The memorial to the victims who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was vandalized.
The artist behind the memorial on Fort Armistead Road told 11 News that five of the seven panels of the mural had large holes punched in them Friday night. The memorial’s creators are not sure how many people were involved, but a report with police has been filed.
Source: WBAL
Baltimore City police and MTA police responded to a report of a fetus found on a MTA bus on Saturday afternoon.
City police say they responded to the 2500 block of Kirk Avenue on Saturday for the report of a MTA bus driver saying a fetus had been found on the seat of the bus.
Officials say that no further information is available at this time.
A New York jury has found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime. The verdict was read in the Manhattan courtroom where Trump has been on trial since April 15. He had pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election. Trump looked down with his eyes narrowed as the jury foreperson read the word “guilty” to each count.
The jury reached its verdict after 9.5 hours of deliberations, which began Wednesday. The historic conviction comes as Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president. The judge thanked the jurors for their service in the weeks-long trial. “You gave this matter the attention it deserved, and I want to thank you for that,” Judge Juan Merchan told them. Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche made a motion for acquittal after the jury left the room, which the judge denied. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury in his closing arguments earlier this week that “the law is the law and it applies to everyone equally. There is no special standard for this defendant.” “You, the jury, have the ability to hold the defendant accountable,” Steinglass said.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday denied prosecutors’ request to bar the former president from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the prosecution.
Prosecutors had told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the restriction was necessary to protect law enforcement from potential threats and harassment after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee baselessly claimed that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly two years ago.
Cannon chided prosecutors in her order denying their request, saying they didn’t give defense lawyers adequate time to discuss the matter before it was filed Friday evening. The judge warned prosecutors that failing to comply with court requirements in the future may lead to sanctions. She denied the request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.
A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith’s team declined to comment Tuesday.
The judge’s decision came as Trump’s lawyers were delivering their closing argument at trial in another criminal case he’s facing in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It’s the latest example of bitterness between Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, and prosecutors who have accused the former president of illegally hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 and then obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Cannon has chided prosecutors both in hearings and in court papers over a number of matters, including telling Smith’s team during one hearing that it was “wasting the court’s time.” Prosecutors have also signaled mounting frustration with Cannon’s rulings, saying in one recent court filing that a request from the judge was based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”
Prosecutors’ request followed a distorted claim by Trump last week that the FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 were “authorized to shoot me” and were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
Trump was referring to the disclosure in a court document that the FBI, during the search followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the “subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
The Justice Department policy is routine and meant to limit, rather than encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors noted that the search of the Florida property was intentionally conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. No force was used.
Nicki Minaj’s concert in Manchester scheduled for Saturday night was postponed after police in the Netherlands discovered marijuana in her bags as she was preparing to leave the country.
Promoter Live Nation said the performance will be rescheduled and tickets will be honored.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible,” the promoter said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”
Minaj tweeted earlier Saturday that she was stopped at the Amsterdam airport as she was about to board a plane for the concert in Manchester. Police told her they found marijuana in her bags, and it would have to be weighed, she tweeted. Cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands, but it is tolerated for recreational use.
Families of the Uvalde victims have filed a lawsuit against Daniel Defense, the makers of the AR-15 assault rifle, and Activision, the publisher of the first-person shooter video game series “Call of Duty,” over what they claim was their role in promoting the gun used in the shooting.
The suit alleges the companies partnered to market the weapon to underage boys in the games.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A 77-year-old Carroll County woman died Monday, May 13, while awaiting trial on murder charges in connection with the beating death of her husband. According to the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, Gail D’Anthony died while in the custody of the Maryland Department of Health, to which she was committed because it was determined she was incompetent to stand trial and was a danger to herself and to others. A competency hearing was scheduled in June.
Prosecutors said D’Anthony was charged on accusations that she used a cane in the fatal beating of her 72-year-old husband, John D’Anthony III, on the night of March 1, 2023, at the couple’s Westminster home.
Prosecutors said an autopsy confirmed John D’Anthony suffered extensive injuries, including blunt force injuries, including, but not limited to, lacerations to his mouth, a broken neck, a broken right rib, two black eyes and large contusions to his hands and forearms.
The medical examiner found the injuries were inconsistent with a single fall or otherwise natural death and ruled it a homicide, prosecutors said.
Witnesses told investigators that Gail D’Anthony confessed to killing her husband by pushing him to the ground, causing him to hit his head on the ground and hitting him with a cane repeatedly to keep him down until he was no longer breathing, prosecutors said.
Gail D’Anthony’s daughter, Jessica Annoreno, released a statement on behalf of her father through the state’s attorney’s office, “Anyone that knew Jack D’Anthony knew he was a good person. He was a good father and a good grandfather. I will never forget the day my mother called to admit to me what she did to him. He didn’t deserve to die that way, so it is frustrating that the case ended short of getting the justice that he deserves. My family will continue to celebrate his life.”
“Gail D’Anthony did not escape justice via her death. She will now answer for her crimes to a higher authority. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Jack D’Anthony,” Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker said in a statement.
For the first time since the collapse of the Key Bridge, cruise ships will embark from and arrive at the Port of Baltimore.
According to the Port of Baltimore, Royal Caribbean’s ‘Vision of the Seas’ will depart from the Port on May 25 for a five-night voyage from Baltimore to Bermuda.
In announcing this excitement development, the Port of Baltimore took to “x,” sharing “Baltimore is Back.”
Moreover, on May 17, a separate cruise line announced that one of their ships, the Carnival Pride, is set to resume sailing from the Port of Baltimore on May 26.
The Carnival Pride will arrive in charm city following a week-long cruise that embarked from Norfolk, Va., where Carnival temporarily moved its Baltimore operations after the collapse.
