Beloved former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nfl">NFL</a> great and longtime Fox Sports sideline reporter Tony Siragusa has died, according to a report that shocked Baltimore Ravens fans already reeling from the announcement earlier in the day of the death of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26-year-old-nfl-player-jaylon-ferguson-dead">current team member</a>.
Siragusa, the garrulous former defensive tackle who weighed 340 pounds in his playing days, helped the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/baltimore">Ravens</a> to a Super Bowl victory in 2001. No cause of death was released, and word that he had died came first from longtime teammate and pal Jamal Lewis.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a sad day to be a Raven I must say,&#8221; Lewis, the ex-running back said on Wednesday.
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NFL legend Tony Siragusa has died at 55 years old, his former Baltimore Ravens teammate, Jamal Lewis, confirmed to TMZ Sports. <a href="https://t.co/JRGbzZRfKs">https://t.co/JRGbzZRfKs</a>
&mdash; TMZ (@TMZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/1539695762455633921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Siragusa, 55, who was known affectionately as “Goose,” also hosted a television show on the DIY network called “Man Caves.” His death came on the same day the Ravens announced the unexpected <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26-year-old-nfl-player-jaylon-ferguson-dead">passing of linebacker Jaylon Ferguson</a>.
Siragusa, who played college ball at University of Pittsburgh, began his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 1990 and became a starter two years later. He signed with Baltimore in 1997, just after the team had moved from Cleveland.
The tackle was a cornerstone in formidable Ravens defense that also included future Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Rod Woodson.
Siragusa retired following the 2001 season and had a second act in the game as a funny and informative sideline reporter for Fox.
Ravens fans took to Twitter to share their affection for Siragusa.
&#8220;RIP Tony Siragusa,&#8221; wrote Stavros Halkias. &#8220;I was in 6th grade when the Ravens won their first Super Bowl and I can’t tell you how much he meant to me as a fat loudmouthed Mediterranean child growing up in Baltimore. Rest easy, Goose&#8221;
&#8220;This is one of the saddest days in Ravens history,&#8221; wrote Ravens broadcaster Gerry Sandusky. &#8220;The deaths of Jaylen Ferguson and Tony Siragusa on the same day leaves every Ravens fan stunned. A player so young with potential, and a legend who brought so joy and impact to the field. Gone. Tough to wrap your head around.&#8221;
Earlier in the day, the team announced the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26-year-old-nfl-player-jaylon-ferguson-dead">death of Ferguson</a>, who had been expected to play a key role on the team in the upcoming season.
“We are profoundly saddened by the tragic passing of Jaylon Ferguson,” the team’s Twitter account announced. “He was a kind, respectful young man with a big smile and infectious personality.
“We express our heartfelt condolences to Jaylon’s family and friends as we mourn a life lost much too soon,” the statement added.

Super Bowl XXXV – Baltimore Ravens v New York Giants

Ex-NFL Great, Fox Reporter Tony Siragusa Dead In Double Tragedy For Baltimore Ravens

Baltimore

Death

Sports

The NFL&#8217;s Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday announced the death of 26-year-old linebacker Jaylon Ferguson.
Ferguson has been at least the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sudden-death-the-surge-of-nfl-tragedies-and-whats-behind-it">fourth</a> NFL player under 40 years old to die this year.
&#8220;We are profoundly saddened by the tragic passing of Jaylon Ferguson,&#8221; the team&#8217;s Twitter account announced. &#8220;He was a kind, respectful young man with a big smile and infectious personality.
&#8220;We express our heartfelt condolences to Jaylon’s family and friends as we mourn a life lost much too soon,&#8221; the statement added.
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We are profoundly saddened by the tragic passing of Jaylon Ferguson. <a href="https://t.co/ylBvLEzjer">pic.twitter.com/ylBvLEzjer</a>
&mdash; Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/1539577853502754817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The athlete&#8217;s agent, Safarrah Lawson, asked for prayers and privacy for Ferguson&#8217;s family at this time. Lawson also did not provide any details on Ferguson&#8217;s cause of death. 
“It’s with great sadness that we announce the passing of Baltimore Ravens LB Jaylon Ferguson. The family asks for your prayers and privacy during this trying time,&#8221; Lawson said in a statement, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday. 
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Terrible news: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ravens?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ravens</a> LB Jaylon Ferguson has died at just 26 years old. 
 Statement from agent Safarrah Lawson:
“It’s with great sadness that we announce the passing of Baltimore Ravens LB Jaylon Ferguson. The family asks for your prayers and privacy during this trying time.”
&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1539578100740153344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Earlier this month, 38-year-old Marion Barber, who played for the Dallas Cowboys, was found dead at his apartment in Frisco, Texas.
 His cause of death has yet to be determined.
Former Cowboys teammate Terence Newman recalled this week that Barber was in distress during their last encounter three years ago.
“He wasn’t doing too well … he looked bad … like a different person, like he couldn’t function,” Newman said, <a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/06/14/marion-barbers-ex-teammate-terence-newman-scared-by-last-encounter">according</a> to Sports Illustrated. “When I tell you I was scared, I thought he might swing on me.”
While speculation has stirred about Barber suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE, the late player&#8217;s father, Marion Barber II, <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/article262097117.html">said</a> in a recent interview that his son did not want his brain donated for CTE research.
Before his death, Barber was <a href="https://thelandryhat.com/2022/06/13/cowboys-marion-barber-death-details-cte-research/">reportedly</a> hospitalized for mental health concerns on two occasions.
In April, 24-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/withhold-any-judgement-widow-of-nfls-dwayne-haskins-releases-statement-following-autopsy-report">Dwayne Haskins</a> died after he was struck by a dump truck while attempting to cross the westbound lanes of I-595 in Broward County, Florida.
A recent medical report showed that Haskins had a .20 blood alcohol content level at the time of his death and tested positive for the drugs ketamine and norketamine. Haskins also reportedly had a “female companion” in the vehicle he exited just before the accident occurred.
And in May, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Jeff Gladney, 25, tragically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-round-nfl-draft-pick-dead-at-25">died</a> in a car accident last month. Details of the crash remain unknown.
The Daily Wire will update this post as more information is provided 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sudden-death-the-surge-of-nfl-tragedies-and-whats-behind-it">Sudden Death: The Surge Of NFL Tragedies, And What’s Behind It</a>

