Baltimore County is looking for dead people.

The Baltimore County Council Monday night is expected to hire a firm that will perform death audits. It will comb through death records and look for people who have passed on but are still collecting retirement.

Read more (and listen) at WYPR.

It was 60 years ago Friday, that the Beatles came to town to play.

It was their only appearance in Baltimore.

America was in the grip of Beatlemania — and on September 13, 1964, Charm City was the epicenter, as screaming kids packed Baltimore’s Civic Center.

Those who were there remember it like it was, well, Yesterday.

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A deal appears to be taking shape that would allow dredge material to be dumped on an island that is home to a state park and migratory birds.

Tradepoint Atlantic, the logistics center in Sparrows Point, is seeking approval to reopen the dredging facility at Hart-Miller Island, which is off Baltimore County’s coast.

In exchange, several people said that Tradepoint is offering $40 million, to be split evenly for recreational improvements to the island and to nearby communities.

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Baltimore County Council Democrats want to throw out a new map of redrawn council districts that was part of a compromise to get the proposed council expansion on the November ballot.

Republican Baltimore County Council members say the Democrats are going back on their word and that it could lead to partisan conflict and chaos on the council.

In July, Council Democrats cut a deal with wary Republicans for their votes to get the proposed expansion of the council from seven to nine seats on the November ballot. Republicans were concerned Democrats would use the expansion to strengthen their 4-3 hold on the council so a redrawn nine district map was included in the legislation the Republicans could accept.

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Since Vice-President Kamala Harris began running for president, the Democratic party has enjoyed a jumpstart of enthusiasm.

Democratic candidates in Maryland say they are feeling it too.

Harris raised more than $300 million in July and she and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, are attracting huge crowds.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, the Democratic nominee running for Maryland’s second congressional district, said since Harris began running for president, his campaign has been flooded with people who want to volunteer.

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There are many reasons a student might act up in class.

One of them is poor eyesight, which also can make them struggle academically.

There is a free program, Vision To Learn, that’s reaching out to children to help them see what they are missing.

A Vision To Learn van was recently parked outside the White Marsh branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.

In the back of the van, Optometrist Arianna Jordan was checking 10-year-old Chloe Bryson’s left eye, which has poor vision.

Read more (and listen) at WYPR.

Baltimore County voters will not get a chance to decide whether to expand the County Council by four members.

Linda Dorsey-Walker, the chair of the Grassroots organization Vote4More!, said they did not get enough valid signatures on petitions to get the question on the November ballot.

It ends a more than two year effort that Dorsey-Walker said excited people countywide.

Read more at WYPR.

During the first six months of this year, the hot reads at the Baltimore County Public Library include a psychological thriller, an unprecedented royal memoir and a wimpy kid’s diary.

Author Jeff Kinney has been cranking out Diary of a Wimpy Kid books since 2007.

“It’s a classic,” said Sonia Alcántara-Antoine, the C.E.O of the Baltimore County Public Library. “It’s a perennial favorite.”

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The fight over the Red Maple Place affordable housing project in East Towson is not over, with opponents now zeroing in on its environmental impact.

The debate over the project, which dates back seven years, pits an historically African American neighborhood that says it has been taken advantage of for decades against a developer that counters it’s planning to build a quality apartment complex that would provide much needed affordable housing.

Red Maple Place cleared what appeared to be the final hurdle for the project on July 1, when the Baltimore County Council agreed not to subject it to new design standards.

But opponents of the project are hoping they can still stop the 56-unit building through a resolution the County Council unanimously passed last November. The resolution, which was introduced by Councilman Mike Ertel who represents Towson, asks Maryland’s Department of the Environment to study any adverse environmental impact of developing the 2.5 acre wooded site on Joppa Road.

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A group that wants to give Baltimore County voters the chance to expand the County Council from seven to eleven members, dropped off petitions Monday at the county board of elections.

If VOTE4MORE! collects enough valid signatures, there will be dueling questions on the November ballot on how big to make the County Council.

It delivered two duffel bags filled with petitions that Linda Dorsey-Walker, the group’s chair, said contain 10,275 signatures.

At least 10,000 valid signatures are needed to put a question on the ballot. Dorsey-Walker concedes some of those signatures will be tossed out.

Read more (and listen) at WYPR.

Nine is not enough.

That was the message the Baltimore County Council received at a Tuesday public hearing on a proposal to expand the body from seven to nine members.

County voters in November may get to choose whether to have nine members, or 11… or they might not get a vote at all.

The current Council is all-male. Six out of seven are white although people of color make up nearly 50% of the county’s population. Supporters of expanding the council say adding more seats could help make it more diverse.

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Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski is defending his administration’s purchase of an office building. The cost of that building has more than doubled and County Council members are steamed that they weren’t told about that.

The building at 305 Washington Avenue in Towson cost $5,857,677 when it was purchased last year.

“This is going to be a facility that meets the needs of Baltimore County for decades to come,” Olszewski said.

Council Chairman Izzy Patoka said they were told the building was move in ready. But it turns out the building needs repairs and renovations of nearly $7.5 million, more than doubling the cost of the purchase.

Read more at WYPR.

Baltimore County voters may get to decide whether the County Council should expand from seven to nine members. Legislation was filed this week to put the issue on the November ballot.

But it is not a given that the council will agree to let voters weigh in on the question.

It will take the support of at least five council members to put the expansion question on the November ballot. A majority of Council members have said they are either opposed to expansion or are undecided. They’ve questioned the expense and whether it’s necessary since the county’s growth has flattened.

Council Chairman Izzy Patoka, who is sponsoring the legislation, said he is optimistic he can get it passed.

“I think there is a sweet spot that we can find that creates an opportunity for this piece of legislation to move forward,” Patoka said.

Read more at WYPR.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski wants the County Council to scrap a Monday vote on a controversial plan to control development near overcrowded schools.

Council members are proposing multiple amendments which Olszewski says he hasn’t seen.

“At this point, it’s unclear what any final legislation might look like,” Olszewski said. “Given the concerns and given the complications of this bill, I would support them taking a step back and really trying to bring all of the stakeholders together to see if there is something workable.”

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The Red Maple Place affordable housing project, which has survived neighborhood opposition, a hostile Baltimore County Council, and judicial review, is again at risk of being torpedoed by the county, according to the developer.

Thebattle over the development goes back years. Residents in East Towson, who trace their history back to people who had been enslaved at the nearby Hampton mansion, say the 56-unit apartment building will forever change their community.

Democratic Councilman Mike Ertel, who represents East Towson, said for decades the county has done damage to the neighborhood.

“We put a BGE substation in the middle of this community,” Ertel said. “We’ve tried to run highways through it. We’ve done all kinds of things to East Towson and it just, it’s just got to stop somewhere.”

Read more (and listen) at WYPR.