Toy guns that look like the real thing could be banned under a bill introduced by lawmakers in Baltimore, Maryland. The replica guns have been the key cause of a number of police-involved shooting of children such as Cleveland’s Tamir Rice, which lead to national protests.

Under the bill, which was voted through unanimously by Baltimore City Council on Monday, owning, carrying or otherwise possessing a replica gun that could "reasonably be perceived to be a real firearm" could result in a $250 fine for a first offense, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Fines would rise to $1,000 for second and subsequent offenses.

"If we had our way, we would ban all handguns in the city of Baltimore. We just don’t have the authority to do it," said Baltimore City Councilman Jim Kraft, D-District 1, who sponsored the bill.

WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, has emerged as the favorite to be secretary of state in Donald Trump's administration, a senior Trump official said Monday night.

The official told The Associated Press that there's no real competition for the job and that it's the former New York mayor's if he wants it. The official wasn't authorized to speak on the record and requested anonymity.

President-elect Donald Trump stood by his promise to reject the presidential salary, during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes.

“The answer is no,” he said, when asked about his campaign trail promise by CBS interviewer Lesley Stahl. “I think I have to take by law one dollar so I’ll take one dollar a year.”

He admitted that he didn’t even know what the salary was, but when he was told it was $400,000 salary he declined it.

“I’m not taking it,” he said.

He added that he would not be taking too many vacations either.

“There’s so much work to be done and I want to get it done for the people,” he said. “I want to get it done. We’re lowering taxes, we’re taking care of health care.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Baltimore Thursday.

The former Democratic presidential candidate will speak at Johns Hopkins University.

The talk is part of the annual Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium -- a student-run lecture series at the university. The event is free and open to the public, but organizers say it's sold-out with overflow rooms planned in several campus buildings.

Sanders' new book, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In," is set to publish the week of his Johns Hopkins appearance.

Before Donald Trump won the presidency, Democratic foreign policy circles hummed with talk that an outgoing President Barack Obama could take a last stab at peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There also was a strong expectation that Obama would push hard for Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

But now that they're on the verge of power, Trump aides say Obama shouldn't even think about taking such steps.

"On big, transformative issues where President Obama and President-elect Trump are not in alignment, I don’t think it’s in keeping with the spirit of the transition ... to try to push through agenda items that are contrary to the president-elect’s positions," a Trump national security adviser told POLITICO on Thursday. "It's not going to be just counterproductive, but it will also send mixed messages."

About 1,000 people gathered in Station North Thursday evening and marched to the Inner Harbor and then to the Ravens game at M&T Bank Stadium to show their dissatisfaction with Donald J. Trump winning the presidency.

They briefly formed a line to keep fans from reaching M&T Bank Stadium around the time the Baltimore Ravens game was set to kick off at 8:25 p.m. Stadium officials locked the gates for about three minutes as the protesters gathered outside, then reopened them as the crowd dispersed.

They chanted "not my president," "2-4-6-8, no to Trump and no to hate," and "immigrants are welcome here." Carrying signs saying "Trump is not our president," they marched down Charles Street as onlookers came out from restaurants clutching glasses of wine and giving the protesters high-fives.

Home schooling has always fascinated me. When my children were growing up and had various difficulties in school, I often thought that I should just keep them at home. But, it never went further than a thought. I was too timid to buck the trend and do something so unusual. I also could not imagine having my children home all day. I liked the comfort and structure of having them in school. Besides, it was scary to have the full responsibility of bringing up my children by myself! Home schooling was too radical to even consider.

But home schooling has become a part of my life, now, because two of my granddaughters, ages five and eight, are being home schooled. I decided to find out more about it from the perspective of the home schooler – and the home schooled.