Watchdog reporting suffered a local blow this fall. A blog that tracks happenings at the Baltimore City Liquor Board is set to cut back.
Booze News, which was run by the Community Law Center, did not have funding renewed for the coming year, staff attorney Becky Lunberg Witt wrote in a blog post. The blog began in 2013 following an audit of the liquor board.
“Though we have all seen significant improvements, some of which were unthinkable in 2013, there is still a great deal left to improve at this agency. Unfortunately, we were not awarded that funding, so Booze News will need to change its scope,” she wrote.
Going forward, Witt won’t be posting regularly about meetings. But she will still attend meetings, and post spotlights of the Board’s dealings with specific businesses.
City Paper reports that the Abell Foundation funded Booze News, and that the funding decision was made following a meeting of the foundation and liquor board members. However, both sides told City Paper that the meeting was not connected to the funding decision. There’s more in the full report.
