WBFF Investigative Producer Stephen Janis, shown here last year with Reporter Melinda Roeder, has been nominated for the third consecutive time for his investigative work at the Baltimore-based TV station.

FORMER INVESTIGATIVE VOICE REPORTER’S WORK
WITH RETIRED COP NETS COVETED TV NOMINATION

WBFF gets 14 nods, including both senior anchors
 
UPDATE (Friday, May 16th):  When VoB published this report yesterday on WBFF Fox45’s numerous 2014 Emmy nominations, Photographer Todd Stewart was inadvertently left off the list. He was in fact nominated along with Reporter Melinda Roeder for spot news coverage of a Fells Point fire. Voice of Baltimore regrets the omission.
 
It was one of the worst days in the history of the Baltimore Police Department.

The harrowing Good Friday in 1976 when a murderous teen snipe mounted the stairs of a row home at Lombard and Carey Streets and proceeded to gun down seven city cops, killing one.

But now a dramatic recounting of the incident-turned-into-a-news-segment has netted an Emmy nomination for its creators, marking another successful collaboration between former Investigative Voice reporter Stephen Janis and retired BPD Homicide Lt. Stephen Tabeling.

The segment, titled “It Begins in the Mind,” narrates the harrowing hours before and after 18-year-old John Earl Williams let loose a fusillade of bullets from his Lombard Street row home, killing Police Officer Jimmy Holcombe and wounding six others.

Voiced by Fox Anchor Jeff Barnd and edited and shot by former WBFF Photographer Joseph O’Neil, the story earned the nod in the “Capital Emmy’s: History and Culture” category for the trio.

The nomination is the third year in a row Janis has been picked since he left his position as Content Director at Investigative Voice to become Investigative Producer at Fox45-TV.

The nod was one of 14 nominations for the Baltimore-based station, and one of four for O’Neil and two for Barnd.

WBFF Fox45-TV reporters and producers (left to right): Jennifer Gilbert, Kathleen Cairns, David Larson, Melinda Roeder and Stephen Janis — shown here after winning Emmys for their exemplary work in 2012 — have been nominated once again in 2014, along with (not shown) the station’s Chief Anchorman Jeff Barnd and Photographer Joseph O’Neil, Multimedia Analyst Paul Gessler, Janice Park, and Reporter Joy Lepola.

WBFF Reporter Melinda Roeder was nominated for spot news coverage of a Fells Point fire, and Kathleen Cairns received two nominations for spot news.

In addition, the station’s multimedia analyst, Paul Gessler, and Janice Park both received nominations for best in their respective categories, as did Crime & Justice Reporter Joy Lepola in the continuing coverage category.

In the “Feature News Report – Light Feature” category, David Larson and Anchorwoman Jennifer Gilbert received two nominations each for segments titled “Hope for Hayden” and “One Word.”

Roeder was also picked by the Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association as Reporter of the Year.
 
Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday May 16

[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:

Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the last bills of his eight-year administration into law Thursday.

•  O’MALLEY SIGNS TRANSGENDER BILL AT FINAL BILL SIGNING OF HIS ADMINISTRATION

The term-limited governor signed the last bills of his administration at a ceremony Thursday in Annapolis.

The new transgender law prohibits discrimination on matters relating to housing, employment, credit and use of public accommodations, and will take effect Oct. 1 if opponents don’t get enough signatures to put it on the ballot for the November general election.

Read More at:  WBAL-Radio (1090AM)

•  STATE SELLS CANTON MARINE TERMINAL
TO PRIVATE OPERATOR FOR $2M

The 346,000-square-foot Clinton Marine Terminal known as “Pier 1” was sold Thursday to Rukert Terminals Corp. for $2 million.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  MARYLAND BOARD APPROVES ADDITIONAL $131M
FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION

Of that total, $8 million is earmarked for a new Severna Park high school.

Read More at:  The (Annapolis) Capital

•  COURT OF APPEALS TO REVISIT POLICE-SHOOTING DEATH

The state’s top court will decide whether Prince George’s County owes the family of a man killed by a police officer $11.5 million, as awarded by a jury — or the $400,000 ordered by the judge.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record

•  GAMBLING PROCEEDS BENEFIT PIMLICO/PARK HEIGHTS AREA

The neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico Race Course have received millions of dollars from the city’s share of casino proceeds, specifically slots. Between 2012 and 2014 Baltimore budgeted about $9 million for the greater Pimlico area, about one-third of which has already been spent.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11) | Maryland Daily Record
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday May 15

 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
Read more »

           Walking cast for torn Achilles tendon.

PHYSICIANS ARE ONLY HUMAN, AFTER ALL;
THEY AREN’T CORRECT 100% OF THE TIME

Experimental Swedish treatment replaces surgery
for torn Achilles tendon, but orthopedist disagrees

SECOND OPINION RECOMMENDED
 
By David Maril
 
When our doctors tell us something, we take their advice seriously. But in a fast moving world where treatments and medications change, it’s important to remember that doctors are only human and not right 100 percent of the time.

It’s always a good idea to get second opinions for some- thing major. It’s also vital to do your own research so you can ask the right questions.

Prescription drugs often have side effects and it’s vital to understand what you are taking. The evidence that arthritis painkillers may increase the risks of heart problems and strokes should make people more aware mistakes in treatments can be made.

Sometimes as patients we forget we should play a key role in the decisions over methods of treatment.  Whenever someone talks about patients being railroaded into something against their better judgment, I think of an experience I had as a player in a racquetball league, after suffering a torn Achilles tendon.

In the midst of a game in an early-morning league, I felt as if my opponent had slammed me in the back of the leg with his racquet — but he wasn’t anywhere near me. I could walk but it was as if I only had partial control of my right leg when I’d take a step.

An orthopedic surgeon confirmed it was a torn Achilles tendon and said the standard procedure was to operate and put the leg in a full cast for two months.

Almost reluctantly, after delivering grim details of wearing a full-leg cast for a couple of months after surgery, he added there was an experimental treatment that had been effective in Sweden.

They had achieved success without operating, by putting the leg in a smaller cast that rises just to below the knee and points the foot at a particular angle. The doctor said they had never done this in his orthopedic practice however and he didn’t recommend it.

Still, the more I thought about it, the more certain I was I’d try anything to avoid surgery. When I told him my decision, he kept trying to talk me out of it but finally agreed to try this method.

Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday May 9

[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:

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, left, shown here with Gov. Martin O’Malley, insists he’s no diva, despite having his own makeup artist for television and other appearances.

•  BROWN HIRES MAKEUP ARTIST FOR DEBATE

Attorney General Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur relied on NBC’s makeup crew for their televised debate Wednesday night on Washington’s WRC-TV.

Brown hired his own makeup artist, a woman his campaign manager, Justin Schall, said is “someone who the lieutenant governor has worked with in the past.… They’re kind of chatty. They have fun together.”

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  MD., DEL. GOVERNORS CONCERNED ABOUT PFIZER TAKOVER OF DRUG MAKER

Gov. Martin O’Malley and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell are concerned about the potential impact Pfizer’s efforts to acquire AstraZeneca PLC could have on jobs in Maryland and Delaware. The two governors sent a joint letter to Pfizer Thursday.

Read More at:  WBAL-Radio (1090AM)

•  UNDER ARMOUR GIVES $10M TO HOPKINS CANCER CENTER

The Baltimore-based sports apparel giant will donate $10 million to the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital to create the Under Armour LiveWell Center.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  CARROLL CO. COMMISSIONERS REVERT TO SECTARIAN PRAYER POLICY

Following a ruling this week from the U.S. Supreme Court in a New York Case, the commissioners said Thursday they will resume giving each commissioner a turn opening meetings with a prayer of his or her choice, including those that specifically name Jesus Christ.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  ENTERPRISE HOMES BUYS FREDERICK SENIOR APARTMENTS FOR $14M

The Baltimore-based developer is purchasing a seven-story mid-rise senior housing apartment building in Frederick for $14 million.

Read More at:  Maryland Daily Record
 

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NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Thursday May 8

 
Read more »

Gov. Martin O’Malley ventures from his Annapolis office into hostile Reddit-land via laptop in a futile attempt to earn hip Internet cred for his nascent presidential cam- paign, as his ill-advised ‘AMA’ on Reddit bites the dust. (Photo/O’Malley Twitter feed)

HIS ONLINE OFFER ‘ASK ME ANYTHING’
IN THE END PRODUCES NOTHING,
SO REPORT THE REDDITORS

The most horrendous ‘AMA’ ever!

THE GOVERNOR DODGES QUESTIONS
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
“The man will not answer the questions that the majority of people want [him to address]. This is what we’ve come to expect from our ‘leaders.’”

So complained “Redditor ‘The Tenth State’” at the end of the initial segment of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s eight-and-a-half-hour venture Monday into the uncharted waters of popular social-networking service Reddit, where registered community members submit content and evaluate that which is submitted by fellow users.

By all accounts it was a disaster for the Maryland governor cum presidential aspirant.

“After this ‘AMA’ I have no respect for Gov. O’Malley as a politician or honest deliberator,” said a Redditor calling himself “horatiooo.”

(An ‘AMA’ is an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session.)

“[H]e’s a s**tty governor and what limited success he has had in running his state is mostly due to small business owners who were lucky enough to open their doors to a growing state economy which he had nothing to do with,” added Redditor “allthe_gundams.”

“Basically he got lucky since a bunch of nouveau riche people moved into the state to open up shop.”

A Redditor identified as “AmateurHero” however had sympathy for the governor:

“This is f**king brutal,” AmateurHero said. “Every answer that he does give gets ripped apart by the constituents.

“It’s a minefield out here.”

Read more »