NEWS
By Baltimore Sun staff | October 26, 2009
Officials destroyed a shipment of bunny scarecrows that recently arrived at the port of Baltimore after agricultural inspectors determined that the bamboo poles to which they were attached could contain harmful pathogens. The shipment from Hong Kong raised the concern of Customs and Border Protection agents working at the port, who are trained in biological sciences and agricultural inspection. Bamboo is regulated to prevent the spread of bamboo smut and other pathogens, officials said.
NEWS
By Scott Calvert | February 19, 2009
Shortly before federal agents arrested 24 Latinos outside a Fells Point 7-Eleven in January 2007, the acting field office director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore told a deputy "to bring more bodies in," according to an internal ICE report. The roundup at the 7-Eleven occurred after the official told that deputy "to go back out to make more arrests, as the quantity of arrests that were made that morning was unacceptable," said the report. It appears to contradict previous statements by ICE officials that the agents were taking a drink break Jan. 23, 2007, when they happened to be approached by Latino laborers who thought they were contractors in need of workers.
NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel | November 30, 2008
At midmorning, sunlight streams through three sets of windows, creating an elongated pane pattern on the floor of a Reisterstown house. "This is nice, because you have this floor, you have nice shadows on the wood," says photographer Craig Westerman, sizing up the room. Click. The image captures the breakfast room from the recessed lighting to the Brazilian cherry floors. It shows a slice of the kitchen at just the right angle to showcase the space's openness. As the owner/photographer of Hometrack in Baltimore, Westerman makes his living photographing houses for sale - and he's snapped thousands of photos in the area since starting a part-time business in 1996 and going to full time in 2002.
NEWS
July 25, 2008
A 33-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a handgun, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Cortez Fisher also will have to serve three years of supervised probation when he is released, prosecutors said in a statement. The prosecutors said he had been convicted in federal court of unlawful gun possession in 2005, meaning the gun police found in his home earlier this year was illegal.
NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel | April 6, 2008
Didn't know the house was for sale and it's already sold? Some properties seem to sell at lightning speed without sprouting for-sale signs and open-house balloons. Take that Cape Cod in Lutherville that settled two weeks ago. The house wasn't on the regional Multiple Listing Service until it was sold. Anyone waiting for an open house would have been too late, because the first sign that went up said "Sold." "We had a contract before we had a sign," said Jill Jahries. She and her husband Peter were the sellers.
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller | May 30, 2007
In the shadow of Baltimore City Hall, a shiny, black Cadillac Escalade was parked on Guilford Avenue - in a no-stopping zone, Violation 12 in ticketing parlance. Parking control agent Tiffany Chambers, attempting to extend a courtesy yesterday morning, asked members of a nearby film crew if the vehicle was theirs. Her supervisor radioed the office to check whether the hulking sport utility vehicle with a rear license plate frame advertising Miller Brothers Cadillac in Ellicott City had some sort of permit.
NEWS
By Jeff Zrebiec | December 30, 2006
Still looking to add an impact bat to the middle of their lineup, the Orioles made a contract offer yesterday to Aubrey Huff, one of the most accomplished players left on the free- agent market. Exact details of the contract offer are unknown, but one industry source said the Orioles proposed a three-year deal to Huff, worth in the neighborhood of $6 million per season. Huff's asking price has gone down significantly since the opening of free agency. One baseball executive, whose team has talked to Huff's representatives, said the 30-year-old, who can play first and third base and the corner outfield spots, was seeking a three-year deal worth around $7.5 million per season.
NEWS
By Jeff Barker | December 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Two sports agents, including one who represented a handful of Ravens in the 2000 Super Bowl season, accused the National Football League Players Association yesterday of unfairly barring them. Sports agent Steve Weinberg, a Baltimore native now living in Dallas, appeared at a congressional hearing and said through an attorney that the players union wrongly decertified him in 2003. His attorney, Lawrence Friedman, told a House Judiciary subcommittee that the players union appeared to want to punish Weinberg because the agent was "an outspoken critic" of NFLPA practices.
NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | June 4, 2006
PHOENIX -- With a major expansion proposed by President Bush, the Border Patrol might overtake the FBI as the largest federal law enforcement agency. But the expanded mission comes as the patrol wrestles with recruitment and training problems and several agents face accusations of misconduct and corruption. In response to concerns, the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Border Patrol, said it would audit its recruitment, hiring and training practices. A spokeswoman, Tamara Faulkner, said the review could begin this month.
NEWS
By JOSH FRIEDMAN | April 25, 2006
Maydeen Tharp wanted a living trust. She wound up buying a $230,000 annuity. Tharp, a widowed homemaker, had invited an insurance man to her home in Upland, Calif., to get her estate in order. The salesman shifted the conversation to a different subject: annuities. Then he asked whether they could move outside to the back patio so that her cats wouldn't trigger his allergies. The salesman talked for hours. The November afternoon grew cold and dark. Finally, Tharp gave in. She agreed to move the bulk of her retirement savings into an annuity.