Charm City Metro

Charles Street Metro Station 

Nothing like riding the Baltimore transit system and seeing Playboy's Boobs and Buns on my morning commute to work.  

Baltimore Christmas Fail

Tis' the season!  This Christmas tree only got half the love, and apparently only half the ornaments as well.  The worst part is that this tree is in the Children's Hospital.

It's a Charm City Christmas, ya'll!  

Ambulance Fail.

Howard Street 

Nothing like coming home to seeing an ambulance parked outside your apartment complex...

Overdose?

Howard Street 

Bus Driver Fights Student on Bus

This is a whole other level.  A public bus driver fights a student on the bus.  Clearly, the bus wasn't going anywhere, nor was it on time.  Keeping it classy..

MTA Bus Driver FIGHTS STUDENT ON BUS IN BALTIMORE

Realistic View of Baltimore

Man hospitalized with skull fractures after downtown attack

Dang, it's not even safe to get lunch on a Friday afternoon in daylight.  Only one block from my apartment..

A 32-year-old man is in critical condition after being attacked in the middle of the day on a downtown Baltimore street, according to his family and police. 

John Mason has been hospitalized since Friday in an induced coma with three skull fractures as a result of the attack, which police believe occurred at about 2 p.m. on Friday at Lombard and Howard streets, near the Bromo Seltzer tower. Mason's aunt, Christina Jasi, said he had shoe prints bruised into his head.

Police said that witnesses said Mason was attacked by a group of four to five males. He was disoriented and combative when emergency personnel arrived on the scene, which they believe was a result of brain swelling. 

A motive is not known; Jasi said nothing was taken from Mason, but police speculated that the attack may have been an attempted robbery. 

Jasi said Mason lives in the 300 block of Cathedral Street, where he draws tattoos out of his home. Recently released from prison, she said he kept to himself and is dating a woman who works downtown, and was traveling back after getting lunch with her. 

"It's a 50/50 chance of survival," Jasi said. "Once he makes it past 72 hours, his chance of survival increases. The only reason we know what happened is because the doctor saw footprints on his head. They were able to tell us there are scrapes on both knees and palms, and maybe he was hit in the head and fell, and then from there was brutally kicked in the head."

Jasi said police did not get involved until many hours later. Anthony Guglielmi, the Police Department's chief spokesman, said patrol officers were involved in the initial call for an injured person, and only later were able to determine what happened and contacted district detectives, who investigate serious assaults. 

Guglielmi said detectives were pulling cameras from the area to try to get more leads. 

Car Alarm

Message from my apartment complex:
"We are preparing to tow a gold Acura with Maryland tags 6AD6142 because the alarm has been going off for an extended time, if you know to whom this car belongs, please have them shut it off before the tow truck arrives within the half hour."

Security Alert

Theft of Cell Phone (Off-Campus)

Where:                100 Block of N. Wolfe Street

When:                  October 24, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Summary:           A staff member reported that she was walking southbound in the 100 block N. Wolfe Street listening to her iPhone through headphones when a teenager walking northbound on Wolfe Street grabbed her phone out of her hand and began running.  The victim chased the suspect north on Wolfe Street and discontinued the chase as the suspect ran into the 1800 block of Lamley Street.  The victim reported the incident to hospital security, and an immediate area canvass for the suspect was conducted by security officers and Baltimore City Police.  The suspect was not located.  The victim was not injured, and the phone was the only item taken in this incident.        

Wanted:            The suspect is described as an African-American teenage male, 16-18 years old, wearing a red baseball hat and blue jeans.

This incident is being actively investigated by the Baltimore Police Department.  If you witnessed the incident or have any information, please contact the Baltimore Police Department Southeastern District at 410-396-2422, or Corporate Security’s Investigations Unit at 410-955-9140 (refer to Incident Report Number 122J11275).

All faculty, staff and students are asked to keep their cell phones secure as they move about the city; victims are being targeted as they talk and text on the phones, not paying attention to their surroundings.

Should you find yourself the victim of a robbery, always remember to stay calm, listen and observe intently, do not resist, give up your property and report the crime as soon as possible.  Please Do Not chase a suspect as this increases your potential for serious injury.

For more crime prevention tips, please visit Corporate Security’s internal website and reference Security Information Bulletin “Electronic Thefts On The Rise” dated September 28, 2012.

This Security Alert can also be accessed by Johns Hopkins employees with JHM Intranet access on Corporate Security’s internal website.

Another Day on the Block

Outside my apartment

Police raid at my local Gold Buyers USA store

Just Another Monday Night in the Neighborhood

http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2012/10/18/3523374/10-ravens-were-in-local-club-during-shooting

On Monday, Brendon Ayanbadejo tweeted that Baltimore is a "violent city" when referring to an incident "at a club last weekend with 10 Ravens in the building. Scary."

The message was an apparent reference to a shooting outside Club Mirage, across from the Hippodrome Theater, where two people were shot at about 1 a.m. Monday. (Police did not report any other shootings near clubs last weekend.)

It was definitely a scary situation, and I'm just glad no one was hurt.

2nd Runner Up- America's Dirtiest Cities

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-dirtiest-cities/4

No surprise here!  There isn't a day that goes by that I see eaten chicken wings on the sidewalks.

Men in Baltimore

Baltimore Metro

Men in Baltimore die 5 years earlier than average.  Baltimore metro needs more uplifting advertisements.  They are so depressing.

Thank you, CareFirst!

Baltimore Metro Billboard

Thank you, CareFirst for the constant reminder that I should be going to the gym instead of taking a nap after work or going to happy hour!  This sign is seen by EVERYONE coming off the Baltimore metro system.

Career Changer

I know the job market is tough out there (trust me).  Perhaps, it's time to take on an additional part-time job.

Free "Range" Comedy

Free "Range" Comedy?  Get it? Oh, Baltimore...

Research Study?

Research study, scam, or marketing?  You be the judge.

Superblock

Outside my apartment

Motel Howard Street

Howard Street

This guy thought the outside sidewalk was a comfy place to pass out!

Weed Pulling Competition

Weed Pulling Competition in South Baltimore!!!

Are you sick and tired of all the weeds all over the streets, sidewalks and alleys in South Baltimore?  So are we at SouthBMore.com!

On Saturday, June 3oth we are hoping to bring all of those weeds their worst nightmare!  Sponsored by No Idea Tavern, SouthBMore.com is launching the firstWeed Pulling Competition in South Baltimore.

The rules are simple:

- Put together a team of people of any size (and sign-up by emailing Kevin@InceptMM.com)

- Pull as many weeds as you can on June 30th

- Put them in trash bags (which can be provided by SouthBMore.com)

- Call to get your weeds weighed and hauled off to the dump! (410-533-2990)

Kevin Lynch will be riding around with a truck, scale and chart weighing bags of weeds and crediting them to particular teams.  The contest ends at 3pm so all the trash can get the the dump.

The team that removes the most pounds of weeds will win a $150 bar tab at No Idea Tavern.  But it doesn’t stop there, the 2nd place team will win a $100 bar tab at No Idea and the 3rd place team will win a $50 tab.  Free food and drinks and a cleaner neighborhood, you can’t beat it!

If you don’t have a lot of time to participate or put together a team, SouthBMore.com is challenging every South Balimore resident, property owner, and business to give us 20 minutes of your time and pull some weeds.  South Baltimore is becoming one of the great urban areas in America, but as long as it is covered in weeds, people will never see it at its finest!

"Some People Would Give Anything To Get A Shot"

Baltimore Street Bus Stop

Hooters waitress allegedly contracts tuberculosis at Inner Harbor restaurant

Over the past seven months, Jheri Stratton has been quarantined in her house for a while, ordered to wear a mask to walk her dog, and monitored twice a week by a city Health Department official who watches to ensure that she swallows a handful of pills. She has had to cancel vacations and explain to friends why she can't go out.

Since the former waitress at Hooters in downtown Baltimore was diagnosed with active tuberculosis in November, allegedly after she and others contracted the disease from a manager at the Harborplace restaurant, her life has been miserable, Stratton said.

"It's just horrible, there's nothing else I can say," the 19-year-old 2010 graduate of Randallstown High School said. "I just wish none of this had ever happened."

Last month, Stratton was awarded workers' compensation from Hooters for lost wages and medical expenses, according to Bruce Block, Stratton's attorney and managing partner of Baltimore-based Jenkins Block & Associates. It was the latest and most official recognition of what Stratton has been going through.

"It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders because it's finally someone acknowledging that this isn't my fault," Stratton said. "Hooters is acknowledging the fact that this wasn't something that I just picked up on the MTA."

The public and patrons of the restaurant weren't at risk of contracting the disease, which is transmitted through prolonged exposure, said Dr. Evelyn Rodriguez, deputy commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department's Division of Disease Control.

Aside from Stratton, multiple other members of the Hooters staff were confirmed to have latent or nonactive tuberculosis after the restaurant and the Health Department scheduled two separate testings for staff at downtown hotels last October and in March, city health officials said.

Neither Rodriguez nor David Henninger, chief marketing officer and spokesman for Hooters of America, would disclose the exact number of latent cases found. The manager who allegedly spread the disease was not identified.

Henninger said management at the Harborplace location — which the chain considers one if its premier locations, with between 75 and 100 "Hooters girls" employed — worked closely with the Health Department during the past year to ensure that all proper medical steps were taken. Rodriguez said Hooters cooperated fully with the Health Department.

Stratton was first admitted at Sinai Hospital for a week in November, then quarantined in her home for a month after contracting the disease, and has since experienced serious medical problems, Block said.

Stratton, who said she had initially thought her cough and flu-like symptoms were related to her smoking and picking up some more common bug, said her tuberculosis has since caused much more serious symptoms, damaged her liver and forced her to remain on heavy medication. She had to take 10 pills a day for about a month. That's now down to 10 pills twice a week, which a health official watches her take to ensure she's adhering to her treatment.

The number of confirmed tuberculosis cases in the city each year has been dropping during the past decade, leveling off more recently to about 32 cases per year, Rodriguez said. That's compared with 60 confirmed cases in 2001, she said. Hospitals must report confirmed tuberculosis diagnoses to local health departments.

Stratton, who said she had worked at Hooters since March 2011, was fired two days after her workers' compensation claim was granted May 22.

"On the days I have to take my medicine, usually I'm nauseous and things like that," Stratton said. "And I was experiencing all these symptoms at Hooters, but they had no sympathy."

Henninger said there were "other on-the-job issues that came up that led to" Stratton's dismissal but would not elaborate.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tuberculosis is spread through the air by infected people coughing, sneezing or speaking. People with latent tuberculosis cannot spread the disease. The bacterial infection most often attacks an infected person's lungs but can also attack the kidney, spine and brain, and can be fatal.

"Persons with TB disease are most likely to spread the bacteria to other people they spend time with every day, such as family members or co-workers," according to a tuberculosis fact sheet for employers on the CDC website.

Whenever a case is confirmed in the city, Rodriguez said, health officials begin speaking with close contacts of the infected person and then less frequent contacts. "We call that a concentric circle approach," she said.

Rodriguez stressed that tuberculosis is often harder to contract than the common cold or flu, and said the department's investigation surrounding the case at Hooters, including the two staff testings, was not out of the ordinary or on a particularly large scale compared with other workplace investigations the city has conducted.

David Dowdy, an assistant professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's epidemiology department, provided a similar assessment.

