Indecent exposure car

A triple murder over by the Mondawmin mall* in the 2200 block of N. Fulton Avenue.

Whoa, man! The state Senate passed (30-16) Curt Anderson's bill (SB 297) that decriminalizes possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana (pot, weed, ganj, green, trees, &tc.). The bill goes to the house on March 28. Gawd that would be such a help in Baltimore city-- in spite of whatever FHBIII said in NYMag's "Truce on Drugs" article, the city still puts thousands of people in jail for minor amounts of weed every year. Promising sign: last year the House passed a bill that lowered the penalty for less than 10 grams from a year in jail and a $1000 fine to 90 days and a $500 fine. Should it pass, HB 1453 lowers the fine down to $100 and gets rid of the criminal penalties completely.

At the same time, the city is cracking down on booze, barring liquor stores from operating in areas zoned 'residential.'

So there have been three home-invasion-ish robberies in the Villages of Homeland development (where Woodburne Ave turns into Homeland Ave). Not to mention about three motorists robbed/carjacked on that stretch of York Rd.

The city is paying $150,000 to a guy who was arrested by mistake-- and held for eight months.

Wait, what? Law enforcement doesn't need a warrant to read your emails -- so long as someone has opened them and/or they're more than six months old? What the heck is that?

State police are swamped with gun license applications.

Victim ID updates: Gerald Commodore, 22, killed on Windsor Ave yesterday; D'Andre Thomas, 25, killed on Fox St
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 19, 2013

Oh noo, a fourth lawsuit for Kevin "Elmo" Clash from his first accuser, Sheldon Stephens,* and the words "crystal meth sex parties" are involved. Stephens has filed in PA, a state with a more lenient statute of limitations than NY (or for that matter, MD).

& if you're into 30-something Hispanic guys with spiky hair WBAL advises you to "Watch for car linked to indecent exposures cases." Oh dang, sorry ladies, they got him.

Rear and Present Danger

A triple stabbing in the parking lot of the Sunset Beach Bar and Grill at Pulaski Highway and Allender Road in White Marsh

Whups! PG County accidentally released an alleged murderer, one Frederick Scott (left).

Bad PR move, SRB: a group of students from eight local colleges who'd planned to sleep in front of Baltimore City Hall to commemorate National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week on Saturday night were told to disperse by Baltimore City Police and threatened with arrest.

Oh noes! Kimberly Smedley, accused of using a room at the
Renaissance hotel to give a stripper from the Block illegal, ass-plumping silicone injections, was arrested in D.C. The dancer wound up in the hospital with silicone in her lungs, victims in other states were left with deformed buttocks ( NY Post headline: "Rear and Present Danger").

Baltimorean Terry L. Wilson goes to Indiana, robs convenience store, gets shot, dies. Assuming it's the same 20-year-old Terry L. Wilson in the Judiciary Case search, in 2007 he was charged with attempted murder and the case was remanded to juvenile court. In November of 2009 Wilson was again charged with attempted murder, in 2010 he was convicted and sent to jail.

A Baltimorean who brought cocaine to vend in Altoona, PA, Rodney "Rocco" Williams, is in custody after a year-and-a-half investigation.

Some good news: national reports show a huge decline in child sex abuse.

And here's one I missed back in August, but better late than never: five years after suing the City of Baltimore for sexual harassment, the 4th circuit found in favor Katrina Okoli, reversing the district court's decision. Wonder how much she'll get?

Really? Bloomberg News reports that "The U.S. prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail."