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Adam Willis

Adam

Adam Willis is a city government reporter for The Baltimore Banner. He covers intersections of business and government in Baltimore, in addition to examining the impacts of the city's recent infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid. He has worked as a historical researcher in Washington, D.C., a freelance reporter for national magazines and most recently spent two years reporting on energy, the environment and rural issues for the Fargo Forum in North Dakota.

Latest content by Adam Willis

David Smith is the sole funder of the group working to shrink city council.
David Smith wanted to cut Baltimore City Council. He united it instead.
“It was kind of a gift that David Smith and the proponents of the bill gave this city,” said Zac Blanchard, who unseated a Smith-backed candidate in May.
Voters cast their ballots for the 2024 general election at Wise High School in Upper Marlboro.
4 things we learned from election night results in Maryland
Being popular doesn’t guarantee victory, and other lessons from Tuesdays election results.
The ballot measure would have reduced Baltimore the City Council’s size by six members.
Baltimore rejects smaller City Council — and Sinclair’s David Smith
City officials had made a late push against Question H, warning residents that approving the measure, which sought to cut the City Council to eight members from 14, would reduce representation and mean poorer constituent services.
The exterior of Baltimore City Hall as seen on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.
Democrats on track to again sweep Baltimore City Council
Democrats appeared poised to sweep contests for the City Council, an expected outcome of Tuesday’s election that would cements a younger and potentially more progressive panel of legislators to represent Baltimore for the next four years.
A wind turbine spins and generates power for the U.S. electric grid at the South Fork Wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean, 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York, in 2023.
A second Trump term could threaten Maryland’s budding offshore wind industry
Former President Donald Trump has already made clear that he’s willing to take aggressive steps to curb the country’s nascent offshore wind industry.
A ballet drop-box outside of the Randallstown Community Center.
Surge in Maryland’s unaffiliated voters could reshape future elections
The shift likely has major implications on who is nominated in future elections as more voters opt out of participating in closed primaries and partisans gain power.
Spectators hold signs opposing the bill that would reduce the size of City Council during a press conference in Zeke’s Coffee Shop on September 15, 2024.
Baltimore almost always approves ballot questions. Can City Hall win this time?
Whether the David Smith-financed effort to shrink the City Council is approved or rejected has big implications for the future of politics in Baltimore.
An aerial shot of Ocean City, Md. near the inlet, showing the Atlantic Ocean at right, the beach center and the city at left.
Ocean City, others sue federal government over offshore wind project
The tourist town’s lawsuit, filed Friday, comes after months of threats and as seaside communities in other parts of the East Coast have waged an offensive against a nascent U.S. offshore wind industry.
The RESCO trash incinerator no longer needs the tax credits to remain viable, top lawmakers said.
State may extinguish green energy subsidies for Baltimore trash incinerator
The companies no longer need the subsidies to remain viable, top lawmakers said.
Baltimore City Hall.
Head of David Smith-backed ballot measure defends proposal against critics at forum
A ballot measure to cut the size of Baltimore’s City Council nearly in half is financed almost exclusively by Sinclair exec David Smith. Though it is broadly opposed by city leaders, Baltimore voters almost always approve ballot measures.
6/28/22—the exterior of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse.
Want a gym membership? The sheriff’s office can help
Under Sheriff Sam Cogen, the law enforcement division has started offering memberships to a private gym for 100 employees.
Views of CSX facilities scene from the Curtis Bay neighborhood in Baltimore.
Are giant walls enough to shield Curtis Bay from coal dust? The neighborhood says no.
Curtis Bay residents want more protections from CSX’s coal facility, but state officials expect the company may file a lawsuit.
An aerial view of Coke Point, the proposed site of the Sparrows Point Container Terminal.
Tradepoint abandons dredging plan for Hart-Miller Island, taking $40M with it
The Sparrows Point logistics hub and community leaders were considering an agreement to trade $40 million for a dredging site on the little island that houses a state park, but plans fell through after forceful community pushback.
Harborplace renderings show massive residential units envisioned by the developer.
Will your vote on the redevelopment of Harborplace matter? A court will decide.
The fate of a nearly $1 billion plan to reimagine Baltimore’s downtown waterfront now rests in the hands of judges.
How Baltimore’s legal wins over ballot questions were turned against Harborplace
Baltimore’s City Hall may have fumbled a chance to put its highest priority issue before voters.

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