Mobtown Beat
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Ericson: So long, City Paper, and thanks for all the fits
The woman who called to get the hose turned on sticks in my mind. It was a few years ago, during a heat wave. She lived in public housing, and the outside faucets didn’t work. Maintenance had shut them down for some reason. The kids were hot; it was too far from one of the few remaining open public...
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Murder Ink: 3 murders this week, 285 murders this year
This week's low murder count is luck. There were 23 non-fatal shootings, including four double-shootings. Police arrested four people with handguns, and charged four people, including two women, with shootings. Keith Davis Jr. was convicted of murdering Kevin Jones. Tuesday, Oct. 17 7:37 p.m. Demetrius...
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Baltimore City Power Rankings: Up for rich assholes, whoever spray painted the speed camera, more
⬆︎ Rich Assholes Elon Musk showed up in Maryland the other day digging a hole, and Gov. Hogan heartily approved. "Get hyped," the governor tweeted, referring to Musk's The Boring Company and his plans to dig an underground hyperloop along MD RT 295. Meanwhile, Mayor Catherine Pugh sent a love letter...
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Baltimore City Power Rankings: Up for Amy Sherald, down for Pugh, BPD, more
↑ City Springs Elementary/Middle and Cardinal Shehan School students At City Springs Elementary/Middle, students in Wyatt Oroke's humanities class helped raise thousands of dollars for Hurricane Harvey relief. The story got the attention of "The Ellen Show," which featured a segment on Oroke and...
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Murder Ink: 8 murders this week, 282 murders this year
After a light week we're back to over one homicide per day. Baltimore has averaged about eight per week lately; the rate of killings is increasing despite city officials' efforts. Another of the four men shot on the 3200 block of Lyndale Avenue during the Sept. 26 mass shooting (the city's sixth...
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Baltimore City Power Rankings: Shorty gets his grill back, pumpkin spice closes a school, and more
↑ Shorty Davis Last week, activist, organizer, artist, homeless advocate, and cook Duane "Shorty" Davis announced his massive, tank-like grill had been stolen. It spread across social media as many tried to raise awareness for locating it, and even media outlets that've long seen Shorty as a thorn...
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A Significant Victory: State settles Maryland Housing discrimination complaint, hundreds of affordable homes promised
Affordable housing for the poor has long remained elusive in the Baltimore region's most prosperous communities—and under pressure from fair housing advocates, Maryland's housing department just took a step toward changing that. On Sept. 20, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved $225,000...
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Murder Ink: 5 murders this week, 275 murders this year
A comparatively light week for killings should not mask that 18 other people were shot non-fatally, including three double-shootings. Monday, Oct. 2 On Sept. 28 at about 8 p.m., Leonard Carolina, a 40-year-old African-American man, was near the intersection of Poplar Grove and Riggs Avenue in the...
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Murder Ink: 12 murders this week, 271 murders this year
A 9-year-old girl was shot in the foot in a crossfire on the 1000 block of Slater Road. Four people were shot and two were killed on the 3200 block of Lyndale Avenue. In Cherry Hill, cops captured an 18-year-old man, disguised in a wig and a dress, carrying a rifle with a drum magazine, plus another...
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Baltimore City Power Rankings: Branded Polorses, fickle Ravens fans, the Fatberg, more
⬆︎ Baltimore Clayworks Over the summer we all thought Baltimore Clayworks was gonna be gone for good—with over $1 million in debt and a failed attempt to leverage the sale of their buildings in order to stay open, its board decided abruptly to close and file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But after...
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Murder Ink: 14 murders over the past two weeks, 258 murders this year
This week's Murder Ink covers the past two weeks of murders. There were 27 murders in the past 30 days. Police continue to seize illegal guns and arrest people, and shootings continue anyway: 15 people within the last week shot non-fatally. Federal agents closed four city murder cases, revealed...
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"The Feds Got Instagram Dummy": Twelfth Murdaland Mafia defendant pleads guilty
When Dontray Johnson visited Dante Bailey at the Baltimore County jail and told him he had killed fellow gang member Brian "Nutty B" Johnson for refusing to pay gang dues, Bailey approved. "I told you about this," the leader of the Murdaland Mafia Piru (MMP) said, according to a wiretapped conversation...