Detective

As the state fair opens in Timonium, pigs that will be judged for prizes will also be under scrutiny from state veterinarians after an outbreak of swine flu nearly threatened to shut down the event. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said a new strain of swine flu has been detected in 12 people who were exposed to pigs this month at the Queen Anne's County Fair. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday showed 276 cases nationwide.

Baltimore detectives are searching for a man they suspect in multiple robberies in Fells Point over the past month, and are asking for the public's help in identifying him. The robberies began July 20, with the latest occurring around midnight Thursday on Lancaster Street, police said. Most have happened between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., police said. The crimes were the latest robberies to occur in high-traffic areas, including the Inner Harbor, downtown and Federal Hill. Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the Fells Point robberies as "typically all the same.

A man was shot in Southwest Baltimore on Monday night, according to police. Homicide detectives were responding to the 3200 block of Walbrook Avenue, in the Walbrook neighborhood, shortly before 9:30 p.m., police said. Homicide detectives generally respond to scenes only when a victim has been killed or has wounds that are considered life-threatening. No further information was immediately available. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

The mother and the brother of a suspect in a triple shooting were gunned down in an ambush outside their Northeast Baltimore home, according to sources, prompting police to assign a special unit of top investigators to stop the "momentum of violence. " Police released few details Friday about the crimes - the triple shooting took place Wednesday in Southwest Baltimore and the ambush a day later - but condemned the violence. "From now on, when incidents like this happen, when there's this momentum of violence, we need to respond," said acting Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale.

The Hip Hop Fish & Chicken carry-out restaurant caught fire early Saturday in the 2800 block of Hillen Road in Baltimore, authorities said. Chief Kevin Cartwright of the Baltimore City Fire Department said firefighters arrived at the restaurant, which appeared unoccupied, around 3:45 a.m. No injuries to civilians or firefighters were reported, Cartwright said. The fire was under control by 6 a.m., but a few firefighters remain on the scene, he added.. Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the one-story building that once operated as a KFC, Cartwright said.

A man was shot multiple times in North Baltimore about 10 p.m. Thursday, according to police. Police responded to reports of gunfire in the 1000 block of Evesham Avenue in the Chinquapin Park-Belvedere neighborhood, where they found the man. Detectives were on the scene late Thursday investigating, police said. No further information was immediately available. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

After gathering information this spring on a series of armed robberies clustered around a few blocks in Southwest Baltimore, police say Det. George Cannida had a hunch where the suspects might strike next.  His intuition apparently paid off: after watching a male rob two men at gunpoint in the 2200 block of W. Mulberry St., Cannida notified patrol officers who chased the suspect to the rear of his home.  Police say the suspect, 16-year-old Corey...

City police were investigating three separate incidents - a stabbing in Northwest Baltimore, a shooting in West Baltimore and a shooting in East Baltimore - that left three men injured Monday. Shortly before 5 p.m., police were called to the 5100 block of Reisterstown Road in the Woodmere neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore for reports of a man who had been stabbed. Detectives found a man stabbed in the chest, said Detective Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. "They believe he was attacked by at least two to three individuals, and after he was stabbed, he stumbled into the street and it caused the street to be closed for some time," Monroe said.

From her push-up bra to her square-cut bangs, the woman in the photograph is somehow both squeaky-clean and, in a sexual sense, a little bit dirty. Her undergarments are crafted from black lace. She's wearing 7-inch platform heels and an utterly unforced smile. She's bending forward, but not too far. Her arms are held behind her at an awkward angle as if her wrists are bound. When Claire Sharp of Severna Park fished the slide from the pocket of an old suitcase last year, she immediately recognized the subject as Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup queen.

A veteran Baltimore police detective must resign from the department after being placed on probation for stealing groceries with her daughter, a cashier at the store where the theft occurred. Darlene Early, a Western District detective who joined the department in 1990, entered an Alford plea Wednesday to one count of theft under $1,000. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain innocence while admitting that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction. Her 18-year-old daughter, Ciara Anderson, pleaded guilty to the same charge, prosecutors said.