It’s been two months since Baltimore stopped sending out tickets from its speed and red light cameras… and while plans for a test run on the devices are in the works, it’s unclear when the program will be back online. Plus: a report on the 2014 Attorney General’s race, plans for new Baltimore parks, “House of Cards” dresses up the House of Delegates chamber in advance of next week’s filming, new bag restrictions for Ravens games, chicken pox, and the latest installment in our series “Rockets’ Red Glare.” And more…
2014 Attorney General’s Race: WYPR's Fraser Smith and David Moon, political consultant and blogger at Maryland Juice, talk about the under-the-radar race for Maryland Attorney General. It’s this morning’s edition of Inside Maryland Politics.
Baltimore Speed Cameras: Baltimore’s automated speed and red light camera program stopped issuing tickets two months ago… and it’s still uncertain when the citations will start going out again. City police say they’ve improved their citation review process, and city officials say they’ll soon perform a test run on the cameras and then get the program back online; the city says it will publicly announce when the system goes live again. Meanwhile, Baltimore is losing potential revenue while the cameras are out of commission; the Baltimore Sun notes that the city’s speed cameras alone issued an average of 90-thousand dollars in fines on weekdays last year.
Rockets’ Red Glare: To most Americans, the War of 1812 was our “second war of independence,” in which we threw off the British Empire for good. But they don’t see it quite that way in Canada and Great Britain. WYPR’s Joel McCord reports, in this installment of our series “Rockets’ Red Glare: The War, The Song, and their Legacies.”
Park Plans: Plans for a 6 acre park in East Baltimore were approved yesterday by the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel. The Baltimore Business Journal reports that the new “Eager Park” will go in the middle of the 88-acre redevelopment near Johns Hopkins Hospital. Meanwhile, plans for a park at Harbor Point have been sent back to the drawing board. The Architecture Review Panel said that the proposal made yesterday didn’t meet the program’s needs. The Baltimore Business Journal reports that other park designs have yet to be proposed for the development, where Exelon’s new 23-story regional headquarters is going up. A programming note: we’ll have more on the Harbor Point development at noon on Midday with Dan Rodricks.
Thursday’s Severe Weather: Yesterday’s storms were not as bad as some forecasters had feared, but they still did some damage. The National Weather Service tells the Baltimore Sun the band of storms that passed through yesterday morning was a “low end” derecho – similar to, but not as strong as, last year’s storm that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of Marylanders (some for more than a week). As the storms blew through yesterday, nearly 40-thousand BGE customers lost their power; as of 8:15am. service has been restored to all but about 3-thousand of them. Spotters say there were tornado touchdowns around Olney and in Laurel yesterday; the National Weather service will make the final determination if there were, in fact, twisters.
“House Of Cards” Filming: In Annapolis, the House of Delegates chamber is undergoing some changes; it’s being made to look like the US Senate, in advance of next week’s shooting for the Netflix series “House of Cards.” The political drama is filming its second season; the Baltimore Sun notes that the Maryland Film Office estimated that its first season had an economic impact of about 140-million dollars.
Chicken Pox: Maryland is number one… for chickenpox. That’s according to sickweather.com, which uses social media to track illnesses. Its analysis shows that Maryland had the highest per capita rate of chickenpox reporting in the nation over the last 20 months. The Baltimore Business Journal has more here.
The Lines Between Us: During Morning Edition, we got, a preview of today’s episode of “The Lines Between Us” – our yearlong exploration of inequality in the Baltimore region. During it, hip hop producer Auddio Viddeo chronicles a tense confrontation with the Baltimore Police.
Bag Restrictions For Ravens Games: Folks attending Ravens games at M&T Bank Stadium this year will not be allowed to bring bags with them – unless those bags are transparent. The policy change, initiated by the NFL, follows the Boston Marathon bombing; similar restrictions were put in place for this year’s Preakness Stakes. The Baltimore Sun reports that the NFL says it’ll sell some see-through bags that meet its new requirements, but hasn’t put any up for sale yet.
Baltimore Baseball: The Orioles took 13 innings to beat the Boston Red Sox last night – but they won in the end, 5 to 4. The two teams continue their series tonight at Camden Yards; the game starts at 7:05pm.