"There are nurses who work in TB hospital wards in other countries that are not particularly well ventilated, and they can work with these patients every day for a year and not contract TB," he said, "so the overall risk for one case creating a large number of secondary cases is much smaller than the diseases we think about as being respiratory diseases such as the cold or the flu."

After being quarantined and starting treatment, Stratton returned to work at Hooters, where she said managers expressed frustration with her inability to work at a normal pace and co-workers said they noticed she had lost significant weight and couldn't eat.

Stratton, who lives with her girlfriend, Mari McCoy, and McCoy's family, said she was told by managers at the restaurant that her illness was "not serious" and that she shouldn't tell her family, which she considers McCoy's family to be, or friends about it or how she contracted it.

"Obviously, the fact that I have tuberculosis is something my family, who I live with, would need to know," she said, noting her arm swelled and oozed pus after she was given a shot there to test for the disease.

Initially, insurance attorneys for the Hooters company, which is based in Atlanta, challenged Stratton's claim — which Block filed with the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission in December — and a hearing was scheduled for June 6. But the challenge was dropped last month and the agency granted approval of the claim, according to commission records.

Stratton will be compensated for all her medical costs, for two-thirds of her lost wages during her illness — which compensation commission records put at $545 per week missed — and for "any permanent impairment" associated with her contracting the disease, Block said. Henninger confirmed that account.

"It's a lifetime benefit for medical coverage," Block said.

In substantiating Stratton's claim, Block said he confirmed that multiple other Hooters employees had contracted nonactive tuberculosis — which means tuberculosis bacteria is present in a person's body but there is no active illness — and that he was "pretty astonished and shocked" that the restaurant was never closed.

"To hear that the Health Department hadn't shut down the facility, that nobody knew, that the public wasn't aware?" Block said. "My client was a waitress, so she certainly was exposed to a lot of people."

Rodriguez said because of the epidemiology of tuberculosis and what is known about how it spreads — only among close contacts with prolonged exposure to the infected person, and only through airborne droplets and not via surfaces like plates, glasses or toilet seats — warning the public or closing the restaurant would have been "completely unwarranted."

The Health Department also found that the Hooters manager who had the confirmed case of tuberculosis was "not very infectious," Rodriguez said.

Stratton said she'll finally be finished with her medications in August and is looking forward to moving on with her life. She wants to go to school for cosmetology, she said.

"I'm not waiting any more tables for a very, very long time," she said.

Hooters waitress allegedly contracts tuberculosis at Inner Harbor restaurant

Security Information Bulletin: Unarmed Assault and Robbery (ARREST)

ATTEMPTED  ASSAULT & ROBBERY (off-campus)

 

LOCATION: 1600 block of East Monument Street

 

DATE: Tuesday, June 5

 

TIME: 9 p.m.

 

A School of Medicine staff member was walking in the 1600 block of E. Monument Street, adjacent to Mama Mia’s, when he was approached by an adult male who began aggressively asking for money. The male pointed a rake at the staff member and asked the staff member to show him his pockets when the requests for money were denied. As the Corporate Security External Security Officer stationed across from the incident stepped out of the booth, the suspect, upon seeing the security officer, backed away from the staff member and began walking east-bound on Monument Street. Off-duty police working for the hospital stopped the suspect and arrested him for the incident. No property was taken and the staff member was not injured. 

 

SUSPECT INFO:

Arrested:  Black/Male/24 years old

 

All faculty, staff and students are reminded to remain alert and aware of their surroundings while walking to and from the campus. Should you find yourself the victim of a robbery, always remember to stay calm, listen and observe intently. Do not resist, give up your property and report the crime as soon as possible.

Morgan Student Admits To Eating Joppatowne Man’s Body Parts; Charged With First-Degree Murder

Who does this?!

Only in the Charm City...

JOPPATOWNE, Md. (WJZ)— A chilling story unfolds in Harford County where family members find the chopped up body parts of a missing man. And now, the suspect admits to committing acts of cannibalism on that body.