The port is home to year-round sailing, servicing cruise ships from Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian.
According to officials, the ship’s next sailing, a 14-day cruise to Greenland, is expected to sail round-trip from Baltimore.
Speaking on the boat’s return to Baltimore, Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy shared,
“We are extremely grateful to the officials and incredible first responders in Baltimore, who’ve shown great leadership and resolve in this difficult time, as well as our supportive partners in Norfolk, whose rapid response allowed us to continue to deliver our scheduled sailings for our guests.”
“It’s been our goal to resume operations in Baltimore as soon as possible, and after working closely with local, state and federal agencies, we look forward to a successful return.”
Giant Food announced it will close a west Baltimore location as another store is set to re-open this summer.
Giant announced it’s closing the store at 4624 Edmondson Ave. effective on June 13, while the location at 4622 Wilkens Ave. will celebrate its re-opening on June 7.
Giant President Ira Kress released a statement, saying: “We believe the expansion and enhanced amenities at our newly remodeled Wilkens Avenue store offers a fantastic replacement for our Edmondson Avenue location. We look forward to welcoming our Edmondson Avenue customers to their new store.”
The statement also said that all the employees from the Edmondson location were offered the opportunity to transfer to a nearby location.
The store will also notify pharmacy customers that their prescriptions will be moved to the a Giant store closest to their homes.
Baltimore City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, D-District 8, released a statement, saying: “Upon learning this unfortunate news, I immediately reached out to the new ownership team of Edmondson Village Shopping Center to discuss the possibility of opening a grocery store at this location. They’re very supportive of the idea, and it’s my hope that this can come to fruition. At the moment, we still have a long road ahead.”
The criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump reached a crescendo Monday when the state’s star witness, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, testified about his ex-boss directing him to “just take care of” a payment to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Cohen claimed that Trump blessed those negotiations, approved the final deal, and signed off on the reimbursement plan in the final days before his presidential inauguration. Cohen testified that the sole purpose of the scheme was to protect Trump’s political fortunes and obscure his role in orchestrating the arrangements.
“Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign off,” Cohen said on the stand.
Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment that Cohen made to Stormy Daniels in order to boost Trump’s electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. The payment was to buy Daniels’ silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump that the former president has steadfastly denied.
Cohen delivered critical testimony for prosecutors from a man who they acknowledge carries significant baggage. But instead of the hyperbolic bombast Cohen often espouses from behind his keyboard, the Michael Cohen jurors met on Monday stayed on message.
The big question now: Will jurors buy it?
Here are four big takeaways from Day 16 of Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
‘Just do it,’ Cohen said Trump told him
Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe claimed that the then-candidate ordered him to “just do it,” referring to the execution of a payment to Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 campaign.
It was the most direct testimony jurors have heard tethering Trump to the concept of “catch-and-kill” payments to keep unfavorable stories under wraps. Cohen said he solicited feedback from Trump at every point in the process — from the moment he learned of the allegations to the day payments were executed.
He did so “because everything required Mr. Trump’s sign off,” Cohen said.
“I wanted to ensure that once again he approved what he was doing, because I required approval from him on all of this,” Cohen said.
After hesitating to approve a payment to Daniels, Trump relented, Cohen said, after discussing the matter with “some friends.”
“He stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, very smart people. It’s $130,000. Just pay it. There’s no reason to keep this thing out there. Just do it. So he expressed to me, ‘Just do it,’” Cohen said.
Daniels’ payment was ‘all about the campaign,’ Cohen said
If Stormy Daniels’ story had emerged in the press prior to the 2016 election, Cohen testified that the fallout would have been “catastrophic” for Trump’s campaign — particularly in the wake of the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump was heard boasting about grabbing women.
“Women are going to hate me, guys may think it’s cool,” Cohen recalled Trump telling him, “But this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”
“At the time, Mr. Trump was … polling very poorly with women,” Cohen testified, saying that, coupled with the “Access Hollywood” release, “would have been ‘catastrophic’ for his electoral prospects.”
When the time came to execute a payment to Stormy Daniels, Trump still encouraged Cohen to hold out — allegedly citing the upcoming Election Day deadline.
“I want you to push it out as long as you can,” Cohen said Trump told him about the Daniels story. “Push it out past the election, because if I win, it has no relevance, and if I lose, I don’t really care.”
In short, Cohen said, “This was all about the campaign.”
Cohen stayed on script
Michael Cohen as a witness is a far cry from the Michael Cohen jurors have heard about so far.
Other witnesses have called him a “jerk” and “difficult” — describing him as a vicious pit bull who would eviscerate anyone who threatened to damage the reputation of his former boss.
But today, in front of the jury, he seemed earnest, morose and — most importantly for the state — on script.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger tried to back up every word of Cohen’s testimony with documentary evidence or prior testimony — questioning him in a deliberate style of testimony-document-testimony-document — relying as little as possible on his word alone.
And toward the end of a long day on the stand, Cohen sprinkled in a moment of levity — perhaps in an effort to endear himself to jurors — when he acknowledged his reputation as being short-fused.
Asked about his reaction to learning that his bonus at the Trump Organization would be slashed by tens of thousands of dollars, he said, “Even for myself, I was unusually angry,” drawing laughter from the gallery.
Cohen’s testimony will continue Tuesday
Cohen will return to the witness stand on Tuesday morning, when Hoffinger is scheduled tom continue her direct examination. Prosecutors still need to ask Cohen about the invoices and checks he received — documents that are central to their case.
At some point on Tuesday, Cohen will face what will likely be a hostile cross-examination from a member of Trump’s legal team — a tete-a-tete that will no doubt test the limits of his temperament.
The state has suggested they could rest their case as soon as this week — meaning Cohen will be one of their final witnesses.
Source WBAL