Baltimore Ravens v Las Vegas Raiders

26-Year-Old NFL Player Jaylon Ferguson Dead

A federal judge has denied Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s request to have the charges against her dismissed and further rejected her claims to be targeted because of her race.
Mosby was federally indicted in January 2022 on charges of perjury and making a false statement on a loan application. Her attorney, A. Scott Bolden, argued in court last Thursday that the charges against Mosby came from Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise’s personal – and racial – animosity toward Baltimore’s top prosecutor. Bolden argued that the charges should be dismissed for that reason, or that Wise should be removed from prosecuting the case, WTOP <a href="https://wtop.com/maryland/2022/04/federal-judge-rejects-mosbys-motion-to-dismiss-charges-against-her/">reported</a>.
But U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby refused to dismiss the case, saying Mosby failed to meet the legal standard for dismissing the case outright or to have the prosecuting attorney removed. Griggsby also rejected Mosby’s claims of “animus” and “selective and vindictive prosecution,” WTOP reported.
“Bolden argued that Wise has a ‘penchant’ for prosecuting Black politicians and that he displayed animosity toward Mosby when he contributed $200 to her political opponents in 2018. He also alleged that Wise was belligerent in a meeting and that prosecutors failed to present potentially exculpatory evidence to a grand jury,” the outlet reported.
“We think these are powerful facts,” Bolden said. “We think you gotta do something about this. This is not a clean indictment.”
Wise, in turn, accused Bolden and Mosby of creating “a victim fantasy… to deflect from the defendant’s conduct,” claiming their allegations are “a jumble of baseless and poorly reasoned personal attacks… divorced from the law on selective and vindictive prosecutions.”
“This is a play that politicians do,” he added, according to WTOP.
Wise further argued that public corruption cases must go through a rigorous process and get approval from an internal “indictment review committee,” saying that he “could no more decide whether to indict someone than I could authorize air strikes into Russia.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney, Wise’s co-counsel, told Griggsby that the prosecution brought a case against Mosby “because a federal grand jury found probable cause.”
Griggsby rejected Mosby’s claims of racial animus, writing in her ruling that the objections “amount to objections or differences of opinions.” The judge also ruled that Wise’s prior donations to Mosby’s campaign opponents were not evidence of unfair targeting.
Following the ruling, Mosby said she was innocent, telling reporters “I’m going to fight and I’m going to prevail, like I always do.”
Bolden also asserted his client’s innocence.
“This fight continues,” he said. “This is one step in the ongoing fight and the struggle for her freedom and her liberty and for her success — politically, personally and family-wise.”
Mosby is accused of lying about being negatively impacted by COVID-19 and using the excuse to withdraw $40,000 from her Baltimore City retirement account, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-baltimore-city-state-attorney-marilyn-mosby-indicted-on-federal-perjury-mortgage-charges">reported</a>. Prosecutors allege she did not face any financial hardship due to COVID-19 and that she allegedly used the money to purchase two properties in Florida. She is also charged with making false statements on mortgage applications, failing to note that she had unpaid federal taxes and that the IRS had placed a $45,000 lien against properties she and her husband owned.
Despite the indictment, Mosby is on the ballot for re-election in November.

