Saturday, March 5, 2011

Weaves a-flying

Check out this crazy video of a girlfight at Towson Town Center:

Bad men

Police are looking for a dark-colored SUV with a tan stripe, driven by a tubby Hispanic man who tried to abduct a teenager last night on the east side.

A man shot in the stomach on Edmondson Ave

No smizing at the vigil to remember Tyra Trent.

Fifteen-year-old Deondre M. Pedersen arrested and charged with home invasion

A crazy melee in HarfCo: 25 people involved in an altercation and an 18-year-old stabbed in the back, shades of the 50-person brawl of '07 (unfortunately all of those links have expired)

A man in Pikesville arrested after holding up the Bank of America with a fake bomb.

Alleged Marley Station Mall mugger arrested, and JZ readers have plenty of elevated, enlightened comments. Also arrested in AAC, a pimp and his human traffic

Shreky-looking-guy arrested for involvement in a county stolen-auto-parts ring

In Fredneck, the "Sheriff's Office has charged a man with assault and harassment after he allegedly yelled racial epithets at a black man and pointed a gun at him."

WaPo: Digital billboards-> tip -> cigarette butt -> DNA match -> arrest of Aaron Thomas, alleged East Coast Rapist

The NYT publishes a positive police story: "An Angry Man Is Met by a Smart, Experienced Police Team"

Friday, March 4, 2011

Pass!

The Judiciary Committee has passed the same-sex marriage bill, with the help of Jill Carter but without the help of Tiffany Alston (and with a crude sideshow from Neil Parrott). Then Samir Arora, who was elected with lots of gay old dollars and a promise to support equality, backtracked before coming around.
... But you know what, no matter what happens in MD, eventually the Supreme Court will rule what even those against same-sex marriage already know: in this country church and state are separate and the state has no compelling interest in denying these people their civil rights. And time doesn't favor old bigots, who are going to keep dying off or changing their minds as they realize gay people are not freaks from another planet but friends, neighbors and family. There may be some honor in saying "my constituents are against this and I was elected to represent what they want." But there is no honor in being a backstabbing bigot or a waffler. /end rant

And don't mess with people with low body fat and tight shorts! Police now say that a spokesman's statement that charges were unlikely to be filed was premature, and that the investigation is still pending.

Breaking news: The "East Coast Rapist" was arrested in Connecticut

Gun toting deputies

Update: The City deputy arrested over the weekend pointed his gun at the employee of a downtown homeless shelter. Oh, and he was off-duty and intoxicated.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Delayed again

because Jill Carter was out sick today, says the WaPo. Said Tiffany Alston on Wednesday, "I don't think anyone should hold any of our decisions against us, because this is a very difficult decision."

26

James Fields, Jr., 47, who was shot in 1992.

Hey, wait, child neglect is legal? What the heck am I doing here? Laters, kids!

It's not your fault

State Delegate Jill Carter takes the house leadership to task over same sex marriage legislation.

Lady troubles

A double-shooting yesterday in Woodlawn

Posted Fox 45 at around 10 last night: "Baltimore County Police are on the scene of a serious stabbing near the City/County line. Police found a 25-year-old man who'd been stabbed in the neck in the 600 block of Walker Ave. He has been taken to Shock Trauma, no word on his condition. Police are investigating the crime as a possible robbery."

Jill Carter told IV she "didn't block the vote .. we didn't have the votes ... I know we were at least two votes short" and added, "the truth is, I saved the bill."

What the?! "The minority development partnership that has co-headed the $1.8 billion redevelopment in East Baltimore has been barred from doing business in Maryland by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation because of unpaid taxes."

Look out for Earleen Denah Cottman, 49, last seen on W. Pratt St

Geeze, Louise! PGC police have charged seven "sorority sisters" (including two 26-year-olds) of U of MD's Zeta Phi Beta with assault related to the alleged beating of a pledge in October. The U has suspended the sorority pending investigation.

