NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Feb. 21
[Scroll down (below today’s entries) for full week’s compendia
— after clicking “Read more »” at end of today’s lede story]
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:
FCC plan to put investigators in nation’s newsrooms conjures up images of George Orwell and his 1984-style ‘Big Brother.’
Is a plan by the Federal Communications Commission to place investigators in newsrooms throughout the country simply an innocent attempt to assess how editorial decisions are made and whether media outlets are biased?
Or is it an extreme violation of Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment?
The FCC “does not and will not interfere in newsrooms or editorial decision making” nor does it intend “to regulate the speech of news media” in America, the agency emphatically declared in a statement released Thursday via email exclusively to Voice of Baltimore’s media partner WBFF Fox45-TV.
“Any suggestion the Commission intends to regulate the speech of news media is false,” the statement continues, adding that the draft questions in its study for the plan “are being revised to clear up any confusion.”
The FCC proposal is the latest Big Brother “intrusive surveillance of the press” by the Obama Administration, Investor’s Business Daily charged in an editorial late last week following an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal whereby one of the agency’s Republican minority commissioners, Ajit Pai, warned that a plan to dispatch researchers into radio, television and even newspaper newsrooms — known as the “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs” — is proceeding apace, despite the grave danger it presents to the First Amendment to the Constitution and the right of free speech and Freedom of the Press.
“The government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories,” Pai maintains.
The FCC insists however that broadcasters’ participation in the study would be strictly “voluntary.” But Pai questions that assertion, since the agency has control over TV and radio licenses, the denial of which would put such broadcasters out of business — constituting a conflict of interest on the part of the FCC, he says.
In addition, the regulatory agency has no jurisdiction whatsoever over newspapers. Yet its intent is to invade the territory of print journalism as well.
But where’s the outcry from the media? The reaction from the National Association of Broadcasters was remarkably subdued: The FCC “should reconsider” qualitative sections of its study, NAB wrote.
In a letter last Friday to the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce — obtained by VoB through Fox45-TV — FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler assured Congress, “The Commission has no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or
broadcasters by way of this Research Design, any resulting study, or through any other means,” adding that, “We continue to work with the contractor [for the Research Design] to adapt the study in response to these concerns and expect to complete this work in the next few weeks.”
But according to Investor’s Business Daily, “It’s an idea so fraught with potential for abuse it ought to have news agencies screaming bloody murder.
“The very idea of Obama hipsters showing up in newsrooms, asking questions and judging if newspapers,… radio and TV are sufficiently diverse is nothing short of thought control.”
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV | Investor’s Business Daily | Wall Street Journal
• HOUSE PASSES 70 MPH SPEED LIMIT
The Maryland House of Delegates unanimously passed the measure, 133-0, which would apply only to divided state highways. The bill’s chief sponsor is Del. James Malone, a lame-duck Democrat from Baltimore and Howard counties; however several Republicans are co-sponsoring it as well.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• HUNDREDS PROTEST COVE POINT PROJECT
Approximately 500 people rallied in Baltimore to oppose plans to export liquified natural gas from a facility in southern Calvert County, as two days of hearings before the Maryland Public Service Commission began Thursday.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record | Baltimore Sun
• CITY POLICE SERGEANT CHARGED IN COUNTY PROSTITUTION STING
Sgt. Kevin Lamont Simmons was among four men taken into custody Thursday and charged with two counts each of prostitution after allegedly offering money to undercover Baltimore County officers for sex.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• NEW CITY SCHOOLS CEO PLEDGES TO STAY IN BALTIMORE
Gregory Thornton, named this week to succeed Andrés Alonso, says he intends to remain in Baltimore for the long haul.
Read More at: WMAR-TV (Channel 2)
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday Feb. 20
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:
Johns Hopkins University students working at ‘Sugar’ stripped down to bras and leotards at the 2013 HONfest last spring to promote the Hampden sex-toy shop on 36th Street. Sugar is moving to a more prominent location this week at 1001 W. 36th St. on The Avenue. (VoB File Photo/Bill Hughes)
ON ‘THE AVENUE’ IN HAMPDEN
The former HONtown location, at 1001 W. 36th St. on The Avenue in Hampden, will give greater visibility to “Sugar,” which until now has been located out of sight in the back of Hampden Hall at 36th Street and Roland Avenue.
“We don’t sell porn or anything like that,” Sugar owner and self-described “sex educator” Jacq Jones assured a meeting of the Hampden Village Merchants Association last week, adding that Sugar needs to expand and she’s “really excited” about the move.
