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Lee O. Sanderlin

Lee O.

Lee O. Sanderlin is an Enterprise Reporter for The Baltimore Banner. Before joining The Banner, Lee was a reporter at The Baltimore Sun where he wrote about abuses of power, gun violence and legislative issues, among other topics. A North Carolina native, Lee has also worked in his home state and in Mississippi, where he was an investigative reporter assigned to the statehouse. Lee is a graduate of Appalachian State University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he completed an investigative reporting fellowship. In his spare time he likes long walks, spending time with his friends, playing golf and, during the season, watching App State football.

The latest from Lee O. Sanderlin

Where federal workers searching for new jobs should look in Maryland
Local leaders and state officials are trying to help federal workers find stability and chart a new path forward in Maryland.
Prospective job seekers speak with recruiters during a federal workers career fair hosted at Howard Community College in Columbia last month.
In selling Maryland, Wes Moore offers Japan, Korea a Trump alternative
Whether Moore is in Annapolis or Seoul, Donald Trump is an inescapable force.
Gov. Wes Moore and his Korean counterpart Gov. Park Wan-Su of the South Gyeongsang Province pose for a group photo holding Dongbaeki plushies. Park presented the Maryland delegation with Dongbaeki toys. Dongbaeki, a gull, is a mascot of the South Korean city of Tongyeong.
Trump official suggests arrests of ‘sanctuary’ leaders could happen
‘Wait to see what’s coming,’ Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said Thursday.
White House border czar Tom Homan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
The Commanders are leaving Prince George’s County. There’s a plan for what’s next.
The impending move is a loss for Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland, though officials are painting it as not-so-bad.
Washington Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris, from left, signs a helmet along with District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after an announcement about a new home for the NFL football team on the site of the old RFK Stadium, Monday, April 28, 2025, at the National Press Club in Washington.
Key Bridge families get $1.2M donation after being shut out of largest relief fund
The Baltimore Community Foundation donated $1.2 million to help the families of the six workers who died in the Key Bridge disaster, Mayor Brandon Scott said Tuesday afternoon.
The Baltimore Community Foundation donated $1.2 million to help the families of the six workers who died in the Key Bridge disaster.
Moore’s Asia trip helped by baseball talk and a slight football gaffe
Sports were frequent cultural touchstones on Gov. Wes Moore's trip to Japan and South Korea.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore presented Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa of the Kanagawa Prefecture a signed Tomoyuki Sugano Baltimore Orioles jersey. A pitcher for the Os, Sugano is from the Kanagawa Prefecture and is a three-time MVP in Japan.
As Wes Moore sells Maryland to Asia, Trump’s tariffs cast shadow
Recently proposed tariffs on computer chips and other electronics complicate Gov. Wes Moore's hallmark economic initiative.
From left, Moore, Peter Chapman, executive chairman of IonQ, and Hirobe Masahiro, Deputy Director of the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT), National Institute of of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
Gov. Wes Moore kicks off Asia trade trip with maglev train ride: ‘This is the future’
Moore needed one word to summarize the experience: “Wow.”
Gov. Wes Moore smiles as he departs a Central Japan Railway Company SCMAGLEV train Saturday, April 12, 2025. "Wow" is how he described the experience, a 311 MPH futuristic train ride.
A red stalwart in blue Maryland: Are these the last days for Chuck Jenkins?
As an elected Republican in a rapidly changing place that gets more liberal with each election, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins is something of an endangered species.
Sheriff Chuck Jenkins at the Utica Mills Covered Bridge in Thurmont. When he launched his first campaign announcement, he used a photograph of himself here.
Foundation CEO on Key Bridge fund backlash: ‘This issue now has my full attention.’
After days of public blowback, the Baltimore Community Foundation CEO said she plans to support the families of the six men who died in the Key Bridge collapse.
The Baltimore Community Foundation CEO said honoring donor intent is a key value.
They raised $16 million for Key Bridge disaster relief. None of it went to victims’ families.
A community foundation raised money for the Maryland Tough, Baltimore Strong fund under the explicit premise that Key Bridge victims’ families would see some of it.
Remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge before dawn on the one-year anniversary of its collapse.
Brandon Scott’s $4.6B Baltimore spending plan could be scrambled by Trump cuts
Baltimore City's plan closes an $85 million shortfall with several additional fees.
Brandon Scott has a spending plan — for now. But federal spending cuts and layoffs could mean big changes later.
Cohen, councilmembers take BGE rate fight to city streets
The fight against Baltimore Gas and Electric Company’s planned rate increases escalated Thursday as a contingent of city leaders took to the streets to rally residents against the energy giant’s proposal.
Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen, left, and councilmember Mark Parker, right, speak with residents David and Deneen Colson in Baltimore's 13th District about rising Baltimore Gas and Electric rates on Thursday.
DPW worker had heat illness for days before dying on job last summer, OIG says
Ronald Silver II called out sick the day before he died during his trash collection shift because of heat-related illness.
DPW employee Ronald Silver II had shown symptoms of heat-related illness for several days before he died after working a shift last summer, according to a new inspector general report.
Sarah David wants to change the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office
Currently the deputy Maryland state prosecutor, Sarah David will announce her candidacy for state’s attorney Wednesday.
Deputy Maryland state prosecutor Sarah David, right, laughs as Maryland State Bar Association president Raphael J. Santini speaks during a panel discussion for the Maryland State Bar Association’s Leadership Academy.
One of downtown Baltimore’s biggest landlords hit with foreclosure
A lender is foreclosing on a downtown apartment building owned by one Baltimore’s most successful developers of office-to-residential conversions.
The 11-story Art Deco-style apartment building is the former home of the Baltimore Life Insurance Company. Photographed on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Baltimore sanitation workers push for pay raises as city examines working conditions
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works director acknowledged, ‘We’re not where we need to be, but we’re going to get there.‘
Labor leaders and workers, while occasionally at odds, have both pushed the city to address long-standing issues in the solid waste division.
It’s not sexy, but fixing Baltimore’s permits process could solve a lot of problems
Charm City has enough problems to overcome, and self-inflicted ones like poor permitting only make it more difficult.
Mayor Brandon Scott is promising to streamline the city's permit review process. City Council members are skeptical.
A coalition is trying to get Baltimore’s biggest nonprofits to pay the city more
Advocates are backing a City Council bill that would create a task force to help renegotiate Baltimore's PILOT with nonprofits.
1199SEIU Senior Policy Analyst Loraine Arikat speaks during a 2023 kickoff event for With Us for Us, a coalition seeking to increase what nonprofits pay the city each year for services.
Baltimore City Council is ready to talk about kids’ struggles to get to school
A Thursday hearing will be the first time public officials discuss transit’s impact on students since a Banner investigation found it’s nearly impossible for them to get to school on time every day.
Brooke Bourne, a senior at Western High School, spends more than 90 minutes getting home from school each day on public transit, a distance that takes 17 minutes by car.
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