Meghan McCorkell has the stunning twist to this murder investigation.

Behind the door of a townhouse on Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne, a house of horrors. It’s here police say Alexander Kinyua, 21, confessed to eating the heart and parts of the brain of a missing man.

Both the suspect and the victim were students at Morgan State University. But it was inside a Joppatowne home they shared where police say an unimaginable crime occurred.

Police say Kinyua’s brother went down to the laundry room of the house and saw a blanket on a box. He pulled off the blanket and saw two metal tins. Police say he opened them and saw a head and two hands. When Kinyua’s brother confronted him about this, police say Kinyua said they were animal remains and not human.

The brother then got his dad. The father went downstairs and the items were gone.

Kinyua’s familycalled police.

“Human remains, specifically a head and hands, were recovered on the main floor of the residence,” Sheriff L. Jesse Bane of Harford County said.

Police believe they belong to 37-year-old Kujoe Agyei-Kodie, a family friend who was living at the house.

The rest of the body was found in a church dumpster on Trimble Road just blocks away.

Two days before the murder, Kinyua was released on bond for another assault.

Kinyua was out on bond when he was arrested for Agyei-Kodie’s murder. His parents were trying to raise funds for his defense in the assault case, holding a fundraiser at a community church in Northeast Baltimore.

WJZ has learned Kinyua was in the process of being expelled from school after he attacked another student with a baseball bat in the dorms.

A student who didn’t want to be identified tells WJZ: “I just heard it was a random attack on a student, a student here. He was just walking down and stairs and boom! He just hit him.”

That student suffered a skull fracture, fractures in the arm and shoulder and was also blinded in the left eye.

Friends say Kinyua had a drastic personality change after he was kicked out of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program in January for disciplinary reasons.

“I heard he may have been a bit out of the ordinary at times,” Damete Roberts, a sophomore at Morgan State, said.

The victim was also a grad student at Morgan State. Agyei-Kodie– a native of Ghana– held several master’s degrees.

He’d lived in the house with the Kinyua family for six months.

“It’s very scary. Especially knowing that it’s so close to home,” neighbor Melinda Kraft said.

It was a grisly murder and there’s still no motive.

Detectives say that so far, the suspect has shown no remorse for the attack. They say that while he is cooperative and has confessed, he would not reveal why he did it.

According to published reports, he recently posted online statements about cults, ethnic cleansing and school shootings.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is helping in the investigation.

Kinyua was represented by a public defender in court on Thursday.

Police have not ruled out the possibility of more arrests.

The lead detective told WJZ he has no reason to believe that Kinyua was lying about eating the victim’s body parts.

A judge denied bail for Kinyua on Thursday. He’s charged with first-degree murder.

Morgan Student Admits To Eating Joppatowne Man’s Body Parts; Charged With First-Degree Murder « CBS Baltimore

America's Worst-Dressed People

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-worst-dressed-people/4

'Unruly' school kids cause disturbance in downtown 7-Eleven

Free sluprees make people do strange, hostile things.




'Unruly' school kids cause disturbance in downtown 7-Eleven

Baltimore Sinkhole on Major Interstate

Baltimore officials found a sinkhole on a major interstate going into the city.  As if everything around the city wasn't sinking already...

Baltimore Sinkhole

Do you use pain pills?

Local bus stop

From Farm to Table- Charm City Style

Lexington Market

I didn't realize that Baltimore was really into fresh organic type food.  This takes it to a whole new level.

Ain't No Thang

No caption needed.  

Baltimore Auto Show Fail

Baltimore Auto Show

The Baltimore Convention City apparently can't spell Mazda.  You don't have to be from Japan to know that it's spelled wrong.

Baltimore Spelling = Fail

Woman walks into light rail train in downtown Baltimore

Woman walks into light rail train in downtown Baltimore

A woman was seriously injured Monday evening when she walked into the side of a moving light rail train at Lombard and Howard streets, just west of Baltimore's downtown, officials said.

The accident occurred about 5:35 p.m., halting trains and forcing police to close off several streets during the evening rush hour. Trains were back and service and streets reopened about 6 p.m., police said.

Terry Owens, a spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration, said the woman struck the right front corner of the train, apparently while trying to cross the tracks that run north and south on Howard Street. He said the woman did not go under the train and was not hit by the wheels.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where fire officials said she was in serious condition.

Seriously, WTF! What is happening in downtown Baltimore?! First, a stabbing and now a random walking into the light rail.

Man stabbed in downtown Baltimore, expected to live- On my BLOCK!

Man stabbed in downtown Baltimore, expected to live

A man was stabbed and seriously injured Monday night in downtown Baltimore, according to city police.

The attack occurred shortly before 9 p.m. in front of an M&T Bank branch near West Fayette and South Eutaw streets, said Det. Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman. Details of the incident were not available.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, though police said the man's injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The stabbing was near the Hippodrome Theater, which did not have any events scheduled Monday night, and close to several other attractions.

Popeye's cater!

Broadway St.  

Not only is a Popeye's right across the street from the hospital, but they cater!

Just another day in the neighborhood

Two cop cars, an ambulance, and a police van = I feel safe.

Howard and Fayette St.  

Howard and Fayette St. 

Howard and Fayette St. 

Word of the Week- Antem

Antem - Thing that Francis Scott Key wrote. 

Another Great View From My Apartment

Howard Street

Question #1: How did this business open in a recession?

Question #2: Who even sells gold for cash?

Question #3: Who collects gold and silver coins?

Baltimore Public Health Fail

Having a Popeyes Chicken right across the street from the hospital = FAIL.

Please note there is also a Burger King on the other side of the hospital's campus.

At least it's 12 pieces for $13.99.

Broadway and Orleans St. 

Security Information Bulletin: Unarmed Assault and Robbery (Off-Campus)

bulletin subject:  UNARMED ASSAULT & ROBBERY (OFF-CAMPUS)

LOCATION:  2000 BLOCK OF BANK STREET

DATE:  DECEMBER 20, 2011

TIME:  10:40 PM

Summary:

A staff member reported that she was walking in the 2000 block of Bank Street when she was approached by three unidentified male juveniles who forcefully removed her book bag from her shoulder, pushed her to the ground and then kicked and punched her several times.  After the assault, all three suspects ran north-bound in the 300 block S. Washington Street out of sight.

The victim’s book bag contained her wallet, credit cards, personal identification and a small amount of U.S. currency.  She was treated for minor injuries in the Emergency Room of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and released.

This incident is being actively investigated by the Baltimore Police Department. If you have any information, please contact the Baltimore Police Department, Southeastern District at 410-396-2422 or Corporate Security’s Investigations Unit at 410-955-9140 (refer to Incident Report Number 112L 08958).

Students and staff who reside in the immediate area should be extremely cautious.

SUSPECT INFO:

Suspects are described as an African-American male, 13 years of age, approximately 5’1” tall and 120 lbs wearing a dark hoodie and blue pants. The second suspect was described as an African-American male, 13 years of age with a slim build, wearing a dark hoodie with red on the front. The third suspect was described as an African-American male, approximately 13years of age wearing a dark hoodie and blue jeans.

All faculty, staff and students are reminded to remain alert and aware of their surroundings while walking to and from the campus. Should you find yourself the victim of a robbery, always remember to stay calm, listen and observe intently, do not resist, give up your property and report the crime as soon as possible.

Employees with access to the Johns Hopkins Medicine intranet can view this Security Alert and others on Corporate Security’s internal website. 

For a good nite...

Women's Internet Study FAIL

Are you currently in an unsafe intimate relationship? You may have an STD, but at least you'll be reimbursed for your time (up to $100 in gift cards)!

Gift cards to your local pharmacy, I hope.