NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday March 7
[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:
The U.S. Postal Service’s Star-Spangled Banner ‘forever’ stamp was unveiled Thursday by the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
The stamp was dedicated Thursday at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., as the Smithsonian Institution began a year-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of the flag and song that became the national anthem.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, where in September 2014 Francis Scott Key penned the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he watched the flag while being held captive on an invading ship in the Inner Harbor.
The Smithsonian has housed the flag, which it recently restored, since the early 1900s. Key’s lyrics, set to the music of a popular drinking song of the time, became the national anthem in 1931.
On Flag Day, June 14th, the museum is planning a simultaneous singing of the anthem nationwide and will also display Key’s original manuscript with the flag for the first time, borrowing the handwritten text from the Maryland Historical Society.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
• BWI FIRES BLACK, HIRES HISPANIC FIRE CHIEF
The action comes on the heels of the hiring of an all-white class of firefighter recruits last month and is being questioned by the NAACP and the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• DEMOCRATS COME TO CUMMINGS’ DEFENSE AFTER HOUSE HEARING
The Maryland congressman was unceremoniously silenced and his microphone cut off by Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who adjourned the hearing contrary to Cummings’ objections.
The committee is looking into whether the Internal Revenue Service has targeted conservative groups. The key witness’s refusal to answer questions by taking the Fifth Amendment caused Issa to adjourn the hearing.
Read More at: WJZ-TV (Channel 13)
• MD. REVENUES LOWER THAN PROJECTED, DOWN IN 4th QUARTER
The numbers were released late Thursday afternoon by State Comptroller Peter Franchot, who blamed the weather and other factors for a $238 million decline in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• MARYLAND HOUSE PASSES THREE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILLS
With a unanimous vote, the Maryland House of Delegates cleared a bill that would make it easier for abuse victims to obtain protective orders, and also overwhelmingly approved two other domestic violence bills backed by Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday March 6
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:
Fourteen suspects were arrested Wed. by city police in connection with drug dealing and violent criminal activity in the Belvedere Corridor of Baltimore's Northwest District.
IN CITY DRUG BUST
The 14 suspects range in age from 19 to 51 and are allegedly central to the drug dealing and violent criminal activity in the Belvedere Corridor of the city’s Northwest District.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• JUDGE JAILS 81-YO GREAT-GRANDMOTHER
Mary Root was held Wednesday without bail for missing a Harford County court date involving her dogs.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• CITY POLICE OFFICER SUSPENDED FOR STRANGLING GIRLFRIEND’S PUPPY
Alec Eugene Taylor, a Baltimore City cop, was arrested and charged Wednesday in Montgomery County with aggravated animal cruelty and abuse or neglect of an animal, for allegedly intentionally and cruelly killing his girlfriend’s seven-month-old Jack Russell Terrier.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• HOUSE OF DELEGATES REJECTS MINIMUM WAGE INDEXING
The Maryland House on Wednesday rejected 14 attempts to change the minimum wage bill.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
• RAVENS’ RICE, FIANCÉE TO ATTEND WEEK-LONG COUPLES SEMINAR
Ravens’ Head Coach John Harbaugh said in a Wednesday press conference that Rice’s account of what transpired the night he knocked his fiancée unconscious in an Atlantic City casino hasn’t changed and that the couple remains engaged to be married.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Wednesday March 5
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:
Convicted cop killer Marshall ‘Eddie’ Conway was released Tuesday after serving more than four decades in prison for a 1969 murder.
• FORMER BLACK PANTHER FREED
45 YEARS AFTER COP KILLING
Marshall “Eddie” Conway, now 67, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1971 for fatally shooting 35-year-old Baltimore Police Officer Donald Sager as part of an initiation rite for membership into the militant Civil Rights group in 1969.
He was set free Tuesday because prosecutors believe it would be too difficult to re-convict him after nearly 45 years.
Conway is one of dozens of inmates released after the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in 2012 that judges had given improper instructions to juries before 1980. Baltimore State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said he believed prosecutors would have been unable to convict Conway in a retrial after so many years.
