http://www.citypaper.com/news Baltimore City Paper news coverage en-us Copyright 2009 Baltimore City Paper http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18320 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Today we were delivered a copy of an unfair labor practice complaint, filed by the Baltimore Municipal Employees Union, Local 44, against the Baltimore Convention Center, Mayor and City Council of Baltimore. The complaint, filed June 11, charges Baltimore Convention Center management with failing to recognize the union as an "exclusive representative under the Municipal Employees Relations Ordinance," threatening and coercing union-represented employees, denying union agents access to bargaining-unit employees, denying union representatives access to work stations and break rooms in the convention center, delaying meetings and hearings, refusing to process contract or civil service grievances, and more... Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18310 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: With all the bad news coming out of Detroit of late, it's good to see American cars leading the way in something. Unfortunately they're leading the numbers of abandoned-car calls to 311... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:30:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18309 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 5 Murders This Year: 112 Tuesday. June 23 4:52 a.m... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:28:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18308 The Mail: Ms. Ditkoff, I caught your insightful review of Frozen recently ("Raising Pain," Stage, June 24)... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:24:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18307 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: Mark Adams tilts up the plastic-encased mattress he and his wife sleep on and peels the bed frame's oak slats one by one from their Velcro fasteners. "There's one," he says, holding the slat like a club to reveal a brownish, reddish insect about the size of an apple seed crawling groggily from the black mesh.Adams plugs in the $41 steamer he bought last night, waits a few seconds for it to warm, and then steams the bug, which falls dead on the refinished pine floor."Here's a fucker in here, too--couple of 'em," he says, turning the steam wand to the corner of the bed frame to dispatch another two... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:09:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18289 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: On Oct. 1, the only publicly run acute psychiatric inpatient hospital in Baltimore City, the Walter P... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:10:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18288 The News Hole by Van Smith and Edward Ericson Jr.: The local entertainment web site Metromix Baltimore, which is aimed at twenty- and thirtysomethings with plenty of disposable income, will be "integrated" into the entertainment coverage of baltimoresun.com over the next few months, according to Baltimore Sun Media Group spokeswoman Renee Mutchnick. The Metromix concept, rolled out of Chicago after Tribune Co.'s merger with Times Mirror in 2000, was a linchpin of the company's "synergy" strategy-its plan to cross-promote and cross-sell advertisements among its print, web and TV holdings. Metromix was also a key facet in Tribune's plan to become a nation-wide advertising platform (as this too-kind AJR report explains)... Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18279 The News Hole by Chris Landers: A fleet of electric cars buzzed their way to the Maryland Science Center this week. Lime green, with zero-emission motors, the cars will be offered for rental and ride share in the coming months... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18276 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 6 Murders this Year: 107 Tuesday, June 16 11:20 p.m. Pierre Alford, a 25-year-old African-American man, was shot in the head inside his home in the 1900 block of Braddish Avenue near Coppin State University... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:41:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18275 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: The recent algae bloom in the Inner Harbor (and the subsequent smell) made us wonder--what else stinks in this city? Turns out that over the past two years there have been almost 4,000 complaints about mysterious and not-so-mysterious odors stinking up our fair city. A lot of the calls were unspecific: Referring to a house in the 4200 block of Frederick Avenue last March, a 311 operator wrote that "the yard was suppose to clean and odor free but owner has completed any of the work by inspector yard has gotten worst." Other times they were a little scary (the same month a caller in the 800 block of Winston Avenue reported an "odor coming from about 20 black barrells may be toxic rear yard")... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:39:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18274 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: There were two City Council meetings on June 15--one held at 3 p.m. and another held at 5 p.m... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:36:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18273 The Mail: Referring to the letter of Laurie Bezold in the June 17 issue ("White Empowerment vs. Black Empowerment," The Mail), I would like to respond by saying as a person of darker hue, and a musician and poet who has worked and contributed to the Red Emma's collective, I am offended by the idea of the organization being easily dismissed and labeled as "white" anarchists... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:34:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18272 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: In the end, the mayor's $2.3 billion city budget passed with just one cut--$200,000 from Hilton Green's Office of Inspector General. Green submitted his retirement papers and left his office on Monday morning, June 22, according to a person in his office... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:27:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18271 Feature by Lee Gardner: It's difficult to think of a better film released in the last year than Hunger. The directorial debut of video artist Steve McQueen, it traces the events of the 1981 Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger strike in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison in which Bobby Sands (played by Michael Fassbender) starved himself to death, along with nine others, as the world counted the days... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:24:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18252 The News Hole by Van Smith: Anthony Dix, the administrative manager of the Baltimore City Circuit Court's clerks office, admitted forging prescriptions to satisfy his painkiller addiction, the Daily Record reported, and received probation before judgment in Baltimore County district court. When City Paper first covered Dix's charges in January, his boss, the elected clerk of the court Frank Conaway Sr., defended the disgraced official. Yesterday, Conaway reiterated his support, despite Dix's forgery admission... Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18251 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: A London Telegraph story reposted to Alternet claims Baltimore is on a list of 50 U.S. cities that may be radically culled through massive demolition of abandoned housing... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18245 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 101 Monday, June 8 5:45 p.m. Three African-American men were shot in the 2500 block of East Federal Street in East Baltimore... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:31:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18244 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Council Meeting June 8 09-0347--Floodplain Management--Development Regulations This would apparently exempt the "Gateway South" development south of the M&T Bank Stadium from some environmental laws. The Read: This item, submitted by the Dixon administration, was referred to the City Council's Land Use and Transportation Committee without comment. It would make an exception to the law that otherwise prohibits development in the floodplain, for development that "otherwise meets all of the requirements" of the law and is "located in the Carroll Camden urban renewal project area." The "Gateway South" development, with the Ravens' Ray Lewis as an investor, is projected to be a large mixed-use development housing Lewis' planned "Ray of Light Center" for at-risk youth, plus indoor athletic facilities... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:29:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18243 The Mail: Baltimore, like many U.S. cities, faces the daunting challenge of maintaining a sewer system that is more than 100 years old in some parts of town ("The Reek Goes On," Mobtown Beat, June 10)... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:25:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18242 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: There are dozens of lawyers attached to the court case Star Scientific v.. R.J... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:15:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18241 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Wade Coats, a 44-year-old whose East Baltimore business, Keeping It in the Community, Inc., sells phones and pagers, is a Republican Party campaign donor who gave $500 to Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele's failed 2006 U.S. Senate campaign and another $800 to the RNC... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:13:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18240 Feature by Anna Ditkoff: On a sunny March afternoon, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is full of teenagers... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:06:45 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18250 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times reviews a pair of books on the financial crisis today. Judging by the reviews, both (Gillian Tett's Fool's Gold and Daniel Gross's Dumb Money) seem to look back only half as far as necessary-to the mid 1990s... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18249 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Baltimore's city budget passed Monday after two City Council meetings, a meeting of the Board of Estimates, and a committee meeting in a side room. The council voting-contentious and surprising at one key point-was so fast and furious that even with a score card it was hard to tell what had happened... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18247 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Our friends at Calculated Risk have posted an FDIC chart detailing all the alphabet-soup programs and all the money pledged to prop up the financial Ponzi scheme. The total is just shy of $14 trillion... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18220 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal has a neat little story (subscription required) that illustrates the state of play in the investment banking business. There is an element of David vs... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18218 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: The phone rang at 6:59 a.m. on a Friday morning, just as 53-year-old Baltimore City wastewater plant technician Calvin Renard Robinson was heading for the shower, court records show... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:26:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18216 The Mail: On June 2, the Washington, D.C. City Council approved preliminary legislation on a 5-cent plastic bag tax... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:02:33 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18215 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 3 Murders this Year: 97 Tuesday, June 2 6:20 a.m. Baltimore City Police were called by Anne Arundel County police to the scene of a homicide... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:52:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18214 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Correction: Due to a fact-checking error, this story initially misreported that Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) was not present for the vote on One on One trash service and that Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector (D-5th District) was among the "yes" votes. City Paper regrets the error. Council Meeting June 1 09-0339--General Fund Operating Appropriation Transfer--Department of Public Works (Program 515--Solid Waste Collection) to the Baltimore City Police Department (Program 201--Field Operations Bureau)--$3,546,000 09-0340--Supplementary General Fund Operating Appropriation--Police Department--$2,964,000 Together these move $6.4 million into the police-overtime budget. The read: This is an annual ritual: The city budget is re-balanced at the end of each fiscal year to reflect higher police costs, mostly relating to overtime... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:51:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18213 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: The fire department called it the night of May 25, but the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) had been receiving calls about the smell even before the dead fish showed up. The next morning there were an estimated 3,200 of them in the Inner Harbor, mostly menhaden, but with other species mixed in... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:48:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18212 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Nutrients are supposed to be good for you, but in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, they can trigger gag-inducing odors. From Memorial Day weekend into early June, people along the waterfront--and in neighborhoods dozens of blocks away--couldn't escape the stench of rot... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:46:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18211 Feature by Anna Ditkoff: Baltimore City's foster-care system is messed up. That's not exactly news... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:44:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18192 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal's Damian Paletta, citing "people familiar with the matter," writes of a showdown between FDIC Chief Sheila Bair and CitiGroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Basically, if the story is to be believed, Bair is the only federal regulator who is pushing to rein in the giant bank—and to ditch its CEO. It may not be coincidental that Bair's agency has the most exposure to Citi losses, having agreed to an unprecedented $300 billion "loss sharing" deal. The story has its juicy bits, including the claim that, after Bair backed a surprise takeover of Wachovia by Wells Fargo over Citi's bid, Pandit unleashed obscenities about her during a 2 a.m... Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18191 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Wednesday postponed indefinitely its "Legacy Loan Program" to back the sale of banks' bad assets to private investors. (This was to be a gift to private investors and banks—the banks would be able to get top dollar for toxic waste assets; the private investors would get virtually guaranteed profits—all on account of backing by regular taxpayers)... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18189 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: ... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18184 The News Hole by Van Smith: The only sign that ownership of the Baltimore Guide recently changed is subtle: On its web site, the name of its publisher changed from long-time owner Richard Sandza to recent buyer Darwin Oordt. "It happened a couple of weeks ago," editor Jacqueline Watts explains in a brief phone chat today... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18183 The News Hole by Van Smith: On June 1, the Maine coast on-line news site Village Soup, which publishes the Camden Herald Gazette, reported that Steven Geppi and a partner were sued in federal court over $600,000 in bad debt owed Camden National Bank. Their properties on the Maine coast, purchased in 2005, are already in federal receivership due to $14.7 million in unpaid principal on a mortgage owed PNC Bank, according to April coverage in the Bangor Daily News... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18182 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: Journalists love a good story, especially about journalism. A significant fraction of the audience that filed into the University of Maryland's Westminster Hall in downtown Baltimore Tuesday evening for a symposium titled "The End of Local News? If Communities Lose Newspapers, Who Will Fill the Void?" pulled out pens and notebooks or circled the rows of chairs with cameras, clicking away... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18181 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Newsweek has an excellent, readable story about the guts of our financial crisis and a school for the quants who would fix it. I recommend it, even though its brilliant lede is built upon a false metaphor: Imagine an aeronautics engineer designing a state-of-the-art jumbo jet... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18171 The Mail: It's too bad that two years ago you had not learned about the Baltimore Lyceum, which was offering free community classes in Baltimore and had an eight-year history first in North Carolina and then in New Orleans. We could have used an article like this ('Working Class," Arts & Entertainment, May 27) to stimulate interest... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:12:28 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18170 Murder Ink: Murders this Week: 8 Murders this Year: 94 Due to the Memorial Day holiday, this week's column covers homicides from May 23 to May 31. This year's homicide toll continues to climb with 13 more people killed this year than at the same time last year. Saturday, May 23 3:10 a.m. Keon Cameron, an 18-year-old African-American man, was in the 1800 block of East 28th Street when he got into an argument with Christopher Briggs, a 15-year-old African-American male... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:02:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18169 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Back in April, the city announced that the 311 call system would go from being open 24 hours a day to accepting only emergency calls from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., citing the low volume of calls that come in during the nighttime hours... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:46:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18168 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Baltimore City Department of Housing quietly reorganized its building-inspections division last year, firing two inspectors who were caught not doing their jobs. Meanwhile, two employees of the Department of General Services were fired for stealing scrap copper from city buildings, and a high level transportation official resigned after an ill-gotten boat was discovered in his back yard... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:45:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18167 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: The bounty fenced in on the south side of Hampstead Hill Academy has surpassed Matt Hornbeck's expectations. "We had so much rosemary we've been selling it to local restaurants," says the charter school's principal, showing off the chain-link-fenced rectangle of raised beds with a bamboo trellis... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:43:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18155 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: OK, that's not the title of this afternoon's Abell Symposium at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus. The actual title is "The End of Local News? If Communities Lose Newspapers, Who Will Fill the Void?", so close enough, especially since the panelists include current Sun editor Monty Cook and former Sun editor Tim Franklin, now on the faculty of Indiana University's School of Journalism... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18151 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Oops. A few readers have kindly informed us that the city's new "One Plus One" trash law is scheduled for final passage tonight, not next Monday as we reported. Not sure what happened; we checked the council schedule on-line before posting the piece & saw June 8 as the next meeting... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18150 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: According to Yardbird Books, owned by author William Keisling, who has tirelessly theorized and researched the mysterious 2003 death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna, a Right to Know Law request he filed in April confirms that there's a federal grand jury investigation into the case.Luna, who worked in Baltimore, disappeared in December 2003; his body was discovered in a Lancaster, Pa., stream with multiple stab wounds. The Lancaster County coroner's office deemed Luna's death a homicide, but federal agents would not rule whether his death was being considered a murder or a suicide... Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18145 The Mail: It was enlightening to read "Newsgate" (Mobtown Beat, May 13) by Edward Ericson Jr. about the latest bloodletting at The Baltimore Sun... Tue, 26 May 2009 10:00:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18144 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 2 Murders this Year: 83 Due to the Memorial Day holiday, this week's Murder Ink only covers homicides from May 18-22. Two deaths stemming from shootings that happened years ago were added to the homicide total this week. On April 12, 2005, Tavon Crawford, a 22-year-old African-American man, was shot in the neck in the 2700 block of St. Lo Drive near Clifton Park... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:57:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18143 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: A lot of people call 311 to complain to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) about maintenance issues involving HCD-owned properties. Their houses are falling down, there's no water, sewage is backing up, and they've got rats... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:56:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18142 Councilmania by Ed Ericson Jr.: Change is coming to Baltimore's trash pick-up, and some City Council members are not happy about it. Despite rare opposition to a bill, the council advanced the measure without amendment, and will take it up for final passage at the next council meeting on June 8. Called "One Plus One," the new system will reduce the number of garbage pickups to once weekly, down from twice per week, while increasing the number of recycling pickups from twice a month to once a week... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:55:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18141 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: An overarching presence in the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) prison-gang conspiracies indicted in April by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland is not a person, but a book. Entitled The Black Book: Empowering Black Families and Communities, the 122-page softbound publication is a revolutionary call for economic and political liberation for blacks... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:51:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18140 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Among the 25 inmates, ex-offenders, prison employees, and others indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland in April as part of the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) prison-gang conspiracies ("Guerrilla Warfare," Mobtown Beat, April 22, 2009), Deitra Davenport stands out. She has no criminal history. She has worked at the same association-management firm for the past 20 years... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:47:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18139 Feature by Erin Sullivan: Darren has a problem. He's in middle school--a tough time for a lot of kids to begin with--and due to some family problems, he recently found himself living in a group home in Baltimore City... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:39:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18124 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: (ht CJR) Following New York Times financial reporter Edmund Andrews' confession last week that he was nearing foreclosure. The Atlantic Monthly did some digging. Turns out Andrews left out a couple of salient facts from his story of mad mortgage-his wife's two bankruptcies: Andrews' desire to shield his wife is understandable-hell, laudable... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18120 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: ... Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18116 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: The nominees for the 2009 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies AAN Awards have been announced, and City Paper is nominated in three categories among member alt-weeklies with circulations larger than 50,000: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: the "Shadow Economy series" by Jeffrey Anderson, Edward Ericson Jr., Chris Landers, and Van Smith ILLUSTRATION: "Sizzlin' Summer" by freelancer Paige Shuttleworth PHOTOGRAPHY: a selection of photographs by City Paper freelancers John Ellsberry, Frank Hamilton, Frank Klein, Michael Northrup, Ryan "Rarah" Stevenson, and Jefferson Jackson Steele The winners will be announced at the annual AAN Convention in Tuscon, Az., on June 26... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18091 The Mail: Thank you for your article about the proposed expansion of St. Vincent de Paul's Beans and Bread, a facility in Fells Point that provides meals, day shelter, and transitional housing for men with drug and alcohol problems ("Beans and Bread and Circuses," Mobtown Beat, April 29)... Tue, 19 May 2009 10:03:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18073 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 1 Murders This Year: 81 From May 10 to May 16, Baltimore City went seven consecutive days without a homicide. Despite the reprieve, there have been five more homicides this year than at this time last year... Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18074 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: (hat tip Ryan Chittum at CJR) Fortune magazine has a look at the TALF—that's Term Asset Loan Fund—and finds that the federal government's $1 trillion deal for investors who want to help bail out credit card companies, holders of auto and student loans, and other lenders is "shockingly good." As with the PPIP program (which I considered here), the key is the leverage. Fortune uses the analogy of a home buyer... Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18067 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Edmund L. Andrews is living mortgage-free, and he's written a book about it... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18065 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Yesterday, just about 15 years after the General Accounting Office warned it was necessary, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to regulators expressing President Obama's interest in regulating the market in Over the Counter Derivatives. The news spent a few hours on the front of New York Times' web page before being relegated to the nation and the business sections, but it was arguably bigger news than the death of William Seidman, the long time Republican financial and political operative who, as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., created and ran the Resolution Trust Corporation to clean up the Savings and Loan scandal in the early 1990s. Seidman's RTC-which Seidman (along with other worthies such as Paul Krugman) advocated as a model solution to our present troubles-is now regarded as a triumph. The government unsentimentally nationalized the failed thrifts and banks, closing many of them despite their claims of profitability ("we knew they were lying," says the chief investigator from that simpler time)... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18062 The News Hole by Michael Byrne: This Friday is the Baltimore Metropolitan Council's annual Bike To Work day, kicking off with a handful of rallies around town and the surrounding burbs. Expect speakers, prizes, and the various kinds of sleepy giddiness that come with crowds of bikers congregating too early in the morning... Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18055 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 80 Tuesday, May 5 12:23 a.m. Police found Anthony Eggers, a 48-year-old Caucasian man, lying in his own backyard in the 600 block of Parkwyrth Avenue in Waverly... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:59:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18054 The Mail: I watched the entire series of The Wire on DVDs and was wrapped up in it, since my daughter and her husband, who are doctors, have moved to the Baltimore area from California in the not too distant past. Your article on Legends of the Unwired ("Last Word," Feature, April 29) was a great insight on a contrary (and possibly self-serving) view of the possible (probable) role models of the protagonists in The Wire... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:49:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18053 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: On the agenda for May 4 Bill 09-0328--Operating Budget for the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010. The Read: The $589 million budget was referred to the Budget and Appropriations/Committee of the Whole without comment... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:45:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18052 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: A scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center pleaded guilty May 6 to a federal crime involving the use of a government computer to access child pornography in Maryland. The plea comes just three months after another NASA/Goddard scientist pleaded guilty to a similar charge... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:43:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18051 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Baltimore Sun's abrupt firing of 61 editors, reporters, columnists, and other "content providers" on April 28 and 29 appears to be linked to a restructuring of the newsroom that had been set in motion by the Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns The Sun, many months ago. The effort appears to be part of Tribune's plan to reduce editing and homogenize national and international news at The Sun and other news outlets owned by the company... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:42:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18060 The News Hole by Chris Landers: The Sun and the Wall Street Journal ran stories today about patient identity theft at Johns Hopkins that prompted the hospital to issue a warning letter to patients. The letter, available from WSJ's health blog, went out to 46 victims, 526 possible victims who will receive credit monitoring at Hopkins' expense, and 10,200 patients whose information was accessed by the unnamed employee of the hospital's patient-services department. The story sounded an awful lot like one I wrote last February, when Michelle Courtney Johnson, a patient-services employee at Hopkins, was charged with stealing patient identities... Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18056 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Predatory lending was made possible by the big banks' love of mortgage-backed securities, those big pools of mortgages that were sliced up and sold to gullible investors looking for higher returns on their investments. But was it all on the square? Of course not, and Massachusetts just extracted a $60 million* settlement from Goldman Sachs for its role in bundling these rotten mortgages. As Ryan Chittum at the Columbia Journalism Review notes, the story has not gotten the attention it deserves... Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18034 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal (pay site) posted a story on its web site last Friday, May 8, after the markets closed. The headline was "Banks Won Concessions on Tests," with the subhed, "Fed Cut Billions Off Some Initial Capital-Shortfall Estimates; Tempers Flare at Wells." That being Wells Fargo... Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18033 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal (pay site) published a great story today explaining the power of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and its coziness with the very intelligent, extremely rich people who, despite their extraordinary powers of financial intelligence, essentially bankrupted our economy. Stephen Friedman, chairman of the New York Fed, resigned Thursday, saying that questions about the conflict between that job and his position on the board of Goldman Sachs--and the $3 million he has made so far on Goldman stock he purchased in December--had become "a distraction." The story did not make the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post's web sites... Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18032 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy and mass layoffs at the Baltimore Sun have obscured another troubling incident at the media giant: a market-test of stories that have not yet been published. Editor & Publisher carried an item about this on April 30, the day after 55 Chicago Tribune reporters signed an e-mail to their editors protesting the practice. That was the same day The Sun laid off 40 union members, and the day after 21 manager-level folks were let go. Someone sent the reporters' e-mail to the Associated Press, and a reporter there asked some questions of Tribune management, and they basically fessed-up. Chicago Tribune editor Gerould Kern, who was to meet with the news staff Thursday afternoon, issued a statement late in the day saying the newspaper had discontinued "a brief market research project that tested reader reaction to working story ideas that have not yet been published." It should not need to be said, but for those who don't know, newspaper reporters and editors take pains to keep their work product under wraps until it's ready to publish... Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18029 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Like other Maryland prison inmates indicted in the Black Guerilla Family prison-gang conspiracy, Eric Marcell Brown hasn't yet had his first court appearance on the charges, so he remains an unseen player in the case. But the wire-tap investigation of his activities from prison, which resulted in the Apr... Thu, 07 May 2009 17:37:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18024 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Huffington Post has this dispatch on Sen. John Kerry (D-Ma.)'s Senate hearing on the future of newspapers, scheduled for 2:30 p.m... Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18018 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 4 Murders This Year: 76 The murder of a 53-year-old Caucasian man was ruled a homicide this week. The man was involved in a fight on April 25... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:57:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18017 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Rats in the high grass, dumpsters overflowing .... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:53:53 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18016 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Bill 09-0325--Ord-inance of Estimates for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010. Sort of a Readers' Digest condensed version of the city budget... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:51:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18015 The Mail: I very much enjoyed your story about Bodie Barksdale, Kenneth Jackson, and their Unwired project ("Last Word," Feature, April 29). Still, I'd like to say that these two guys are full of you-know-what... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:43:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18019 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: With the slow gait of the aged, 51-year-old Randolph "Uncle Rudy" Edison shuffles into a federal courtroom in Baltimore on April 22 to face charges that he helped commit violent crimes for the Black Guerilla Family prison gang in Maryland. The wear and tear of a lengthy prison stint he served in the 1990s and early 2000s (with an extra year tacked on in 2000 for assaulting a Department of Corrections employee), appears to have taken its toll on him. In 2007, Edison was out of jail and back on the streets, and he racked up new charges--loitering, drug possession (including a state case brought in January)--that show him residing in Dundalk, where he'd been living before his 1993 murder sentence was imposed... Tue, 05 May 2009 15:12:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18001 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times has a lovely little feature in its cars section today about an old inventor and his 1971 Mustang. Richard Fuchs Mustang has 600,000-plus miles on it, and he's kept track of the gas mileage (about 19 per gallon, overall) ever since he bought it new. Given all the trouble Detroit's auto makers are having these days, I thought it'd be interesting to examine the issue from the perspective of the Mustang's first and truest fan: the 16-year-old boy... Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18000 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: In recent weeks the stock market has rallied--it's up another fraction of a percent today--despite what would appear to be some sobering realities. Chrysler declared bankruptcy yesterday (President Obama says the multi-billion dollar company will go through this quickly; has he ever even read a bankruptcy filing? Even the puny little million-dollar cases I've reviewed take a couple years)... Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17997 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: ... Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17996 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: When defense attorney Gerald Ruter was first appointed on Apr. 16 to represent Rainbow Lee Williams, a 30-year-old co-defendant in the Black Guerilla Family prison-gang federal-conspiracy case, Ruter sounded like he thought there was more to Williams than met the government's eye. "I have him working for a nonprofit, helping kids," Ruter told assistant U.S... Fri, 01 May 2009 11:06:28 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17994 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: On Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m., the dust is still not settled in The Baltimore Sun newsroom. The day after the Tribune company laid off nearly one third of the paper's editorial staff--including upper-level editors, photographers, designers, and copy editors--Angie Kuhl, the Sun's unit chairwoman for the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, says the staff is still "kind of shell shocked." In a story that appeared in the Sun today, Renee Mutchnik, spokeswoman for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, says that the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan for the paper that will make it "a 24-hour, local news-gathering media company." Mutchnik continued: "As everyone knows, more and more readers are moving online, and advertisers are following them. This is our plan for success, not just survival." The problem is, apparently, that the plan has yet to be revealed to the newsroom staff or the guild representatives, who met with company representatives earlier today to discuss the layoffs... Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17993 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: It's not clear whether 45-year-old Nelson Arthur Robinson recognizes his prosecutor, but he should. As Robinson is ushered into a federal courtroom in Baltimore on Apr... Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:22:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17989 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: If you're looking for more than just snippets and soundbites about what happened at the Baltimore Sun Tuesday and Wednesday, as Tribune Co... Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17988 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Just a few minutes ago, Romenesko put up a new post about the Baltimore Sun situation. Apparently the Tribune Co... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17987 Councilmania by Ed Ericson Jr.: On the agenda for April 20 Bill 09-0322--Leash Law--Environmental and Civil Citations. Would roll back the $1,000 fine for appearing in public with your dog off its leash. The Read: "Sometimes we have unintended consequences of laws enacted in good faith," James Kraft (D-1st District) says... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:14:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17986 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: This via Romenesko, the Baltimore Brew, and Editor & Publisher: The Sun has laid off 15 people from its editorial staff, including deputy managing editor Paul Moore, copy desk chief and author of the You Don't Say Blog John McIntyre, and editorial page editor Anne LoLordo. McIntyre posted a farewell post on his blog today... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17984 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: Friday morning, 23 hours to launch time. Steve Eves is getting nervous, but it's hard to tell... Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:27:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17969 The Mail: Why is this pro-gun and pro-NRA side relentlessly unwilling to scientifically examine the facts about gun-crazed males and gun crime? Why do few women commit the massacres--they must have loved the woman shooting the guy that was in the news the other day! I'm sure Kirk Olson can find examples of women committing massacres ("Guns: As American as Mass Slaughter," The Mail, April 22). Is the gun a symbol of sad, depressed, American males' deflated psyche? I thought Brian Morton's response to this fellow was reasonable... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:03:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17968 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 5Murders this Year: 72 Tuesday, April 21 5:40 a.m. Qonta Waddell's mother opened the door to the house she was in on the 3100 block of Windsor Avenue in West Baltimore... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:44:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17967 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: As the word spreads among them, the visitors to Beans and Bread are incredulous. "That's not the way it was presented," says Victor Corbin, president of the Fells Prospect Community Association... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:43:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17966 Feature by Jeffrey Anderson: In the mid-1970s and 1980s, long before fictional drug kingpin Avon Barksdale entered the mind of The Wire's David Simon, a young man named Nathan Avon "Bodie" Barksdale was honing the dark and violent art of hustling in the Lexington Terrace projects of West Baltimore. In the early 1970s, Kenneth Antonio Jackson, who these days is a Baltimore businessman and strip-club owner, was also making a name for himself in the Latrobe Homes, across town from where Bodie Barksdale grew up... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:39:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17951 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Tonight at 9 the History Channel's long-running Gangland series features Dead Man Inc., of Baltimore and its easterly suburbs. (HT Baltimore Crime Blog)... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17950 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith and Edward Ericson Jr.: The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison gang has offered $10,000 to Dead Man Inc., a white prison gang, to do hits on correctional officers—and anyone else who helped with or conducted the investigation that resulted in the recent federal indictment of 24 alleged BGF members—assistant U.S. attorney James Wallner disclosed in federal court on Apr... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:54:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17949 The News Hole by Van Smith: Jay Leno's Tonight Show monologue on April 21 included a bit about the Black Guerrilla Family gang in Maryland prisons. It went like this: "Officials in Maryland have shut down a prison gang that was smuggling in champagne, vodka, and cigars... Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17946 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac apparently committed suicide this morning or last night. The New York Times says there is no way to know yet whether his death is related to an ongoing investigation of Freddie's finances. Meanwhile, Fannie and Freddie have reported a 70 percent surge in delinquencies of prime mortgages (like these, perhaps?), and the Treasury Department has quietly doubled the taxpayer backstop--to $200 billion--to both Freddie and Fannie Mae, the twin government-sponsored entities that buy up mortgages from the banks and other lenders... Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17942 CityPeople by Chris Landers and Tim Hill: ... Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:09:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17940 Feature by Bret McCabe: The City of Baltimore's official Bike Blast takes over Druid Hill Park this Saturday, April 25, with a day's worth of activities and information aimed at advocating cycling in the city. The event is the latest in an ongoing, and ever-so-slightly increasing, number of city efforts to make Baltimore a more bike-friendly urban environment, an effort that feels to have begun in earnest when the Bicycle Master Plan was developed by the Department of Planning in 2006... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:15:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17939 Feature by Michael Byrne: If you've noticed almost any new bike-friendly improvement around the city recently, from new bike lanes to bike racks, Nate Evans is likely behind it. Almost exactly a year ago, Evans, a former transportation engineer for Timonium's Constellation Design Group, started work as the City of Baltimore's Bike and Pedestrian Planner... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:13:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17938 The Mail: Brian Morton ("Guns of Spring," Political Animal, April 15) forgot one important mid-April date: April 19th, 1775. That was the day a bunch of Americans he calls "loons, the macho, the aggrieved, and the paranoid" went on a "gun-fueled massacre" in the cities of Lexington and Concord and began setting themselves free from the yoke of tyranny and oppression... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:10:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17937 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Working for the city is hard, especially in these uncertain economic times. There's really no need for a bunch of complaining taxpayers to make it worse... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:59:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17936 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 5 Murders this Year: 67 The man shot to death in the 5800 block of Edgepark Road in Loch Raven on March 26 has been identified as a 23-year-old African-American named Carlos Spence. Monday, April 13 9 a.m. Russell Day, a 30-year-old Caucasian man, was shot in the left arm and side in the 2100 block of Christian Street near an elementary school in Carrollton Ridge... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:56:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17935 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: An affidavit in support of search warrants in the BGF case, in addition to documents filed in two other federal cases, suggests an intriguing overlap between the allegedly violent BGF drug gang and a prominent businessman with political ties. In December, Tomeka Harris and four men were indicted in a federal bank-fraud and identity-theft case which alleged that Harris had dozens of credit cards manufactured with other people's account information... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:53:41 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17934 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr. and Van Smith: Federal law enforcement officials, led by Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, staged a triumphant press conference on April 16 to announce the indictments of 24 alleged gang members or associates, including three correctional officers and a former employee of a prison kitchen... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:38:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17919 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: The winners of the Pulitzer Prize for 2009 have been announced, honoring the best in what's left of journalism, plus the usual hotly debated, occasionally forgettable (HT: the New York Times' Paper Cuts blog) winners in the various arts categories... Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17907 The News Hole by Van Smith: City Paper has covered the Baltimore drugs-and-guns case against Philip Robinson Winkfield, the son of Washington, D.C., federal magistrate judge Deborah A. Robinson, every step of the way: his arrest, his indictment, his state trial scheduling, and when his case was bumped up to federal court... Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17903 Feature by Lee Gardner: Photographer Andy Cook recently found himself in the same position as a growing number of Americans--unexpectedly out of a job. After being laid off from a local media company in October 2008, the 26-year-old Towson native says, "I kind of went through a mini-crisis about what to do with myself." After a short stint trying to freelance in an ever-tightening market, he turned his predicament on its head and "decided it was a good time to try and do an independent [photography] project, really take the time that I had to get into something kind of deeply." The result is Faces of the Recession, a work-in-progress documentary project on the way America's steep economic downturn is affecting individual Americans... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:56:37 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17899 The Mail: Matthew Hood takes a long winding road to basically call Vincent Williams a racist ("It's a Family Affair," The Mail, April 8) while using out of date, animated, or incorrect (Sanford and Son?) examples of television shows that displayed loving black families (the most famous of which, The Cosby Show, was called unrealistic by critics--something Williams has noted in a past column). Since the internet is so educational, I conducted a search: "black/African-American Disney characters." I was able to find two, including the star of the new feature... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:55:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17898 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 2 Murders this Year: 62 Wednesday, April 8 4:35 p.m. A confidential informant told police that a body could be found inside a vacant dwelling in the 1900 block of Wilkens Avenue in Carrollton Ridge... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:47:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17897 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Running nightclubs has been 42-year-old John Americo Giorgilli's main business since the 1990s, but today he's focused on regaining his freedom. Giorgilli's halcyon days running Club 101 and the China Room (both now defunct)--and his aborted attempt to re-open Hammerjacks as a club he planned to call Heaven ("Balling the 'Jack," Mobtown Beat, Jan... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:45:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17904 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Center for Public Integrity has a new report on problems in the home-appraisal industry--problems that are no news to real-estate experts, appraisers, and old-time (like, from the 1980s) mortgage bankers, but might surprise other folks. The gist: Lenders and mortgage brokers pressure(d) appraisers to find higher values for houses, so that the lenders could write bigger mortgages and collect more fees... Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17882 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: When WJZ Eyewitness News reporter Adam May broadcast on Apr. 8 that the federal investigation of Michael Papantonakis, who is accused of illegally selling guns from the Utz Potato Chip stand at Lexington Market ("Gun Market," Mobtown Beat, Apr... Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:44:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17879 The News Hole by Chris Landers: The owner of the Lexington Market Utz stand charged with illegal gun sales was denied release Thursday in Baltimore's U.S. District Court. Michael Papantonakis was represented by public defender Joseph Evans, who presented his client as a gun collector who made a few sales to a longtime family friend, and an associate of that friend... Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17878 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: TRAC, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, has posted Part 2 of its series on IRS audits--or lack thereof--of large financial-services corporations. On Monday, TRAC (which filed Freedom of Information Act requests and then analyzes the data it receives) showed that the IRS devoted only 15 percent of its big company revenue agents to the financial-services companies, even though those companies filed 75 percent of the tax returns. Today it shows that the IRS deliberately decided to soft pedal audits of financial services firms. "Only 15% of large financial services companies were audited in 2008 compared with 64% of all other large corporations," the TRAC report says... Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17873 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times has a story about the Obama Administration's propsal to allow ordinary folks to invest in the bank bailout: As part of its sweeping plan to purge banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds. The story explains the deal--still sketchy and provisional--like this: The idea is that these investments, akin to mutual funds that buy stocks and bonds, would give ordinary Americans a chance to profit from the bailouts that are being financed by their tax dollars. But there is another, deeply political motivation as well: to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats. The administration's leaker is pitching the idea as a political balm: "It is really, really important to allow Main Street in," said the official, who was involved in discussions about the plan but who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it publicly... Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17872 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: Well, you win some, you lose some. This year the City Administration did pretty well in Annapolis—of the 11 cross-filed bills introduced at the administration's request, only one was withdrawn (a drug-overdose prevention program), seven passed through both the House and Senate, and the rest may never see the light of day again... Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:28:53 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17941 CityPeople by Chris Landers: ... Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:44:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17863 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: In the fall of 2005, Herb Friedman discovered that his two-bedroom condo in Baltimore County, just over the city line west of Falls Road, was worth $135,000, triple what he had paid in 2000. He decided to make some money. "I said, that's it," he recalls... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:30:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17861 The Mail: The sophistication, suaveness, and nuance shown in Vincent Williams's latest column is impressive (Social Studies, April 1). I give homage to the slick way he managed to employ the old "I am not a racist but" canard without appearing to do so... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:17:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17860 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 8 Murders this Year: 60 Tuesday, March 31 4:48 p.m. Three men were in a car in the 1500 block of West Fayette Street in Franklin Square when another car pulled up... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:05:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17859 Councilmania by Ed Ericson Jr.: On the agenda for March 30 Bill 09-0124--Razed and Vacant Houses--Notice to Disconnect Utilities. This resolution asks city housing and public works officials, plus Baltimore Gas and Electric's boss of billing, to report to the City Council their notification processes for disconnecting water and electric utilities to vacant or demolished properties. The read: This is a perennial complaint: Because of the way Baltimore City bills its water users, owners of long-vacant and even demolished houses can face thousands of dollars of past-due water bills even though their water has been shut off for years... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:05:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17858 Mobtown Beat by Michael Byrne: On Tuesday, March 31, a small crowd is milling about in the lobby of the Morgan State University Communication Center. Some folks appear to be students, others are musicians... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:01:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17856 Mobtown Beat by Lee Gardner: At nearly 12,000 tons displacement, the cargo ship Höegh Trekker is hard for even the casual observer to miss. Anyone who lives or works along the stretch of the Chesapeake Bay just south of the Bay Bridge (or commutes over the Bay Bridge) would have seen the "roll on/roll off" car-carrier vessel, or RORO, every day for most of the month of March, anchored near the head of a line of as many as 10 similarly stationary cargo ships that extends for several miles down the bay. Cargo traffic anchored south of the Bay Bridge isn't uncommon; ships frequently hold up in what's known as the Annapolis Anchorage for a few hours or days when on their way into or out of the Port of Baltimore... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:48:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17851 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Bloomberg is reporting that Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), has opened an investigation into AIG's payments to its counterparties: "To what extent did AIG pay counterparty claims at 100 percent of face value and was any attempt made to renegotiate and close out these claims with 'haircuts?'" Barofsky wrote. "Questions concerning whether AIG paid more than necessary to counterparties and whether treasury adequately monitored such payments are clearly relevant." Twenty-seven congress members, led by Elijah Cummings (D-MD), requested the probe on March 25... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17842 The News Hole by Anna Ditkoff: We were excited when the Baltimore Police Department started Twittering. It seemed a bit weird that they leapt right over simple things, like press releases, to get the information out, but the police actually telling the public stuff is a step in the right direction, no matter what format it uses to share the information... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17840 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith and Chris Landers: The owner of Lexington Market's Utz Potato Chip stand illegally sold guns out of the market for years, according to federal authorities. The stand's owner, 53-year-old Michael Papantonakis, and a woman described as his 21-year-old girlfriend, Sharon Jeanette Heberle, were charged March 31 in U.S... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:37:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17838 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: (hat tip: Gregg Mosson at the Savewypr blog) In a 12-page report dated March 20, the Inspector General for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting found that WYPR management was not compliant with the rules required for it to receive its $300,000 or so annual programming grant. The I.G... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17837 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: How do we know that the root of this financial crisis is massive fraud? Consider this: The people responsible for the current meltdown are understood to be the smartest guys in the room. Yet, on the other hand, these same men claim they didn't know that the financial instruments they created and traded would fail. How could they all be really, really smart and yet also really, really stupid about the one thing they're most expert at? It doesn't make sense, until you factor in how these men are paid and understand that their pay derives precisely from not knowing. Like a cop who is paid not to know a gangster controls a certain neighborhood, an accountant can be given a psychotically huge bonus not to examine the books of a corporation, and an economist can be compensated handsomely to opine that, always and forever, regulation must fail but financial markets will self regulate to everyone's benefit... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17836 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Here's a surprise: The IRS audits fewer financial-services companies than any other type of big company--even though it finds nearly double the tax cheating at financial companies when it does audit them. These are the findings released today by TRAC, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse... Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17825 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: From the Wall Street Journal (pay site): "I think they got greedy. I think they wrote considerably more business than they should have," Maurice "Hank" Greenberg told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday.They got greedy? Them?Rep... Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17824 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Frank Aidoo must have an accommodating stomach. When he arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport last Friday evening, March 27, from London, U.S... Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:30:49 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17820 Feature by Ian Nagoski: Ask the man on the street how many music stores there are in Baltimore, and he may be able to name a few of the bigger places--Sound Garden, for example. A minority of passionate music-hunters might name funkier holes-in-the-wall selling mostly used stuff... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:45:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17810 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: On the agenda for March 23 Bills 09-0309 Building, Fire, and Related Codes--Enforcement and 09-0310 Building, Fire, and Related Codes--Service Charges and Permit Fees. These will allow building officials to issue environmental citations for code violations, and increase permit fees by changing the way some are calculated. The read: The first bill appears to target contractors who leave a mess--construction debris, Dumpsters, and such--on their work sites, blocking the sidewalk or street... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:12:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17809 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4Murders this Year: 52 The man found shot to death on the railroad tracks in Cherry Hill on March 22 has been identified as Davon Saunders, a 26-year-old African-American man. Monday, March 23 8:00 p.m... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:11:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17808 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: His well-fitted gray suit and good-natured confidence lend 30-year-old Eric Clash the look of an earnest young professional as he stands behind the defense table on March 9 in U.S. District Court Judge William Quarles' courtroom in Baltimore... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:11:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17807 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: Back when there was a Baltimore Examiner, a couple of reporters from that paper were walking up to City Hall. One of them turns to the other and says "There's got to be a value in this, what we're doing... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:08:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17806 The Mail: It is nice to know America's safer because turtle entrepreneur Mike Johnson is under investigation for violations of the Lacey Act ("Fear the Turtle," Feature, March 18). My father caught a few snappers near our home at the confluence of Red House and Herring Run in the 1950s to augment his trap-line earnings. They are tough creatures that would make the Terminator salute in envy... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:50:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17784 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Baltimore) sent a letter yesterday to the inspector general for the TARP program, asking what could be a relevant question about the bailout of AIG: Who is watching out for the taxpayers? The letter, signed by 26 other representatives, received coverage in the New York Times this morning along with a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo seeking disclosure about how tens of billions of taxpayer dollars flowed through the bankrupt insurer and into the coffers of huge investment banks like Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and France's Societe Generale and Germany's Deutsche Bank, each of which received about $12 billion. By the clubby standards of Wall Street, Cummings is asking impertinent questions... Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17782 The News Hole by Michael Byrne: Earlier this week, Infrastructuralist.com focused on Maryland's now under-construction Intercounty Connector highway project in its post "Highways to Nowhere: The 7 Most Ridiculous New Roads Being Built With Stimulus Money." Proposed back in the 1950s as a sort of outer-beltway north of Washington, D.C., the 18-mile, $3 billion project has long been criticized by environmental groups and transit advocates for its breaching of 1,000 acres of key forestland, its certain contribution to suburban sprawl, its basic lack of necessity, and its drain on state transportation dollars. Out of the seven projects outlined by Infrastructuralist.com, the ICC was number two. A key piece of evidence is a report released by the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which examined five alternatives to the ICC, ranging from completing the proposed Purple Line and adding bus service along the corridor to adding express-bus services and creating High Occupancy Toll lanes on highways... Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17781 The News Hole by Tim Hill: We've started a new video/photography series called CityPeople where we interview interesting folks around the city. Here's the setup: "One of the things people always say about Baltimore is that it's the people that make it unique. Without the Blue Man, the Arabbers, the community activists, the guys selling bean pies on the corner, what would our city be but a collection of dusty old buildings, aging infrastructure, and historic monuments? Anyone who's spent any amount of time here will tell you that this city is full of characters eager to tell you their stories-some mundane, some extraordinary-and we're using this space to introduce some of them to you... Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST