Probation

The commission that awards accreditation to higher education institutions has placed Baltimore City Community College on probation because of concerns about the school's ability to evaluate student learning. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education last month announced that it will review the school's accreditation after questions were raised over the "assessment of student learning" which "demonstrates that, at graduation, or other appropriate points, the institution's students have knowledge, skills, and competencies consistent with institutional and appropriate higher education goals," according to the commission's website.

The younger of two teenagers found responsible for the death of a 14-year-old boy in Crofton will be placed on probation next week after having spent about 21 months in a juvenile facility, an Anne Arundel County judge ordered Thursday. The ruling closes a chapter in a case that highlighted the issue of suburban youth gang violence, but it left the victim's parents sharply criticizing the outcome. "Two years for killing somebody? That's a joke," said Jennifer Adkins, whose son, Christopher Jones, was killed over Memorial Day weekend in 2009.

A guy by the name of Mike Schaefer has filed a claim stating that he should get $28,000 from William Donald Schaefer’s estate. Mike Schaefer, a Baltimore landlord, is no relation to the late mayor, governor and comptroller, though he openly wished voters would confuse him with the political original when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2006, Baltimore mayor in 2007 and city sheriff last year. Mike Schaefer pursued a similar strategy in Nevada, where he ran against state Sen. Ray Shaffer in 2004.

A Catonsville man who is serving an eight year sentence for violating the terms of his probation did not return from his work release assignment in Towson on Wednesday, according to state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Mark Randolph, 35, was working at a Towson business as part program that employees offenders nearing the end of their sentence. He was at an unsupervised location, and officials said he did not return to the Baltimore Pre-Release Unit on Greenmount Avenue by 4:30 p.m. Randolph has faced numerous drug-related and assault charges over the past few years but most were dropped until he pleaded guilty in 2006 to drug distribution charge, according to court records.

Now that Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch are out of probationary prison, it's Game On again. Although Busch wants to move forward and symbolically sign some kind of truce and drive nice, Harvick is ready to rumble again. "He knows he has one coming," Harvick said after finishing fifth at Pocono on Sunday, only two spots behind Busch. The two got tangled up briefly when Harvick forced Busch down the track early in the race. "I just wanted him to think about it," Harvick said.

Two Baltimore police officers convicted of misconduct for stranding two 15-year-old boys far from their homes received 18-month suspended jail terms and probation Wednesday, with a judge refusing prosecutors' request to strip them of their badges. Detectives Tyrone Francis and Milton Smith asserted their innocence before Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory handed down the sentence. "I still believe the only thing I'm actually guilty of is doing my job," Smith said. The father of one of the victims had asked that Doory send the men to jail.

As expected, NASCAR officials weren't as amused as some spectators at the shenanigans involving Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick at Darlington Raceway. Each driver has been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four Sprint Cup Series championship points events through June 15. They were cited for "actions detrimental to stock car racing" — specifically their altercation on pit road after the race. "These penalties are about maintaining a safe environment on pit road," NASCAR communications director Kerry Tharp said.

Sergio Kindle avoided jail time after pleading guilty to drunken-driving charges Tuesday, but the Ravens linebacker still faces an uncertain future on the football field. Judge Neil Edward Axel sentenced the 23-year-old rookie to two years of probation because he thought Kindle had taken "positive steps" in getting treatment for alcohol abuse — including spending five days in a private Owings Mills facility last week. During the hearing, Kindle apologized, saying, "I'm very remorseful for my actions.

Timothy Crockett, 26, was sentenced to two life terms in prison — with all but 45 years of the sentence suspended — for the double murder of two teen-agers, the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced Thursday. A jury found in March that Crockett shot Darrius Harrison and Djuan Anderson, both 17, in Senator Troy Braily-Easterwood Park in June 2008. The event occurred two weeks after he had been released from a federal penitentiary in Illinois, where he was serving time for a gun charge, and while he was on probation for drug dealing.

As former Ravens player Mike Flynn watched with his wife in a Towson courtroom, a judge gave a suspended five-year prison sentence Thursday to a Pikesville woman accused of obtaining $10,000 from the ex-offensive lineman by falsely claiming to need treatment for terminal cancer. Lisa Hoppenstein Cohen, 41, the wife of a chiropractor and the mother of two, was also given three years of supervised probation and must repay the Flynns. She began that process outside the courtroom, doling out $2,000 in cash to Flynn, who then counted it. Cohen was ordered to pay the rest of the money before the conclusion of her probation.