u s department of justice

Columnists proposal for the government to publish names of gun owners is fraught with peril

The Baltimore City Council is poised to go to battle with the Rawlings-Blake administration over whether Baltimore should pay a team of private lawyers $2 million to represent the city during a federal probe of its Police Department.

Public housing tenants in Baltimore who alleged they were sexually harassed and abused by maintenance workers will share up to $8 million in a settlement of a

Defense attorneys for Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter are arguing that he cannot be compelled to testify against Officer Caesar Goodson in his upcoming trial in the death of Freddie Gray.

The Housing Authority of Baltimore City has reached a settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit that alleges maintenance men demanded sex acts from at least 19 women as a condition of making repairs to their homes, the parties confirmed Monday.

A federal judge filed an injunction Monday against a Hanover-based importer of marble and granite that has been accused of failing to pay federal payroll taxes over seven years.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams strongly suggested to jurors in the trial of William Porter, one of six city police officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, that they not speak publicly about the case after its conclusion. While the judge is admirably trying to balance the interests of a fair trial with free speech rights, he appears to have gone too far.

Former Mayor Sheila Dixon on Monday will release a 7-page plan she says will reduce violence in Baltimore — using many of the same strategies she employed during her mayoral term when violent crime dropped

Instead of catapulting Rawlings-Blake's 20-year political career to new heights, 2015 brought it to an end

A coalition of civil rights, religious and community leaders gathered in Sandtown-Winchester Thursday to urge city residents to work for lasting reform of the Baltimore Police Department.

A roundup of media coverage and commentary of the mistrial in the first trial in Freddie Gray's arrest and death.

Officer Porter may have gotten a mistrial, but the verdict on the department for which he serves could not be more clear.

Leaders of Baltimore's City Council say they plan to block Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal to pay $2 million to outside lawyers to represent the city during a federal investigation of the police department.

City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young was the lone member of Baltimore's spending board to vote Wednesday against the Rawlings-Blake administration's decision to pay outside legal counsel $2 million for representation in the federal probe of the Police Department.

The city's spending panel on Wednesday is slated to authorize $2 million for an outside D.C.-based law firm to represent the city as it responds to the Department of Justice's investigation into the city police department.

More than two years ago state education officials were given an assignment: Come up with a plan to address Maryland's checkered history of race-based inequality in higher education. They then did something familiar to many college students: They procrastinated. As a result, when the absolute deadline neared, they threw together something that they hoped would pass muster with the teacher and at least earn a grade higher than an F.

Before he was the judge overseeing the Freddie Gray trials, Barry G. Williams supervised and prosecuted police misconduct cases across the country for the federal government.

Some may find it ironic that officers accused of denying Freddie Gray fair treatment should receive it themselves in the form of separate trials and other procedural accommodations. But our justice system is not designed to give alleged wrongdoers a taste of their own medicine; it is designed to adjudicate and punish misbehavior fairly and dispassionately.

Advocates in Maryland are urging federal lawmakers not to cut money from a fund that helps victims of crime.

The U.S Department of Justice said Friday that it has reached a $250 million settlement with 457 hospitals – including 10 in Maryland – related to cardiac devices that were implanted in violation of Medicare rules.

The Baltimore Police Department policy governing its body camera pilot program that began Monday largely mirrors policies put forward on the national level, but also diverges in important ways from the recommendations of a city task force convened specifically to study national best practices and advise the department ahead of the program's rollout, according to a civil liberties attorney who was a member of the task force.

An increasing number of federal workers are getting help from the government in paying back their student loans.

A 23-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department retired this month, as officials considered whether to discipline him for a 2012 incident involving a handcuffed suspect, a police spokesman said.

Neal M. Janey Jr., a former city cop, prosecutor and legal counsel for the Baltimore Police Department, has been chosen to fill two top criminal justice positions within the administration of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Democrats and Republicans in Annapolis are taking a hard look at Maryland's approach to crime and punishment.

Democrats and Republicans in Annapolis are taking a hard look at Maryland's approach to crime and punishment.

Ben Jealous and others offer six ideas for reforming Baltimore's police department.

In the grand scheme of things, a $150,000 severance clause for Baltimore's top cop isn't that big a deal, but under the circumstances, it still rankles.

Its time to break up big banks and resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act that once separated investment from commercial banking, says Robert Reich.

As the National Academies recently documented, the "integration of immigrants into American society" remains strong. But it wasn't always so. This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It represented decades, even centuries, of fitful progress.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday the city was not as prepared as it should have been for the April riots and said her administration is taking additional steps to ready itself ahead of the trials of the six police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray.

A growing bipartisan consensus recognizes the failure of mass incarceration and harsh sentencing policies to reduce crime

Nearly 40 mayors from across the country will gather in Baltimore this weekend for the U.S. Conference of Mayor's leadership meeting to discuss areas the 2016 presidential candidates should prioritize.

The publisher of Wikipedia fought to keep its challenge to alleged National Security Agency snooping on its users alive Friday, with lawyers arguing that it is time for federal courts to take another look at how the government gathers in information traveling across the Internet.

The Rev. Jamal H. Bryant, an influential pastor of a Baltimore mega-church, said Monday he will run for the House seat currently held by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, arguing that the city needs new leadership in Washington.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will look to make acting commissioner Kevin Davis the permanent head of the city Police Department, her spokesman said Monday.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake identified four broad goals Monday for her remaining 15 months in office, including financing $136 million in improvements for recreation centers and pools and ensuring the $1 billion school construction plan is executed correctly.

While federal disability law requires hospitals to provide translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, advocates say the services hospitals provide are sometimes inadequate.

The "Ferguson effect" suggests that homicide rates have increased because of police disengagement, emboldening criminals to commit crimes unhindered. Decades of criminological research suggest there is indeed reason to be concerned about the potential influence on crime rates of Ferguson and Baltimore and other highly publicized cases. But not in the manner suggested by the Ferguson Effect.

Does the massive settlement in the Freddie Gray case set a new and dangerous precedent for Baltimore?

After months of sharply worded motions by prosecutors and defense attorneys, legal questions surrounding the officers charged in Freddie Gray's death will be aired publicly for the first time Wednesday, in a solemn, wood-paneled courtroom in downtown Baltimore.

On Monday, we saw a renewed attack on the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBR) here in Maryland. Once again, well intentioned advocates for police accountability are misdirecting their energy toward something that will have no meaningful impact on the problem at hand: unjustified and/or excessive uses of force by police and growing community mistrust. LEOBR is not the problem. Proposals to water down LEOBR are nothing more than a red herring. They draw attention from the real problems

Attorney General Frosh's commendable effort to stamp out conscious bias in law enforcement is only the first step to ensuring justice.

The Republican presidential field must rise above conservative myth and misinformation in crafting immigration policies