Free Republic

The omnibus spending bill had $8 billion dollars for the Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement. . That is way too much money to rebuild the Key Bridge. Easily four times as much as it should cost. ... This reminds the Oahu rail project. Around $12B, tons of fraud... total failure of a project. Does not meet intent. Also heavy foreign outsourcing for building talent. How much did it cost to build the bridge initially, adjusted for inflation? - The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in March 2024, initially cost about $61 million to build in 1977. Adjusted for inflation...

Nine people were injured and one killed in a mass shooting that took place on the 8500 block of Loch Raven Blvd. in Towson on Tuesday evening, Baltimore County Police said. Around 7:12 p.m., officers were dispatched to the intersection of Loch Raven Boulevard and White Oak Avenue, at the Johnson-Fosbrink Funeral Home, where they found a car flipped and on fire, and multiple victims, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said during a news conference following the incident. Police were still determining how many people had been shot Tuesday night, McCullough said. Multiple gunshots were visible in the facade...

Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the whiz kid Ivy League-educated high school valedictorian accused of the execution-style murder of the CEO of one of the nation's largest healthcare providers, may have spiraled out of control after traumatic back surgery. The procedure, which allegedly left Mangione in significant physical and emotional distress, may have contributed to his deteriorating mental state, a factor authorities are considering as part of their investigation. New York prosecutors have formally accused 26-year-old Mangione, a native of Towson, Maryland, of the fatal shooting of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson. The incident occurred outside the New York Hilton in midtown...

New York police have announced a person of interest in last week’s brazen shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Luigi Mangione, 26, is a Gilman School graduate who was born and raised in Maryland and has had a Towson address. According to the Associated Press, police apprehended Mangione after a tip that he had been spotted at a McDonald’s near Altoona, Pennsylvania, west of New York City. Police found a gun, a silencer and fake IDs, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. At a news conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police found a three-page document with writings...

Workers at a Baltimore plant manufacturing two coronavirus vaccines accidentally conflated the vaccines’ ingredients several weeks ago, ruining about 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and forcing regulators to delay authorization of the plant’s production lines. The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, a manufacturing partner to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Federal officials attributed the mistake to human error. The mixup has halted future shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses in the United States while the Food and Drug Administration investigates. Johnson & Johnson has moved to strengthen its control over Emergent BioSolutions’ work to avoid...

According to OptaSTATS, there have been two instances in NFL history where a quarterback had 30 passing completions, 300 passing yards, four touchdown passes, multiple 40-yard touchdown passes and no more than one interception, and still lost the game. Those two instances were both Burrow vs. the Ravens this year.

After 5 days of early voting in Maryland, an underwhelming 7% of registered voters in the City of Baltimore have cast an in-person early vote (this numbers excludes provisional and absentee ballots).

Q. How do you know that Kamala Harris' campaign is in desperation mode? A. When a major part of its closing strategy is to attack the voters— including a key component of its base—and a top surrogate describes herself as "frustrated" and "angry" with the electorate! [snip] Co-host Michael Steele addressed himself to: "The young brothers in Detroit and Atlanta, and Philly, Baltimore, across the country. The young men who in this discussion around abortion seemingly have been detached from it by the right. You know, they got this bro culture, you know. It's about the MAN. You know, the...

BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A shocking discovery out of a Baltimore City high school, where Project Baltimore has found hundreds of students are failing. It’s a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average. NEW |'Fair and thorough'? City Schools investigating itself at Augusta Fells Tiffany France thought her son would receive his diploma this coming June. But after four years of high school, France just learned, her 17-year-old must start over. He’s been moved back to ninth grade. FOX45 News Project Baltimore uncovers...

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore Police confirm a 17-year-old is in grave condition after pulling a gun on a driver near southeast Baltimore's Brewers Hill community. The Southeastern District Police Community Relations Council told FOX45 News the teen was attempting to carjack the driver. The Baltimore Police Department's Media Relations is not confirming that narrative but says the driver and juvenile exchanged gunfire. According to BPD, on October 8 around 2:15 a.m., an officer was flagged down by a citizen while in the 3100 block of Boston Street, advising he was shot. Medics responded and took the 31-year-old man to a...