Race & Justice: Marilyn Mosby Interview

Federal Judge Refuses To Dismiss Charges Against Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Rejects Claims Of Racism

Crime

A full 85% of students in Maryland are not proficient in math, in large part due to the COVID-19 shutdowns of the past two years.
Fox Baltimore <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/project-baltimore/staggering-learning-loss-85-of-maryland-students-tested-were-not-proficient-in-math">reported</a> that results from recent state test scores revealed the “stunning amount of learning loss,” a prediction the outlet said experts made during the pandemic that has now come true. Fox reported:
<blockquote>The pandemic created a debate over education. On one side, some parents, and Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, were saying students need to be learning in person.
“The gap is getting wider,” Amy Adams, a parent in Baltimore County, told Project Baltimore back in October 2020.
“We are not raising the bar. We are lowering the bar,” added Sara Russell, another parent in Baltimore County who spoke with Fox45 News in 2020.
During a news conference in January 2021, Santelises supported a return to the classroom, saying “To ignore that &#8212; we do have families that want an in-person option &#8212; would be irresponsible.”
But on the other side of the debate, were the teachers’ unions and those fighting to keep learning virtual.
“We don’t want anyone forced back into buildings until it’s safe,” Diamonte Brown, the president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said back in July 2021.</blockquote>
It appears the harm done to students by closing down schools is now apparent, with the scores from the 2021 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program – the first standardized state tests students have taken since the beginning of the pandemic – showing dire numbers in proficiency.
The test difficulty was even reduced for students, who took a shorter test in the fall that was for a grade level below their current grade. Even that didn’t improve scores.
“In Baltimore City, less than 7 percent of students tested in third through fifth-grade math scored proficient. That means more than 93 percent are not proficient in math. The results for English Language Arts are just as alarming. The data shows 91 percent of students tested in third through fifth grade are not proficient,” Fox reported.
It’s not just Baltimore seeing issues, either. Across Maryland, 81% of students taking the grade three through five tests were not proficient in math, with 76% not proficient in English Language Arts.
For middle schoolers in Baltimore, around 95% who took the seventh- and eighth-grade tests were not proficient in math. The numbers weren’t much better across the state, with 94% not proficient in math at those grade levels.
As The Daily Wire has documented, the problems for Baltimore students in particular are staggering. At one Baltimore high school, 77% of students were found <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/77-of-students-at-one-baltimore-high-school-read-at-elementary-kindergarten-level">to read</a> at an elementary or kindergarten level. And as another result of the COVID closures, four in 10 Baltimore public high school students <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/following-covid-4-in-10-baltimore-public-high-students-earned-below-a-1-0-gpa">earned below a 1.0 GPA</a>. What’s worse, failing grades <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/baltimore-city-schools-a-failing-grade-wont-stop-students-from-moving-up">won’t keep students</a> from moving on.
Enter for the chance to hang out with Gina Carano at the premiere of her new Daily Wire movie, Terror on the Prairie! Two lucky Daily Wire members will be given the complete red carpet treatment &#8211; free airfare, hotel, premiere car service, and exclusive merch. Daily Wire members can click <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/redcarpet">here</a> to enter for a chance to win. If you’re not a Daily Wire member yet, click <a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe">here</a> to join us so you can win this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Maryland State Flag

A Whopping 85% Of Maryland Students Are Not Proficient In Math After COVID School Closures

Children

Education

Maryland

More than three quarters of students at one Baltimore high school are reading at an elementary level, with many reading at a kindergarten level.
Fox Baltimore <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/77-tested-at-baltimore-high-school-read-at-elementary-level-71-at-kindergarten">reported</a> that a teacher at Patterson High School, one of the largest high schools in the city, came forward with information showing 77% of students at the schools were found to have an elementary school reading level. Patterson has a 61% graduation rate and a $12 million budget. The teacher has not been identified to protect them from retaliation.
“iReady assessments are given in Baltimore City Schools to help determine at which grade level a student is performing in math and reading. The scores are not made public. If the media requests them, the district will redact most of the results. But Project Baltimore obtained the results for all of the students tested at Patterson High School,” the outlet reported. “In reading, 628 Patterson High School students took the test. Out of those students, 484 of them, or 77%, tested at an elementary school reading level. That includes 71 high school students who were reading at a kindergarten level and 88 students reading at a first-grade level. Another 45 are reading at a second-grade level. Just 12 students tested at Patterson High School, were reading at grade level, which comes out to just 1.9%.”
When Fox asked the teacher how a student with such a low reading school could make it to high school, the teacher said “They’re pushed through.”
“They&#8217;re not ready for the workforce. They&#8217;re not ready for further education,” the teacher said.
“These numbers aren&#8217;t lying,” the teacher added. “We truly need the families to see these numbers and to understand what it is.”
Fox noted that Baltimore City Schools have a “one fail” policy, meaning that students can only fail a grade once before ninth grade. After one fail, the student will be pushed onto the next grade no matter how poorly they have done.
The revelation comes at the same time that Maryland Public Policy Institute released a report showing that Maryland taxpayers are paying millions of dollars for “ghost students” – those who don’t attend school.
&#8220;The endemic enrollment fraud in Baltimore schools is a crime, not only against Maryland taxpayers who pay 70% of the city&#8217;s education costs, but against the children these schools are meant to serve,” Sean Kennedy, a visiting fellow with MPPI, <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/maryland/policy-group-maryland-taxpayers-pay-millions-on-ghost-students/article_f6cc0a48-850d-11ec-ad0f-afb37f069960.html">told</a> The Center Square.
“Fraudulently listing non-existent students is bad enough, but the school system has demonstrated cruel indifference toward those who are chronically truant or flat out missing, many of whom are vulnerable and potentially at risk of neglect, abuse and are being denied an education,” Kennedy added. “Worse, Baltimore&#8217;s enrollment ‘irregularities’ are not new, but a tradition with evidence of at least 15 years of enrollment fraud in its schools.”
This is not the first indication that Baltimore schools are in need of serious reform. In July 2021, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/following-covid-4-in-10-baltimore-public-high-students-earned-below-a-1-0-gpa">reported</a> that following COVID shutdowns, four in 10 Baltimore public high school students earned below a 1.0 GPA – and failing grades <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/baltimore-city-schools-a-failing-grade-wont-stop-students-from-moving-up">wouldn’t keep</a> students from moving onto the next grade.

