Be Bold, Baltimore: We Need a Downtown Arena

Baby was unharmed, mother suffered head laceration

(NEWSER) - It's every mother's nightmare: A carjacker forced his way into a 24-year-old woman's car at a Baltimore gas station last night—and drove away while she and her 20-month-old baby were still inside. And as 22-year-old Terron White led police on a chase from I-95 to the Capitol Beltway, the mom jumped out, ABC7 reports. The baby was unharmed and her mother was treated for a head laceration at a nearby hospital. More»

FBI is seeking Facebook, email messages

(NEWSER) - The FBI believes the murder of a missing high school student is linked to a child pornography operation, sources tell ABC News . Investigators are seeking Facebook conversations and emails between 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes of North Carolina and four Baltimore men, according to court documents. Investigators have "reason to believe" the communications will uncover evidence of child sex crimes or child pornography, according to an FBI agent. Barnes was missing for four months before her nude body was found in Maryland, about 35 miles from Baltimore. Barnes disappeared while visiting her sister. Her last Facebook message said she was with her sister's boyfriend. More»

Localities sell your unpaid bills to investors who foreclose

(NEWSER) - Vicki Valentine's father paid off the mortgage on their home a quarter-century ago, but she's been foreclosed on and evicted anyway, thanks to a $362 unpaid water bill. Valentine's one of a growing number falling prey to “tax sales,” the Huffington Post reports. Basically, the city sold Valentine's debt to an investment bank, which piled on fees and interest until the bill was more than $3,600. When Valentine couldn't pay, it seized the house. More»

Johns Hopkins student defends home with lethal results: police

(NEWSER) - For those thinking of burglarizing hapless eggheads, think again: A would-be burglar met his end at the hands of a Johns Hopkins student armed with a samurai sword early today, the Baltimore Sun reports. The student, who lives off-campus, told cops he heard a sound and went downstairs, to find a man in his garage. When the man lunged at him, the student says he defended himself with the sword. More»

(NEWSER) - William Zantzinger, the white Maryland tobacco farmer immortalized in a Bob Dylan song for the 1963 killing of a black Baltimore barmaid, has died. Zantzinger, inebriated from a night on the town, struck Hattie Carroll with a cane when she was slow bringing him a bourbon. Carroll, a 51-year-old mother of 11 children, died from a brain hemorrhage 8 hours later. Zantzinger was convicted of manslaughter and served 6 months. Dylan recorded "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" in 1964. More»