Free Republic

Ten federal agents will join the Baltimore police homicide unit, commanders announced Sunday, after the city followed its deadliest month in decades with a night in which 10 people were shot — seven of them in one incident. Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said the addition of the special agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Secret Service represent a "flipping of the script of sorts." "That's a bit unusual because local police departments — and Baltimore is no different — historically send detectives...

At a time when home prices nationally are, if anything, showing signs of being too strong, the picture in Baltimore is the opposite. According to CoreLogic, prices in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metro area were down 8% in the year ending June, the worst showing of the 100 biggest metro areas. Nationally, prices rose 6.5% in the 12 months ending June, CoreLogic says. What’s driven that is a huge rise in foreclosure sales. Foreclosures — known in the business as real estate owned — accounted for 52% of all transactions in Baltimore in May — dwarfing the national average in the low...

Gee, I wonder why this would happen? Don’t expect this to get better anytime soon. BALTIMORE – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the city’s recent spike in violence “disheartening” Thursday as police work to address a dramatic increase in homicides and nonfatal shootings. “It’s extremely frustrating,” the mayor told reporters at a news conference. “It is disheartening, but I am still resolved to continue to reduce violent crime in our city.” Rawlings-Blake said the city’s faced spikes in crimes in the past and police have been able to successfully reverse them. She said she’s “confident” police do so will again....