Afro: "Police vs Community = Shaky"

"Abortion opponents want tighter regulations" -- story says the state has 41 abortion providers. (I only count 21 on the "American Death Camps" web site-- maybe the 41 includes hospitals?)

Stolen cigars, an ex-boyfriend trying to choke a woman in her sleep and a teenager shot in the face with a paint gun in the Baltimore Guide blotter.

Wine lovers are set to "make their case" Friday in Annapolis, though it sounds like "the whole cow" was already deboned in private meetings earlier this month.

Tonight at 6 at 1505 Eutaw Street is the screening of "Blocking the Exit," "an exploration of the current "life means life" policy on parole in Maryland." The JPI claims that there are 2,657 people serving parole-eligible life sentences in Maryland. (Don't do the math on how much that costs. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I'm Ready to Vote Now

Jill Carter tells David Collins.

Westboro wins

The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects the speech of Westboro Baptist Church.

Best month ever

"February '11 had one of the lowest monthly murder tallies ever," and the Ink recaps last week's only murder. The murder of Edgar Wilson (allegedly at the hand of his own grandson) is horrible and tragic, but still, wow.

Nineteen years for "career criminal" Glenn Plato Brooks, 42, convicted of feloniously possessing a firearm.

White House Report on women reveals that while fewer women are crime victims, "the imprisonment rate for females quadrupled between 1985 and 2008"

Base! How low can you go...

Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-PGC) says she's ready to vote on the same-sex marriage bill, and that her no-show was because she needed "a little more time to weigh my final decision." And, says Julie B., Jill Carter "predicted the Judiciary Committee would not vote on gay marriage until House leadership has appeased her." The Sun Op-Ed page predicts the opposite (the puzzle-- what does the Judiciary Committee have to do with school funding?)... the grab for attention has apparently worked, you can now follow FauxJillCarter.
WBAL has audio of Jill Carter and others talking about their issues.
And says Jill Carter on her Facebook page:
Andy green at the Sun was obviously spoon fed by someone-my money is on Maggie ... Andy Green's editorial is not only dishonest, it is scathing, character assasinating, and suspiciously, mean-spirited. If you followed my mayoral campaign, you should recall the Sun's consistent non-coverage, under coverage, and disparate coverage. I am NOT the reason the bill wasn't voted. The chairman knows it, speaker knows it , and a number of others.

The WaPo's Dana Milbank sees how many drug references he can freebase into one piece

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Carter Holds Marriage Bill Hostage

not showing up this morning was apparently no coincidence: Jill Carter, D-41, is apparently holding up the same-sex marriage bill to draw attention to the horribly misguided "equal time" child custody bill.

Indecent Exposures

The grandson of Edgar Waylan Wilson was arrested for his murder.

Baltimore bikers' shorts in twist after police refuse to charge the octogenarian who mowed down a Hopkins student

Two months and still no sign of Phylicia Barnes. JZ commentor: "I would hall of the People who were in and out of the apt , take them all to jail and starve the hell out of them"

Your tax $ at work: bungling bureaucrats cost city $4 million in federal lead-paint-abatement money

DEA bans sales & possession of five types of faux marijuana, including "K2" and "Spice"

PA company fesses up to releasing 40 times the allowed amount of ammonia into the air at Sparrows Point. And if you flew from Baltimore to Denver on the 22nd, you may have been exposed to measles.

"High-end restaurant owners want corkage law"- would you pay $25 to BYOB?

Supreme court argues definition of "cocaine base" vs. powder, decides that corporations have no right to personal privacy

Same-sex marriage vote delayed when two members of the Judiciary Committee, Jill Carter and Tiffany Alston, didn't show. Meanwhile Sun publishes letter opining that "gay marriage is not a civil rights issue"

State health secretary, governor against medical marijuana

Monday, February 28, 2011

Naked & Tased®

How much would you charge to be strip-searched on a public street and Tased® while in handcuffs?

The FBI and local police are ISO the "East Coast Rapist"

"Judge Upholds 'Skateboard Cop' Firing," dude.

