Blogger

A Baltimore circuit judge denied another bail request Friday for the blogger who held a publicized standoff with city police this month that was broadcast live to thousands of listeners. Judge Lynn K. Stewart said Frank James MacArthur, also known locally as the Baltimore Spectator, posed a continuing threat to public safety and should remain jailed without bail. It was the third time that MacArthur, 37, who lives in the Waverly neighborhood, has been denied bail. MacArthur's attorney, Jill P. Carter, called the revocation a knee-jerk overreaction when many other suspects facing similar charges are often offered bail.

My mom's dream (and only request) for the wedding was that we go to “Say Yes to the Dress” in New York City to try on dresses. A fan of the show myself, I was super excited to go along with this request! For those of you who don't know the show (#SYTTD), it's a reality program on TLC based on the experience of brides as they shop for their perfect dress at Kleinfeld Bridal in the heart of NYC. The store is larger than life, featuring some of the most unique consultants you'll ever encounter (just check out the show to see what I mean)

Isn't it odd that people will give credence to people with absolutely no credentials but talk as if they did? First there was that guy at the city school system who was given a contract with no defined duties ("Schools employee charged with sex with teen," Nov. 29). Then there was the blogger full of fantasy and hot air who police were afraid of ("Blogger surrenders to police after standoff in Waverly," Dec. 2). The guy in the schools makes you wonder what goes on down at North Avenue.

Hello, Baltimore. I'm the newest writer on the Married in Maryland blog, and will be chronicling my journey from girlfriend to wife. I'm sure I'll use my space here to talk about centerpieces, dresses, guest lists and all that gooey wedding stuff - - but I hope I'll also remember to focus on the non-material things that being engaged is also about.  I thought to kick things off I'd tell you my engagement story, which is still fresh in my mind as it was only a few weeks ago. But quickly, the back story: I'd been dating my boyfriend Sam for over a decade, and many of those years were long distance.

It could have ended badly. Last Saturday, as many as 10,000 people listened while blogger Frank James MacArthur broadcast his stand-off with the Baltimore City Police Department live via Internet radio. The BPD had been trying for more than a week to issue a warrant written in June after Mr. MacArthur allegedly failed to appear at a probation violation hearing related to a 2009 weapons charge. According to his blog, he spent the days leading up to the confrontation on the run, writing, broadcasting, and trying to ensure he could surrender without being harmed.

At a lively Central Booking hearing, a Baltimore judge denied bail to Frank James MacArthur, the local blogger who live-streamed a standoff with police on the Internet, two days after a different judge ordered him to be released. MacArthur, 47, appeared Wednesday dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, his head shaved and his hands cuffed behind his back. District Judge Joan B. Gordon pointed to MacArthur's criminal history and apparent "violent and assaultive nature" as reasons for denying bail on gun charges filed against him late Monday.

New gun charges have been filed against the Baltimore blogger who broadcast his standoff with police online via live radio as they tried to arrest him on an outstanding warrant last week, according to court records and police. Police said they found an unregistered sawed-off shotgun in his home. Frank James MacArthur, 47, a cab driver and prolific social media user who has branded himself as a citizen-journalist and city watchdog through Twitter posts and online radio broadcasts under the name Baltimore Spectator, peacefully turned himself over to police outside his home in the 600 block of McKewin Avenue about 11 p.m. Saturday.

Blogger Frank James MacArthur, who was taken into police custody Saturday night after broadcasting an hours-long standoff with officers, has been writing about crime and politics in Baltimore for years. He has been a regular fixture at crime scenes around the city, posting Twitter updates using the name Baltimore Spectator. He had recently started hosting an online radio talk show, which he used to live-stream his confrontation with police Saturday night. The live broadcast of his standoff had been listened to over 42,000 times and by Sunday morning MacArthur had amassed a following of more than 4,600 people on Twitter.

The arrest of a Baltimore blogger this weekend showed how a normally mundane bit of police work - the serving of a warrant - can be complicated in an age of Twitter and Internet radio. It briefly put a national spotlight on what normally wouldn't even make the local news. Frank James MacArthur, 47, a steady presence as an observer at city crime scenes and a cab driver by trade, took to Twitter and an online radio service to stream his dealings with police at his home Saturday to execute an arrest warrant connected to 2009 weapons charges for which he had received probation before judgment.

A Baltimore blogger wanted on a court-issued warrant refused to come out of his home for hours, broadcasting his discussion with a police negotiator live on the Internet before turning himself in peacefully. Frank James MacArthur, 47, was taken into custody outside his home in the 600 block of McKewin Ave. at about 11 p.m. - timed, he said, for local news stations - after a standoff lasting more than five hours and which involved the department's SWAT team. Police were there to serve a warrant issued in June by his probation agent stemming from a 2009 gun case and another for subsequent failure to appear in court, according to court records, and the situation was ratcheted up after police said MacArthur made threatening statements to officers over social media.