NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Aug. 8
[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:
Bill Cole was named Thursday to head the Baltimore Development Corp., the quasi-public agency charged with revitalizing the city.
• COUNCILMAN COLE NAMED TO HEAD BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT CORP.
The two-term city councilman succeeds BDC President and CEO Brenda McKenzie, who is resigning for “personal” and “family” reasons less than two years after replacing iconic BDC head Jay Brodie in November 2012.
At $190,000 annually, Cole’s salary will be $18,000 a year less than McKenzie’s.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
| Baltimore Sun
• BALTIMORE’S TOUGH NEW CURFEW
SET TO BEGIN FRIDAY
It’s one of the strictest in the country and updates a law that’s been on the books for 20 years requiring children younger than 14 to be indoors by 9 p.m.
Kids between the ages of 14-16 can stay out until 10 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. on weekends and during the summer.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• THREE-DAY ANIME CONVENTION ‘OTAKON’ OPENS FRIDAY IN BALTIMORE
To be held again at the Baltimore Convention Center, the annual Japanese-themed “Otakon” is one of the largest conventions of its kind in the country, with more than 20,000 visitors a day last year.
Read More at: The (Annapolis) Capital
• TOWSON UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT’S MANSION GOES ON SALE FOR $1.08M
The Guilford mansion that cost former Towson University President Mark L. Perkins his job is expected to be sold to IT professional Hugh Bethell and his family for $1.08 million. The university paid $850,000 for the property in 2001 and then invested nearly $1 million in repairs and upgrades, including an elevator.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• MONTANA SENATOR WITHDRAWS FOLLOWING ACCUSATIONS OF PLAGIARISM
Sen. John Walsh, a former lieutenant governor of Montana, dropped out of the state’s U.S. Senate race Thursday, following a July report by the New York Times that he lifted large passages — without attribution — from other authors for a masters thesis he submitted to the Army War College in 2007.
Read More at: CBS News
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday Aug 7
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:
Ride-sharing service Uber is ruled a “common carrier” subject to regulation.
• PSC RULES UBER IS ‘COMMON CARRIER,’ MUST BE REGULATED
The Maryland Public Service Commission ruled Wednesday that ride-sharing service Uber Technologies should be regulated as a non-taxicab, passenger-for-hire service.
Read More at:
The (Annapolis) Capital
• MAYOR’S PENSION OVERHAUL UPHELD BY FEDERAL APPEALS CT.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s overhaul of Baltimore’s police and fire pension system was upheld Wednesday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., which left open avenues for the unions to keep fighting.
According to city officials, the decision cut about $400 million in pension costs by reducing benefits, raising the retirement age and requiring higher contributions from workers. However the city’s victory likely was not the final word about the changes, which took effect in 2010, as the court wrote that the unions could try again to challenge the law using a different argument, specifically that the city has taken “private property for public use, without just compensation.”
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• SUN, WJZ-TV TO HOST HOGAN-BROWN GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE IN OCTOBER
The two candidates for governor agreed Wednesday to an hour-long televised debate Oct. 7, to be taped in the morning and aired statewide that night.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
• HOGAN NAILS BROWN WITH 2nd ‘INCOMPETENT MAN’ VIDEO
The Republican gubernatorial candidate targets his Democratic opponent in a video titled, “The Most Incompetent Man in Maryland, Part 2.” (To view the video, click here.)
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• PHELPS LANDS MAJOR SWIMWEAR DEAL
The most-decorated Olympian ever will launch his own brand of swimwear with Aqua Sphere. He already has a long-standing endorsement deal with Baltimore-based Under Armour for all of his gear outside the pool.
Read More at: WJZ-TV (Channel 13)
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Wednesday Aug 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 Wednesday:
A medieval-style ball & chain, also known as a mace or flail, was used by four teens to attack a man in Patterson Park. Police are searching for the culprits.
• TEENS ATTACK MAN WITH BALL & CHAIN IN PATTERSON PARK
The medieval-style weapon is also known as a mace or flail and has spiked metal tips.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Ch. 11)
• BALTIMORE MAN CHARGED WITH 2nd MURDER IN 5 YEARS
Marquel Gaffney, 21, was convicted less than five years ago of murder, and has a rap sheet including a conviction for drug-related crimes in 2012 and theft in 2013, but was nonetheless on the street last week and implicated in the death of a 19-year-old and the critical injury of a second victim in a double shooting.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• CITY COP TO PLEAD GUILTY TO KILLING GIRLFRIEND’S PUPPY
The Baltimore police officer will plead guilty to animal cruelty in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Aug. 27, his lawyer said Tuesday, adding that the five-year BPD veteran was under a lot of pressure and took his frustrations out on the dog, which he allegedly beat and then strangled. His lawyer says he will ask the court for probation before judgment, thereby allowing the cop’s record to be expunged.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• SUSPECT KILLS SELF IN CITY POLICE STATION
The cops aren’t sure how or where he got the gun; he had been searched before being allowed to use a restroom in the Southwestern District headquarters on Font Hill Avenue.
Read More at: WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• APPLE TO INTRODUCE LARGER iPHONES AT SEPT. 9 EVENT
The high-tech giant is expected to unveil two large-screen iPhones, one with a 4.7-inch display and another with a 5.5-inch display.
Read More at: Wall Street Journal
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Tuesday Aug 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 Tuesday:
A second person has died from an apparent drug over- dose at the “Mad Decent Block Party” in Columbia.
• ‘TERRIBLE MISHAP’ FROM DRUG-TAINTED WATER CAUSES 2nd OVERDOSE DEATH AT MERRIWEATHER
A second person, a 17-year-old from Woodbridge, Va., died Sunday from a suspected drug overdose while attending the day-long “Mad Decent Block Party” music festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion last Friday in Columbia.
The teen’s family believes “he was the victim of a terrible mishap,” that he had a “toxic reaction” to water containing an unknown substance given to him by others in the area, and that that was what caused his death.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun | WBAL-Radio (1090AM)
• ISRAEL, HAMAS AGREE TO 3-DAY GAZA TRUCE
The 72-hour cease-fire is scheduled to begin Tuesday as Israeli forces wind down their monthlong campaign to halt terrorist aggression in the Palestinian territory, that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives and displaced at least 260,000 residents.
Read More at: Wall Street Journal
• HARBORVIEW OWNERS ASSOCIATION HELD IN CONTEMPT, ORDERED TO PAY TENANT $280K
The HarborView Towers Council of Unit Owners was held in contempt Monday by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge, who ordered the association to pay a tenant $15,543 a month for 18 months for failing to make repairs to prevent water damage in the time established through arbitration.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• NEVERDON GATHERS SIGNATURES FOR NOVEMBER ELECTION
The Baltimore lawyer hopes to challenge Democratic City State’s Attorney Nominee Marilyn Mosby, who defeated incumbent Gregg Bernstein in the June primary.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• BOND CLAIM ATTORNEY PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING $3M
Saleh Stevens of Owings Mills entered the plea Monday in federal court in Baltimore and faces a maximum 20 years in prison for stealing the money from his employer’s surety accounts, which he used to buy luxury automobiles, including a Maserati and a Mercedes; to fund a NASCAR team; and to pay college tuition for his daughter.
Read More at: WBFF Fox45-TV
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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Monday Aug 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 Monday:
Apparent drug overdoses killed one and hospitalized 20 last weekend at an all-day “Mad Decent Block Party” in Columbia.
• 1 DEAD, 20 HOSPITALIZED AFTER APPARENT DRUG OVERDOSES AT COLUMBIA CONCERT
It happened at an all-day “Mad Decent Block Party” this past weekend at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Howard County.
Featuring mostly electronic dance music acts, the Mad Decent Block Party music festival travels across the country, and the concert at Merriweather featured prominent artists such as Diplo, Sleigh Bells, and Flux Pavilion.
Read More at: Billboard Magazine
• FIVE MARYLAND CONGRESSMEN CALL FOR HARSHER PUNISHMENT FOR RAY RICE
A day after U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin criticized what they termed an insufficient penalty for the domestic-abuse conduct that occurred, Reps. Steny Hoyer, John Sarbanes, Chris Van Hollen, John Delaney and Elijah E. Cummings added their voices to a growing chorus of elected officials who are raising questions about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision to penalize Rice by suspending him for just two games.
Read More at: Baltimore Sun
• CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION LAWSUIT REVIVED
A federal appeals court has revived CBF’s $3 million lawsuit against Weyerhaeuser Co. over water damage at the foundation’s Annapolis headquarters, stemming from the company’s allegedly erroneous assurances that its treated wood would prevent rotting.
Read More at: Maryland Daily Record
• PIKESVILLE WOMAN DISAPPEARS NEAR REISTERSTOWN ROAD SHOPPING CENTER
She was last seen Saturday upon leaving for a walk. The woman is 88 years old, weighs 80 lbs., and does not speak English.
Read More at: WBAL-TV (Channel 11)
• MTA TARGETS AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS
The Maryland Transportation Authority began the third wave of the Smooth Operator Program Sunday, an effort by law-enforcement agencies to reduce crashes, that will last until Aug. 17.
Read More at: The (Annapolis) Capital