County police arrested Clinton Austin Bradley Jr. in the murder of 18-year-old Brandon Jackson

County police are ISO a woman named "Tre" with a bite mark on her hand who allegedly robbed a teacher

Sun "Second Opinion":"a sentence of life without the possibility of parole provides peace and certainty that the death penalty rarely can." (Bored? Lonely? Check out a screening of the documentary "Blocking the Exit" this Thursday with the Justice Policy Institute)

Medical marijuana hearing in the House today. "Good concept, convoluted bill," says the Sun's Andy Green. Heh.

Hey look, the Liquor Board docket is online

Huh? Wha? Eighth Naval Academy midshipman expelled for using "spice". Is that what Miley Cyrus smoked?

Sunday, February 27, 2011

25

Police Tweet: "FATAL STABBING: 2800 Blk Clifton Ave., Western District, 1:21pm, adult male found deceased in a house. Homicide detectives handling."
Update: he was ID'd as 62-year-old Edgar Waylan Wilson.

Gun toting deputies

Another deputy sheriff arrested for pointing his gun in public, looks like this guy was drunk

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Love and marriage ...

Seven weeks after the shootings of Sean Gamble and Officer William Torbit, SRB has assembled a kind-of-independent review board.

Brian Lee Wonsom, accused of killing teacher Hannah Wheeling at Cheltenham when he was 13, will be tried as an adult.

A man shot in the chest at Coldspring Lane and Marble Hill Road drove himself to the hospital.

More on the Williams guilty verdict. (Witness on Williams: "he's a bug I'd like to squash"). Also on Friday, another conviction
in a killing that had also been preceded by a woman's request for protection. Gregory Tooson, 46, who was accused of strangling his girlfriend, Melonie Smith, in April 2009, was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder. Days before her death, Smith had been granted a temporary protective order against Tooson, who prosecutors said was sending her threatening e-mails. Smith was found dead in her home in the 700 block of Yale Ave. after she had failed to show up for work.
And in AAC, Patrick Rhys gets 23 years of hots and cots for killing his 'girlfriend' by stabbing her 27 times

WBAL has your Friday same-sex-marriage-debate recap. Intriguing: Anne Arundel County Republican Delegate Don Dwyer "has sent out mailings ... [that] include samples of school curriculum that Dwyer feels will be taught in schools if same sex marriage is legalized. One lawmaker who received the mailings told Collins the mailings were 'graphic.'"

Friday, February 25, 2011

Williams guilty of 1st-degree murder

way to work it out, long-suffering jury

Pervy Thursday

Cleaven Williams' poor jury is still deliberating away after four days

From the Women's Law Center, some major changes to family law legislation being mulled over in the House, including a shorter separation period for divorce, a judicial preference for "equal parenting time" child custody (a horrible, horrible idea) and allowing court-ordered grandparent visitation.

Ten years for "Sonny" the crack dealer

Robbers who targeted pizza & video-game stores busted in the county, confessed to 19 robberies. (Aleks Katz, you really oughter wear a hairnet)

An insperminated Glen Arm hairron addict charged with burglarizing her own parents

O.C. man indicted on child porn charges for four images, Essex's Gary Lee Walden gets 70 months after his taking pictures of kids at the pool led detectives to his pornful computer; a guilty plea from "predatormike1203," no bail for CA woman charged with raping a 13-year-old Bel Air boy she met via Xbox game

Infrared cameras: not just for finding pot plants any more. AAC police used them to track down an elderly man.

More illegal rockfish nets. Mmm, PCB-a-licious.

In the Baltimore Guide blotter, a man who shot at a car, lots of domestic violence and barfights and a woman's purse stolen while she was in labor at Bayview.

In case you were wondering, it's not legal to stand on the courthouse steps passing out pamphlets that say jurors should ignore the law if they don't agree with it. (And in this town it's also not necessary)

Not crime, but annoying: if you can't make transportation or parking workable or safe in this town, there is no point to building anything new, much less $100 million worth of projects to be funded by future taxes. (No point for citizens, anyway-- plenty for SRB & the city council's developer buddies to like.)