After mulling it over for more than a month, Judge Dennis Sweeney made his decision this morning in the cases against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and city councilwoman Helen Holton.
He knocked out five charges against the Mayor and all charges against Holton—buying their respective arguments that they fall under the protection of the so-called “speech [...]
Archive for May, 2009
Charges Dropped
May 28, 2009
Follow the Money
May 22, 2009
Baltimore’s City Council is in the process of hashing out Mayor Sheila Dixon’s budget—and trying to find ways to undo some of the cuts the Mayor’s proposed.
At the same time, some serious questions have popped up about the city’s whole system of finances.
A few weeks ago, finance officials (surprise!) disclosed the city had $39 million [...]
Police Conduct
May 21, 2009
I was talking to a veteran criminal defense attorney who mentioned she thinks police should include Emily Post manners in their training. She was only half-joking. Her point was that if police treated people courteously as a matter of course, they may get a whole lot more cooperation from communities.
The context of our conversation was [...]
Unleashing Common Sense
May 11, 2009
Baltimore’s City Council this week will consider a bill to correct what some on the council describe as an oversight that’s created a firestorm among dog owners.
Back in January, the council approved changes to the structure of fines to violators of the city’s animal control laws. Included, but apparently unintended – a big increase [...]