Cafe Hon and HONtown owner Denise Whiting could not be reached for comment about why she’s moved her gift shop across the street into the restaurant.
Read More at: Baltimore Messenger | Voice of Baltimore
• VIDEO REVEALS RICE KNOCKED FIANCÉE UNCONSCIOUS
The 50-second hotel surveillance video, obtained by website/TV investigative program “TMZ,” shows Baltimore Ravens’ star running back Ray Rice lifting his fiancée, Janay Palmer — who appears limp — by her arms out of an elevator in the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, laying her on the floor, and then propping her up.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• NEUMAN TO KICK OFF GOP CAMPAIGN FOR ARUNDEL CO. EXECUTIVE
She’ll launch a 12-hour marathon meet-and-greet around the county Thursday, when she also plans to officially file for candidacy. On Wednesday, Democrat Joanna Conti said she would drop out of the race, leaving former sheriff George F. Johnson 4th as the only Democrat in the running.
Read More at: The (Annapolis) Capital | Baltimore Sun
• CARBON MONOXIDE SPURS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AT WESTIN BWI
Guests and workers became sick over the weekend from carbon monoxide at The Westin Baltimore Washington Airport hotel. They filed a class action lawsuit earlier this week in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• ANNE ARUNDEL CO. TO PICK NEW SCHOOL CHIEF
Fifty people have so far applied for the superintendent’s job, which since last summer has been filled by Mamie Perkins, a former top Howard County administrator, on an interim basis.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Wednesday Feb.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 Wednesday:
A lawsuit filed against Dunkin’ Donuts by McDonald’s could decide if the two fast-food restaurant locations in Derwood, Md. have too much in common.
Who knew? Till now, we all thought one sold hamburgers and the other, donuts. A lawsuit filed last week in Derwood, Md. could adjudicate McDonald’s objections to the similarity.
Read More at: Md. Daily Record
• CRAIG PROPOSES PHASE-OUT
OF STATE INCOME TAX
The Republican gubernatorial candidate, who has been Harford County executive for the past decade, believes such a move would stimulate economic growth in Maryland and halt a population exodus to states with lower taxes.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• LEGISLATURE CONSIDERS SPEED CAMERA REFORMS
Possible changes range from a ban of the so-called “bounty system” to levying heavy fines against operators that issue erroneous tickets.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• SHA GOES OVER BUDGET, ALLOTTED SUPPLIES
The snow, sleet and freezing rain of Winter 2014 has caused the Maryland State Highway Administration to spend more money and use more supplies than allotted or expected.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• RUPPERSBERGER INTRODUCES ‘YEARDLEY LOVE BILL’ TO ADDRESS DATING VIOLENCE
The Second District Maryland congressman joined with the family of the slain University of Virginia lacrosse player to announce the proposed legislation Tuesday at Towson University.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Tuesday Feb. 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 Tuesday:
Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Gregory E. Thornton was named Tuesday as Baltimore's next schools CEO.
Gregory E. Thornton previously worked in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, Md. Tisha Edwards, who has been acting superintendent in Baltimore since Andrés Alonso’s resignation at the end of June, was passed over for the top job.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• HENSON, CONVICTED OF ROBOCALLS,
TO RUN FOR STATE SENATE
Despite his conviction for orchestrating robocalls in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, political operative Julius Henson announced in an email Monday that he will run as a Democrat in Baltimore’s 45th District against five-term incumbent State Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden, the president pro tem of the Maryland Senate.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• SINCLAIR PLANS BUYBACK OF $100M
OF ITS STOCK
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the Hunt Valley-based media conglomerate which owns WBFF Fox45-TV, among other properties, intends to buy back up to $100 million of its common shares on the open market “from time to time.”
Read More at: Baltimore Business Journal
• SUN POLL SHOWS O’MALLEY LOSING MD. PRIMARY FOR PRESIDENT
Hillary Clinton outpolled the Maryland governor by nearly 10 to 1 among the state’s likely voters asked to name their top choice among Democrats hoping to be the party’s nominee for president in 2016.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV | Baltimore Sun
• HOW WILL RAY RICE’S ASSAULT ARREST AFFECT ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN?
What effect will the Ravens star’s arrest last weekend in Atlantic City — he and his fiancée allegedly hit each other at the Revel Casino early Saturday morning — have on his campaign against bullying?
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
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