Highs in the upper 80 today, with a chance for a storm later. Sunny and mid 80s tomorrow.
Here’s your weekend catch-up:
First, a feel-good story:
At Mondawmin Mall and at several other rallies in the city this weekend, volunteers gave local students new backpacks stuffed with school supplies. The Mondawmin event was organized by new non-profit Educate One, with support from Morgan State University, Habitat for Humanity, Wes Moore’s Bridge EdU, and others. Kingdom Life Church gave away 1,000 loaded backpacks at another event.
Over in Pigtown, neighbors gathered Saturday for a barbecue and to raise funds fix up a community garden space that was recently vandalized.
Another Sunday, another heavy police presence on Reisterstown Road to scare off a dirt bike gathering. Police coned-off most of the street for the second week in a row, keeping dirt bikers away – only to have riders pop up in other places around the city.
So what now? City officials say they’re trying to speak with riders and find a long-term solution. City council member Pete Welch is calling for the city to build a dirt bike park, but Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake isn’t sure riders will come. There’s always horses, instead.
Police announced Friday that a Remington neighborhood shooting victim died from his injuries. On Saturday, a man was found shot to death in the Hanlon-Longwood neighborhood of west Baltimore.
The count. With a week left in the month, the latest killings bring August’s total to 26, with 215 for the year so far.
After pleading guilty to raping a teenage boy, socialite and former Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck was sentenced Friday to probation and jail time. Shattuck must register as a sex offender and will spend every other weekend in a Delaware corrections facility for nearly the next two years.
Really? Shattuck’s charge of fourth-degree rape carried a maximum prison term of 15 years. Victims’ rights advocates called the light sentence “totally inappropriate” and over-accommodating to Shattuck.
Baltimore Police have been using stingray phone tracking equipment to investigate minor crimes. According to surveillance records acquired by USA TODAY, Baltimore detectives used the stingray (which acts like a cellphone tower to determine a target phone’s location) to solve cases like robberies and car break-ins.
What’s the big deal? For years, Baltimore Police have tried to hide their use of the tracking tech, even dropping cases instead of acknowledging stingray evidence in court. This spring, Baltimore Police finally admitted that they’ve used the tracking device – thousands of times, even without warrants, but insisted that the tech was primarily for solving major crimes crimes. The ACLU (and more than a couple defense attorneys) have argued that police should be getting warrants to use the device – and that there’s not enough transparency about how data is being collected and used.