NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Dec. 20

[Scroll down for full week’s compendia]  

 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

Laws prohibiting certain state officials from raising money during the 90-day General Assembly session next year leave Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler out in the cold.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and State Attorney Gen- eral Doug Gansler — opponents in next June’s gubernatorial primary — are both barred from raising money during the 90- day General Assembly session beginning in January, as is Montgomery County Del. Heather Mizeur.

However, Brown’s running mate, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, is not covered by the prohibition and can raise money
so long as he does not coordinate with Brown.

Ulman can legally raise funds under his own campaign account, then later transfer unlimited amounts of cash to the slate account he shares with Brown for the governor’s race. On the Republican side, Harford County Executive David Craig can continue to raise money during the legislative session, but his running mate, Del. Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, is barred by state law.

“It’s an egregious loophole,” said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. It leaves Gansler out in the cold.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  NO CHARGES FILED IN DEATH OF TYRONE WEST; FAMILY CRIES COVER-UP

Baltimore police officers were legally justified in using their fists, batons and pepper spray to subdue West before he died resisting arrest last summer and will not be criminally charged, the city state’s attorney said Thursday. West’s family claims cover-up and criticized the release of prosecutors’ findings less than a week before Christmas.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Channel 13)

•  MARYLAND TO GET $85.7M IN NATIONAL LOAN SETTLEMENT

The state is projected to receive the money as part of a $2.1 billion deal Thursday between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Atlanta-based mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial Corp. Regulators said Ocwen, one of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers, pushed borrowers into foreclosure through illegal actions.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  P.G. CO. SCHOOL BUDGET TOPS $1.7B FOR FIRST TIME

The county school department’s new chief executive officer, Kevin Maxwell, called the 3.89 percent increase over fiscal year 2014 “modest.” More than $1 billion is being earmarked for salaries for the system’s 18,000-plus employees.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  MD. MAY LEASE FORMER CROWNSVILLE HOSPITAL BUILDINGS

Applications from companies interested in leasing two buildings — the three-story Phillips Building and its single-story annex — on the grounds of the former Crownsville State Hospital are being considered by state officials. The Department of General Services is managing the application process for the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Read More at:  The (Annapolis) Capital
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday Dec. 19
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Thursday:

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates voted Wed. to buy off the company that has been operating the city’s red-light and speed cameras.

Board of Estimates member Comptroller Joan Pratt cast the lone vote against paying off Brekford Corp., of Anne Arundel County, to end the city’s contract for the troubled speed and red-light camera system. The embattled program will be fixed, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake promised.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  CITY AWARDS $1.3M CONTRACT TO FORMER DIXON BOYFRIEND

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates on Wednesday awarded a $1.3 million grant to LSH Gateway LLC and its principal, Ronald Lipscomb, a controversial developer who pled guilty to campaign finance violations in 2009 and dated former Mayor Sheila Dixon when she was president of the City Council.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  SUSPECT IN CUSTODY AFTER TOWSON BARRICADE

The 35-year-old man barricaded himself inside a Hampton home for nearly seven hours Wednesday, following a report of a domestic disturbance and gunshots in the home. The hours-long barricade put Notre Dame Preparatory School on lockdown and caused nearby Davenport Preschool to take steps to keep its building secure.

Read More at:  Towson Times

•  MEGA MILLIONS WINNERS IN CALIFORNIA, GEORGIA SPLIT $636M

A woman in Atlanta came forward Wednesday to claim her prize, a lump-sum $120-plus million after taxes. A second winning ticket has been identified as having been sold in San Jose, Calif. According to Maryland State Lottery officials, a second-tier, $1 million ticket was sold at High’s Dairy Store on Old Bottom Road in Annapolis.

Read More at:  USA Today

•  MAYOR EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT USE OF FORCE BY CITY POLICE

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake commented Wednesday on a 26-page report released last week that concluded police acted appropriately in an in-custody death of a handcuffed suspect in September 2012 that some believe constituted police brutality.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Wednesday Dec. 18
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond. Your weekday morning look (with links) at late- breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Wednesday:

If Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing has no winner, next jackpot will approach $1 billion, highest ever in the U.S.