people standing and enjoyed reading books together

77% Of Students At One Baltimore High School Read At Elementary, Kindergarten Level

On Thursday, Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby was federally indicted on allegations of perjury and making a false statement on a loan application.
According to <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/baltimore-prosecutor-marilyn-mosby-is-federally-indicted">FOX 45 Baltimore</a>, &#8220;Mosby is accused of lying about experiencing COVID-related hardship on an application where she asked to withdraw $40,000 from her Baltimore City retirement account.&#8221;
The indictment asserts that Mosby was not under any actual financial hardship due to COVID-19.
&#8220;She is also charged with making false statements to influence a mortgage company, in connection with a vacation home in Florida,&#8221; the local media outlet added. “She allegedly failed to disclose that she owed ‘significant amounts of federal taxes’ on a mortgage application.”
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/13/mosby-baltimore-indicted-federal-court/">reported</a> that she is accused of using COVID-19 funds to purchase two Florida rental homes:
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The indictment alleges that Mosby requested permission in May and December of 2020 to withdraw $40,000, and then another $50,000, from her City of Baltimore employee retirement account, under a Cares Act clause that enabled people impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to access their money. Mosby claimed both times, under penalty of perjury, that she had experienced “adverse financial consequences” related to work hardships — which federal prosecutors allege was not true.
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Mosby received the money, the indictment alleges, then used it to purchase two properties in Florida — a home in Kissimmee and a condo in Long Boat Key.
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On those charges relating to mortgage applications, she allegedly neglected to note that she &#8220;had unpaid federal taxes or that in March 2020 the Internal Revenue Service had placed a $45,000 lien against all properties she and her husband owned, according to the indictment.&#8221;
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Mosby was elected as State Attorney in 2014 and then re-elected in 2018. She has served as what could be characterized as a &#8220;rogue prosecutor&#8221; during much of her time in office.
&#8220;Last year, she announced she would stop prosecuting certain misdemeanor cases, including prostitution and drug possession,&#8221; The Washington Post reported. &#8220;She said it was part of a shift to keep jails from overcrowding during the pandemic.&#8221;
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In response, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) has criticized Mosby, recently telling Fox News that she was a &#8220;big part of the problem&#8221; of rising crime in Maryland.
&#8220;We have a prosecutor in Baltimore City who refuses to prosecute violent criminals and that’s at the root of the problem,&#8221; he said.
Just this week, a Republican and pastor in Baltimore named Shannon Wright <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/morning/city-activist-criticizes-marylin-mosbys-decision-not-to-prosecute-prostitution">criticized</a> Mosby for refusing to prosecute crimes like prostitution.
&#8220;There used to be a time, and some folks may not like this phrase, but there&#8217;s a thing called &#8216;Black excellence,&#8217; where we strove as parents to instill it in our children, where as teachers we strove to instill it in our students,&#8221; Wright said. &#8220;It was something that — not mediocrity, not baseline, when you set a goal to say ‘we don’t want to hurt folk by unfairly prosecuting these crimes,’ these lead to other crimes, these escalate. And for those that want to argue that fact, seventh straight year, 300+ homicides. The officer just laid to rest yesterday, our children still not getting a proper education, we’re in a situation where, in our schools, [we have] learning loss whether you’re in the building or not.&#8221;
&#8220;No parent is going to look at these things as low level crime, and I tell you why,&#8221; Wright added in response to Mosby&#8217;s prosecutorial stance. &#8220;When you’re a good parent, you spend time with your children, you start to discipline them. They understand, when I say this, this is what you have to do. When that doesn’t happen, there’s a punishment. That’s a foundational example that we set with our children when they are young. So when you become a prosecutor, and you have a larger scope to be able to set that foundation of what is acceptable and what is not, and you choose to send the wrong message, you cannot then cry foul when people say you are the cause of the problems with regard to crime that we are seeing.&#8221;
Wright also said the city needed &#8220;prosecutors to prosecute because they have to be that line of defense where people understand if there is an issue that’s causing you to act outside of the way you should, we’re going to get you help.&#8221;
&#8220;Marilyn Mosby is that last line of defense to make people follow the normal, accepted community values and morals, and the law, and when she abdicates that role, it leads to anarchy and unrest like we’re seeing in the city,&#8221; she added.
Now, Mosby may wind up heading to prison herself if she is found guilty on the charges she has been indicted on by the federal government.
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Marilyn Mosby

Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby Indicted On Federal Perjury, Mortgage Charges

A Baltimore police officer is in critical condition after a gunman shot her multiple times while she was sitting in her patrol car, according to officials.
Officer Keona Holley was on duty early Thursday morning but not responding to a call. At around 1:30 a.m., Holley was sitting in her vehicle when someone walked up from the rear of the vehicle and fired multiple times into the driver’s seat, hitting Holley. Police say Holley apparently accelerated and crashed the police car. Holley remains in critical condition.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison gave a news conference Thursday morning without naming Holley. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) tweeted for people to “keep her in your prayers.”
“At some point a would-be shooter apparently walked up, somewhere from the rear of the vehicle or alongside of the vehicle, and began firing into the vehicle striking our officer,” Harrison said at the news conference, <a href="https://wtop.com/baltimore/2021/12/baltimore-officer-on-life-support-after-ambush-shooting/">according to WTOP</a>.
Harrison called the shooting “cowardly” and asked for the community’s help in identifying Holley’s attacker.
Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson released a statement regarding the attack, saying, “This assassination attempt on a police officer sitting simply in her patrol vehicle, a mother of four, represents a level of depravity that shakes us to our core
“This is beyond the pale of anything remotely conceivable in our city,” Ferguson added. “Simply put, things are broken and the trajectory we are on is totally unsustainable. It is time to hit reset.”
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott agreed that the attack was “cowardly.”
“As the commissioner said, this is a cowardly act. And we have a coward on the loose in Baltimore that we must and will find, and that we have to go after someone who was so cowardly, they didn’t have the decency to face this officer who’s in this neighborhood to protect,” Scott said, adding that Holley was “doing the things that so many people are afraid to do — put themselves at risk in order to protect other folks.”
Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby also condemned the attack.
“We all stand here, extremely angry. Angry for the police officer who was involved in this cowardly act. Angry for the men and women who stand next to her every single day to risk their lives to keep our city safe. Angry for her family. Violence is unacceptable. But when you see violence that leads to this type of violence, it hits us all,” he said.
On Facebook, the Baltimore Police Department <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreCityPolice">asked</a> for tips in the case. Multiple agencies are offering rewards for tips that lead to the arrest of the shooter.
“Metro Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $4,000 for a tip leading to an arrest and charges filed,” the BPD wrote.
In addition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is offering a $10,000 reward. The FBI and U.S. Marshal Service are each offering an additional $10,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest and conviction. The Baltimore City FOP is offering $25,000 on top of that, for a total reward potential of up to $59,000.
On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) tweeted that the state would match the reward offered by the other agencies combined, for a total of $118,000. Hogan also said the Maryland State Police would assist in the investigation.
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The state will match this reward, bringing it to $118,000.
If you have any information, please call 1-866-756-2587. <a href="https://t.co/rJe5IG6zRX">https://t.co/rJe5IG6zRX</a>
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovLarryHogan/status/1471600743899557893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Washington Nationals v Baltimore Orioles

‘Assassination Attempt’: Baltimore Police Officer Shot In Cold Blood, Clinging To Life

Police

Public schools in Baltimore are monitoring student activities online using software that recognizes certain words and phrases that then alert school officials that a student may be contemplating suicide.
The Baltimore Sun <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-laptops-monitoring-20211012-a2j3vsytijhhjj36n57ri5zdhi-story.html">called</a> the surveillance system “controversial,” adding that it was added to laptops during the pandemic, when students were using school computers at home.
“Since March, nine students have been identified through GoGuardian’s Beacon software as having a severe mental health crisis and were taken to an emergency room, according to Stacey Davis, the city schools coordinator of media and instructional technology. In at least two of those cases, the students had never had any mental health care,” the Sun reported.
Two recent reports cast doubt on the system, warning that it could be used to discipline for their private online activities and limit students’ free speech. The reports also noted that LGBTQ students could be unintentionally outed by use of the surveillance system.
Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, co-authored one of the reports and told the Sun that “Privacy and equity was not being considered as much as it needs to be.”
GoGuardian has been used before for monitoring students’ online activity, but not for mental health issues. School officials told the Sun that they were trying to build relationships with students using the software.
The Sun’s editorial board published <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-1013-schools-monitoring-kids-online-20211012-7fglo2hdyrhilmqjmfu52qe76i-story.html">an article</a> raising concerns about the software:
<blockquote>The city system apparently has no policies in place to govern what can — and can’t — be monitored on its thousands of devices. It has <a href="https://therealnews.com/cops-in-baltimore-schools-are-monitoring-students-laptops">sent police to children’s homes</a> in response to their use of certain self-harm-related keywords, as The Real News Network noted earlier this month. And the surveillance undoubtedly targets lower-income families, who are more likely to use school-issued computers instead of their own, personal devices.</blockquote>
School Police Chief Akil Hamm told the Sun that many families who were contacted due to alerts from the software were grateful to learn about their children’s mental health concerns.
“But it doesn’t alleviate our other concerns, including the potential for 4th amendment violations involving warrantless searches. If this software usage is to continue in this way, we’d much prefer to see social workers and psychologists responding to red flags, rather than armed officers,” the editorial board wrote.
Baltimore is not the only place monitoring student online activity. Other school districts in Maryland have increased monitoring during the pandemic, mostly to ensure students are doing their assignments. Schools in Rhode Island also have monitoring software, and teachers in the state can view student activity and even access the cameras, according to <a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-ri-report-shows-alarming-lack-privacy-protection-students-school-loaned">a report</a> from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU’s report found:
<ul>
<li>23 districts explicitly advise students and parents that they have no expectation of privacy when in possession of the device.  </li>
<li>23 districts give school officials the authority to access the contents of a school-loaned device for any reason and with no notice. </li>
<li>24 districts allow officials to access the microphone or camera on a school-loaned device at any time. </li>
</ul>

Girl using laptop and computer while sitting at illuminated desk

Baltimore Schools Are Tracking Kids’ Online Activity

Surveillance

Four in ten Baltimore public high school students earned a 1.0 GPA during the past school year.
Fox Baltimore&#8217;s “<a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-city-schools-41-of-high-school-students-earn-below-10-gpa">Project Baltimore</a>” — which “examines the unique challenges that confront the Baltimore area’s public school systems” — discovered that nearly half of students in City Schools earned grade point averages below a D.
The outlet reported:
<blockquote>Project Baltimore obtained a chart assembled by Baltimore City Schools. The chart shows the average GPA for every high school grade in the city — freshman through senior. In the first three quarters of this past school year, according to the chart, 41% of all Baltimore City high school students, earned below a 1.0 grade point average. In other words, nearly half of the 20,500 public high school students in Baltimore earned less than a D average.
On the other end of the chart, 21 percent of city high school students earned a GPA of 3.0 or better; a B average. That’s about half as many who earned below a D. We can also see the district lost 706 high school students during the first three quarters of the year.</blockquote>
“It&#8217;s heartbreaking,” former Baltimore City Council President candidate Jovani Patterson told Fox. “If almost half of our kids are failing, what options do they have after high school? This is really disheartening. It&#8217;s sad to see this.”
COVID-19 and government lockdown policies have presented significant challenges to the United States — and particularly to students affected by school shutdowns.
For instance, a group of economists from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/covid-school-closures-will-hurt-us-economy-for-decades-economists-project">forecasted</a> that American economic productivity will be reduced by 3.6% over the next three decades as a result of school closures. Since labor productivity is “an integral component of the production of goods, services, and wealth in an economy,” students affected by “reduced education and lower productivity” will be a “drag on the future GDP of the United States for decades in the future.”
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/as-many-schools-remain-closed-suicide-related-er-visits-rise-by-51-among-teenage-girls">revealed</a> that the number of emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts rose by 51% among teenage girls during 2020. Although the number of incidents dipped between spring 2019 and spring 2020, the rates began to drastically rise at the onset of COVID-19 and lockdowns. 
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-times-teachers-unions-moved-the-goalposts-on-returning-to-in-person-instruction">The Daily Wire</a> has reported, teachers unions are working to delay school reopenings. Emails between the American Federation of Teachers, the CDC, and the Biden administration indicated that the union <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-nations-second-largest-teachers-union-influenced-cdc-on-school-reopening-guidelines-delayed-return-to-classrooms">lobbied</a> to keep learning virtual. 
The <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/05/01/teachers-union-collaborated-with-cdc-on-school-reopening-emails/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&amp;utm_medium=site%20buttons&amp;utm_campaign=site%20buttons">New York Post</a> detailed:
<blockquote>The documents show a flurry of activity between CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, her top advisors and union officials — with Biden brass being looped in at the White House — in the days before the highly-anticipated Feb. 12 announcement on school-reopening guidelines.
Emails show a call between Walensky and Weingarten — the former boss of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers — was arranged for Feb 7.</blockquote>
An October <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-data-from-200000-students-across-47-states-reveals-shockingly-low-covid-case-rate">study</a> involving more than 200,000 K-12 students found that COVID-19 transmission rate on campuses was negligible, with a transmission rate between students of 0.13%. The figure climbed to 0.24% for school staff.

Fairfax School Buses

Following COVID, 4 In 10 Baltimore Public High School Students Earned Below A 1.0 GPA

COVID

This week, the Baltimore City Public Schools, attempting to avoid holding students back who have poor grades, announced a new grading policy that would enable students who failed one class to still proceed to the next grade.
The school district said it was taking the new approach because of effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Academic Officer Joan Dabrowski said the new approach is meant to &#8220;avoid the punitive approach of failing students,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/us/baltimore-schools-failing-grades/index.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=2021-05-27T23%3A46%3A03&amp;utm_source=twCNN&amp;utm_term=link">according to CNN</a>.
&#8220;This is not about a failure, but it is about unfinished learning and giving multiple opportunities, multiple onramps for young people to complete that &#8230; learning,&#8221; Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises added.
A high school student who normally would receive an “F” for a course will now receive a &#8220;No Credit” designation. For students in second through eighth grades, &#8220;Unsatisfactory&#8221; or &#8220;Fail&#8221; will now be marked &#8220;Not Completed.&#8221;
Dabrowski explained, &#8220;In all of these instances, we want to emphasize the word &#8216;yet.&#8217; Not completed yet, no credit yet.&#8221;
“Sixty-three percent of middle and high school students are failing at least one class according to Baltimore City Public Schools — that&#8217;s nearly 25,000 students out of the nearly 40,000 sixth through twelfth graders in the district. Even more worrying, 51% of students in grades 2-5 and 37% of Kindergarten and first-graders failed at least one course during this school year,” CNN noted.
The Daily Wire’s Ashe Schow <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-1000-baltimore-school-officials-make-100000-a-year-as-students-continue-to-fail">reported in March</a>:
<blockquote>School officials in Baltimore are making more than $100,000 a year even though they’re failing students in the district. The Washington Examiner <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/baltimore-school-officials-making-100k-failing-test-scores">reported</a> that 1,307 school employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, with the highest-paid teacher earning $156,601. Of the more than one thousand officials earning six-figures, 316 are teachers. This is double the number of teachers making more than $100,000 in 2018. The median teacher salary in Baltimore last year was $73,592, while the average income in the city was just $29,843.
The Examiner noted that Baltimore City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises was the district’s highest-paid employee, making $339,000 a year, $22,000 more than she was making just three years ago.
The news comes after Project Baltimore <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/city-student-passes-3-classes-in-four-years-ranks-near-top-half-of-class-with-013-gpa">reported</a> earlier this month that a high school student managed to rank near the top half of his class despite failing all but three classes over four years and obtaining a 0.13 grade point average. The unnamed student is Tiffany France’s son, whom she thought was going to receive his diploma this year. She learned just this year, however, that he would not graduate.
“He&#8217;s stressed and I am too. I told him I&#8217;m probably going to start crying. I don&#8217;t know what to do for him,” France told the outlet. “Why would he do three more years in school? He didn&#8217;t fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that&#8217;s the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn&#8217;t deserve that.”
 …France’s son was not the only student at the school who kept moving up despite failing. Project Baltimore reported that hundreds of students were promoted while failing most of their classes and skipping school.</blockquote>

