Hot and humid today, with highs near 90. More heat and haze tomorrow, with a chance of afternoon storms.
With 8 more killed over Memorial Day weekend, Baltimore has seen more murders in May (35) than in any other month since 1999. Overall, at least 29 people were shot over the weekend, including a 9-year-old boy shot in the leg yesterday in Southwest Baltimore.
According to a spokesperson, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is “disheartened and frustrated” by the ongoing violence – which is also exactly how she felt about it around 10 murders ago. Rawlings-Blake remains ‘confident’ that (even) new(er) police tactics will slow the violence.
Meanwhile, the director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice and the mayor’s Sexual Assault Response Team coordinator have jumped ship in the last few weeks. It is unclear whether they quit or were fired. The director of the Operation Ceasefire anti-violence program also left his job in recent weeks.
A criminologist studied the Baltimore Police’s union contract and discovered several hurdles to holding local police accountable for misconduct. Officers can’t be disciplined if placed on a “do not call” list of officers that won’t be asked to testify in court due to credibility issues. Under the current contract, officers can have complaints removed from their record if they’re never formally proven, even for repeat complaints.
While you were reaching for the first drink of the holiday weekend, Gov. Larry Hogan was reaching for the veto pen. On Friday, Hogan turned down 6 bills passed by the General Assembly, including a measure that would have allowed felons to vote while under probation (Hogan: they haven’t finished their punishment yet) and a bill decriminalizing possession of marijuana paraphernalia and making public marijuana smoking a civil offense (Hogan: police would have no authority to stop weed-smoking drivers). The legislature could still override the vetoes.
The Maryland women’s lacrosse team won the national championship over the weekend. The men’s team made it to the championship, but fell short.