If no one wins the Tuesday night drawing, the pot will stand at nearly $1 billion, the highest ever for a U.S. lottery.

Read More at:  Associated Press

•  GIANT, SAFEWAY WORKERS RATIFY CONTRACT

Workers for the two Baltimore-Washington supermarket chains voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ratify a new three-year labor contract that preserves health benefits and raises wages.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  26 CHERRY HILL GANG MEMBERS INDICTED

Charges include racketeering and drug dealing in connection with violence and intimidation used by rival drug gangs that have terrorized Baltimore’s Cherry Hill neighborhood.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  POLICE OFFICER WHO SHOT TRAINEE GETS 60-DAY SENTENCE

William S. Kern, a 19-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, accidentally shot a trainee in the head last February during an exercise at the former Rosewood Center in Owings Mills.

Read More at:  WBAL-Radio (1090AM)

•  ATTORNEY DISBARRED, ANOTHER SUSPENDED IN SEPARATE JOINT PETITIONS

The Maryland Court of Appeals disbarred Latosha J. Cooper this week after indefinitely suspending Matthew Evan Fox, both by consent.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Tuesday Dec. 17
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Tuesday:

Southwest Airlines is adding two new West Coast flights from BWI Marshall Airport.

•  SOUTHWEST OFFERS NEW
W. COAST FLIGHTS FROM BWI

The airline will launch two new nonstop flights to Portland, Ore, and Oakland, Cal. beginning June 8.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  CITY TO PAY $600K TO END SPEED CAMERA CONTRACT

Baltimore plans to pay its speed camera vendor, Brekford Corp., more than half a million dollars to end a troubled relationship that has left the cameras offline for nine months since April.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  STATE DELEGATE CALLS FOR ETHICS PROBE OF BALTIMORE CO. SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT

S. Dallas Dance, who is supposed to be working full-time for the county, canceled a $15,000 consulting contract to train school principals in Chicago. Del. Patrick L. McDonough is calling for an investigation and a rewriting of Dance’s contract to explicitly prohibit him from doing outside work.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  $36M IN TIFS APPROVED FOR HARBOR POINT

Baltimore City’s Board of Finance voted to allow $35.9 million in tax increment financing bonds to be sold early in 2014 to finance the first phase of the billion-dollar Harbor Point development.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  NEUMAN DISCUSSES ‘RAIN TAX’ ON FOX BUSINESS NETWORK

Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman, whose veto of the stormwater control fee was overridden by the County Council, appeared on the network’s “Willis Report,” hosted by Gerri Willis, Monday evening.

Read More at:  The (Annapolis) Capital
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Monday Dec. 16
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Monday:

Washington D.C.’s first streetcar in 50 years will run on H Street to Georgetown.

•  WASHINGTON GETS FIRST STREETCARS IN 50 YEARS

The 66-foot-long vehicles will run on H Street to Georgetown, then east to two Metro stations. D.C. is committing some $400 million for the Georgetown phase of what is expected to be a broader streetcar network.

Testing will continue through the week before the line is put in operation. Repairs to overhead power lines were made Sunday morning.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Ch. 13)

•  KNIFE-WIELDING MAN ATTACKS POLICE DESPITE BEING TASERED, SHOT

An armed man who attacked and threatened to kill a woman, then attempted to run over responding police officers with his car, was shot by Baltimore County police early Sunday morning. Three officers were needed to accompany him to a local hospital in the ambulance, after a TASER gun, pepper spray and batons failed to subdue him and the cops were forced to shoot the man several times.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  COUNCIL QUESTIONS LEASE-TO-PURCHASE DEAL IN BALTO. CO.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz is asking the Baltimore County Council to lease a desirable piece of downtown Towson real estate to the high-profile developer of Towson Row without a bidding process.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  BGE GETS HALF OF REQUESTED RATE INCREASE

The Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. was given a partial increase of $33.6 million for its electric distribu- tion rates and $12.5 million for gas distribution, increasing costs to consumers by about $2.13 a month for electricity and 73 cents per month for gas.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  DESPITE DOWNTURN, NEW BOOKSTORE OPENS IN FREDERICK

Defying e-books and tablets, a new old-fashioned bookstore , the Curious Iguana, opened recently in Frederick.

Read More at:  Washington Post
 
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