Failing grade

Baltimore City Schools: A Failing Grade Won’t Stop Students From Moving Up

Public Schools

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr ripped into the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for attempting to use federal force to punish a local news outlet.
The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, led by Marilyn Mosby, filed a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MDBALTIMORESAO/2021/05/06/file_attachments/1801514/FCC%20Complaint%20Letter%20Request%205.5.21.docx.pdf">complaint</a> with the FCC last week accusing WBFF Fox 45, a local affiliate of Fox News, of endangering the lives of Mosby and her family with “racist” news coverage. Carr responded to the complaint on Monday saying the FCC should dismiss it immediately. Carr also said that Mosby’s complaint is part of a “troubling surge” in Democratic attempts to censor free speech and news coverage.
Carr’s full <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/commissioner-carr-statement-maryland-states-attorneys-complaint">statement</a> said:
<blockquote>The State’s Attorney’s Office, led by Democrat Marilyn Mosby, has launched a chilling and direct attack on free speech and journalistic freedom. The complaint her office filed with the FCC asks the Commission to censor a newsroom simply because journalists are doing their constitutionally protected jobs and shining a light on the work of the State’s Attorney. Invoking the power of the state to silence journalists for unfavorable coverage strikes at the very heart of the First Amendment.
It is particularly troubling that a public official would work to silence reporters that are investigating her work at a time when federal prosecutors have already opened a criminal investigation into her activities.
Indeed, the day after the State’s Attorney’s Office filed its complaint with the FCC, the targeted newsroom was awarded four prestigious Regional Edward R. Murrow awards for journalism excellence, including for one of its stories covering the work of the State’s Attorney’s Office.
The State’s Attorney’s Office complaint alleges that there is ‘troubling, abhorrent, and outright dangerous’ conduct going on here. They are correct in this respect—it is the conduct of the State’s Attorney’s Office that is troubling, abhorrent, and outright dangerous.
Yet this complaint is part of a recent and troubling surge in efforts by Democrat <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-370165A1.pdf">officials</a> to <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-371715A1.pdf">pressure</a> the FCC and its regulated entities into censoring news coverage and political speech that Democrats don’t like. The FCC should make clear that it will not operate as the DNC’s speech police. That is why the FCC must dismiss this complaint with prejudice by the end of today. No journalists should have a complaint like this from their city’s top prosecutor hanging over their newsroom.</blockquote>
Fox 45 covered the Mosby letter to the FCC, hitting back at the State’s Attorney’s Office in its <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/baltimore-city-states-attorney-office-tries-to-silence-local-media-source">story</a>.
“FOX45 News is committed to investigating corruption in public officials, asking tough questions and holding leaders accountable. Our award-winning investigative unit is a key part of delivering that commitment. While we understand that it may not be popular with the individuals and institutions upon which we are shining a light, we stand by our reporting,” the outlet said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/baltimore-states-attorney-asks-bidens-fcc-to-stop-fox-news-affiliates-racist-reporting-on-marilyn-mosby">Baltimore State’s Attorney Asks Biden’s FCC To Stop Fox News Affiliate’s ‘Racist’ Reporting On Marilyn Mosby</a>

FCC Commissioner Blasts Democrat Complaint Against Fox News Affiliate: FCC Is Not ‘DNC’s Speech Police’

Fox News

For the past decade, Baltimore has been cutting its police force in what the City Journal described as “a fateful experiment.”
“A decade ago, Baltimoreans became lab rats in a fateful experiment: their elected officials decided to treat the city’s long-running crime problem with many fewer cops. In effect, Baltimore began to defund its police and engage in de-policing long before those terms gained popular currency,” the City Journal reported last week. “This experiment has been an abject <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/magazine/baltimore-tragedy-crime.html">failure</a>. Since 2011, nearly 3,000 Baltimoreans have been <a href="https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/">murdered</a>—one of every 200 city residents over that period. The annual homicide rate has climbed from 31 per 100,000 residents to 56—ten times the national rate. And 93 percent of the homicide victims of known race over this period were black.”
These numbers don’t appear to have affected the city’s plans when it comes to law enforcement, City Journal reported. Newly elected Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, for example, promised a five-year plan that would cut the police budget. As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/baltimore-will-stop-prosecuting-low-level-offenses-such-as-drug-possession-prostitution">reported</a>, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby also announced the city would no longer prosecute low-level crimes such as drug possession, prostitution, or minor traffic violations following an experimental year of refusing to prosecute such crimes in order to keep COVID-19 from spreading among the prison population.
Crime rates reportedly dropped when Baltimore adopted the plan at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, though it is unclear how much of that was due to people staying home and businesses being closed during the pandemic. Mosby said at a press conference in March that in the past 12 months, since police stopped prosecuting low-level offenses, violent crime dropped by 20% and property crime declined 36%. The homicide rate remained steady, though there were slightly fewer in 2020. Mosby also said researchers at Johns Hopkins University found reductions in police calls regarding drugs and prostitution.
The City Journal maintains that Baltimore’s decade-long experiment into de-policing hasn’t worked, in part due to a misapplication of the Broken Windows theory. The theory suggests that small crimes could lead to worse crimes, so minor offenses “that made residents feel unsafe or hinted at acceptance of violence were addressed in order to improve quality of life, strengthen communities, and prevent serious crime,” the outlet reported.
But Baltimore adopted a “zero tolerance” policing policy, which led to unfocused and excessive policing.
A Baltimore Police Department veteran once <a href="https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-public-safety-budget-mayors-task-force/36062378">explained</a> that true Broken Windows policing would involve community and police collaboration.
“You go to a community—before we come in, [we should ask], ‘What are the main things you all can’t stand?’ Everybody playing music at 11:30 at night, kids sitting on the corner, the prostitutes using the little park over there to work their trade. Now, ‘What don’t you care about?’ See the old guys sitting down at the corner playing cards every night? They could stay there all they want. . . . Then the police come in and do what the neighborhood wants. You just don’t go out and lock everybody up,” the officer explained, admitting that instead of adhering to that policy, “we went overboard.”
Because Baltimore misapplied the theory and police instead arrested thousands for minor offenses, the city now thinks policing is a bad thing, instead opting to go too far in the opposite direction. As the City-Journal found, the results have seen higher crime rates.

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