Many history buffs can explain how “The Star-Spangled Banner” was penned by Francis Scott Key after he witnessed the failed British bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in 1814, and some may also know that the song became the U.S. national anthem in 1931. Lesser known are the details of the 117-year journey that shepherded its transformation from inspired poem to officially sanctioned emblem of American patriotism. Originally printed under the title “Defence of Fort M’Henry” and set to the then-popular melody of “The Anacreontic Song,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” as it later became known, quickly struck a chord among the citizens...

wo people charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities – a neo-Nazi leader and a woman with whom he had a personal relationship – allegedly planned to attack electrical substations encircling Baltimore and “completely destroy” the entire city, according to federal court documents. The Justice Department has charged Brandon Clint Russell and Sarah Beth Clendaniel with conspiracy to damage energy facilities, alleging that the Maryland-focused plot was driven by ethnically or racially motivated extremist beliefs. They “conspired to inflict maximum harm on the power grid,” Tom Sobocinski, who heads the FBI’s field office in Baltimore, said during a news conference...

In this episode, Sal Mercogliano - a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner - discusses the departure of MV Dali from the US, the latest findings from the NTSB, the US Department of Justice lawsuit against the owners of Dali, and the Dali's voyage and repairs in China

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agents at sunrise on Saturday boarded a massive container ship in the Port of Baltimore called the Maersk Saltoro, which is managed by the same parent company as the cargo vessel that is at the center of a criminal investigation into the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge this year. FBI agents were conducting “court authorized law enforcement activity” on the Maersk Saltoro alongside officials from the Coast Guard’s Investigative Services and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the bureau and the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said in statements. They...

Former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was out partying with friends, supporters and family members at an event located several miles from her home in Baltimore over the weekend despite being ordered by a judge to a year of home detention. Mosby was convicted on one count of mortgage fraud in February after she testified that she unintentionally made false statements on loan applications to buy two Florida vacation homes. In November, she was convicted of two counts of perjury by a federal jury after she falsely claimed financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to withdraw money...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) gave credit to Vice President Kamala Harris for getting help to Baltimore after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. Moore, who entered gubernatorial office last year, gave Harris the shout-out after reflecting on the tragic cargo ship crash that led to the destruction of the bridge and the deaths of six maintenance workers. “A port that drives 13 percent of our state’s economy was now closed. Thousands of workers were hours away from waking up and realizing they no longer had a job,” Moore told the Wednesday...

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Fox45 obtained exclusive video capturing the assault of 74-year-old David Philpot near the corner of Eastern Ave and Ann in Fells Point. Philpot died early Sunday morning after being taken to the hospital, according to his family. Baltimore Police say on August 17 around 2:45 p.m., a 74-year-old man was assaulted by an unidentified white male in the 1700 block of Eastern Avenue. The assault followed an argument between the two, according to officials. The video shows the suspect of the assault approaching Philpot, while Philpot was walking his dog named Chip. The suspect actually pets Chip...

After the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his Saturday campaign rally, one Baltimore, Maryland professor is claiming that she and other Black Americans justifiedly wish that the attempt to kill “evil” Trump had been successful. In a July 15 opinion piece published by NewsOne, Dr. Stacey Patton, a professor at Morgan State University, wrote of hypotheticals surrounding a successful attempt, stating that Black Americans “are wishing for the death of evil”. The piece, titled “‘Is He Dead?’ Why Black People Are Not Grieving The Failed Assassination Of Donald Trump”, explores how Black Americans would supposedly have responded...

BALTIMORE -- Longtime television news anchor Vic Carter will be departing Baltimore's WJZ-TV in July. Carter says it's bittersweet to part ways with the station he's called home for nearly 30 years. He has spent over 40 years in television news.... Vic Carter will officially leave WJZ on July 25. [more of the story at link]

Federal prosecutors said they are willing to disclose whether they used a controversial surveillance program to foil a Florida neo-Nazi leader’s alleged plot to attack Baltimore’s power grid last year, but will only do so in secret, during a classified meeting with the judge handling the case. Government lawyers refused Thursday to disclose publicly whether they used Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to build the case against the accused plotter, Brandon C. Russell, but agreed to a private meeting with Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar where they will provide more information. Russell’s defense team remains...