Highlights

David Simon is an award-winning journalist, author and television producer known for "The Wire," "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "The Corner" and the books that inspired those shows. The former Baltimore Sun crime reporter took a leave of absence to spend a year inside the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit for his book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," which was released in 1991....
David Simon is an award-winning journalist, author and television producer known for "The Wire," "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "The Corner" and the books that inspired those shows. The former Baltimore Sun crime reporter took a leave of absence to spend a year inside the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit for his book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," which was released in 1991. The book won the 1992 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book and became the inspiration for the television show "Homicide: Life on the Street." He followed that up with "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood" with retired Baltimore police detective Edward Burns. The New York Times Notable Book of the Year looks at an open-air drug market in the city. Simon turned the book into the miniseries "The Corner" for HBO. In 2002, Simon's relationship with HBO continued with the release of his series "The Wire," a gritty urban drama about the Baltimore drug scene. Simon serves as, creator, writer and executive producer of the show. Shot and set in Baltimore, "The Wire" has been nominated for Emmys and won a Peabody Award in 2004. The show airs its fifth and final season in 2008. Simon and Burns have teamed up again for their next HBO project, "Generation Kill." Based on a book by Evan Wright, "Generation Kill" will be a seven-hour miniseries about the early days of the war in Iraq. It is slated to premiere in 2008. In addition to providing jobs and bringing money into the local economy through "The Wire," Simon and Burns created The Ella Thompson Fund, which supports recreation and education programs for West Baltimore youth. Simon grew up in Washington and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park.
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Omar Little arrested in Baltimore
Over the weekend, the arrest of a 19-year-old man on a handgun charge caught my eye. His name? Omar Little.
That of course is the name of the iconic stick-up man from "The Wire," a show that was based heavily on real people and events from Baltimore's...Tags: Police Arrests, Robin Hood, Music, The Huffington Post, Concerts
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Just say no to marijuana convictions
Should juries vote "not guilty" on low-level marijuana charges to send a message about our country's insane marijuana arrest policy? Jury nullification is a constitutional doctrine that allows juries to acquit defendants who are technically guilty but...Tags: Richard Nixon, Prosecution, Thomas Paine, Elections, The New York Times
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John Waters, Ron Shelton, David Simon react to 'Diner'
"Diner" has resonated with Baltimore-connected writers and moviemakers across the popular and literary spectrum. Here are some of their reactions to the movie's 30th anniversary.
The film "shined a light on a time in Baltimore that I was not that...Tags: Movies, Ron Shelton, Television Industry, Judaism, The Wire (tv program)
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Not Big Brother
No one likes the thought of Big Brother constantly looking over one's shoulder. So it's understandable many people initially resisted the idea of blanketing the city with police surveillance cameras that record everything that happens within their field...Tags: Photography and Video, Crime Victims, Photography Supplies and Services, Big Brother (tv program), Television
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With new leadership, Bealefeld wants progress in murder investigations
After conducting a nationwide search for a new leader for his vaunted but scuffling homicide unit, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III instead looked inward to a trusted commander who hadn't even applied for the job. Bealefeld...Tags: Colleges and Universities, Frederick H. Bealefeld, III, Murder
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Thanks for being you, Baltimore!
The City Council president showed me his underwear. The state prosecutor let me try on Sheila Dixon’s ill-gotten mink. A state delegate swore at me for asking why she’d lied about her age. A priest denounced me from the pulpit. And David Simon...Tags: Annapolis, Halloween, William Donald Schaefer, Anne Arundel County, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
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Laura Lippman's darker side of Dickeyville
The pungent, haunting narrative of Laura Lippman's new novel, "The Most Dangerous Thing," kicks in with a group of kids arguing for dibs on a grassy kickball field near a cotton mill on "Wetheredsville Road."
The whole scene sounds like a cozy...Tags: Central Park, Maryland, Fiction, Television, Juvenile Delinquency
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Fourth of July incidents mar Inner Harbor's image
To a city that struggles to shake off its crime-ridden image, the incident seems like the last straw: On one of the most festive days of the year, in one of the safest places in town, amid a veritable battalion of police, a bullet appears to have fallen...Tags: Elections, Holidays, Dundalk, African Americans, Labor Day
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The case of David Simon's missing comments
We finally figured out why David Simon couldn't see the comments he posted to an item on my blog while everyone he contacted at The Sun could. Turns out that after reading my blog on The Sun's website and successfully posting comments there, Simon...Tags: Google Inc.
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Attorney General Holder orders more episodes of 'The Wire'
The Obama administration has some very pressing matters on its hands: Three overseas wars, an economy struggling to recover and a massive budget shortfall.
So, what are administration officials spending their time doing? Why, ordering more episodes of...Tags: Movies, Ed Burns, Sonja Sohn, Eric Holder, Wendell Pierce
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After 'The Wire,' a return to reality
Donnie Andrews' life is one that David Simon and Ed Burns would have had to invent if he hadn't already lived it.
"I am the real Omar," Andrews tells me by way of introduction, referring to how he was the inspiration for the ruthless yet moral stickup...Tags: Criminal Laws, Laws, Elections, The New York Times, Kweisi Mfume
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100 things we love about Baltimore -- Printable list
Baltimore Sun reporterA moody tavern. An extraordinary cocktail. The easy lapping of bay water against the banks of the Inner Harbor. Duckpin lanes. Old Bay. Art in an otherwise empty storefront. For all of these things, and for so many more, people love Baltimore. People feel...Tags: Pies and Tarts, Macaroons, Walters Art Museum, Radio Industry, African Americans
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