Sager’s son, David, who was seven when his father was ambushed and killed while on duty, said he was “devastated” by Conway’s release, whose supporters called it a big win, alleging he did not get a fair trial four decades ago.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV | Baltimore Sun
• VIRGINIA COURT UPHOLDS HUGUELY MURDER CONVICTION
The 24-year-old former University of Virginia lacrosse player is serving a 23-year sentence for beating his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, 22, a U.Va. women’s lacrosse team player from Cockeysville, Md., to death in May 2010.
George W. Huguely 5th’s attorneys argued unsuccessfully that he did not receive a fair trial because when one of his lawyers got sick, the judge continued the trial without her. The Virginia Court of Appeals found no errors in the trial and confirmed Huguely’s conviction.
A native of Chevy Chase, Huguely was convicted of second-degree murder in February 2012.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• ROYAL FARMS: C-STORE OR DELI?
The definition will determine whether or not the convenience store company gets to open a new location in downtown Annapolis near City Dock.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• GUN CONTROL UNDER FIRE AT ANNAPOLIS
Maryland’s gun control laws came under attack Tuesday as the House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee was flooded with bills on both sides of the issue.
Read More at: WJZ-TV (Channel 13)
• SMART METERS DEBATE SHIFTS TO ANNAPOLIS
One member of the State Legislature asked, “Why should people have pay for something they don’t want to use?” in reference to a Public Service Commission ruling last week that Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers who don’t want to use the new system can opt out by paying a one-time $75 fee up front and an $11 monthly charge.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Tuesday March 4
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:
The Maryland Senate stands ready to confirm Joseph P. Gill as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.
The nomination of Acting Department of Natural Resources Secretary Joseph P. Gill will go to the Senate floor for final consideration following a 14-1 Executive Nominations Committee vote Monday in his favor. Gill, who has been acting secretary since May 21, was accused by several fishermen in testimony Monday that he had cursed and talked rudely to them.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
• MD. DEMOCRATS TO HOLD THREE GUBERNATORIAL DEBATES
The three candidates agreed on a schedule of three televised debates under a plan proposed by front-runner Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown. Their running mates for lieutenant governor will hold one debate.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• PANEL KEEPS MINIMUM WAGE STATEWIDE, CUTS INDEXING
The House of Delegates’ Economic Matters Committee settled Monday on three major points in the wage-increase bill: wages for tipped employees, the implementation date and the striking of language linking automatic increases to the rate of inflation.
If passed, House Bill 258 would increase the minimum wage in Maryland from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, with increases phased in over a three-year period beginning in January 2015.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• SOUTHWEST ADDS CANCUN FLIGHTS AT BWI
BWI Marshall Airport’s largest carrier will take over the Cancun flights as it continues to rebrand routes formerly flown under AirTran Airways, which Southwest acquired in 2011.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• ‘TODAY’ SHOW FOCUSES ON BALTIMORE HEALTH FOR 2014
The NBC-TV morning show is highlighting health this year and plans to focus on Baltimore for the next 10 months as a city that leads a healthy life.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————– ———————–
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Monday March 3
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:
Thomas Baden Jr. was named Monday as Editor of the Maryland Daily Record.
Thomas Baden Jr., a native of Upper Marlboro and journalism graduate of the University of Maryland, most recently led the newsroom of the Danbury, Conn. News-Times during the paper’s coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, for which it won a national journalism award.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• ICE, UP TO 8 INCHES SNOW EXPECTED IN BALTIMORE AREA
The rain began falling late Sunday evening, with snow and temperatures scheduled to dip early Monday and continue throughout the day, impacting both morning and evening drive time.
Read More at: WJZ-TV (Channel 13)
• DANCE CRITICIZED OVER RAPID CHANGES
TO BALTIMORE COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM
At a recent Baltimore County School Board meeting, protesters blew horns and rang cowbells outside the schools’ administration building, as one speaker after another criticized decisions made by Superintendent S. Dallas Dance.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• ARUNDEL MEDICAL CENTER HELPS WITH HEALTH INSURANCE SIGNUP
The Anne Arundel Medical Center is inviting area residents to come to AAMC for help understanding their options and enrolling in state health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act.
Read More at: The (Annapolis) Capital
• CALLERS TO HEALTH EXCHANGES EXPERIENCE LONG WAITS
Although help has long been advertised as only a phone call away, long waiting times of an hour or more are commonplace in most states, including Maryland.
Read More at: Associated Press
Click here to return to top of page
