great Wall. Like any Hollywood movie, it takes liberties with history. But one idea stayed with…

Baltimore Built America, Part III: How Segregation Produced Extraordinary Black Teachers (BALTIMORE – July 11, 2026) – Every now and then, history surprises you. Not because the facts have been hidden. But because no one has ever connected them. That happened during one of my many conversations with Baltimore historian Marco Merrick. Marco and I had been discussing Baltimore’s remarkable legacy—its railroads, churches, civil rights pioneers, labor leaders, neighborhoods, educators, and institutions. Then he said something that stopped me. “If you were Black,” he said, “you couldn’t go to the University of Maryland.” At first, I thought he was simply…

Former Harlem Globetrotter continues changing lives through Choo Smith Youth Empowerment (LAS VEGAS – July 11, 2026) – There are some people you interview. Then there are people you have the privilege of watching over time. Charles “Choo” Smith Jr. is one of those people. For two decades, I’ve watched him pour himself into Baltimore’s young people—not for publicity, not for applause, but because that’s simply who he is. I first met Choo at a gathering inside a beautiful home in Baltimore County. Before I knew anything about his basketball résumé, before I learned he had traveled the world with…