http://www.citypaper.com/news Baltimore City Paper news coverage en-us Copyright 2009 Baltimore City Paper http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19236 Feature by Erin Sullivan: It's 7:58 a.m. Monday morning at the Baltimore County Department of Social Services office at Drumcastle Center in Towson. The waiting room is quickly filling with people who've come to apply for food stamps, temporary cash assistance, energy assistance, and other public benefits. There's already a... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:45:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19233 The Mail: Brian Morton's "Poor Health" (Political Animal, Sept. 23) combines excellent sympathies with a mistaken analysis of the forces at work in the current health-care reform debacle. True, as Morton observes, the voice of poor people usually has little impact on our politics. Indeed, I'd go so far as to... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:29:22 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19232 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 3 Murders this Year: 187 Monday, Oct. 26 10:15 p.m. Joshua McKinny, a 24-year-old African-American man, was pronounced brain dead at an area hospital. McKinny was shot two days earlier. Just after 10 p.m. on Oct. 24, police got several 911 calls about a shooting in the 2000... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:21:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19231 Councilmania: On the agenda, Oct. 26 Bill 08-0163 Live Entertainment and dancing--zoning--conditional uses. Creates new zoning rules for restaurants and bars wanting to host live bands or performances. The Read: This bill, tabled since July, was not listed on the agenda. Councilman James Kraft (D... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:20:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19230 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Lynae Chapman, a 21-year-old correctional officer for the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC), is obviously pregnant as she stands before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Prevas on Oct. 27. The father of her unborn child, concedes Chapman's defense attorney Lawrence Rosenberg, is 22-year-... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:19:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19237 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: In the wake of Hamid Karzai's fraud-fueled resumption of power in Afghanistan, reported diplomatic overtures to the Taliban, and numerous other odd coincidences, we hereby present this handy comparison of Omar Little of 'The Wire' to Mullah Omar of 'The Taliban.' Omar Little ... Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:44:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19210 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story today explaining that AIG has gotten back several billion dollars in collateral it posted last year against losses in the credit-default swap market. But, most of the "bad" contracts, which now look not-so-bad, were "closed out" by the government bai... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19205 The News Hole by Van Smith: Electracash, the California payment processor whose bank accounts were targeted in July by federal investigators probing illegal on-line gambling, is out nearly $800,000, according to court documents filed Oct. 21. On Sept. 30, Interstate Net Bank cut a $324,632.71 check to Immigration and Customs... Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19204 The News Hole by Van Smith: As the Maryland-based federal probe of on-line gambling continues, the latest move to show up in court records in Baltimore is the seizure of $365,366.69 from two bank accounts in the name of Atrium Financial Group (AFG). According to the affidavit in the case (below), Delaware-based AFG disburses m... Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19202 Feature: Seed Of Terror Pimpin' sting operations ain't easy. ACORN registers voters and agitates for the poor. It also receives federal funding. The horror! The horror! (This mask is especially scary to Republicans.) Download a large pdf version Image courtesy BlackThor... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:52:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19199 The Mail: Thanks for the great story on public pensions ("Pension Headache," Feature, Oct. 14). Edward Ericson Jr. did an excellent job making a topic that is difficult for even insiders very accessible. After infrastructure repair, post-employment pay and benefits are probably the biggest public-money issues... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:14:39 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19198 Councilmania: On the Agenda for Oct. 19 Bill 09-0413-Water and Sewer Rates and Charges-Domestic Users. Would require that city water bills paid by residents be based only on the amount of water actually used, with no minimum service charge. The read: Councilman Bernard C. "Jack" Young (D-12th District)... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:07:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19197 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 3 Murders this Year: 184 The death of Constantine Frank, a 54-year-old Caucasian man, was added to the homicide rolls this week. On July 29 at 8 p.m., an employee of Frank's business, Precision Vending, found Frank in the office of the warehouse in the 1000 block of South La... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:05:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19196 Mobtown Beat: Linda Gunn is standing at the chart table at the bottom of a short, steep ladder on her schooner-a two-masted traditional sailboat-the Farewell. It's night, and it's cold and dark. The wind is blowing around 20 knots from the north, which is good, because the boat is traveling south, but also bad, b... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:03:30 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19176 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Got word last night that Recreation and Parks Director Wanda Durden has resigned. Mayor Sheila Dixon's spokesman, Scott Peterson, confirms. He says he was told Durden is leaving for "personal reasons." Her replacement, at least for now, will be Dwayne B. "Doc" Thomas, who heads the Bureau of Recre... Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19173 The News Hole by Van Smith: As federal authorities continue their Maryland-based investigation into online gambling, the lawyer for one of the two people charged in the probe—Edward Courdy, accused last year of laundering illegal gambling proceeds—tells City Paper that a piece of the government's information is wro... Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19169 The News Hole by Van Smith: Update: Accused Money-Launderer's Lawyer Says His Client No Longer Owns Payment-Processor Electracash Electracash, Inc., the California payment-processor whose bank accounts were seized in July by federal investigators in Maryland who are probing the online gambling industry, has been targeted aga... Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19165 The News Hole by Van Smith: On the morning of Oct. 6, the same day a federal racketeering indictment in West Virginia against 55 alleged members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club named a Maryland man, David Keith Barbeito, as the club's national president, a team of FBI agents executed a "no-knock" warrant on Barbeito's home at 4... Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19163 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: In this week's Murder Ink, we reported on the sentence Melanie Blevins, a 23-year-old Caucasian woman, received after she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of her infant son. Blevins gave birth to the boy in a bathroom on Oct. 4, 2008. The baby was born alive, but Blevins put... Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19162 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Watch Frontline's historical retelling of the roots of the financial crisis. Yes, folks, it's derivatives, and Brooksley Born, the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, fought the good fight, trying to get them regulated and transparent, in 1998. The usual suspects (Rubin, Summers... Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19155 The Mail: While I agree with most of Brian Morton's article ("Capitalism Monte," Political Animal, Oct. 14), I differ on one point of fact and one of opinion. On Cargill, it was its sales that were $116.6 billion in 2008; its net income, i.e., what it actually earned or "made" on those sales was $3.3 billion... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:48:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19154 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 5 Murders this Year: 181 Tuesday, Oct. 13 8:46 a.m. A resident of the Saint Josephs neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore called police and told them a body could be found in the 3200 block of West Lexington Street. Mark Johnson, a 31-year-old African-American man, was discov... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:41:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19152 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: In 2008, 31-year-old prison inmate Tashma McFadden filed suit against 23-year-old correctional officer Antonia Allison. On Oct. 9, that suit survived Allison's attempt to have it dismissed. McFadden, who is seeking $800,000 in damages, claims Allison is a member of the Bloods gang and arranged for... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:28:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19151 Mobtown Beat by Joe Tropea: "This is a great day for city schools," says Tyler Brown, the 24-year-old project manager of Real Food Farm, a new agricultural endeavor located in Lake Clifton Park. On a recent fall day, Brown is working with a group of 30-40 volunteers, students, and construction workers who are building three h... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:24:55 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19150 Feature by Martin L. Johnson: On a hot summer night on the last Thursday in June, a crowd assembled outside the Windup Space, the performance venue/bar that always feels completely empty or absolutely full. News of Michael Jackson's death wafted through the air, and bits of "Billie Jean" could be heard from each passing car. ... Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:13:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19160 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Gaithersburg-based AmeriDream, Inc. is prominently mentioned in a Huffington Post story looking at seller-funded down payment assistance (DPA) programs for new home buyers. The programs allow home builders to give a three percent down payment to possibly unqualified buyers by laundering it through a... Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19128 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Alan Greenspan has changed his mind, proving finally that he has one. As Bloomberg reports, Greenspan told the influential crowd at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday that the too-big-to-fail doctrine must end:"If they're too big to fail, they're too big," Greenspan said today. "In 1911 we b... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19127 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: City and state health officials are investigating the water and heating and cooling systems at the Stadium Place senior housing complex on 33rd Street today after one person died and four others have confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease, the Baltimore City Health Department has announced in a pr... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19126 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Jose Joaquin Morales, the unlicensed mason, thief, firebug and drug dealer caught trying to smuggle six kilos of cocaine to Baltimore last August, has pleaded guilty to that crime, taken responsibility for his actions, and apologized to the government. He should have been sentenced today, Oct. 14, a... Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19124 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal crunched some numbers and declared that, even though 10 percent of U.S. citizens are out of work while most of the rest are taking pay cuts, the Gilliganesque bunglers in the financial sector are again partying like its 1999, only more so. According to the Journal: Total co... Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19118 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: UPDATE: As this story went to press, the police and fire pension board voted 5-2 to bill the city $164.9 million for next year's pension contribution. This figure lowers the "assumed" rate of return on the pension funds invested on behalf of retirees from 6.8 percent to 5 percent. The $164.9 million... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:19:37 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19115 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 5 Murders this Year: 176 Due to the Columbus Day holiday, this week's column only covers homicides from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9. Any additional homicides will be covered online at citypaper.com/go/murderink. Editor's Note: (The last three homicides in the online version of this... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:29:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19114 Councilmania by Van Smith: After prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, and a presentation by firefighter/paramedic Michael Hineline of the Baltimore City Fire Department's special-events team, the Baltimore City Council got down to business on Oct. 5. The first new bill introduced is something Hineline's likely to... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:27:39 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19113 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: The repo man comes a-knockin' in Baltimore around three or four hundred times a month, but before he does, he gives 311 a call. The chart above shows the number of calls about repossessed vehicles to the city's call center--more than 3,000 in total. Unfortunately, the 311 system only started keeping... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:23:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19112 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: Najwa Gadaheldan and her husband, Ewkehart Naumann, arrived in Baltimore from Vienna late in the evening in mid August. Gadaheldan, who lives in Europe and works for the United Nations, says she was suffering from a mysterious spinal problem that caused her to occasionally collapse. She had an app... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:18:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19095 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times says CitiGroup is selling its secretive oil-trading arm, Phibro, to Occidental Petroleum, apparently to avoid bad publicity. Still no one's questioning the idea that the head guy in a business division that yields $400 million a year is all by himself worth $100 million a year.... Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19093 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Federal Housing Administration's boss is saying he'll need no bailout, "absent any catastrophic home-price decline." The New York Times is flashing red on this one, and it's an entertaining read. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.): A 7-plus percent FHA foreclosure rate is no bad thing: "I don't... Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19090 The News Hole by Van Smith: The Washington City Paper today published a lengthy investigative piece about Peaceoholics, an anti-violence, gang-intervention group that has been funded by the Washington, D.C., government to the tune of $10 million since 2005, but with little oversight as to whether the investment has paid off. ... Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19089 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Not sure how long this is going to remain up on the web, but here's a link to the infamous Bed Post sex column in Towson University's Towerlight student newspaper that resulted in the resignation of the paper's student editor Carrie Wood. The column in question, which irked university administration... Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19087 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Parks and People Foundation is hiring a herd of goats to clear some brush out of Druid Hill Park. A company called Eco-Goats from Davidsonville, Md., which specializes in environmentally friendly vegetation control, will provide the 40-goat herd to Parks and People for three days to clear invasive s... Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19083 The Mail: As the chair of the committee facilitating the process to place six (not five) community murals on three sides of the building developed by Vanguard Equities for Giant Food in Waverly, it was good to see these murals receive recognition ("Best Mural," Best of Baltimore, Sept. 16). However, it needs... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:13:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19082 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Over the past four years, 1,570 calls came in to the city's 311 call center complaining of vacant houses, but that only represents part of the city's burden in dealing with empty properties. The chart above represents all 14,713 calls mentioning troubles with vacants--water leaks, rats, abandoned ca... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:06:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19081 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 3 Murders this Year: 171 The death of Ethel Henderson, an 85-year-old African-American woman, was added to the homicide rolls this week. On March 8 at 5:20 p.m. in Rosemont, Henderson was found on fire. The flames were extinguished and Henderson was taken to an area hospital, b... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:03:33 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19080 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: "He's not a criminal," Shazia Maqbool says of her husband, Mohammad Ashfaq, after she opens her apartment door to a reporter on Sept 30. On Sept. 4, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents made a pre-dawn raid of the family's Windsor Mill apartment and detained her husband. "They cam... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:01:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19079 Feature by Michelle Gienow: For the past three years, following the typical Michael Pollan-fueled, now-I've-seen-the-locavore-light conversion experience, I've been trying hard to feed my family good food. It's more difficult than it sounds; the supermarkets are full of tempting, affordable foodlike products that ultimatel... Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:56:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19017 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Remember Len Lazarick? He was the State House bureau chief for the Baltimore Examiner, when that daily was still a going concern. Before that, he was a producer at Maryland Public Television, and he worked first as political editor, then managing editor, at Patuxent Publishing before that. Suffice t... Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19066 The News Hole by Van Smith: Trenell Murphy, who pleaded guilty in July to having 41 kilograms of cocaine that he intended to distribute, today received his sentence from U.S. District Court judge Benson Legg: 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore.... Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19063 The News Hole by Van Smith: On Oct. 1 retired National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) senior scientist Per Gloersen (News Hole, May 13) received a sentence of five years' probation for downloading child pornography on his NASA computer. "In addition," writes U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Marcia Murphy in an e... Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19060 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Gay couples may not be able to legally marry in the Maryland, but there's a new way to show support for gay marriage and equality in the Free State: Equality Maryland license plates. The Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) and Equality Maryland have partnered to come up with a specialty plate, a la t... Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19057 The News Hole by Van Smith: Mark J. Lunsford, the Baltimore City cop assigned as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task-force officer who was accused in federal court Sept. 22 of lying and embezzlement (The News Hole, Sept. 24), looks like he's going to have some explaining to do. Yesterday, the search warrants in t... Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19053 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 2 Murders This Year: 169 Friday, Sept. 25 1:15 a.m. Police were called to the 2100 block of Sinclair Lane near Clifton Park Golf Course for an assault. When they arrived they found Shantel Brown, a 31-year-old African-American woman, on the ground in a pool of blood. She was... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:21:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19052 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: On the Agenda for Sept. 21 Bill 09-0398 Rezoning--2112-2136 W. North Ave. Would change the zoning designation from B-2-3 to B-3. The Read: Legendary heroin dealer and occasional actor "Little" Melvin Williams founded a nonprofit called Correct Choices in 2006, placing on the board (without... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:20:05 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19051 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: On Sept. 14, Ned Humphrey loaded his dog Haku into his car, drove downtown, and reported in for jury duty. Humphrey, a Charles Village resident, has worked with Haku, a 6-year-old Korean jindo, as his medical service dog since 2003. To date, Humphrey says, he's taken Haku everywhere--they've tra... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:18:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19050 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Four of the two-dozen alleged Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) prison-gang members indicted in Maryland federal court in April pleaded guilty recently before U.S. District Court Judge William Quarles. Lakia Hatchett was the first to do so, pleading on Aug. 27, followed by Marlow Bates on Aug. 28, Darry... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:11:49 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19049 Feature by Michael Byrne: The floor of the cavernous old church sanctuary space of 2640 is a minefield of under-construction props. A new second stage, lower and forward of the old one, bears a fresh coat of gray paint. The rough façade of a small wooden village sits in pieces around the room. Against the rear wall si... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:04:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=19047 The Mail: In this week's Big Books Issue, the article "Let's Get Short" (Sept. 23) states that only four short-story collections have received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Actually, there have been two more winners in recent times: Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies (2000) and Elizabeth Strout's Olive... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:50:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19055 X-Content by Van Smith: Eileen Murphy's feature, "Artists in Residence", describes how some artists, done with squatting, get help legitimizing their home-studio living arrangements. "Business and community leaders aren't involving themselves in such projects for the love of art or because of sympathy for its creators," Mu... Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19018 The News Hole by Chris Landers: An insurance-claims clerk who pleaded guilty to being part of an identity-theft conspiracy was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for her part in the scheme and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution. Shanell Bowser, who worked as a claims clerk at an insurance company, along with Mi... Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19013 The News Hole by Van Smith: Update: Accused Money-Launderer's Lawyer Says His Client No Longer Owns Payment-Processor Electracash As recounted in court documents made public yesterday in Maryland's U.S. District Court, federal authorities seized the contents of six Wachovia Bank accounts held by a company called Forshay Ent... Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19011 The News Hole by Van Smith: On Sept. 22 Mark J. Lunsford, a Baltimore Police Department (BPD) detective assigned as a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task-force officer, was charged in federal court with lying and embezzlement, based on a fast-moving investigation conducted by the FBI public-corruption unit in Balti... Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19006 The News Hole by Van Smith: For pleading guilty to selling guns without a license-including over the counter of the Utz potato-chip stand at Baltimore's Lexington Market-U.S. District Court judge Richard Bennett sentenced 53-year-old Michael Papantonakis yesterday to 15 months in prison and three years' probation. City Paper c... Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19004 The News Hole by Van Smith: Back in April when he was arrested, investigators took $23,530 in cash from Wade Coats, the Republican political donor accused in U.S. District Court of being an armed, high-dollar coke-and-dope-dealer in Baltimore. Now the U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a civil-forfeiture case to keep the money [... Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18996 The Mail: Those of us who work for Mayor Sheila Dixon appreciate City Paper's acknowledgment of the Mayor as Baltimore's Best Politician (Best of Baltimore, Sept. 16). Short on space, City Paper could list just a few accomplishments; there are many more-for example, the smoking ban, inclusionary housing, free... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:25:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18995 Murder Ink: Murders this Week: 5 Murders this Year: 167  A man was killed while allegedly trying to burglarize a home in the 300 block of East University Parkway near Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. University security was called to the home at 1:21 a.m. on Sept. 15 by neighbors who saw a s... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:09:05 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18994 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: City drug-treatment officials are hoping to attract more than 1,000 people to the third annual "Recovery Walk and Rally" on Saturday, Sept. 26. "It's a really big deal," says Saundra Flowers, project director for the Northwest Baltimore Drug Free Community Coalition, one of the sponsoring organiz... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:06:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18993 Mobtown Beat by Michael Byrne: This past summer, Gov. Martin O'Malley selected what's known as alternative "4C" as the preferred route for the planned Red Line, MTA's long overdue extension of Baltimore's stunted public rail-transit network. The plan, as drafted, is to run a light-rail train from the Centers for Medicare and Med... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:02:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=19002 X-Content by Van Smith: Martin O’Malley, now Maryland’s governor, had just been elected Baltimore’s mayor 10 years ago, and CP’s scribes wrote at length about it. Editor Any Markowitz ‘fessed up to voting for the white guy, while Eileen Murphy’s Media Circus column tore up TV’s... Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18983 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: I goofed. As everyone knows, ACORN does—or did—receive federal grants through HUD and other agencies. This, perhaps not surprisingly, despite a claim on its web site to the contrary: Does ACORN Recieve Federal Funding? The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now does not ap... Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18982 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: The city's powerful Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals raised eyebrows during its Sept. 15 meeting when it took the votes of its chairwoman, Michele Lipkowitz, via cell phone. Several observers, including City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke (D-14th), wondered if the vote was legal. "I've never seen... Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18978 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: The May 19 death of Michael Chase, a 47-year-old African-American man, was added to the homicide rolls this week. Chase was shot on Aug. 20, 1988; he was 26 at the time. Chase was walking in the 1500 block of Hopewell Court when he was shot in the neck. He collapsed and remained on the street until... Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18648 The Mail: Astounding. Truly, truly astounding (Comics Contest, Sept. 9). How is it that, year after year, City Paper fosters the blithering insanity that is Larnell Custis Butler? When she was confined to The Mail, she was tolerable, though just barely. Now--dear God!--she's being PAID for being insane? Shall... Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:17:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18640 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Update: Accused Money-Launderer's Lawyer Says His Client No Longer Owns Payment-Processor Electracash The years-long, Maryland-based federal investigation into money-laundering tied to Internet gambling ("Bodog Internet Gambling Investigation Leads to Money-Laundering Charges," Oct. 30, 2008) has... Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:32:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18639 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Fox and The Baltimore Sun both reported that ACORN has fired the two part-time workers who appeared in the hidden camera video we posted about yesterday. So, ACORN says the vid is "defamatory" and false, but fires the employees because they "acted outside of the ACORN policy?" Comedy gold. On the o... Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18637 The News Hole by Van Smith: George Victor Kraft was nabbed by the feds last fall when, at a house in Fells Point, he received an Express Mail package from Oregon containing nearly eight pounds of psilocybin mushrooms ("Bad Trip: Fells Point Mushroom Bust Snares a Guns-and-Drugs Convict," Nov. 19, 2008). Today, after having ple... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18636 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Never been down with the ACORN hatred on the right. Calling community organizers "thugs" for registering poor people to vote is—or should be—out of bounds. But these videos, if they're legit, kick matters up several notches. They also appear to demonstrate how the city's shadow econom... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18635 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Fans of The Wire know Savino Bratton as the character played by Christopher Clanton, the Baltimore actor who was stabbed last year at an Overlea party. Clanton's character in Season One was a dreadlocked soldier in the Barksdale organization who helped set up the shooting of Detective Kima Greggs an... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:40:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18634 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Two months ago when Gov. O'Malley opened his e-mail box for budget suggestions, I sent a few lines and links to two stories—one on MMG, the other on Commercial Fuel Systems. Both these contracts are sole-source, shady, and expensive compared to what they should be. Today I received this respon... Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18632 The News Hole by Chris Landers: Baltimore's Ride the Ducks amphibious tours made their last run through the streets and waterways of the city on Monday, according to the company. Bob Salmon, vice president for marketing for Ride the Ducks, which is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment, says financial concerns led the company,... Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18618 The Mail: Google "Rosalind Nester Ellis" and you get more than 100 hits--including the smug, self-righteous letter that castigated Gary Kachadourian because he, by the way, happens to like the Jonathan Borofsky "Male/Female" sculpture ("Too Big, Too Bogus," The Mail, Aug. 26). Ms. Ellis is a prolific writer o... Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:13:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18616 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 5 Murders this Year: 153 Because of the Labor Day holiday, this week's column only covers homicides from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. Any murders over the weekend will be addressed online at citypaper.com/news/murderink.asp. (The last two homicides in this column were added after we... Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:08:30 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18615 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: On June 24, 2008, two calls came into the city's 311 system describing the rowhouse at 1226 Argyle Ave. The back wall had collapsed, both callers said. The owner of the occupied house at 1224 told the operator that 1226 Argyle, owned by the city, was letting water in and damaging her property. T... Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:02:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18603 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: In a Times Sunday Mag preview Columnist and Princeton Economics Professor Paul Krugman expends a lot of words explaining how the fellow Nobelists at the University of Chicago have been cranky and absurd since, at least, the mid-'70s. The story is headlined, "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?" The... Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18602 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Michael Greenberger, Rock Off Crew, Robert Strupp, and many other Baltimore folks are featured in a video clip viewable on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! site It's a preview of Leslie and Andrew Cockburn's new documentary, American Casino, which illustrates how credit default swaps and other derivati... Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18597 Photofeature by Jefferson Jackson Steele: ... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:43:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18596 Photofeature by Ben Cricchi: ... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:14:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18593 The Mail: We are the members of the Baltimore Department of Social Services (BCDSS) Youth Advisory Board. We represent youth in foster care and advise the leadership team at BCDSS. We are responding to your series "City of Lost Kids" (Feature, June 10 and June 17). Some of the members felt your headline was d... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:02:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18591 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 148 Tuesday, Aug. 25 2:12 p.m. In the middle of the afternoon, Nolan Evans, a 40-year-old African-American man, was shot repeatedly in the 3400 block of Garrison Boulevard in Northwest Baltimore. He died at an area hospital at 2:36 p.m. Wednesday, Aug.... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:58:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18590 Mobtown Beat by Enrique Lopetegui: Despite a fast and bold start out of the gate, it looks like whatever health-care reform plan passes, it will be a far cry from President Barack Obama's original idea: publicly funded health care for all who want it. Obama's obsession with bipartisanship, the political pressure of the insurance an... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:56:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18589 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: The government of the United States is not trying to kill your grandmother. Or at least, if it is, no one saw fit to include that detail in the broad proposals for the reform of the American health-care system. The public debate on health-care reform has been largely lost in a litany of concerns,... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:54:45 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18600 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Ride the Ducks, the Branson, Mo.-based amphibious tour operator with operations in Baltimore and other cities, is suing a rival duck-tour operator in San Francisco for trademark infringement. At issue is the quack. The quack emitted by the "Wacky Quacker." Seems the company trademarked the sound... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18599 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: If the health-care town hall meetings aren't to your liking, if you'd prefer to avoid the hyperbole and rhetoric about how evil health-care reform is, or if you'd just like to do your part to show your support for the administration's attempt to get health-care reform moving, MoveOn.org is sponsorin... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18575 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Today the Baltimore City Health Department released a report tracking trends and patterns in youth violence in the city between 2002 and 2007. The 30-page report, officially put out by the city's offices of Epidemiology and Planning and Youth Violence Prevention, took a Look at trends in the lives o... Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18568 The News Hole by Chris Landers: Update: We got punked. See comments section below. To prove that there is more to Baltimore than TV wants to show you, Visit Baltimore some British blogger (see below) recently put up a YouTube video comparing The Wire (HBO's Baltimore-based crime drama) to Midsomer Murders (which is apparently a... Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18563 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Props to the Sun's Justin Fenton for keeping his ear to the ground regarding the Blackwell clan's ongoing drama. As he reports today, police arrested Stephen "JR" Blackwell, Jr. and charged him with disorderly conduct on Monday night. This is what the old heads used to call a "humble." You don't us... Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18559 Feature: Things are tough all over, and here at Baltimore's Most New Economic Weekly, we've made some less-than-thrilling adjustments, namely spending a lot less dough on all the stunning, award-winning* original photography we used to--and will again, dammit--be known for. In the meantime, please to enjoy... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:03:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18557 The Mail: No wonder Baltimore is in the shape it is in (Councilmania, Mobtown Beat, Aug.19). I find it absolutely incredible that, number one, City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway (D-7th District) does not know who Little Melvin Williams is, and, number two, that she did not know the MAIN use for flavored tobacc... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:50:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18556 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 144 The death of Gerrod Finch, a 21-year-old African-American man, has been returned to the homicide tally. According to charging documents, Finch was in a car in the 600 block of Wheeler Avenue with his girlfriend Tanaya Salter, a 21-year-old African-Ameri... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:44:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18555 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: In the course of his cocaine career, William Leonardo Graham has endured a 30-foot plunge off the Jones Falls Expressway and a debt-collection visit from a 6-foot-7, 350-pound gang member. Suffering from a herniated disc and a hernia, locked up in a prison hospital for the past year, this small, hap... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:42:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18561 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: (via Ocala Star-Banner; HT Robb Strupp)Florida-based Taylor, Bean and Whittaker, formerly the nation's 12th-largest loan originator and servicer, has filed for bankruptcy reorganization amid new sanctions by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, the Ocala [Florida] Star-Banner reports: In a n... Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18560 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Good news today as Bloomberg News won its federal lawsuit to find out which giant corporations the Federal Reserve lavished big money on, and how much. It's pretty outrageous that it took a nine-month legal battle to get this basic information, but that's life in a democracy, right? Of course,... Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18534 The News Hole by Bret McCabe: I'm a horrible blogger. Horrible. And as a current journalist who, perhaps foolishly, harbors hopes and dreams of continuing to be a journalist in the future, I realize I'm not only way behind the blogging (and Twittering) curve, I'm also not properly embracing and/or wrapping my head around coming... Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18525 The Mail: I don't know what the rules/qualifications are for the Pulitzer Prize, but certainly Van Smith should be nominated for his Aug. 5 piece on the Black Guerrilla Family ("Black-Booked," Feature). Richard L. Lelonek Baltimore Everything but a Child of God I had just finished making my own version... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:09:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18524 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 2 Murders this Year: 139 As of Monday, Aug. 17, the city's homicide rate was the same as it was as on this date in 2008. Monday, Aug. 10 5:40 a.m. Thomas Medley, a 32-year-old African-American man, left his home in the 200 block of Herring Court just outside of the Fells P... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:55:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18522 Councilmania by Van Smith: On the Agenda for Aug. 10 The two Baltimore City Council bills introduced by Belinda Conaway (D-7th District) at the Aug. 10 City Council meeting were eye-openers for the councilwoman herself, she reveals in an Aug. 12 phone interview. Conaway says that she hadn't previously heard of the famous... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:48:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18521 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: Five creditors in the bankruptcy case of former Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors President Vito Simone filed lawsuits alleging Simone defrauded them of $1.1 million. One of the claims relies on a little-noticed state court ruling in favor of a Canton homeowner who claimed Simone engaged in un... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:44:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18520 Feature by Joab Jackson: Composers at the London Royal Opera House have spent the summer assembling an opera using submissions from people around the globe, using the Twitter internet micro-messaging service. "We're investigating how short, 140-character contributions can build upon each other to create a non-linear nar... Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:38:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18509 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Baltimore has a new source of "good news" about city developments, "lifestyle," and, well, hype. "Welcome to Bmore: This ain't your daddy's magazine," goes Walaika Haskins' introduction dated Aug. 12. (Haskins is an erstwhile City Paper contributor.) She's right about that. Bmore is much less Playb... Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18506 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Baltimore Slumlord Watch is doing some good citizen journalism. Branching out from its original mission of documenting crappy buildings and their owner's neglect, it is now posting on the campaign contributions of some of the shady real estate types it has unearthed. What I like about this post is... Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18495 The Mail: As is common in most American cities, the theater arts in Baltimore saunter so far behind the innovations and relevance of other artistic forms/communities that theater might not be recognizable as art at all, but rather as a tolerable pastime. Granted, there has been a recent upsurge in the local t... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:34:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18494 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 1 Murders this Year: 137 After several bloody weeks, Baltimore had a six-day respite from homicides. This is only the third time this year that six or more days have passed without a murder in Baltimore. The city's homicide tally is now three higher than it was at this time las... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:27:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18493 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: The lawyer, the mortgage broker, the retired Social Security worker, the used-car dealer, the strip-club owner--these are the careers of convicted drug money-launderers in Maryland in recent years. As of July 31, add another to the list: the jewelry dealer. On July 31, 58-year-old Eugene Petask... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:21:53 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18492 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: On July 10, Shawn Michael Green pleaded not guilty--again--to being a drug-trafficking money-launderer. Green's mother, Yolanda Crawley, is already serving time for her part in the alleged drug money-laundering scheme feds say he's part of, as are two of his associates, attorney Rachel Donegan and... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:17:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18491 Feature by Tim Hill: In 1996, odd street signs started popping up around the city. They featured official-looking typefaces and official-looking shapes, but if you were to check to see if it was OK to park beneath one, you'd read, for example, show me the money. If you looked a little closer, you'd find a phone numb... Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:13:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18481 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Aug. 7: Colonial BancGroup announces governmental actions. Seems that on "August 6, 2009, it was informed by the U.S. Department of Justice that it is the target of a federal criminal investigation relating to the Company's mortgage warehouse lending division and related alleged accounting irregular... Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18480 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: AIG reported a $1.8 billion quarterly profit as Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the company's former long-time über boss, paid $15 million to the SEC to settle (unrelated) fraud charges. Quoth the WSJ: Shares were up 18% at $26.49 around midday Friday after the New York insurer and financial se... Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18478 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: On July 10, Shawn Michael Green pleaded not guilty—again—to being a drug-trafficking money-launderer. Green's mother, Yolanda Crawley, is already serving time for her part in the alleged drug money-laundering scheme feds say he's part of, as are two of his associates, attorney Rachel Donegan and mor... Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:17:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18477 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Strange doings over the last few days in Central Florida have put about 10,000 Maryland homeowners in doubt about where to send their mortgage checks. But the real trouble is much bigger than that. Here's a rundown on who, what, where, how, and maybe why: 1. Because of bad mortgage lending, mostly... Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18474 Feature by Van Smith: ?The cover of Eric Brown's The Black Book. A Black Guerilla Family logo. The Eric Brown Prison-Gang Conspiracy Eric Brown, aka "Dee Brown," "E," and "EB" Ray Olivis, aka "Ronnie Hargrove," "Uncle Ray," "Unc," and "Ray Ray" Deitra Davenport, aka "Sister D" Rainbow Williams... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:22:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18473 The Mail: I enjoyed reading the thoughtful and well-written review by Martin L. Johnson in the July 22 issue of City Paper on the exhibition Herman Maril: An American Modernist at the Walters Art Museum. However, as the son of the artist, I feel the impression was given that even though my father (1908-1986... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:02:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18471 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 6 Murders this Year: 136 Friday, July 31 12:35 a.m. Police found Lamont Woodard, a 39-year-old African-American man, lying on the ground in the 500 block of East Lynn Avenue in Southwest Baltimore. A crowd had gathered around Woodard, who had been shot in the head. He died at... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:52:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18470 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Next time you call 311 about a missed trash pickup, or your neighbor's parking habits, or the rats in your basement, take a second to remember the tireless dedication of our brave Baltimore City Call Center operators, who take questions ranging from the mundane to the insane. Here are some of the ca... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:49:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18469 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: Back in the 1970s, when K Thompson lived in Westport, she says the ammonia smell coming from the metal-reclamation plant on Annapolis Road was strong enough to sour milk. When federal and state agencies came to clean up the former home of Chemical Metals Industries (CMI) in 1981, they found drums f... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:46:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18468 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: The state's highest court has some good news for Maryland landlords, though that may be bad news for devotees of the traditional family. In a case pitting the city's zoning bureaucracy against a pair of neighborhood activists, the court ruled last week that four unrelated people constitute a "famil... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:38:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18463 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating "Flash Trading," one small way the rich get richer at the expense of everyone else. That should keep them away from the big issues. But at least Paul Krugman is with me on the connection between Goldman's s... Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18441 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: The Baltimore Sun has unveiled a new social-networking environment on its web site called the Social Sun. It features links to all the various Sun-related Twitter feeds you can subscribe to, and judging from the list, they're a bunch of Twittering (Tweeting?) fools over on Calvert Street. You can ev... Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST