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Commenters question honesty of D. Watkins’ Salon story, author responds

February 6, 2014
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Commenters question honesty of D. Watkins’ Salon story, author responds

On Tuesday evening, Salon published a piece by Baltimore writer D. Watkins in which the author details poverty emblematic of East Baltimore, setting a scene where he and three of his friends eke out a living and can only afford simple pleasures like cheap vodka and cards instead of iPhones for taking selfies and...
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How Clean Currents’ demise is going to cost you

February 5, 2014
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How Clean Currents’ demise is going to cost you

Clean Currents, a green electricity supplier to customers in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. shut down abruptly on Friday, January 31, leaving a message on its web site: “With deep regret, we have to announce that the recent extreme weather, which sent the wholesale electricity market into unchartered territories, has fatally compromised our...
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Better dying through chemistry

February 3, 2014
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Better dying through chemistry

The Medical Examiner’s office last Thursday released some alarming information, saying 37 Marylanders had been killed since September by overdoses of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that has long been used as a heroin substitute. The Sun’s Andrea K. Walker reported that, according to the ME’s statistics, 12 percent of the state’s 318 overdose deaths...
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Pop up suit shop for women and trans* men comes to town

January 31, 2014
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Pop up suit shop for women and trans* men comes to town

If you’re in the market for a wedding dress or suit in Baltimore, this is your weekend. The Wedding Experience will take over the Convention Center, and after you’re done stuffing your face with cake samples and picking out your tiara or tie clip, you can head home happy. Unless, of course, you’re in...
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Council Bags Tax

January 28, 2014
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Council Bags Tax

The city council rejected a proposed tax on grocery bags at its meeting last night, with only six members voting for the bill that was sponsored by Second District Councilman Brandon Scott. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” says Scott. “I tried to talk about using the place most like Baltimore, Washington D.C.,...
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UPDATE: Speed Camera Audit’s Not A Secret Anymore

January 23, 2014
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UPDATE: Speed Camera Audit’s Not A Secret Anymore

The Sun managed to obtain a copy of the heretofore confidential audit of the city’s speed camera vendor, Xerox, and—lo and behold—the error rate reported was not the “less than a quarter of one percent” city officials claimed but 10 percent. The Sun does the math: “The city issued roughly 700,000 speed camera tickets...
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Speed Camera Audit Confidential, Expensive

January 20, 2014
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Speed Camera Audit Confidential, Expensive

Citizens and city officials hoping to see the results of an audit done on Xerox State and Local Solutions, Baltimore City’s former speed camera operator, were disappointed Wednesday when the Law Department asserted that the $278,000 document was confidential. As the Baltimore Sun reported: City Solicitor George Nilson, the administration’s chief lawyer, said releasing...
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Kiss My Bumper? Senate Insurance in Bankruptcy, Called Ponzi Scheme

January 20, 2014
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Kiss My Bumper? Senate Insurance in Bankruptcy, Called Ponzi Scheme

Senate Insurance bills itself as “a local company that looks out for you,” not like those big nationwide insurance companies. Selling car insurance for 25 years out of an office in Laurel, the company is locally famous for its upbeat radio ads with the tagline “Kiss My Bumper.” But Senate, owned and operated by...
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Nathan Barksdale likely to plead guilty in heroin-and-firearm conspiracy case

January 8, 2014
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Nathan Barksdale likely to plead guilty in heroin-and-firearm conspiracy case

Nathan Barksdale, the legendary Baltimore  gangster turned gang interventionist at Safe Streets, is due to appear in Maryland U.S. District Court on Jan. 15 for re-arraignment in a heroin-and-firearm conspiracy case in which he’d previously entered a plea of not guilty. Notice of the hearing was docketed this morning. Re-arraignments usually entail pleading guilty...
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Whatever Happened to Roscoe Bartlett?

January 6, 2014
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Whatever Happened to Roscoe Bartlett?

Politico Mag went “off the grid” and found Maryland’s most conservative former congressman, at age 87, building a new cabin for himself and his family. So he’s in a doomsday compound now. But remember: he’s not your everyday wingnut. He was at IBM in the early days. He has 19 patents. He worked at...
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Wait, you mean I gotta live in my district? No way!

December 20, 2013
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Wait, you mean I gotta live in my district? No way!

So this is sort of fascinating. This week The Dagger, the sharp-edged Harford County website, noticed that the state senate campaign of a former state senator named Art Helton had been stopped in its tracks. The reason: Helton does not live in the district. This is actually amazing news, because in Maryland it has...
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Lawsuits follow Wall Hunters Project

December 20, 2013
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Lawsuits follow Wall Hunters Project

Two limited liability companies associated with Stanley Rochkind are suing Slumlord Watch founder Carol Ott. The suits, filed in District Court on Dec. 4 but not yet served on Ott, demand a total of $5,000 in damages for repairs made to two properties after murals were installed on them earlier this year, according to...
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