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BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Dozens of Fells Point businesses say they are prepared to hold their city taxes, minor privilege fees and permit fees hostage until Baltimore increases police enforcement and municipal service in the area, according to a letter signed by 37 neighborhood restaurants and storefronts. The announcement comes after three men were shot Saturday night on Thames Street and Aliceanna Street. “What is happening in our front yard — the chaos and lawlessness that escalated this weekend into another night of tragic, unspeakable gun violence — has been going on for far too long,” said the letter addressed to...

BALTIMORE -- Juan Grant, who led protests across Baltimore demanding answers after the arrest and in-custody death of his best friend Freddie Gray in 2015, was shot dead on Saturday while driving to his grandmother's house in west Baltimore. The 33-year-old's murder came on the fourth anniversary of Gray's funeral and the citywide riots that highlighted the frustration and distrust with the police department and the deep divide that exists to this day in Maryland's largest city. A day after Grant's death, another gunman in the city's western district fired into a crowd of people enjoying an afternoon cookout, killing...

The decennial census doesn’t take place until next year, but there are annual population surveys being conducted every year around the country. The news from 2018 wasn’t particularly good for Baltimore, Maryland, however. Once again, rather than demonstrating any sort of growth, Charm City actually decreased in population and the losses were felt across virtually all demographic and economic lines. This is particularly distressing when you consider that Baltimore was once the nation’s sixth largest city. (NY Post) New annual estimates from the US Census Bureau show that Baltimore is continuing to shed inhabitants, bringing the overall population of...

Statistics place Baltimore's homicide rate above that of any other U.S. city with a population over 500K BALTIMORE — New crime statistics released by the FBI place Baltimore's homicide rate last year well above that of any other large American metropolis, making it an anomaly in the national crime landscape for U.S. cities with populations over 500,000 people. The 342 homicides notched last year in Maryland's biggest city yielded a punishing homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people, according to the FBI's annual Crime in the United States report released Monday. Earlier this year, Baltimore had announced 343 slayings for...

For the third year in a row, Baltimore, Md., has had more than 300 murders, reaching a new record of murders per number of residents in 2017. Some residents attribute the high murder rate to relaxed police patrols in the city following high-profile cases of police brutality. Officers have backed off in neighborhoods, like the one where Freddie Gray was arrested.

Calling violence in Baltimore "out of control," Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered 30 agency heads to meet every morning at police headquarters, and to make crime reduction the top mission not only of police, but also of health workers, housing officials and public works crews. The mayor ordered the directors of more than half of the city’s 55 departments to report to meetings daily at 8 a.m., when they will plan with Police Commissioner Kevin Davis where weeds should be cut, lead paint covered and drug houses boarded up and job applications can be handed out, among other tasks. [Snip] "Violence...

A statue to Francis Scott Key, the writer of the Star Spangled Banner, was defaced overnight in downtown Baltimore, with someone painting “Racist Anthem” on the side of the Bolton Hill monument. Baltimore Police received a report of the vandalism at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. They are investigating, but have no suspects.

Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer said in a statement that whether the monuments go to museums, cemeteries or elsewhere, "it is clear that they no longer can be celebrated in shared civic areas, like Charlottesville's Downtown Mall."

There's much more to Charm City than what you've seen on The Wire. Even as racial tensions make headlines in this famously blue-collar town on the Chesapeake, slick waterfront projects and farm-to-table dining have arrived along with a new, younger generation of residents set on building the place they want to live in. One native Marylander travels to the city he first knew as a kid to meet the doers and dreamers driving Baltimore's next act.

The Baltimore Police Union is demanding public records of radio transmissions and email notifications to prove the leadership in the Baltimore Police Department, specifically Police Chief Batts, told officers NOT to stop the riots and looting. Facing the probability the police union is going to succeed in their endeavor to put sunlight upon the truth the Mayor, Police Chief Batts and his leadership team are now having to admit they did tell the officers to ‘stand down’. You can listen to some of the audio transmission here. ...and questions have been raised about why Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Chief Batts would...

Surveillance video of a wee-hours ruckus at a Macon Wal-Mart on Sunday shows a teenager race inside flashing gang signs ahead of a mob of four dozen or so people who burst in and smashed merchandise. The commotion, which caused an estimated $2,000 in damage, appears to have been planned. Some in the crowd also snatched a man, apparently a shopper at the Zebulon Road store, from a motorized shopping cart and dragged him to the floor, Bibb County sheriff’s officials said Monday. The vandals, said to number between 40 and 50, sprinted down the store’s main aisle about 1:50...

Monday, May 04, 2015 The Truth About Baltimore Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The real victim in Baltimore is not Freddie Gray, a repeat loser who eventually died as he had lived, being arrested by the police. The real victims are not the thugs smashing and looting stores. It isn’t the young black men disproportionately stopped by the racist majority black police force in Baltimore under a racist black police commissioner for doing nothing wrong except the usual drug and weapons charges. It’s not even the “majority of law-abiding Baltimore families” referenced by politicians. 85% of...

The Baltimore riots are occurring in the face of failed political and police leadership and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake should resign, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton writes in a social media posting that is being echoed by dozens nationwide. In the Twitter posting Fitton links a disturbing local newspaper report with graphic photos of a burning car, police clad in riot gear and masked looters. “Violence and looting overtook much of West Baltimore on Monday, injuring more than a dozen police officers and leaving buildings and vehicles in flames,” the article opens. “As night fell, looters took to Mondawmin Mall and...