Catherine Pugh has resigned as mayor of Baltimore, effective immediately. Her attorney Steven Silverman announced the resignation on Thursday. Pugh has been on medical leave for the past month, as questions mounted over whether purchases of her children’s book 'Healthy Holly' by the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Kaiser Permanente amounted to bribery, as tens of thousands of copies that were paid for were never printed. Pugh was on sitting on the board of UMMS when it approved the book purchase, and Kaiser was seeking a $48 million contract with the city. Pugh, a Democrat, was elected after the 2015 riots, but struggled with rising crime in Baltimore.