First Mariner Reports $11 Million Loss in Second Quarter

First Mariner Bancorp's bleeding increased during the second quarter as continued write-downs on real estate and bad loans left the Baltimore company with $11 million in losses.

The 1st Mariner Bank parent, locked in a battle for survival, said Friday that its loss during April through June was more than double that of a year earlier.

But the almost $4.7 million loss during the second quarter of 2010 would have been higher if not for a $3.8 million tax benefit during that period, the company said. It received no tax benefit this year.

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Alleged Document Thieves Indicted on Federal Charges

BALTIMORE - The two New Yorkers charged with stealing historic documents from Maryland were indicted federally Thursday in a far broader scheme in which prosecutors say they stole many more valuable manuscripts from museums in both states.

A National Archives official called the scope of the case "truly breathtaking," with the indictment charging that the two men pilfered and sold copies of speeches from a former president and took a land grant signed by Abraham Lincoln along with a letter to John Paul Jones.

Barry H. Landau, 63, a well-known collector of presidential memorabilia, and Jason James Savedoff, 24, were each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of the actual theft of "major art." They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

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Man Pleads Guilty to Pushing Stranger Into Inner Harbor

BALTIMORE - A 21-year-old Pasadena man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Thursday for shoving a stranger who couldn't swim into the Inner Harbor in 2008 — an act previously characterized by one Baltimore judge as complete stupidity.

Wayne Black, who was 18 when he pushed 22-year-old Ankush Gupta into the water and ran, will be sentenced to four years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 30, per an agreement cut with Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock.

His mother dabbed tears from her eyes as the deal was done, while Gupta's friends and family sat stone-faced on the other side of the courtroom.

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Man Gets 54 Years for Shootings Outside Hopkins

A man who opened fire outside Johns Hopkins Hospital in September 2009, injuring a bystander, was sentenced Wednesday to 54 years in prison, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced.

Timothy Gaskins, 44, fired five shots that day, striking a woman's handbag, a man's trouser leg and an employee of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, who was leaving work. She was struck in the hand.

Police said at the time that they believed the shooting was related to a fight between teen-age girls that drew in their fathers. One girl's father tried to break up the squabble, while Gaskins reacted with violence, police said.

He was convicted in May of attempted, second-degree murder, assault and related charges after a jury trial.

from Tricia Bishop @ the Baltimore Sun

Rolley Rolls Out Plan to Cut City Property Taxes

Mayoral candidate Otis Rolley unveiled a plan Tuesday that he says would cut property tax rates for most homeowners by more than half in a decade.

Rolley's plan would keep property tax rates at current levels for commercial properties, including rental homes and apartments, and dramatically increase rates for vacant plots and buildings. He would also tax homes worth more than $200,000 at a slightly higher rate-- but only on the portion of the home's value that exceeds $200,000.

Rolley said that the increased revenue from blighted buildings would compensate for some of the revenue lost by the tax cuts to residential properties. He said he would also trim to city government, but did not specify which cuts he would make.

"There is enough fat within [city government] to enable us to do what we need to do," he said.

Rolley, the city's former planning director, is the third candidate to release a detailed plan to cut property taxes.

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Blue Man Joins the Landers Campaign Trail

BALTIMORE - Bluer than Democrat-rich Baltimore! Able to distract morning commuters with a single wave! Look! On the street corner with Jody Landers! It's actual fun in this year's mayoral campaign!

Blue Man, a mysterious figure in a full-body Spandex suit, has swooped in from who-knows-where to help former City Councilman Joseph T. "Jody" Landers with his weekday morning car waves.

There's no telling if the seeming superhero can help Landers in September's Democratic primary, but he has already succeeded in injecting some zip into an otherwise snoozy race.

"All he needs is Aquaman and Captain America, get them all out there; he could get the comic book bloc," said Del. Keiffer Mitchell, who has endorsed Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake but applauded Blue Man as political theater.

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BREAKING NEWS: Missing Baby Found in DC

Authorities say a 7-month-old baby and his teenager baby sitter who disappeared from Baltimore have been found in northeast Washington.

D.C. police spokesman Officer Anthony Clay says the baby, Ki'Yauhn Birch, and the teenager were found in the 4400 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue early Monday morning. Clay says the baby was being evaluated by the fire department, and the teenager has been taken into custody.

Baltimore police said Monday they were investigating a report of a "possible sighting" of the seven-month-old who disappeared Friday after his father left the boy with a teenager to watch him briefly.

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Baltimore Police Pay Man $100,000 After Beating

The city's spending board has approved a $100,000 settlement to a 65-year-old man who claimed in a civil suit that he was beaten by police officers who mistook his cigarette for a marijuana joint.

The Board of Estimates voted Wednesday to pay the money and end a $5 million lawsuit filed in Baltimore Circuit Court by Lornell Felder.

Felder contended that in April 2009, he was standing in front of his house on Elmley Avenue rolling a tobacco cigarette when two plainclothes police officers jumped out of an unmarked sport utility vehicle and ran toward him.

Felder said in the suit that he had no idea the men were officers, that he tried to run and yelled to his wife, "Call the police." His suit says that the officers tackled him and one said, " 'We are the police,' as they continued to beat Mr. Felder in his head, face and body."

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