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=17287 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 5 Murders This Year: 232 The death of Andre Gay Jr., a 31-year-old African-American man, has been removed from Baltimore City's homicide tally. Gay and a 21-year-old African-American man were found shot on the front porch of a rowhouse in the 4900 block of Gunther Avenue. The tw... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:34:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17286 The Mail: Where's the outrage? Why bother? ("Antihero," Feature, Dec. 17) In a city/culture/climate where illiteracy, slovenliness, and criminality are glorified and worshipped by the just too intellectually lazy, what else would one expect? Take a look around as you drive through; those bands of non-honor-ro... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:32:30 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17285 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers and Van Smith: When law-enforcement agents intercept packages of illegal drugs moving through the U.S. Mail or a private parcel-delivery service, they use available clues about the packages to pursue criminal cases against those tied to the shipments. Mapping information from court records about six recent such... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:25:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17284 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: You do not know the darkness of life without mambo. This is because Israel Lopez, a Havana-born bassist, invented this dance/rhythm/feeling/universe some time in 1937, probably around a small round table with a bottle of rum on it inside a dark club in the wee hours of the morning. He was with his b... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:21:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17283 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: Bozo is the consummate clown, the epitome of clown. The fire-orange yak hair erupting sideways from the bald white head, the gateway-arch eyebrows, the red-ball nose, the huge greasepaint grin--Bozo, created in 1946 by Alan Livingston--is the archetype. Bozo's influence is seen from Ronald McDonald,... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:20:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17282 Feature by Anna Ditikoff: Mildred Loving had no intention of being a civil-rights hero. She and her husband simply wanted to go home. And that wish turned the soft-spoken Loving into a crusader, who struck down laws prohibiting interracial couples from marrying. Mildred Jeter, who was African- and Native-American, and Richar... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:18:45 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17281 Feature by Bret McCabe: Like jazz music and go-go dancing, funny women are one of America's most slept-on natural resources. From Anita Loos to Dorothy Parker, Dawn Powell to Alison Lurie, to be a smart, funny, and female writer in America means you inevitably get forgotten, overlooked, or otherwise sidelined, personally o... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:17:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17280 Feature by Lee Gardner: Klaus Dinger never called the drum beat/rhythm he created "motorik," as musicians and music critics have referred to it ever since. He found the term, a neologism which translates roughly as "motor-music," unflattering. He was once quoted as saying that he called it the "Apache beat," but in another... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:13:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17279 Feature by Lee Gardner: It's a little difficult to see the late Gary Gygax, a sturdy, bearded Midwestern uncle type, in Grand Theft Auto's glitz and violence, Spore's bizarro creature building, or Metal Gear's urban sneak 'n' shoot, but he's there. Indeed, the megabillions video-game industry likely owes a good chunk of it... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:11:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17278 Feature by Anna Ditkoff: You know that little information booklet you get with your prescriptions? How about the warning labels on the medications themselves? Well, if it weren't for Barbara Seaman you might not get that information at all. Seaman, a writer and activist, made a career of speaking up for women, and trying to... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:09:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17277 Feature by Michael Byrne: As far as processing and recording music goes, in 2008 anyone can do almost anything with a click of a computer mouse. Some 30 years ago, though, a tape delay meant slightly staggering two tapes of the same track and crossing your fingers, and edits to a recording were made with a razor blade and ta... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:08:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17276 Feature by Bret McCabe: A roving camera soaks in the Old World opulence of an unnamed castle. Handsome, trim men in evening attire and jeweled women expressionlessly stare at a refined entertainment. A Chanel-clad Delphine Seyrig emerges at the top of a Rococo staircase looking like the most desirable elegant object in the... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:06:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17275 Feature by Michael Gill: Victor Schreckengost, who died Jan. 26 at age 101, did not have an especially famous name. But to understand his impact on the way America lives, it helps to know that he designed not only the sissy bar that kept you from sliding off the back of your banana seat while popping the wheelies of your ad... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:05:41 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17274 Feature: Death took its usual toll this year, and seemingly then some. Genocide, war, terrorist attacks, disease--yikes. But for the purposes of City Paper's annual tribute to influential cultural notables whose deaths deserve a little extra note, it was a terrible harvest. In addition to the loss of A-lis... Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:04:06 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17260 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 5Murders This Year: 228 The death of a newborn boy was added to the homicide rolls this week. On Oct. 4, Melanie Blevins, a 22-year-old Caucasian woman from Westminster, went to Union Memorial Hospital at 8:30 p.m. complaining of urinary pain. Doctors examined her and discovered... Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:10:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17259 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: 311 calls for the Rat Rubout squad during the calendar year ending last month. Standard Disclaimer: What's The 311 is based on data from the Mayor's Office of Information Technology (currently from Sept. 20, 2005 until November 30, 2008). It has been folded, spindled, and mutilated along the... Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:10:28 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17258 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson and Van Smith: After fleeing from a federal indictment in early 2007 ("Flight Connections," Mobtown Beat, March 12), Shawn Michael Green was arrested Dec. 14 in Pennsylvania and taken to Maryland to face drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges. Aside from those charges, court records in other proceedings po... Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:09:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17256 Feature by Chris Landers: Not quite an hour after the usual scheduled appearance of the Virgin Mary, Janet Freeman steps out of a cutting December wind in Emmitsburg and into St. Peter's Books, which is located between a sub shop and a Chinese restaurant in a strip mall near the intersection of Routes 15 and 140. Inside, Pe... Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:04:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17254 The Mail: To City Paper letter-writing fixture, Larnell Custis Butler, from this Eurocentric (Scotland) whitey--you go girl! ("The Butler Did It," The Mail, Dec. 17) One letter writer steers her on the race issue to some scientist on DNA. Great . . . all we need. I suggest we watch what happens in the cases... Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:02:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17202 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Ronnie Thomas, also known as "Skinny Suge" and "Suga da Pimp," is a tenacious media hound. He made a name for himself with the 2005 release of his video, Stop Fucking Snitching Vol. 1, a rambling, low-budget documentary that opened a frenzied national discussion on street-level abhorrence for poli... Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:34:22 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17240 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: The Baltimore Sun editor Timothy Franklin is leaving the paper effective Jan. 1, 2009 and taking a job at the University of Indiana School of Journalism. Franklin has been editor of the Sun since 2004, when he left his post at the Orlando Sentinel to replace Bill Marimow, who served as editor of th... Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17239 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Today the Bivings Group, a Washington-based internet communications firm, released the findings of its 2008 study of how traditional print newspapers are coping with the steady evolution of online content in the media. The organization studied 100 "major" newspapers selected based on circulation (th... Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17232 Murder Ink: Murders This Week: 2Murders This Year: 223 After three bloody weeks in a row, homicides slowed down again this week. As of Dec. 15, there have been 49 fewer homicides this year than the same time last year. Despite the decrease, Baltimore continues to have a very high per-capita homicide rate comp... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:08:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17229 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: A recent crackdown on the enforcement of a city code requiring residents to put their trash out in metal cans with tight-fitting lids has angered the residents of some neighborhoods where citations for the violation have recently been issued. According to Peggy Smallwood, a resident of East Baltim... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:53:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17227 Feature by Jeffrey Anderson: On a sunny October day last year, Anna Sowers stood behind mayoral candidate Keiffer Mitchell and waited to speak. Thin and seemingly fragile amid a crowd of firefighters and police, she shifted from side to side as her hands fiddled nervously with a purse that hung at her waist. Mitchell was runni... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:55:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17225 The Mail: That is it! Enough! Every other week, it seems, there is something wrong with the crossword puzzle! Clues from last week's puzzle; missing clues; and this week, clues that don't match the puzzle grid! Is there someone in charge of editing the crossword, or do you just shove it in the back section fi... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:48:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17194 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson: In September, the Maryland state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that it had hired a woman named Renata Henry to become deputy secretary for Behavioral Health and Disabilities. The announcement was made with little fanfare or public discussion, despite the fact that Henry, who pr... Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:34:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17224 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson and Van Smith: Editor's note: An updated and more detailed version of this story appeared in the Dec. 24 issue. Fugitive Shawn Michael Green, who has been on the run from federal drug-trafficking charges since early 2007, was arrested recently in Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland... Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:43:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17210 X-Content: The impending departure of two important Baltimoreans—Kurt L. Schmoke as the city's mayor, and Steven Bunker as the Fells Point fixture who owned the China Sea Trader shop on Thames Street—consumed City Paper's news efforts a decade ago this week. In arts and music, Mike Giuliano reviewed an abst... Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:24:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17204 The News Hole by Van Smith: Federal authorities seized the contents of a cell phone that was found Nov. 24 in the Supermax prison cell of Stop Fucking Snitching Vol. 1 producer Ronnie "Skinny Suge" Thomas, City Paper reported yesterday. A copy of the affidavit [pdf] supporting the seizure of the phone, which has since been pro... Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17197 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: On Nov. 16 I encountered a gray-haired gentleman in a business suit in the Bel Air Giant grocery store. He was trying to sell me a subscription to The Aegis, the bi-weekly community paper of Harford County. He looked like the publisher, not a contract salesman on peanuts commission. The deal: a six-... Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17195 The News Hole by Anna Ditkoff: Today was the December monthly meeting of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, a body that includes Mayor Sheila Dixon, State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy, and Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld, in addition to representatives from the courts, Parole and Probation, Public Safety, Correctional S... Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17183 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 7 Murders This Year: 221 Four homicide victims from last week have been identified. Adrian Andrews was the 17-year-old African-American male shot in the head behind Doris M. Johnson and Heritage high schools the day before Thanksgiving. The three males shot to death in the quadr... Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:16:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17182 What's The 311? by Chris Landers: If we learned anything from The Wire, it was that vacant rowhouses are excellent places to hide dead bodies. Turns out that's not all they can be used for--the vacant house is like the Swiss army knife of urban blight, useful for multiple purposes, from drug houses to illegal dumping sites. The ci... Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:13:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17180 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: The City Council last month asked state lawmakers to introduce laws limiting where registered sex offenders in the city could live. The law, which would prohibit offenders from living within 2,000 feet of "a school, day care center, or location where children congregate," would effectively ban reg... Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:55:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17173 The Mail: I think the Long Island Wal-Mart where Jdimyatai Damour was trampled to death on "Black Friday" should be blown-up (Mr. Wrong, Dec. 3). In its place, a park should be established with a life-sized statue erected of the victim where all consumption is forbidden, a place where people would be forced t... Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:32:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17163 The News Hole by Michael Byrne: We all have reason to be concerned.... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17162 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Tribune Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection today in Delaware, claiming about $7.6 billion in assets and nearly $13 billion in debt. The New York Times blogs it here. The Wall Street Journal has updated its coverage here. (This may require a $110 subscription). This graphic comes f... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17159 The News Hole by Jeffrey Anderson: President-elect Barack Obama's key political appointments continue to hearken back to Pardongate, the 2001 scandal that resulted in a bipartisan Congressional committee investigation of influence peddling in the White House during the waning days of the Clinton administration. On Dec. 2, City Paper... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17158 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Tribune Co., which owns The Baltimore Sun and seven other major daily newspapers, may file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, The Wall Street Journal, relying on unnamed sources, reported Sunday. The Chicago-based media conglomerate has been in talks with creditors to restructure it... Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17155 The News Hole by Chris Landers: Wordle (www.wordle.net) generates word clouds from blocks of text--the more times a word appears, the bigger it looks. I was geeking out over the site last night, and fed it the names of all the subjects of Baltimore's 311 complaints for the past three years. What you see in the word cloud generated... Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17152 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: U.S. District Court magistrate judge Deborah A. Robinson normally presides over matters in her Washington, D.C., courtroom. But on Dec. 3 she sat in the gallery of a federal courtroom in Baltimore to witness her 21-year-old son, Philip Winkfield, admit to being an armed heroin dealer. Winkfield was... Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:20:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17146 Feature by Bret McCabe: "I don't get it," she said, exiting the closet. "What am I supposed to be doing?" I have heard this question asked a variety of ways while working* weekend gallery hours at the Baltimore Museum of Art's major retrospective Franz West, To Build a House You Start With the Roof: Work, 1972-2008, Oct.... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:08:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17145 The Mail: So, I entered City Paper's annual Fiction Contest, and I did not win (Fiction and Poetry Contest, Nov. 26). This came as quite a shock. I'm kind of a big deal, but evidently the editors failed to recognize the genius of my writing. No biggie. I've decided to reward the editors for not rewarding me.... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:03:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17144 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 8Murders This Year: 214 The man shot to death in the 1100 block of Abbott Court on Nov. 18 has been identified as Donte Graham, a 21-year-old African-American man. Frederick Ward, a 25-year-old African-American man, died 20 days after he was shot in the head. Ward was found ly... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:00:45 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17143 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Earlier this year, Baltimore was shocked by the case of Timothy D. Price III, the then 31-year-old music director of the large and influential Bethel A.M.E. Church who was arrested and pleaded guilty to having sex with a 12-year-old girl who was active in church activities he led. After his Aug. 1... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:57:55 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17149 The News Hole by Jeffrey Anderson: The only issue even remotely standing in the way of Eric Holder being confirmed as the next U.S. Attorney General seems to be his role in the 2001 pardon of federal fugitive and billionaire Marc Rich, who fled the country after being charged with tax evasion. However, a 2002 Congressional Report t... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17131 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: A brilliant, kind, patient, and acerbic wit died Sunday after a nearly three-year bout with ovarian cancer. Doris Dungey, 47, was a Marlboro-based mortgage banker who began blogging under the name Tanta in 2006, and explained in detail what was about to take place in the financial world. Although he... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17128 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson: The alleged driver of the getaway car in the recent double murder in Odenton has not only a history of minor criminal convictions but associations with major Baltimore shadow economy figures. Kecia Liverpool, 31, of Brooklyn, was charged on Nov. 25 as an accessory after the fact in the quadruple... Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:30:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17127 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson and Van Smith: Four days before Russell Kelscoe Harden allegedly committed a double murder in Odenton on Nov. 16, two federal judges denied a detention request from a federal probation officer who found that Harden was a flight risk. On Nov. 12, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Gauvey ruled that Harden failed to com... Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:50:06 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17118 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders Nov. 10-16: 6 Murders This Week: 12 Murders This Year: 206 Due to last week's early deadline, this week's column covers homicides from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23. Larry Franklin Jr., the 22-year-old African-American man murdered in the 2000 block of Robb Street on Nov. 12 was actually... Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:09:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17117 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: On the Agenda for Nov. 17 Bill 08-0231 Health--Smoking on or Adjacent to Hospital Premises. Would impose a $50 fine for smoking in any area adjacent to any hospital. The no-smoking area includes alleys, sidewalks, and adjacent grounds "extending to the closest curb line." These areas should be po... Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:08:06 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17116 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: Mildred "Meme" Thomas says she was surprised this summer to discover, through an internet search, that her landscaping company was a listed subcontractor on a multi-million dollar Baltimore City Public School contract. Neither Thomas nor her company, Earthscape Design, had ever worked for the school... Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:06:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17115 The Mail: Sorry about the letter writer who lives in Charles Village and has to deal with drunks keeping him awake ("Shuddup, Drunks!," The Mail, Nov. 19), but I am 100 percent against the Baltimore City police in this incident. Tell me, James Aguirre, how can you condone what the police did if they didn't e... Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:05:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17100 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Last night Federal Reserve and CitiGroup officials dropped a financial bomb, emerging from all-weekend talks to say that the U.S. taxpayers are bailing out Citi. It was the inevitable result of policy decisions made a decade ago, after CitiGroup broke a 70-year-old law by merging with the Traveler'... Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17091 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: An audit of the state agency that doles out loans and grants to corporations on the theory that they'll create lots of jobs has (again) found no confirmation of the jobs created. As it did in 2001 and 2005, the state Department of Legislative Audits reports that the Department of Business and Econ... Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17090 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Purveyors of psilocybin mushrooms--the kind that send users into psychedelic, sometimes hallucinogenic states--tend to share the peaceful, feel-good reputation of the hippy drug they sell. Still, they are illegal drug dealers, since the magic mushroom is a controlled dangerous substance under federa... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:06:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17074 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders Nov 10-14: 4 Murders This Year: 192 Due to early deadlines for this week's Holiday Guide issue, this installment of Murder Ink only covers homicides between Nov. 10 and 14. Two deaths that occurred earlier this year were added to the homicide rolls this week. On April 14, 1996, Valando Good... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:49:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17073 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: A local "restructuring" of a refugee-resettlement contractor, plus a seasonal influx of refugees, may have contributed to the troubles Iraqi refugees have recently complained about in Baltimore. Their case managers have also faced longer processes for getting them things such as food stamps and I.... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:48:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17072 The Mail: Sorry to hear about the freelancer who had to spend the night in jail ("Epic Cop Fail," Mobtown Beat, Nov. 12), but I am 100 percent behind the Baltimore City Police in this circumstance. He obviously does not live in Charles Village by Johns Hopkins. This happens every night--the Giants win, there... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:46:05 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17078 Mobtown Beat by Jeffrey Anderson: Baltimore's underground economy took a hit Nov. 18 when Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced plans to shutter 23 used-car dealerships that serve as illegal storage for vehicles destined to be sold outside the District of Columbia. Entire lots had been emptied of used cars the day after the... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:05:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=17058 The News Hole by Jeffrey Anderson: The Charles Village election night incident that led to the arrests of 15 people has prompted a request from U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings that Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefield III review the matter (see below). Mayor Sheila Dixon's office, calling the incident "disgraceful,"... Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST