“We wanted to notify the community to be on the lookout for these devices,” Lt. Joseph Bellino, of the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Section, said. 

Police said criminals are targeting convenience and discount store shoppers. They found the latest device on Wednesday morning.

“[It’s] scary. I guess you can’t shop anywhere now safe,” shopper George Campbell said. 

Employees at a 7-Eleven on Greenbelt Road and 58th Avenue said they found a skimmer in early April. According to authorities, that was just the beginning of what they call an organized crime operation.

Over the next few weeks, detectives got calls from several other convenience stores across the county, located in the:

• 4500 block of Saint Barnabas Road in Temple Hills
• 3000 block of Forestville Road in Forestville
• 6100 block of Oxon Hill Road in Oxon Hill
• 6800 block of Race Track Road in Unincorporated Bowie
• 6300 block of Central Avenue in Seat Pleasant
• 11000 block of Baltimore Avenue in Beltsville
• 9100 block of Riggs Road in Chillum area

Investigators said the thieves typically target stores in high traffic areas, which is why police want to get the word out. 

“It’s made to look exactly like the actual point of sale machine and fits like a glove on top of it,” Bellino said. “Usually with a swipe of your credit card, it allows the payment to go through so that the business will get paid, but in the process it’s also capturing your private information.”

Police released a photo of one of the skimmers they recovered, but the devices can come in all shapes and sizes, so shoppers should be careful when swiping. 

“If you insert your chip and it doesn’t function and the system forces you to swipe, we believe that that’s an indicator, because the swiping itself is unencrypted because it’s the easiest way for them to capture your data,” Bellino said. 

Prince George’s County police could not confirm if the devices they discovered are connected to the skimmers D.C. police found in several grocery stores last month. 

“What we do know is these are large, organized and transient groups that travel in and out of our region,” Bellino said. 

So when in doubt, tap to pay, and give your bank or credit card company a heads up if you think you’ve become a victim. 

Campbell said he’s not taking any chances.

“How can you trust one of these machines?” he asked. “All of your information is out there and it’s gone… Observe the machine, what you’re going to use before you insert your card.”

Detectives say if you’re out shopping and you find one of those devices, leave it there and let the store know so they can call the police.

Rob Scheer was raised in foster care, going from place to place with his stuff in a trash bag.

“It happened to me again in 1984 when I aged out and became homeless in Northern Virginia, and it happened to all of my children — and I have five — when they arrived to our home, all of them carrying trash bags,” he said.

He succeeded despite his circumstances, raised five foster kids with the help of his husband and founded Comfort Cases, which provides backpacks full of items to be given to kids entering the foster care system.

Scheer also worked to get the trash bag ban passed. It requires new luggage for children when the enter, exit or move between homes in foster care.

Comfort Cases provides the bags to kids to make sure they have something to call their own.

At a packing party in Bethesda Wednesday, dozens of volunteers placed personal care items, pajamas, a blanket, a stuffie and other items into backpacks.

“I came through the system, as well, and I teach my children all the time, do not be ashamed of where you come from,” Scheer said. “Just make sure that we don’t blame the system, we help change the system, and that’s why we’re here today.”

Volunteer Sandra Anez Powell is from Venezuela where she helped at-risk kids living on the street.

“Here in the United States we’re very fortunate,” she said. “In places like Venezuela and Latin America, having organizations that will donate this kind of thing is not common at all.”

Comfort Cases has packed and given out more than 250,000 bags.

Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s county executive, and Trone, a businessman-turned-congressman, share similar views when it comes to reproductive rights, a repeal of the federal death penalty, a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution.

But there are undeniable differences when it comes to their backgrounds, how they’re funding their candidacies and historic implications for each in a potential win.

If Alsobrooks earns the nomination, she could become the first Black woman senator in Maryland’s history and break up the state’s all-male congressional delegation.

Trone, meanwhile, is a multimillionaire largely self-funding his U.S. Senate run at a time national Democrats are defending 20 seats. The contest has national implications as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate and Republicans are poised to heavily back former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is expected to win the GOP nod.

Alsobrooks is aware of the magnitude of her candidacy, but in an interview with News4, she said that’s not why she should be elected.

“I know that race and gender play into people’s kind of considerations, but I think they mostly want a person who understands them, a person who will fight for them, a person who has a record of results. And that is what I offer people,” she said.

A prolific donor to Democratic causes, Trone said he offers experience – noting “this is not a job for someone on training wheels” — as well as the ability to win in Republican territory.

His congressional district stretches from Montgomery County to western Maryland. While the population centers of Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and the Baltimore region are important targets, Trone has said he has the “persona” to carry the rest of the state.

“This race is about beating Larry Hogan pretty soon, and I won in a Republican district by 10 points. That’s tough,” he said.

News4 held separate interviews with the candidates after plans to hold a televised debate fell through. Alsobrooks’ campaign agreed to the debate, but Trone’s camp didn’t commit.

Instead, the candidates touted their bona fides to News4 while taking jabs at each other in an increasingly contentious race.

Trone, for example, also has called Alsobrooks a career politician. Before she was county executive, Alsobrooks was a domestic violence prosecutor and then served as state’s attorney for Prince George’s County.

“All she has ever done has been in politics, just working her way up the ladder from one political job to the next, to the next, to the next,” he said.

Before running for Congress, Trone became a multimillionaire through building the Total Wine alcohol empire – a fortune that’s allowed him to largely self-fund his multiple political campaigns.

“I don’t begrudge people who earn money, even if they do so selling liquor,” Alsobrooks said in response to his attack. “But I think that it is wrong to disparage public service.”

She’s accused Trone of trying to “buy” the Senate seat, saying, “To allow the person with the most money to buy an election, that is a very dangerous precedent, and I don’t think Marylanders are going to allow it.”

Money matters

Money has no doubt emerged as a major difference in this closely watched race.

According to the latest election filings, Trone has loaned his campaign nearly $42 million and raised about $640,000 from individual donors.

Alsobrooks, meanwhile, has raised $7.1 million, with nearly $6 million from individual donors — the majority from Maryland.

Trone said his wealth guarantees he’s not accountable to special interests while accusing Alsobrooks, whose donors include people affiliated with real estate and other lobbying groups, of being beholden to corporate donors.

“When I’m not taking money — like my opponent takes money from Exxon — well, I can go after them about tax rates, about our climate change,” he said, adding, “People love that fact that you’re independent.”

When News4 noted Total Wine is a powerful force in the alcohol lobby, Trone – listed on its website as a co-owner — responded, “First of all, nothing that Total Wine does has anything to do with the federal level. Zero. It’s all state level stuff.”

But Alsobrooks has repeatedly made issue of Total Wine’s donations to Republican governors in states that have curtailed reproductive rights.

“I am the only candidate in this race who has never compromised my values where choice is concerned,” she said. “You think about Mr. Trone, who has contributed to the campaigns … of these Republicans across the country who are working diligently right now to ban abortion.” 

In response, Trone said Total Wine is merely protecting its interests in the states where it operates.

“We support red candidates. Some blue candidates … but none of it’s related to women’s rights,” he said.

Trone points out his foundation helped open an abortion clinic in Cumberland, Maryland, last year, when neighboring state West Virginia all but banned the procedure.

“What we really have done has been phenomenally, 100% supportive of a woman’s right to abortion,” he said.

Eyes toward Hogan?

Trone is leading Alsobrooks in many independent polls, though Alsobrooks said her own polling has them in a statistical tie.

But some of those same polls show Hogan with a clear shot at beating them both.

Alsobrooks downplayed the significance of that polling to News4, pointing out the two-term former governor hasn’t run during a presidential election year when more of Maryland’s Democrats are expected to turn out and vote.

“Maryland’s not purple. It’s blue, you know. And we’re going to see that in this next general election,” she said.

Trone, meanwhile, told supporters at a recent event, “I’m the only guy that can beat Larry Hogan, I tell you that right now.”

Alsobrooks has repeatedly pointed out Trone’s companies have donated to Hogan in the past. According to a 2018 article from The Washington Post, several of Trone’s businesses donated funds to the Maryland GOP following Hogan’s gubernatorial win against now-Attorney General Anthony Brown in the 2014 race.

At the time, a spokesman for Total Wine said the funds were intended to help Hogan retire campaign debt.

In a statement, the Hogan campaign told News4 the former governor is “the underdog in this race,” adding, “Nobody will outwork us. They were expecting a coronation, but what they are going to get is the fight of their lives.”

Endorsements

With few policy differences, Alsbrooks and Trone are blasting the airwaves this week to highlight their key endorsements.

In one, Alsobrooks is flanked by U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Gov. Wes Moore and key members of the state’s congressional delegation like Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey.

Former Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from Maryland, emerged out of retirement this week to throw her support behind Alsobrooks, too.

Sen. Ben Cardin, who is stepping down after three terms in the Senate, has said he will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic race.

Trone, meanwhile, is highlighting the support he’s gotten from leaders in Alsobrooks’ own county, including Attorney General Brown, State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, state Sen. Joanne Benson and a few council members.

“The people that know that county the best, ironically, all came to us,” he said.

When News4 noted the majority of elected officials in the county are supporting Alsobrooks, Trone countered, “The people in Prince George’s County that stuck with her are the low-level folks, not the top level folks. That’s called the attorney general … it’s called the state’s attorney … it’s called the senior senator. I think they’re the top level folks.”

Asked for her response to such key endorsements going to Trone, Alsobrooks said, “I have so much support, you know, that it would be really shortsighted of me, I think, to focus on who has not chosen to support me.”

With battle lines drawn, the question is who do voters think has the best shot at winning the general election this fall, especially if facing Hogan at the polls.

“We don’t want them voting just against Larry Hogan. I want to offer them something to vote for,” Alsobrooks said.

Trone, for his part, summarized the historic implications of the Democratic contest.

“This race really hinges on who could beat Larry Hogan or we lose the U.S. Senate,” he said.

Reported by Tracee Wilkins, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Steve Jones and Jeff Piper.

Local emergency services providers said they are receiving accidental 911 alerts from people’s smart devices. In some cases, it’s been prompted by something as simple as dropping an Apple Watch onto a hard floor. 

“So, the smart devices that are out there nowadays where if you fall, it does benefit that it’s able to call 911. However, it could also pick up, let’s say if you’re riding a bike and you hit a pothole and nothing, you know, you’re still continuing on your way, it could trigger 911,” Olney said. 

In addition to the smart devices, 911 call centers are now getting crash notifications directly from a vehicle’s onboard computer system, through popular internet radio provider Sirius XM. 

The partnership between Sirius XM Connected Vehicle Services and a company called RapidSOS allows any connected vehicle to automatically share information with first responders.

“It’s called in by Sirius, possible crash notification,” a dispatcher said.

When these false alarms do occur, dispatchers can be heard in call center recordings trying to figure out if it’s a real emergency.

“It’s an Apple crash notification with no response, no vehicle description as well.”

“Could be one of the iPhone automatic messages, for a fall message.”

“We received an automated message, through the patient’s iPhone, about a fall.”

If you realize you accidentally called 911, never do this one thing:

“Definitely, if it triggers 911, please stay on the phone. Do not hang up because we are obligated to call back. So please do not hang up,” Olney said.

Instead, 911.gov advises callers to explain to the dispatcher what happened. Otherwise, they may send first responders to your location.

Both iPhone and Android users can adjust or turn off the SOS function in system settings. 

Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD) Apr 12

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Washington DC Dec 5, 2023

Emergency legislation allows retired firefighters, police officers to work for DC's 911 call center

Police found North Carolina Central University student Myles Gresham shot to death in his car several miles away from campus at an apartment complex near where he lived in Durham Thursday.

The 22-year-old was driving when he was struck by gunfire about 3:30 p.m., police said. His car crashed into two others in the apartment complex parking lot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police call it an isolated incident. They have not made an arrest.

Gresham’s mother described him as very smart and humble, often flying under the radar.

NCCU’s chancellor issued a statement saying Gresham, a business administration mayor, was a dedicated student with entrepreneurial aspirations.

“He diligently selected his courses each semester, aiming for a path toward future success,” the statement reads. “Actively involved in campus life, Myles served as treasurer of the Metro Eagles Club. His friendly nature and enthusiasm for the Wordle game will always bring forth smiles from those who had the pleasure of knowing him.”

Gresham planned to start an internship in real estate this summer in Seattle.

His mother said the family will accept his diploma at graduation Saturday.

Jack Milton was a decorated pilot with a 31-year military career, serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. But he never got to don the cap and gown and get his diploma in 1968 because he was in Vietnam.

Fifty-five years later, the University of Maryland Global Campus fixed that, giving one of its most distinguished alums the ceremony he always wanted.

“I’ve thought about it many times that I was unable to attend my ceremony after all that hard work,” Milton said. “And this more than makes up for it.”

He thought the school was hosting a luncheon to celebrate his 100th birthday, a milestone he reached in August.

“I feel like this is a finale of a long journey in education,” Milton said. “And again, I keep using the word appreciative, but I can’t think of any other word.”

Making it even more special, Milton was surrounded by those who matter most. Milton’s nephews and nieces attended, as did Nora Nabala and her family.

Nabala has been Milton’s family caregiver for more than two decades, originally helping take care of his late wife, Samantha.

“Jack has been there for me, has been there in every way,” she said. “I mean, every way. He’s a father to me.”

“I’ve had many ceremonies throughout my life, fortunately, to celebrate many occasions, but this has to be the top,” Milton said.

Milton said there’s no secret to making it to 100 years old. He said he’s always been focused on helping others, which has served him well in life.

When is Maryland’s 2024 primary?

The official primary day in Maryland is Tuesday, May 14, although early voting and mail-in voting are also options for voters. (More on that below.)

Do I need to be registered in a political party to vote in the 2024 primary in Maryland?

While you are not required to choose a political party on your voter registration application, you generally wouldn’t be able to vote in party primary elections. However, you would be able to vote in any nonpartisan primary elections in your jurisdiction.

According to Maryland elections officials: “Generally, you must be registered with either the Democratic or Republican Party to vote in the primary election. If there are non-partisan offices that are elected in a primary election (i.e., school board), any voter can vote for these offices.”

What if I want to change my political party in Maryland?

To change your party affiliation, you can:

• submit a request for the change online here
• or submit a new voter registration application
• or send a signed written request to your local board of elections

The deadline to change your party affiliation ahead of the presidential primary was Tuesday, April 23.

The Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties are recognized in Maryland.

Maryland voter registration info:

How can I register to vote in Maryland?

First, make sure you’re eligible to register to vote in Maryland (check on that here).

If you are, then you can either register in advance, register during early voting, or register to vote on election day.

To register to vote in Maryland in advance:

• you can register online here
• or submit your voter registration application to your local board of elections 
• or submit your registration application to Maryland’s State Board of Elections

To register to vote in Maryland during early voting:

• During the early voting period (Thursday, May 2 through Thursday, May 9), go to an early voting center in the county where you live
• Bring a document that proves where you live: your MVA-issued license, ID card or change of address card, or a paycheck stub, bank statement, utility bill or other government document showing your name and address

To register to vote in Maryland on primary day:

• Go to your assigned election day polling place on primary day (Tuesday, May 14)
• Bring a document that proves where you live: your MVA-issued license, ID card or change of address card, or a paycheck stub, bank statement, utility bill, or other government document showing your name and address

Maryland voter registration: How can I update my name or address?

You can either update your information ahead of time, during early voting, or in person on election day. Follow the same steps above.

If you plan to update your information on primary day itself, go to the polling place assigned to your new address. You’ll vote there using a provisional ballot and will provide your new address on the application. Your provisional ballot will be counted as long as you sign the application, election officials say.

Maryland voter registration: I think I’m already registered, but how can I check?

You can check to see if you’re registered to vote in Maryland online here.

However, Maryland officials say that if you submitted your information online or at the MVA only recently, it may take up to three weeks to appear on that site.

Immigration Mar 9

Maryland Senate passes bill to let people buy health insurance regardless of immigration status

Wildlife Mar 13

See It: A bald eagle got stuck in a car's front grill in Maryland. It was rescued and released back into the wild.

Now that you’ve got those voter registration questions answered, find out some other key details and dates below:

Maryland early voting info:

Does Maryland have early voting in 2024?

Yes.

When is early voting for Maryland’s 2024 primary?

Early voting will be available from Thursday, May 2 through Thursday, May 9, including over that weekend, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

You may vote early at any early voting center at the county you live in (see a PDF list of early voting centers here). Montgomery County has 14 early voting centers, Prince George’s County has 11, and Frederick County has four.

Maryland mail-in voting info:

Does Maryland have mail-in voting in 2024?

Yes.

How can I get a mail-in ballot for Maryland in 2024?

You can request a mail-in ballot from Maryland’s State Board of Elections or from your local board of elections (find yours here).

Note that Maryland lists the deadlines for requesting a mail-in ballot by the date your request must be received by, not when it is sent/mailed.

What’s the deadline for requesting a mail-in ballot for Maryland’s 2024 primary?

If you want to receive your ballot by mail or fax:

• Your request must be received by Tuesday, May 7

If you want to receive your ballot online:

• Your request must be received by Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. for a request sent in the mail, or by that day at 11:59 p.m. for a request sent by fax or submitted online

Where are the drop boxes for mail-in ballots for Maryland’s 2024 primary?

You can find a PDF list of designated ballot drop box online here for the entire state, including dozens of locations for Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and 10 locations for Frederick County.

Ballot boxes will be open from late March through Tuesday, May 14 at 8 p.m., state election officials said.

What’s the deadline for casting a mail-in ballot for Maryland in 2024?

If you want to use a drop box:

• You can place your mail-in ballot in a ballot drop box up until Tuesday, May 14 at 8 p.m.

If you want to mail your ballot:

• Your ballot must be postmarked on or before Tuesday, May 14
• Note that putting your ballot in a mailbox on Election Day doesn’t necessarily mean it would be postmarked that day, and Maryland elections officials say you should send it as soon as possible due to the chance for delays
• Your ballot will come with a postage-paid return envelope, so mailing your ballot back is free

Maryland primary day 2024 info:

When can I vote in-person in Maryland’s 2024 primary?

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14. Anyone in line by 8 p.m. will be able to cast their ballots.

To vote in person on primary day, find your polling place here.

Does Maryland have same-day voter registration in 2024?

Yes, you may register in person during early voting or on primary day in Maryland.

To register to vote on primary day, go to your assigned election day polling place, and bring a document that proves where you live (such as your MVA-issued license, ID card or change of address card, or a paycheck stub, bank statement, utility bill, or other government document showing your name and address).

Who’s on the ballot for the Maryland 2024 primary?

Go to this page on Maryland’s elections website and scroll to “2024 Primary Election Proofing Ballots.” Then select your county from the list to see which candidates and offices will be on your ballot.

Voters will see presidential nominee candidates, as well as candidates for statewide offices, such as U.S. Senator and congressional representative. You can also see candidates for local offices, such as Board of Election members.

“My thinking is the parents need to take responsibility. Compared to last week and this week, it’s 100 percent different. Everything was in order, security police did a great job. But the week before, they were just outnumbered,” resident Chris Ross said. 

Prince George’s County police said as many as 800 young people were involved in fighting, vandalism and stealing at National Harbor on Saturday. Fights were caught on camera and posted to social media. 

Prince George's County Apr 24

Prince George's County fast-tracks teen curfew bill after National Harbor brawl

Prince George's County Apr 25

Emergency curfew for teens in Prince George's approved after National Harbor fighting

The teenagers were “fighting; shoplifting; smoking cannabis; being confrontational with business owners, residents and law enforcement personnel,” Police Chief Malik Aziz said.

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks described it as the worst single day at National Harbor.

“We were taken aback. I never expect anything like that to happen at National Harbor, a lot of rowdy, loud and intoxicated children just running around,” Shaina Taylor, owner of the wine bar V-No @ The Harbor, said. 

In response, Alsobrooks implemented a curfew effective Fridays, Saturday and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. for unsupervised teenagers 16 and younger. 

Taylor said the curfew has created the atmosphere that’s needed for area residents, businesses and visitors.

“This weekend it’s been calm. It’s been quiet. It’s been kind of what I expect of National Harbor. I’m a resident here as well as a business owner, and I walk back and forth from here to home, so it’s really important to feel safe and secure,” she said. 

The extra police presence was visible Sunday, along with signs alerting visitors the curfew is in effect.

While some say the restrictions aren’t fair for the teens who aren’t causing trouble, others told News4 they support the curfew and that parents need to be more involved.

“The children are out of control, and this is a way that will help control some of these kids,” one woman said.  

On Thursday, the county executive ordered the curfew to go into effect right away. She promised to hold accountable parents who drop their kids off at the harbor or allow them to go there and cause trouble.

“Our parents must know that National Harbor is not a day care or a playground,” Alsobrooks said.  

Parents of unsupervised children could receive a phone call from authorities and be charged a fine.

The Prince George’s County Council is working on separate emergency legislation that would allow stricter juvenile curfews to be set up in commercial zones throughout the county starting as early as 5 p.m.

That legislation is expected to be voted on in May and would go into effect immediately.

There are signs on the lawn of Temple Beth Ami and blue ribbons on the trees, but one sign is missing, a banner that had been up for some time saying, “WE STAND WITH ISRAEL.”

“And for the very first time, someone defaced that sign,” Rabbi Gary Pokras said. 

Authorities believe it happened sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, when the vandalism was discovered and the sign taken down.

Israel-Hamas War Apr 28

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Israel-Hamas War Apr 25

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“I’m really grateful to live in a country that enshrines free speech, and that includes the right to protest passionately and that includes public discourse,” Pokras said. “Whoever did this doesn’t want public discourse; they want to shut us down.”

Police are investigating the incident. 

“We look to every life as being worthy of being lived in peace and with dignity. We want that for Palestinians; we want that for Israelis,” Pokras said. 

The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier sailing under a Panama flag, passed through the new 35-foot channel headed for St. John, Canada. Two more commercial ships followed later Thursday, including a vehicle carrier headed to Panama.

Their long-awaited voyages marked an important step in the ongoing cleanup and recovery effort as crews have been working around the clock to clear thousands of tons of mangled steel and concrete from the entrance to Baltimore’s harbor.

Five vessels that have been stranded for weeks are expected to finally leave Baltimore through the new, temporary channel. Other ships are scheduled to enter the port, which normally processes more cars and farm equipment than any other in the country.

Thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners have seen their jobs impacted by the collapse, prompting local and state officials to prioritize reopening the port and restoring its traffic to normal capacity in hopes of easing the economic ripple effects of the collapse. Officials have also established various assistance programs for unemployed workers and others impacted by the closure.

On Thursday morning, the Balsa 94 moved through the channel guided by two tug boats, one in front and one behind. It glided slowly past the fallen bridge and grounded Dali, the massive container ship that caused the collapse when it slammed into one of the bridge’s support columns.

Pieces of the steel span are still blocking other parts of the port’s main channel, which has a controlling depth of 50 feet, enough to accommodate some of the largest cargo and cruise ships on the water.

The Balsa 94 is expected to arrive in Canada on Monday.

The Dali lost power and veered off course shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka last month.

Six members of a roadwork crew — all Latino immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — plunged to their deaths in the collapse. Four bodies have been recovered from the underwater wreckage while two remain missing.

A memorial for the victims near the south end of the bridge has grown in recent weeks. It now includes six large wooden crosses decorated with flags from the victims’ home countries and other personal items, including the hardhats and work boots that allowed them to provide for their families and chase the American dream. A painted canvas backdrop displays abstract scenes from the bridge collapse and salvage efforts as well as handwritten notes from the men’s loved ones.

“We want to send a message to the world that we’re here and we care,” said the artist, Roberto Marquez, who was visiting the memorial late Thursday morning. “We will be here working until they are all recovered.”

The new channel will remain open until Monday or Tuesday and then close again until roughly May 10. During the closure, crews will work to remove steel spans from the deck of the Dali and refloat the ship, which will then be guided back into the port, officials said earlier this week.

The port’s main channel is set to reopen next month after the Dali has been removed from the collapse site. That will allow for a normal flow of traffic to resume through the port.

But for now, the 35-foot depth is a substantial increase over the three other temporary channels established in recent weeks. It puts the cleanup effort slightly ahead of schedule, as officials previously said they hoped to open a channel of that depth by the end of April.

A hulking vehicle carrier named Carmen that is nearly as long as the Dali became the third commercial ship to traverse the channel Thursday afternoon. Viewed from the deck of a nearby passenger boat, it appeared to sail steadily between the marker buoys, dwarfing the cranes, barges and other wreckage removal equipment that was stationed nearby.

Even with commercial ships chugging past, crews continued the arduous process of clearing debris from the collapse site. On Thursday, they were using a crane apparatus to smash the fallen roadway into more manageable pieces that could be lifted from underwater with a giant claw.

In a court filing Monday, Baltimore’s mayor and city council called for the Dali’s owner and manager to be held fully liable for the bridge collapse, which they said could be devastating for the regional economy. They said the port, which was established before the nation’s founding, has long been an economic driver for Baltimore and the surrounding area. Losing the bridge itself has also disrupted a major east coast trucking route.

The filing came in response to an earlier petition on behalf of the two companies asking a court to cap their liability under a pre-Civil War provision of an 1851 maritime law — a routine procedure for such cases. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who’s responsible and how much they owe.

In the meantime, both the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board are conducting probes to determine what caused the ship to lose power and strike the bridge.

Just the sight of the Bay Bridge across the Chesapeake is enough to make some drivers grip the wheel a littler tighter. A lot of people have a hard time driving across the four-mile long bridge. Nonetheless, before the collapse of the Key Bridge, most of us wouldn’t have flinched at the sight of a massive ship going right under a bridge.

But in the early morning of March 26, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was struck by a cargo ship and collapsed into the water below, killing six workers. In an instant, everything changed, and now safety is top of mind.

News4 has confirmed that Maryland transportation leaders will be taking a look at better safety protections for the Bay Bridge.

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 23

Baltimore port to open deeper channel, enabling some cargo ships to pass after bridge collapse

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 22

Baltimore leaders accuse ship's owner and manager of negligence in Key Bridge collapse

“We’re working on looking at that, in terms of the safety and the protection of the piers,” Maryland Assistant Transportation Secretary Joe McAndrew said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said if it finds any urgent safety recommendations that need to be made following the Key Bridge collapse, it will do so immediately. If and when the NTSB makes those recommendations, McAndrew says state officials will be listening closely.

“At the end of the day, it is safe for folks to continue to travel across it. We are going to be working with our partners at the federal level that are doing an investigation of what happened at the Key Bridge,” McAndrew said. “But it is safe and we would encourage people to go and enjoy the Eastern Shore as much as possible.”

There has been a lot of talk about so-called “dolphins,” protective barriers that could redirect a ship from hitting the support piers of a bridge. In other parts of the country, those protections are becoming much more common, especially with newer bridges. In contrast, the Bay Bridge is now more than 70 years old. It has fenders to protect piers, but no dolphins.

At Sandy Point State Park next to the Bay Bridge, Luis Otero and Savanna Wheelis are reminded of the Key Bridge collapse.

“I’m terrified of bridges, so honestly, it makes me not want to go under or on bridges anymore,” Wheelis said.

Otero chimed in, “Especially now that we’ve see the [Key] bridge fall — it’s like, would it happen to this one?”

A fisherman named Zeno said he hopes the state keeps this bridge in good shape.

“I would say definitely more maintenance — yeah, for sure, maintenance. Keeping up with that,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe this was happening,” said the driver, whose name we are not sharing.

He said he picked up a passenger in a residential area of Rockville, Maryland, just after 2 a.m. Friday. He says once they started driving, the situation quickly got strange. The man asked him if he could help change a tire, and then asked him to stop the car so he could relieve himself.

As they got onto the Beltway heading to Silver Spring, the driver said he watched in the rearview mirror as the passenger pulled something out of a bag. It was a steak knife.

“All I’m seeing is this, I mean, lunatic, coming after me with a knife. Every time he swings, I’m just like, ‘Where is that knife going to land?'” the victim said.

The wounds of the driver — a fit 32-year-old who has boxed, wrestled and done combat sports since childhood — show how he fought for his life.

“Stay alive,” he said. “Stay alive. That’s it.”

He described trying to shake the man off him by driving erratically across the Beltway.

“I started driving crazy so he wasn’t really stable in the back seat,” he said. “So he kept falling from side to side. And I was just trying to buy myself enough time to stop.”

The driver managed to stop on the Beltway and pulled the man out of the car. Another driver, whom he later learned is a security officer, stopped to help.

The security guard used a stun gun on the passenger. Minutes later, officers arrived and arrested the suspect, identified in Maryland State Police charging documents as Rengga Pratama, a 38-year-old Rockville resident.

The driver was stabbed seven times, according to the charging documents. He was taken to a hospital. Days later, he is still in pain, and in shock. He had planned to drive only for another couple of weeks, as he prepares to start his own tech company. Sadly, it’s not the first traumatic incident he’s had while driving rideshare.

“I got carjacked before, years ago, and I thought something like this would never happen again,” he said.

Pratama is charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

The two companies filed a petition soon after the March 26 collapse asking a court to cap their liability under a pre-Civil War provision of an 1851 maritime law — a routine but important procedure for such cases. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who’s responsible and how much they owe in what could become one of the most expensive maritime disasters in history.

Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. owns the Dali, the vessel that veered off course and slammed into the bridge. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., also based in Singapore, is the ship’s manager.

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 19

Temporary Port of Baltimore shipping channel opening for the weekend

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 15

Ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse had apparent electrical issues while still docked: AP source

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 12

Program launches to help Port of Baltimore businesses keep employees

In their filing Monday, attorneys for the city accused them of negligence, arguing the companies should have realized the Dali was unfit for its voyage and manned the ship with a competent crew, among other issues.

A spokesperson for the companies said Monday that it would be inappropriate to comment on the pending litigation.

The ship was headed to Sri Lanka when it lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore and struck one of the bridge’s support columns, collapsing the span and sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths.

“For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident,” the city’s complaint reads. “There was nothing about March 26, 2024 that should have changed that.”

FBI agents boarded the stalled ship last week amid a criminal investigation. A separate federal probe by the National Transportation Safety Board will include an inquiry into whether the ship experienced power issues before starting its voyage, officials have said. That investigation will focus generally on the Dali’s electrical system.

In their earlier petition, Grace Ocean and Synergy sought to cap their liability at roughly $43.6 million. The petition estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to $90 million and was owed over $1.1 million in income from freight. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least $28 million in repair costs and at least $19.5 million in salvage costs.

Grace Ocean also recently initiated a process requiring owners of the cargo on board to cover some of the salvage costs. The company made a “general average” declaration, which allows a third-party adjuster to determine what each stakeholder should contribute.

Baltimore leaders argue the ship’s owner and manager should be held responsible for their role in the disaster, which has halted most maritime traffic through the Port of Baltimore and disrupted an important east coast trucking route. The economic impacts could be devastating for the Baltimore region, the filing says.

“Petitioners’ negligence caused them to destroy the Key Bridge, and singlehandedly shut down the Port of Baltimore, a source of jobs, municipal revenue, and no small amount of pride for the City of Baltimore and its residents,” the attorneys wrote.

Lawyers representing victims of the collapse and their families also have pledged to hold the companies accountable and oppose their request for limited liability.

In the meantime, salvage crews are working to remove thousands of tons of collapsed steel and concrete from the Patapsco River. They’ve opened three temporary channels to allow some vessels to pass through the area, but the port’s main shipping channel is expected to remain closed for several more weeks.

A 49-page federal indictment details what investigators believe was a complex and robust carjacking scheme that took place between December 2022 and June 2023. An undercover police operation uncovered the scheme.

According to court documents, the four men allegedly conspired to steal the vehicles at gunpoint and sell them later on. The stolen vehicles would end up in a garage on Florida Avenue NE, where the cars were cleaned up, photographed and offered for sale on an Instagram account. Some of the luxury cars that were stolen were going for as cheap as $1,500. 

car theft Oct 11, 2023

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In one of the carjackings, two of the suspects, Cedae Hardy, 19, and Keyonte Rice,19, were charged with shooting and killing Melvin Mayorga Hernandez in Hyattsville, Maryland, in January 2023. Hardy and Rice also face several carjacking and gun charges.

The other two suspects, Landrell Jordan, 19, and Malik Norman, 20, also face numerous carjacking charges and charges for brandishing a gun while committing a violent crime.

News4 covered one of the crimes back in May 2023. Video in that case showed two masked men jumping out of a car and then stealing a Porsche at gunpoint. 

All four defendants are now in custody. The two charged in connection to Mayorga Hernandez’s death could face up to life in prison, and the other suspects face decades in prison if convicted.

The charges were a result of an extensive investigation with the FBI. D.C. police and other local law enforcement agencies all provided assistance in the case.

Baltimore County fire officials said they were called to the scene in the Essex community east of Baltimore just after 11 p.m. Saturday. There crews found the home engulfed by fire, WBAL-TV reported.

One man with burn injuries that were considered non-life threatening was taken to the hospital, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the person had been in the house or outside, fire Lt. Twana Allen said Sunday. Two other nearby homes received moderate damage stemming from the fire, which was extinguished by Sunday morning and still under investigation, Allen said.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, hazardous materials and fire investigators were at the scene.

“We’re going to make sure that everything is safe in the neighborhood,” Travis Francis, another county fire spokesperson, told the television station. “We don’t know what caused this so that’ll be looked into.”

Video posted by the department on a social media account showed smoke billing from the debris, with roof gables and siding on the ground.

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 19

Temporary Port of Baltimore shipping channel opening for the weekend

Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD) Apr 17

Teen suspect in Baltimore killing of DC officer was ‘paranoid' about being targeted, tipster said

Maroulis, competing at 57 kilograms, dominated former Olympian Jacarra Winchester in a best-of-three series.

The two-time Olympic medalist Maroulis topped Winchester with a pin in the first match and a 6-0 decision in the second, sweeping the series. With a bloodied nose, Maroulis bowed to a sea of cheering fans before having her arm raised by the official at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus.

“It just makes me think back to myself as a little girl, and if you told me that I was gonna do this, I don’t think I would’ve believed you,” Maroulis said, adding she wasn’t aware she was breaking a record.

Maroulis became the first woman wrestler to win two Olympic medals for the United States when she earned bronze at 57 kg in Tokyo. Now 32, she captured her gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I definitely think that I’m coming into a peak season right now,” Maroulis said.

A Rockville, Maryland native, Maroulis wrestles and trains with the powerhouse Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club in Arizona.

Winchester was an Olympian for the United States at 53 kg in Tokyo and was a world champion in 2019 at 55 kg. Winchester was originally slated to wrestle at 53 kg but didn’t make the weight cutoff, forcing her up to 57 kg.

All six of the women who were earning spots on the U.S. team Saturday qualify directly for the Olympic tournament in Paris this summer, avoiding an international qualifying tournament.

___

Kaleb Boyer is a journalism student at Penn State University.

Alex Ye is charged with threats of mass violence to Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and Lakewood Elementary School. Authorities are thankful someone warned police about the 18-year-old, leading to Wednesday’s arrest and possibly saving lives.

“A potentially catastrophic event was prevented,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said.

The threats from the suspect stood out, Jones said. Investigators discovered a 129-page document allegedly written by the suspect that depicted strategies for carrying out a mass shooting and the fame that would come with it. The writings were labeled a fictional account by their author, according to court records, but investigators wrote that they believed the document was based on the teen’s life, not entirely fictional.

MCPD says it’s received 140 threats to schools this school year, but most of them are hoaxes. What was discussed in Ye’s document unsettled investigators.

“He writes about targeting his former elementary school because little kids make easier targets,” Jones said.

On March 3, a witness who had seen the 129-page document reported their concerns to police. Officers went to the suspect’s home in Rockville, but the suspect’s father did not consent to search of the home.

Crisis intervention officers met with Ye March 6, and ultimately, the teen was taken to a hospital for an emergency mental health evaluation. According to police, hospital staff raised concerns about the teen talking about school shootings.

Police obtained a search warrant March 21 and seized the suspect’s electronics. Police discovered internet searches, drawings and documents related to threats.

“Because this was handled the right way, those deadly consequences were avoided. The consequences of which we can’t even fathom,” Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson said.

The suspect repeatedly received psychiatric help over the years and has been hospitalized multiple times for homicidal and suicidal ideations, police said.

Court records show the teen was hospitalized in December 2022 after threatening to “shoot up a school,” and the following month clinicians reported that the teen was talking about “suicide by cop.”

“The fact that he’s charged does not mean he’s not going to receive treatment,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “Quite candidly, I think my hope would be he would receive greater treatment, supervised treatment, during a period of time which we could keep everybody here in the community safe.”

Ye’s trial is set to start in June. If convicted, the teen could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The suspect opted not to speak during the bond hearing. Ye’s parents, who were in attendance, did not comment on the case.

Montgomery County Public Schools officials said in a statement Thursday the student was completing schoolwork through a virtual learning program. They said the student “has not physically attended an MCPS school since the fall of 2022.”

Nelson Ballard III was arrested Wednesday, nearly a week after the shooting at an LA Fitness at 9450 Ruby Lockhart Boulevard in Lanham, according to Prince George’s County police.

Witnesses told police that Ballard and another man got into an argument during a basketball game on the evening of April 11, according to charging documents. Someone tried to separate them, but Ballard ran to a bag in the corner of the gym and then went back to the other man, telling him, “I got something for you,” according to police.

Surveillance video showed Ballard pulling out a gun and shooting the victim several times, police said.

Dozens of people fled the basketball court in fear, and Ballard also ran out, according to the charging documents.

Officers with the Glenarden Police Department responded to the LA Fitness about 8:30 p.m. and found the victim with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition.

Prince George’s County police took over the investigation, and detectives identified the suspect. They got an arrest warrant the day after the shooting, and the department’s Fugitive Squad arrested Ballard on Wednesday.

Ballard is charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, weapons offenses and related charges.

Ballard has a bond hearing scheduled for Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney yet.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call police at 301-772-8960. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may submit their tip online at www.pgcrimesolvers.com, via the P3 Tips app, or by calling 866-411-TIPS (8477). 

Charging documents say the 17-year-old victim was heading home from school on a Metrobus on April 10. She became uncomfortable when a man sat down next to her on the bench seat in the back, complimented her outfit and then asked for her number and texted her.

His behavior was noted by another passenger, a woman, who attempted to intervene. 

The witness came over and sat down between the two. She also passed the teenager a note written in pink pencil that asked if she was safe. 

The girl shook her head and silently mouthed the words, “I don’t know,” court documents said. Then, the teen showed her a note on her cellphone that said, “I’m seventeen.”

The victim was so uncomfortable, she got off at the next stop in the 13000 block of Veirs Mill Road, charging documents said. But the suspect allegedly followed, and lured the victim along a path near a sports field then into the nearby woods.

Charles Erby Jr., 46, was arrested in the District two days later and charged with second-degree rape of a minor. He is also accused of taking graphic pictures of her.

After his arrest, police learned Erby was convicted in 2011 of a crime in Virginia that landed him on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry: having sex with a girl between the ages of 13 and 15.

The sex offender registry also revealed that Erby has used at least 10 aliases during his many encounters with the justice system.

Montgomery County police are very concerned there may be additional victims who have not come forward. 

Erby was known to travel back and forth between the District and Montgomery County, authorities said. 

Detectives are asking anyone who may have been a victim or who has information on the case to call the SVID-Child Exploitation Unit at 240-773-5400 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous.

They bought the 1939 schoolhouse in Secretary, Maryland, in 1987 for $35,000.

Over the course of more than three decades, Jean and Carroll Sneed transformed the weathered schoolhouse into a one-of-a-kind home using thrift shop finds and antiques.

“We bought everything from a flea market or a yard sale because we never had any money … And we scavenged around for everything, and this is what it turned out to be,” Sneed, 85, said with a smile.

Thrift store finds and a 1960s bathtub discovered in a field

Inside the converted schoolhouse, every detail seems to have a story.

In the bathroom, Sneed tells about finding the 1960s bathtub abandoned in a field. Pointing at a chandelier, she recalls finding it for $150 at an antique shop. It once hung in Baltimore’s Lyric opera house, the seller said.

The couple got a 300-pound bronze door from the B&O Railroad Headquarters Building by trading a stained-glass window they had.

A yellow tufted sofa once sat in a hotel lobby. A mirror found in a flea market came from a department store display. A dark-wood structure that was originally a church entryway.

Other items were sold from the Lord Baltimore Hotel.

‘You really liked that lamp. … I’ll make you one’

Sneed credited her husband for much of the renovation and repair work. Carroll Sneed made many things for their home by hand, including a purple stained-glass window with a blue-and-white peacock, mirror installations on the ceiling, pink floral wallpaper and Sneed’s favorite piece – a lamp decorated with glass fruit.

“On the way home [from an antique shop] Hubby said to me, ‘You really liked that lamp, didn’t you?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’” Sneed recalled. “He said, ‘I’ll make you one.’ So, he made me that lamp.”

Sneed said her husband was new to doing renovation work and had worked for General Motors.

“He was remarkable,” she said.

The bathroom includes a $5 waterfall spigot from a salvage shop, a bidet found at an auction and a purple chandelier from Paris, bought at an antique shop.

“Hubby built my bathroom for me out of those pieces,” Sneed said.

The bathroom ceiling has another unique feature: crown molding that Carroll Sneed made using picture frames.

With her husband no longer around to work on renovations, Sneed hired help to replace beams and flooring.

‘It’s just perfect’

The Sneeds fought hard to create the home of their dreams.

The couple initially struggled to get a loan to buy the building. They eventually were able to secure one for 10%.

Sneed recalled driving home and asking her husband what he would have done if they had been turned down for a mortgage again.

“He said, ‘I would have offered them 12%, 14, whatever it [would have taken] to get the building,'” she said.

Sneed said living in the converted schoolhouse continues to bring her joy.

“It’s my favorite spot. It’s just perfect. And Hubby did it exactly the way I like everything, and he said, ‘I did it just for her,’” she said.

“There’s nothing here that looks like a man. It’s all the way I would like it,” she added.

D.C., Maryland and Virginia have plenty of ways to get out and celebrate. There’s something to fit every mood from weekend ragers to family-friendly gatherings.

While we count down to summer (the solstice is June 20), mark your calendars for these festivals! And if you want reminders and updates on stuff to do every weekend, subscribe to The Weekend Scene newsletter.

Maryland Apr 16

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Washington DC Apr 17

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May festivals

Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
April 26 to May 5, Winchester, Virginia
Details

Cherry trees aren’t the only blossom game in the DMV! Centered in Winchester, Virginia, the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival includes parades, a carnival, a wine fest, sports tournaments, beauty pageants and more over 10 days.

National Cathedral Flower Mart
May 3-4, National Cathedral in Northwest D.C., free entry
Details

In addition to the showstopping International Floral Display and the huge plant sale, Flower Mart visitors can ride an antique carousel, watch free performances and climb the cathedral’s skyscraping towers. Activities for kids and food vendors will be on-site.

The festival’s hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

International City Food Festival
May 3, 4-9 p.m. and May 4, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., The Square (1875 I St NW, Washington, D.C.), free admission
Details

With a focus on how food brings people together, this festival is set to present performances, crafts and vendors from around the world inside the downtown food hall.

Running of the Chihuahuas
May 4, 2-5 p.m., The Wharf in Southwest D.C., free entry
Details

Look at those little legs go! Go for the delightfully cute chihuahua races, then stay for a pet photo booth, a dog costume contest featuring adoptable pups and all The Wharf has to offer. It’s free and kid-friendly. Dogs who aren’t participating in the races are welcome to cheer on their furry friends.

Big crowds show up for the main event, but you can watch the races on a jumbo screen.

Proceeds benefit Rural Dog Rescue, and News4’s own Tommy McFLY will emcee.

Around the World Embassy Tour
May 4, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., free
Details

Journey around the world without your passport. More than 50 embassies are set to open their doors so you can learn about different cultures — and get some international snacks if you’re lucky. It’s part of the month-long Passport DC program.

By the way: European Union embassies have their own open house day scheduled for Saturday, May 11.

Sligo Creek Fest
May 4, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Silver Spring, Maryland, free
Details

A stretch of Sligo Creek Parkway is going to the walkers, bikers, boarders (and dogs! as long as they’re leashed).

Along the road from Dennis Avenue to University Boulevard, you’ll find a stage with live music, kids’ performances, food trucks, a beer tent featuring local breweries and hands-on activities.

Anacostia River Festival
May 4, Anacostia Park at Good Hope Road and Anacostia Drive SE in Washington, D.C., free
Details

Celebrate the tenth annual Anacostia River Festival. The event is family-friendly and will have plenty of food, local performers and outdoor activities, including a free fishing workshop.

M3 Rock Festival
May 4-5, Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, $90 – $275 (two-day pass)
Details

The hard rock and heavy metal festival is celebrating its 15th year at the venue sharing an ‘80s arena rock experience with new and old audiences. It features performances from Queensrÿche, Bret Michaels and Bret Michaels of Poison fame. 

NVA Thai Street Food & Culture Festival
April 21, May 5 and May 26, The Manassas Museum, free entry
Details

Take in the tastes, sounds and culture of Thailand right in Manassas, Virginia. You’ll find performances, live music and games, plus tons of street eats and sweets. Pro tip: You’ll want to get there early to avoid long lines for food.

Arts and Culture Festival at the National Museum of Asian Art
May 10-12, 1100 Jefferson Dr SW, Washington, D.C., free
Details

More details and an exact schedule will be released soon, but the museum gave us a look at what we could expect.

“Activities like mindfulness practices will be integrated alongside arts and cultures resources that support mental health. Programming also includes panel discussions, interactive experiences, culinary pop-ups and art-making projects,” according to a press release.

EU Open House
May 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., free entry
Details

Rub elbows at the embassies of many European countries while getting acquainted with their culture, tourism, art and more. Details on each embassy’s offering usually come out in the weeks before the event.

Maryland Craft Beer Festival
May 11, noon to 5 p.m., Carroll Creek Linear Park in Frederick, Maryland, $15-$85
Details

Dozens of Maryland breweries will be pouring all the samples you care to drink. Live music and local food vendors will be on tap, too.

Greenbelt Green Man Festival
May 11-12, begins at 10 a.m., Roosevelt Center, free
Details

Music, fairy gardens and an environmental focus: Could this festival be more spring?

Kids will love body paint and fairy gardens while the whole family enjoys live music.

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
May 11-12, Woodmont Triangle in Bethesda, Maryland, free admission
Details

More than 120 artists are expected to show and sell their fine art wares along Norfolk, Auburn & Del Ray avenues. Come to refresh your home décor, stay for live music, entertainment and restaurants.

Fiesta Asia Street Fair
May 18, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., downtown Washington, D.C., free
Details

Taking in a lively parade with dragons, live performances, kids’ activities, a talent competition, shopping and pan-Asian cuisine will keep you busy during this celebration for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Spring Wine Festival & Sunset Tour
May 17, 18 and 19, Mount Vernon in Alexandria, Virginia, $54-$60 for nonmembers
Details

Sip unlimited samples of wine while enjoying George Washington’s estate during the golden hour.

Lucketts Spring Vintage Market
May 17 to 19, Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds in Berryville, Virginia, $15
Details

This market turns Berryville, Virginia, into a destination for finding “vintage garden gems, architectural salvage, crusty antiques, and all kinds of crazy-good finds.” It’s been around for more than two decades.

Asian Festival on Main
May 19, noon to 6 p.m., Main Street in Historic Old Town Fairfax City, free entry
Details

Celebrate Asian heritage with food, arts and crafts and performances. The rain date is June 2, 2024.

Old Town Festival of Speed & Style
May 19, Old Town Alexandria, free
Details

Dozens of rare of exotic cars, a fashion show and live music will take over several blocks of Old Town, including parts of King Street.

Art in Nature Festival
May 25-27, Chantilly, Virginia, $35+ (one-day pass)
Details

The National Botanic Garden in Chantilly, Virginia, is a privately owned estate that only opens its gates a few times a year.

During the Memorial Day weekend festival, you can take in the lake, water-conserving garden, a hobbit village while viewing art and sampling wine and chocolate. Three tastings cost $10.

Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art
Fridays from May 31 to Aug. 9 (excluding July 5), National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., free if you win the ticket lottery
Details

An indigenous fusion quartet, funk and Soul, Caribbean Steelpan, and more—this concert series transcends jazz genres.

If you would like to enter the ticket lottery, it opens the week before the first concert. Winners will be notified the Monday before the show. Here are more details.

June festivals

Riverfest & Craft Show
June 1-2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Occoquan, Virginia, free
Details

Browse more than 250 artisan’s work, enjoy live concerts in River Mill Park and walk down the environmentally-conscious Conservation Alley.

Head down on Saturday for the Whatever Floats Your Boat Parade or Sunday f or the Duck Splash, where hoards of rubber ducks “race” down the river to benefit a good cause.

Fort Hunt concerts
Sundays in June, July and August, 7 p.m., Fort Hunt Park in McLean, Virginia, free
Details

The National Park Service at George Washington Memorial Parkway kicks off its free concert series on June 2 with a performance from the National Concert Band of America (NCBA). The group includes veterans and legendary players from military service bands.

Come back on late spring and summer Sundays for cover bands, a jazz orchestra and a blues and swing band — all native to the DMV. 

Capital Pride Parade and Festival
June 8-9, Washington, D.C., free
Details

Capital Pride’s big weekend is taking over the District with a massive parade and joyful block party in Dupont on Saturday, followed by a packed festival with a big concert downtown on Sunday. Bonus: it’s all free to attend!

Capital Jazz Festival
June 7-8, Merriweather Post Pavilion, $89+ (one-day pass)
Details

Grammy winners Anthony Hamilton and Chrisette Michele kick off “one of the longest-running festivals in the DMV and one of the premier black music events in the country” during Black Music Month, the Capital Jazz Festival says.

The Capital Jazz Festival features 30 acts over three days. Despite its name, artists span multiple genres, including soul, R&B and jazz.

Out & About Festival at Wolf Trap
Sat., June 22, Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, $52+

In its second year, this festival continues to highlight LGBTQ+ artists and allies, integrating nature, pride and great music at the striking outdoor amphitheater.

Grammy winner Brittany Howard will headline a superstar lineup that also features Jenny Lewis, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and more.

Past events

April festivals

Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival
April 20-21, opens at 10 a.m., free entry
Details

Flowers and plants are taking over historic downtown Leesburg, Virginia, for a weekend of all things gardening.

A landscape display contest, three stages of entertainment, the rooftop wine and beer garden and a children’s area will give the whole family a spring in their step.

National Cannabis Festival
April 19-20, RFK Festival Grounds, $55-$130
Details

THUNDERCAT and Wu-Tang Clan + Redman are exciting headliners for the D.C. festival that’s grown massively since its 2016 debut. The music festival is the big draw for most, but you’ll also find an exhibitor’s fair, the National Cannabis Championship and – never fear – a whole zone dedicated to munchies. Do remember that D.C. cannabis laws still apply.

Savor Bowie
April 20 and April 21, Bowie Town Center, free entry
Details

Complimentary wine tastings, two stages of live music, vendors and artisans: Savor Bowie has all the ingredients for a lovely spring day out. The event is free and proceeds benefit Concerts for Causes.

And if you’re up for more, check out the Funk After Fest concert at the Bowie Performing Arts Center ($29-39).

Project GLOW
April 27-28, RFK Festival Grounds, $215.90 (two-day pass)
Details

Get your neon raver gear ready! ILLENIUM, Zedd, Lane 8, REZZ and dozens of other electronic acts are descending on the RFK Festival Grounds for this two-day music festival.

Purcellville Music and Arts Festival
April 27, noon to 7 p.m., Dillon’s Woods and the Bush Tabernacle, free
Details

Pack a lawn chair and head to the park for a day of live music, an art show and kid-friendly crafts.

The event is family-friendly – even dogs are welcome!

Parking is available at Emerick Elementary School, and some vendors only accept cash.

Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland
April 27, Jefferson Patterson Park in St. Leonard, Maryland, $25 (presale)/$30 (at gate)
Details

Head to Leonard, Maryland, to celebrate the heritage of the Celtic nations: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Brittany, Cornwall and Galicia/Asturias.

Filmfest DC
April 18-28, most general admission tickets cost $14
Details

The District’s longest-running and largest film festival returns with international films, locally-made movies, shorts and more.

Want to know what’s up for your weekend? Sign up for The Weekend Scene, our newsletter about events, experiences and adventures for you and for your family around the DMV.

Chuck Kuhn, the founder and CEO of JK Land Holdings, and his family purchased the centuries-old ferry that ceased operation in December of 2020, when a Loudoun County judge ruled the ferry’s landing in Virginia is on private property.

Over the past three years, the Kuhns have worked to develop a proposal to gain access to the ferry’s Virginia landing at Rockland Farm, but negotiations with the landowners never reached a deal.

“The donation to Montgomery County would be contingent on Montgomery and Loudoun counties working together to find a solution to gain access to the Virginia shoreline and reopen the ferry in a timely manner,” a statement from JK Land Holdings reads in part. 

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said in his own statement that he was “pleased” by the announcement and “optimistic” about reopening the ferry. 

“Our goal was always to get the ferry reopened. This is not what we had originally envisioned, but we recognize the importance of White’s Ferry to our region. With this donation, we believe that Montgomery County will be able to work with Virginia to get the ferry moving again,” owner Chuck Kuhn said. 

For Background:

transportation Jan 9, 2022

Battle Over White's Ferry Continues, More Than a Year Later

Leesburg Feb 12, 2021

White's Ferry Purchased; New Owner Plans to Resume Operation

Loudoun County Dec 28, 2020

White's Ferry Stops Operating After Court Ruling

Charles Erby Jr., 46, was arrested in the District on Friday and charged with second-degree rape of a minor. 

The victim encountered the suspect on a Metrobus in the Aspen Hill area on April 10.  

“They did talk a little bit on the bus, but the victim started to feel uncomfortable, so she got off the bus, at which point the suspect followed her,” Sgt. Robert Rollins, of Montgomery County police, said. 

The bus stop is in the 13000 block of Veirs Mill Road, on a stretch of the busy road that has wooded areas next to a cemetery and sports fields.

Police said the man lured the girl, whose age is not being made public to protect her privacy, into the woods and sexually assaulted her.

“We’re very concerned that there could be other victims out there. Obviously this is a worst case scenario of a child, but we hope that anyone who has been a victim will come forward,” Rollins said. 

Metro riders are reminded that the transit agency has a portal on its website for people to report sexual harassment, including unwelcome, inappropriate conversations.

Police said Erby was known to travel back and forth between the District and Montgomery County.

Detectives are asking anyone who may have been a victim or who has information on the case to call the SVID-Child Exploitation Unit at 240-773-5400 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous.

Thousands of work zone crashes occurred between 2018 and 2022, and 44 people were killed, according to Maryland State Police. Many of these crashes did not have to happen, Col. Roland Butler said.

“As we gather here today, we must highlight that many of these crashes, injuries and deaths were not inevitable; they were preventable,” he said.

In Baltimore on Tuesday, state leaders recognized the Francis Scott Key Bridge workers who were killed in the collapse. Events included a “unity ride” with hundreds of construction vehicles on Baltimore I-695. Six highway workers died in March 2023 when a speeding driver crashed into their construction zone.

Other highway workers who were killed in the state also were recognized, including Eric Lewis. He was killed in a hit-and-run on the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County in December as he worked on a tree-trimming crew.

Maryland Dec 13, 2023

Worker killed in hit-and-run on Beltway in Montgomery County

road safety Feb 7

DC approves requiring ‘speed governor' devices on dangerous drivers' cars

What to know about new Maryland work zone speeding tickets

Transportation leaders said they want to raise safety awareness at the start of the summer road project season and remind drivers that speeding is about to get more expensive.

Gov. Wes Moore recently signed the Maryland Road Worker Protection Act. It substantially increases fines for drivers who speed through highway construction zones.

Starting June 1, fines will double from $40 to $80.

Next year, there will be a tiered system of fines, depending on how much drivers exceed the speed limit. Fines can be as high as $1,000 if you’re going more than 40 mph over the limit.

Once the law kicks in, there will not be a grace period; fines will start right away. The revenue from the tickets will fund highway and pedestrian safety programs.

More than 1,200 crashes were reported in work zones across Maryland last year alone.

Janelle Monáe, Bleachers and Laufey will headline Saturday, sharing the day with Remi Wolf, Ethel Cain, Julien Baker and a dozen other artists spanning rock, rap, pop and jazz.

Hozier, Reneé Rapp and Conan Gray top the Sunday lineup along with Chappell Roan and Maren Morris.

In a sea of festivals, All Things Go always stands out for booking some of the most talented women touring in any year, and 2024 will be no different.

For one, Chappell Roan is having a huge moment. She’s toured with Olivia Rodrigo, captured a million views for her Tiny Desk concert and performed at Coachella for the first time (leading Rolling Stone reporter Tomás Mier to ask, “Is this what it felt like to watch Lady Gaga before she blew up?”).

And if you missed Ethel Cain last year – or wanted more Southern Gothic indie vibes – she’ll be back, and this time she’s getting promoted to a tier-two headliner.

The festival is also flexing its ability to bring together a very D.C. collab. Laufey, a GRAMMY-winning musician bringing jazz and classical music to Gen Z, is set to perform with the Kennedy Center Orchestra.

All Things Go is set for Sept. 28-29 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Tickets go on sale this week, starting with a presale on Thursday before general admission goes live on Friday. Weekend passes start at $119 before fees.

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Rivertowne Commons Marketplace, at 6235 Oxon Hill Road, was full of people running errands at about 5:30 p.m. when officers pulled over a driver in the parking lot, according to the Forest Heights Police Department.

The vehicle was wanted in connection with an assault that happened in a neighboring jurisdiction. Police ordered the driver to get out of the car, Forest Heights Deputy Police Chief Kirk Banton said. 

When the suspect got out of the vehicle, he was armed with what an officer believed to be a knife but was later determined to be a silver, multipurpose tool. Police told him to put the weapon down, but he refused, and the officer opened fire, Banton said.  

“During the encounter with the armed suspect, one officer discharged his duty-issued weapon, striking the suspect,” Banton said. 

The man, identified as Jhomari Delevante of Silver Spring, was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He is charged with possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest. 

The shooting was captured on body cam video that has yet to be released. The shooting remains under investigation by Prince George’s County police.

Maryland Apr 14

3 men injured in Capitol Heights shooting; 1 killed in Seat Pleasant shooting: Police

Maryland Apr 13

89-year-old man dies in DC crash after being reported missing in Maryland

The shooting marks the third time in two days that a D.C.-area officer shot a suspect. 

Early Sunday morning, a Prince George’s County police officer shot Raphael Coates, 40, of District Heights, after a reported home invasion on Addison Road South.

Police said Coates had stabbed someone he knew in a fight over money. When officers responded, he approached them with a piece of lumber in his hands and one officer fired. Coates survived the shooting. He faces attempted murder, assault and home invasion charges.

In Virginia on Sunday, a Herndon police officer shot a man who allegedly stabbed his wife in the chest. When officers responded, he approached officers with a knife, according to police. The suspect’s name and his charges were not immediately released. The husband and wife were both hospitalized.

This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.

The shooting happened at around 8:20 p.m. in the 1200 Block of Booker Terrace, according to the Prince George’s County division of Maryland-National Capital Park Police. 

Surveillance camera in the area caught someone shouting “get the kids in the house” moments before 10 seconds of relentless gunfire.

All victims were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Authorities did not elaborate on their conditions.

Police said they are searching for multiple shooters and do not believe that the gunfire was random.

“We don’t have any suspects at this time or suspect information. We’re canvassing the area right now trying to pull up video camera footage to help with the investigation,” Acting Chief Germaine Haywood said. “At this point, it seems like it’s neighborhood beef. Some pre-existing things… culminated in our park this evening.”

Police believe the shooting could be related to the deadly shooting of another man less than a mile away at a park in the 800 block on Birchleaf Avenue in Seat Pleasant.

“We don’t think that there is a threat to the community,” Prince George’s County police Capt. Lovita Bryant said. “It seems to be just a targeted event.”

More details on the possible connection were not provided.

Community members gathered Monday for a previously scheduled event to talk about cracking down on crime.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with people, but they need to stop,” Prince George’s County Council member Jolene Ivey said. “I don’t know why people keep getting shot, people keep getting killed. Clearly, we have too many guns in our community.”

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.

Officers were called to a home in the 1800 block of Addison Road South just before 10 a.m. When they arrived, they found one person had been stabbed and the other holding a 2×4 piece of wood, Prince George’s County Chief of Police Malik Aziz said.

“Officers gave loud repeated verbal commands for that person to discard that 2×4,” Aziz said.

An officer then discharged their weapon, hitting the suspect. They were taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition, police said.  

The victim was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

No officers were injured.

“These were individuals who were inside the residence and whatever type of altercation that took place, then it became violent,” Aziz said.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect and the victim knew each other.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave.

There is no additional threat to the community.

The incident is under investigation.

This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.

John Alfonso Candela, of California, Maryland, had been reported missing the previous afternoon.

The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office issued a lookout for Candela on Tuesday afternoon, saying he was last seen that day about 12:50 p.m. He had “a cognitive impairment,” the sheriff’s office said, and was driving a dark blue Hyundai Santa Fe with Maryland tags.

About 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, D.C. police say, Candela was driving north on S. Capitol Street near the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge when he lost control at a curve. Candela’s car crashed into a drainage ditch.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died, D.C. police said.

D.C. police are investigating the crash. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099 or text their tip to the police department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411.

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The family told Telemundo 44 they think 23-year-old Lusvin España of Hyattsville died trying to stop two men causing trouble at El Paraiso in Chillum, where España was having dinner with his boss and coworkers, including his brother, who left before the stabbing.

Cellphone video shows España and a restaurant employee trying to get the two men to leave before 11 p.m. Wednesday. The men appear angry and combative.

Moments later, España and the employee were stabbed.

The victims were taken to the hospital, where España died, according to Prince George’s County police. The restaurant employee is expected to survive.

Family say Espana had a heart as big as his smile and was grateful to be able to use his physical strength to work hard in the construction business to help his family.        

“When this tragedy happened, he was coming back from work,” his mother, Glenda Maribel España, told Telemundo 44. “He was not out partying; he was coming back from work.”

Officers found the suspects — 34-year-old Alexis Romero of Fairmont Heights and 27-year-old Edwin Meija-Sandoval of Silver Spring — not far from the scene, police said.

España did not know the suspects, according to police.

“We want justice,” said España’s brother, Nolvin Josue España. “My brother is not coming back, but we need justice so this does not happen to anyone else.”

Romero and Mejia-Sandoval are charged with first- and second-degree murder.

The Purple Alert bill is just a signature away from becoming law in the state. Under the bill, like for an Amber Alert or Silver Alert, authorities could broadcast widespread messages when people with some disabilities or cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or Down syndrome, go missing.

The bill comes after Rashawn Williams, a Maryland man who has Down syndrome, was missing for nearly a week last year. He was finally found in a back room of a Metro station.

In October of last year, his father, Jimmy Hall, lived through an experience no parent wants to imagine; his son was gone for days.

“He was in complete darkness. No food, no water, no facilities. Poor air quality,” Hall said. “He was in solitary confinement for nearly a week,” 

Hall dedicated his time to make sure a new tool is available for families who, one day, could find themselves in the same situation. 

Maryland Oct 26, 2023

Missing man with Down syndrome found in ‘back room' of Maryland Metro station

Food & Drink Apr 5

Tacos with a twist at Taco Bamba

“Rashawn fell through the loophole because he was too old for an Amber Alert, and too young for a Silver Alert,” Hall said. “So now that gap is closed.”

Maryland State Police would set up the Purple Alert program. Like for an Amber Alert, police would provide information on highway message boards about the person missing. All the bill is waiting for now is a signature from Gov. Wes Moore. 

“We just jumped up and started shouting and crying,” Hall said about the moment lawmakers approved the bill.

“We were just so happy because, the voice Rashawn didn’t have, the next family will now have that voice,” Hall said. 

He and his son plan to be there when the governor signs the bill.

The suspect, who’s been on the run for nearly a decade, is now in custody in Mexico.

“I’m ready to get it over with,” said the victim’s daughter, Kiany DeJesus. “I’m ready for him to be in those handcuffs and so he can get out of my face, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Her mom, 28-year-old Emilia Ignacio, was found slain in a car in Greenbelt back in April 2014. The person now in custody is Ignacio’s ex-boyfriend, Juan Miguel Roman-Balderas.

DeJesus said she and her mom had lived with Roman-Balderas for about five years. But he was abusive, she said. Her mom had broken up with him and was in a new relationship at the time of the murder, she said.

Authorities said Roman-Balderas fled the country. Efforts to find him failed for nearly a decade.

DeJesus is grown up now. She says her family’s social media campaign led to the arrest of her mom’s alleged killer, Juan Miguel Roman-Balderas.

“I’m ready to tell my story,” DeJesus said. “I’m ready to tell her story; I’m ready to tell my family’s story. At some point, we have to be brave and we have to speak up.”

Relatives have been posting about the cold case on social media for the last year. DeJesus said someone in Mexico recognized Roman-Balderas’ photo and that led to his arrest.

Greenbelt police confirmed he is awaiting extradition to face first-degree murder charges.

DeJesus described her feelings on the arrest as “a mixture,” saying she was relieved, happy and sad. “I was really overwhelmed,” she said.

She has struggled with trauma, PTSD and anxiety, and described Roman-Balderas as abusive during the years she and her mom lived with him.

“I’ve had times where I got my my hand put on the stove and burned if I, like, took quarters and stuff like that,” she said. “He would beat my dog.”

She says Roman-Balderas was taken into custody back in December, so it’s been hard waiting for the legal process to play out, but she’s ready for what comes next.

“That’s all we want, is just justice,” she said. “We just want to be able to take that final breath of relief and just put it away.”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ address is 1401 Rockville Pike in Rockville, but the Google Maps iPhone apps guides users to Grace Episcopal Day School in Kensington — six miles away.

“I use Google Maps all the time and I’ve never had it take me five miles away from my destination that I’m searching for,” Grace Episcopal Head of School Jennifer Danish said.

Over about an hour Wednesday, News4 met three people who went to the school thinking they were going to see an eye doctor.

“It’s, like, really surprising, ‘cause we walked up here, and we saw Grace on,” Caroline Gaudencio said. “We had no idea.”

The school estimates almost 100 people have shown up there because of the glitch over the past couple of months.

“We feel terrible, and I feel responsible, even though I know it’s not my fault,” Danish said.

The problem became so common, the school put signage on the front door with the address for the Subway across the street from HHS.

Many people showing up don’t speak English, so the school’s Spanish teacher, Marisa Martucci, says she often leaves class to translate.

“That was stressful,” she said, laughing. “That was really stressful. But, you know, we try to help. Community. We try to do our best.”

DHHS said it appears Google Maps has fixed the glitch, but the fix doesn’t show up until the search history is cleared.

First, open the app and tap the profile picture in the top right corner. Then hit settings and scroll down to Maps history. Set it to autodelete to clear everything out. It can be changed back afterward.

DHHS staff will help people with clearing their Google Maps app if needed, Montgomery County said.

Google said it’s looking into the matter.

A man wearing a mask, Crocs and gloves walks into an apartment early Saturday morning while the occupants are asleep. He walks past the family cat, making his way through the dining room, until he realizes he’s caught on camera.

The blurry security image captures the moment when he looks directly at the camera. He then quickly runs out of the apartment without taking anything. It’s not immediately clear why.

Four similar crimes have occurred at apartments in the 9800 and 9900 block of Good Luck Road in Lanham, Maryland, since Thursday. Valuables were stolen from some of those apartments, according to the Prince George’s County police.

In a robbery at about 5 a.m. Monday, the man implied he had a weapon, took property from the victims and left, police said.

“We’re very concerned. It is indeed a small number of apartments over there that we’ve seen thus far. We have detectives out all day,” Capt. Todd Dolihite said.

The suspect entered the apartments through an unlocked window or door, according to police.

Police warned residents and spoke to apartment staff about the importance of home security.

“Warmer weather during the day, and it gets cooler at night, sometimes people leave their windows open, or doors cracked open,” Dolihite said. “We would highly encourage everyone to lock the doors, secure your windows once you go to bed.”

Police developed 22-year-old Augustine Koroma as a suspect in Monday morning’s robbery and arrested him late Monday night on an unrelated warrant for second-degree assault. They found evidence from the robbery at Koroma’s home and expect to file more charges against him.

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Apr 9

Maryland governor to meet with members of Congress to discuss support for rebuilding collapsed bridge

Maryland Apr 8

Maryland high school loses thousands of dollars in costume company scam

BUDGET

Maryland lawmakers mostly kept Gov. Wes Moore’s $63 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year intact. They decided to add on some tax and fee increases to raise money for transportation, including a new fee of 75 cents on ride-hailing services and an increase in vehicle registration fees. The new revenues for transportation add up to about $252 million in the next fiscal year, gradually increasing to $336 million in fiscal year 2029. Tobacco tax increases will help generate about $91 million for K-12 education, though that is projected to decline in future years with less tobacco use.

PORT EMPLOYEES

Lawmakers passed legislation to help Port of Baltimore employees who are out of work because of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and aren’t covered under unemployment insurance while the port is closed or partially closed. The bill authorizes use of the state’s rainy day fund to help them and encourage companies that relocate to other ports to return to Baltimore when it reopens.

COURT PERSONNEL PROTECTION

Maryland judges would be able to shield their personal information online to prevent hostile people from tracking them down, a measure approved in response to the fatal shooting of a judge in his driveway last year.

ABORTION CLINICS SECURITY

Lawmakers approved a measure to create a grant program in the state’s health department to help abortion clinics pay for security improvements.

JUVENILE JUSTICE

Lawmakers approved a package of juvenile justice reforms aimed at improving accountability and rehabilitation in response to complaints about increasing crimes like auto theft and handgun violations in parts of the state.

DATA CENTERS

Lawmakers passed the governor’s bill to make data center development easier by reducing environmental procedures required by state regulators for backup generators needed for the centers, which house information technology infrastructure.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Lawmakers greenlighted the governor’s legislation to increase the state’s housing supply by incentivizing construction and removing barriers to development.

PIMLICO REBUILD

A plan to rebuild Baltimore’s storied but antiquated Pimlico Race Course and transfer the track to state control was approved. The plan calls for using $400 million in state bonds to rebuild the home of the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.

FIREARMS CIVIL LIABILITY

Lawmakers voted to create standards that the firearm industry must follow to prevent harm in the state, or else face liability for contributing to a public nuisance. The measure would require a member of the firearms industry to “establish and implement certain reasonable controls regarding the sale, manufacture, importation, distribution, marketing, possession and use of certain firearm-related products.”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Lawmakers approved a measure that aims to prepare Maryland for the rising use of artificial intelligence. It requires the Maryland Department of Information Technology to develop AI policies, mandate AI inventories and codify the governor’s executive order on AI, designed to ensure that AI technology is used responsibly.

ONLINE PRIVACY

Lawmakers voted for a measure that limits companies’ data collection to give consumers data privacy and security protections. Another measure, called the Maryland Kids Code, puts safeguards in place to restrict data that technology companies can gather on children.

FIGHTING CHILD POVERTY

Lawmakers approved the governor’s proposal to help communities with disproportionately high numbers of children living in poverty. It includes grants to help communities in what the governor described as a bottom-up initiative that puts an emphasis on local input.

GENDER-AFFIRMING TREATMENT

Gender-affirming treatment in Maryland would be protected from criminal and civil actions brought by other states.

FREEDOM TO READ

Public libraries, including public school libraries, would not be able to remove reading materials because of partisan, ideological or religious disapproval.

EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT RESOLUTION

Lawmakers approved a nonbinding resolution affirming the state’s support for the Equal Rights Amendment and urging President Joe Biden and Congress to recognize it as the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Maryland was one of the first states to support it 52 years ago, but it was never ratified, because the deadline passed without having the necessary support from three-fourths of states.

IMMIGRANTS’ HEALTH INSURANCE

Maryland would apply for a federal waiver to enable people to buy health insurance through the state’s health care exchange, regardless of their immigration status.

GUN CENTER

Lawmakers approved the governor’s proposal to create a new center to foster a statewide partnership with federal and local agencies to reduce gun violence.

988 CRISIS

The state would create a permanent funding source for the state’s 988 mental health crisis helpline by adding a fee of 25 cents to cell phone bills.

PROTECTING ELECTION WORKERS

The General Assembly passed the governor’s proposal to enable authorities to prosecute people who threaten to harm election officials or their immediate family members, as threats are on the rise across the country.

One woman said her abuse began in first grade. Another said a priest routinely threatened her with a gun and once held her head underwater near a boat’s propellers to keep her silent about her repeated rape. A man described how the abuse he endured as a young teen set him on a path of destruction that has haunted him for years. All said they live with depression and nightmares of their abuse to this day.

The sex abuse survivors have fought for this opportunity since the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy last fall just days before a Maryland law called the Child Victims Act took effect. The law allows survivors to sue regardless of when their abuse happened but has faced several legal challenges since it was enacted.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michelle Harner recently ruled to allow the survivors to address the court — something that isn’t a guarantee in typical bankruptcy proceedings.

“The court will provide time and space for listening,” she said Monday.

Lori listened intently as survivors told the stories of how their lives and, in some cases, their will to live, were taken at the hands of church leaders whom they trusted.

“I came as a priest and pastor and someone who hopes that by doing this I can contribute in some small way to the healing,” Lori said.

One survivor, who kept her eyes on Lori as she told of the years of abuse she said she endured, explained the importance of giving her testimony.

“This is a day of liberation for me in this courtroom, at this moment,” said the woman, whom News4 is not naming to protect her privacy, addressing Lori directly. “I am grateful I am allowed this moment and you are listening to me.”

She hugged Lori after sharing her story, but other survivors were not as forgiving.

“I wanted him to hear what happened to all of us and realize the church could have acted a lot earlier than they did,” said Teresa Lancaster, a survivor and attorney who said the sexual abuse she endured at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore began as a junior in 1970, continuing until she graduated in 1972.

What happened to Lancaster and other girls at that high school at the hands of Father A. Joseph Maskell was explored in a 2017 Netflix series called “The Keepers.” Church leaders initially tried to discredit parts of the series. Then last spring, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released a report detailing how more than 150 Catholic priests and other Maryland clergy sexually abused more than 600 children and were never held accountable.

Lancaster spent decades advocating for the passage of the state’s Child Victim’s Act and has criticized the Catholic Church for trying to dismantle it. The Archdiocese of Washington has repeatedly questioned the constitutionality of the law in civil cases now playing out in court.

“We finally got it passed, and now the church is stomping on it, trying to destroy it,” Lancaster said.

A Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge upheld the law in a March decision, allowing a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington to proceed.

Last week, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge ruled the same law unconstitutional in a case against the archdiocese.

A case against the Harford County school system also upheld the law.

The question of constitutionality is expected to ultimately go before the Maryland Supreme Court for a final ruling.

“All of the survivors that have started to come forward have done so because of this law,” said Jonathan Schochor, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit in Prince George’s County against the Archdiocese of Washington. “It’s a huge step for all Marylanders, including all minors who had been sexually abused.”

Survivors have told the News4 I-Team they feel like they are being further victimized by the church fighting the Child Victims Act.

“The reason we entered into Chapter 11 was so that we could, in fact, help as many victim survivors as equitably as we can while at the same time carrying forward the mission of the church,” Lori said.

Several challenges to the Child Victims Act making their way to Maryland’s Supreme Court. Meanwhile, attorneys who are involved in the bankruptcy process say they don’t know how long it’s going to take, maybe several months or longer.

Survivors are encouraged to get their claims in by May 31.

Reported by Tracee Wilkins, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper.

The removal of the containers from the deck of the Dali would continue this week as weather permits, according to a statement from the Key Bridge Response Unified Command. Crews were progressing toward removing sections of the bridge that lie across the ship’s bow to eventually allow it to move, the statement said.

In total, 32 vessels have passed through temporary channels on either side of the wreckage, officials said.

“The Unified Command is concurrently progressing on its main lines of effort to remove enough debris to open the channel to larger commercial traffic,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. David O’Connell said in the statement.

The Dali has been trapped under mangled steel in the Patapsco River since it slammed into the bridge on March 26, killing six workers.

President Joe Biden took a helicopter tour Friday of the warped metal remains and the mass of construction and salvage equipment trying to clear the wreckage. The president also met for more than an hour with the families of those who died.

Eight workers — immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — were filling potholes on the bridge when it was hit and collapsed in the middle of the night. Two men were rescued and the bodies of three others were recovered in subsequent days. The search for the other victims continued.

Officials have established a temporary, alternate channel for vessels involved in clearing debris. The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to open a limited-access channel for barge container ships and some vessels moving cars and farm equipment by the end of April, and to restore normal capacity to Baltimore’s port by May 31, the White House said.

More than 50 salvage divers and 12 cranes are on site to help cut out sections of the bridge and remove them from the key waterway.

The burglary was discovered on Friday morning when a field office staffer came into work for the day.

The campaign says that items were thrown in the trash, personal belongings were stolen, and a closed and sealed notebook containing sensitive campaign information had been opened.

Alsobrooks’ office was the only one in the building broken into, the campaign said in a press release sent out Friday.

“I am disappointed to see that our office seemed to be targeted. Someone forced their way in, went through sensitive material, threw some of our campaign shirts in the trash and stole personal items from a staff member,” Alsobrooks said in the release. “What I will say is that this will not deter us and it only strengthens our resolve to run the kind of uplifting campaign we’ve been running since day one.”

The campaign is installing surveillance cameras to increase office safety after the incident.

Maryland May 9, 2023

Prince George's County Leader Alsobrooks Running for US Senate

politics May 4, 2023

Trone Talks About Running for Maryland's Upcoming US Senate Seat

Danshell Evon of Bryans Road reached 98 mph in the seconds before her 2015 Kia Optima crashed into a 1997 Ford F-150 on Connecticut Avenue near Atherton Drive in Silver Spring at about 7:30 a.m., police said.

Two adults in the Ford and Evon’s two 13-year-old children in the Kia suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but 3-year-old Dreamie Dior Jackson, who was improperly secured in a backless booster seat, died on impact, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

“At the speeds the defendant was traveling, she wasn’t driving a car, she was steering a missile down the road in the middle of rush hour,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “If the barest of common-sense parenting skills were in place, there would have been a proper child safety seat installed.”

Residents in the area told News4 speeding was a problem there. Montgomery County previously lowered the speed limit form 45 mph to 35 mph.

After a four-day trial, a judge found Evon guilty of gross negligent manslaughter, four counts of second-degree assault and neglect of a minor. She faces up to 55 years in prison at sentencing Aug. 9.

A Georgia man visiting Maryland to care for his grandmother who is battling cancer vanished last weekend, Montgomery County police say.

The family of 23-year-old Andrew Mostyn Jr. hasn’t heard from him since March 30, the evening before Easter.

“They had plans to go to the Easter service Sunday morning,” said his mother, Joy Dameron. “He said, ‘I’m gonna run a few errands. Do you need anything? I’ll be back, and we’ll go to the service tomorrow morning, and we’ll hide eggs for my cousins.’”

Mostyn made a stop at a grocery store and a foray into D.C. By 5:30 p.m., he was sharing the experience with friends in Georgia.

“He was Snapchatting by the Lincoln Memorial and the Mall,” Dameron said. “He loves history. History has been his love. History and the outdoors.”

By about 10 p.m., family members were receiving cryptic text messages.

“Texts back and forth … weird texts to his cousin, which never had occurred before and would have never occurred if it was him for real,” his mother said. “Weird stuff, like, ‘come over,’ and he wasn’t even there. He was already missing.”

Subsequent calls and texts to Mostyn went unanswered. He hasn’t shown up for work at District Photo in Beltsville. Police found his work ID in a search of his grandmother’s house.

Family members say his dog was caged, indicating to them that he didn’t intend to be away long.

“I’m scared,” his mother said.

Montgomery County police are working with surrounding jurisdictions to try to find Mostyn.

He’s 5-feet-11-inches tall and 160 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. He left his grandmother’s Silver Spring home in a white 2000 Ford F-150 pickup with Georgia license plates RYH3051.

Anyone who knows where he may be should call police at 240-773-5545.

The changes would take place for the next school year — but now is the time for parents to pay attention and weigh in on the changes.

It’s an effort to fix major problems with school bus transportation, which have existed in Prince George’s County for years. Students have reported waiting long periods of time at bus stops, with some buses not showing up, leaving parents and school leaders frustrated.

But now, school administrators want to make major changes to improve the reliability of bus service.

“The safety of our students always comes first,” said Charoscar Coleman, chief operating officer for PGCPS. “We are tasked with improving the efficiency of our bus system, but we will only do it in a responsible, deliberate and safe manner.”

Some of those changes include things like making changes to the district’s school bus tracking app, to provide better bus locator information. Parents will also, for the first time, be able to opt their student out of bus transportation if they don’t need it.

School leaders told News4 that many students who live in walk zones actually get a bus, due to safety reasons. But that could change. Those stops are under evaluation to see which ones should stay, and which should go.

“The audit cited 22,000 stops that are currently inside the walk zone, that need to be evaluated for safe passage and possible elimination,” said Coleman.

There could also be a consolidation of stops to streamline transportation. That might mean students walking further to get to their bus.

“Right now, we’re looking at, primarily, up to a half a mile for elementary students,” said Keba Baldwin, PGCPS transportation director. “And up to a mile for secondary students.”

Prince George's County Public Schools Mar 30

Prince George's County Public Schools moving to standardize start times

Prince George's County Public Schools Apr 5

Prince George's County changing school start times, bus stops

“But we are not going to move it to beyond a reasonable distance, where we don’t have students able to safely traverse to school,” said Coleman.

There will also be adjustments to when schools open and dismiss.

“Ninety percent of them will either be no change for the school, or within a 15 minutes or less shift,” Coleman said.

The remaining 10% will have changes varying between 16 minutes, up to an hour — meaning how and when your child gets to school could look very different next school year.

Parents will have the opportunity to find out more about the changes at nine information sessions, starting on April 15.

There is no timetable yet on when the changes will be finalized.

The plan seeks to improve safety at the crossing, but some residents say the Parks Department missed the mark, and these changes will lead to long traffic backups during rush hour when there are more cars on the road and pedestrians on the trail.

The Montgomery County Council approved an updated plan in January to reconfigure this part of the road, taking the 0.4-mile section of Little Falls Parkway between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue down to one lane each way with a median in between.

“We feel that there are already traffic backups and that those backups will get worse as additional development comes to Bethesda,” resident Carl Becker said.

Some residents have been concerned about the safety at the crossing for years and say the proposal being reviewed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission will only make things worse.

“Myself along with 6,000 other residents are not happy,” Becker said. “The configuration you see here now is not safe. Bicyclists and pedestrians and young kids have to cross two-vehicle lanes and look both directions at one time. We know that’s not safe.”

The proposal also includes a new bike lane, lane markings, separators and signal changes. If approved, the National Capital Planning Commission would likely give the final sign-off in June.

County Executive Marc Elrich is joining calls for the Parks Department to go back to the drawing board. He sent a letter to the NCPC last week saying the road should go back to two lanes each way until there’s a better solution.

“This was meant to be a connector into downtown Bethesda,” Elrich said. “What they’re doing is forcing traffic through the neighborhood, which makes the neighborhood streets unsafe. That’s not a good outcome.”

The Montgomery County school board on Tuesday kicked off a series of meetings to get parent feedback as they began the nationwide manhunt for a superintendent.

“This is the head of our schools, the CEO of our company,” Montgomery County Board of Education President Karla Silvestre said before dozens of parents and employees gathered in the cafeteria at Seneca Valley High School. 

The search follows Superintendent Monifa McKnight’s resignation in February, after the county’s inspector general found issues with how the school district handles complaints of employee misconduct.

“What qualities do you want to see in the next person?” Silvestre asked. “What do you value in a leader? What do you see that’s needed in our school system that this kind of person can bring?”

She said they will give these notes to a private firm that they’ve hired to help with the nationwide search.

“I look to see how they handled their district [and] look to see if they made changes in their district,” mother Margery Smelkinson.

Smelkinson said she couldn’t miss the meeting. Her children are in the seventh, sixth, fourth and third grade, and she wants the next superintendent to focus on the basics.

“I think we were all kind of agreeing that safety and academics were what needs to be the major focus,” Smelkinson said. 

The Board of Education said they want to get as many opinions as possible before they identify the top candidates. 

The school board will host two more meetings like this: one on Wednesday at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville at 6 p.m. and another on Thursday at Wheaton High School at 6 p.m.

“I’m hoping that there are a good number of internal candidates,” mother Kenge Fludd said.

She said she hopes more parents get involved in the process, and she thinks the next superintendent needs to understand Montgomery County‘s rich diversity.

“There are special needs, obviously cultural needs, religious needs and we have students on all bands of the spectrum, from like highly advanced students to students that might need extra support, so I think that’s very important because we are definitely not a one-size-fits-all,” Fludd said. 

The school board said under state law, the new superintendent has to be in the job by July 1.

Residents of the Towns of Westside in Laurel say it has happened twice in the past two weeks. They are now asking the post office to take action. 

Resident Tani Satcher said she was on her way to pick up her mail when she noticed her neighbors picking up pieces of their mail from the floor. 

“I was totally floored because I came out to get my mail and I saw my neighbors and they were picking up stuff,” Satcher said. 

Resident Marianna Solorzano said it first happened on March 21. 

“At first it’s hard to believe, but then when you start thinking about it, you think, What’s going on here?” Solorzano said. 

Pieces of mail and packages were scattered and stolen in front of the community’s mailboxes. Solorzano and Satcher along with the homeowners association president say they alerted their mail carrier and took pictures for evidence. The thieves returned

“Stop, stop invading people’s property,” Satcher said. “That’s like a violation. You’re actually touching something that doesn’t belong to you.” 

News4 reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to find out if an investigation was launched last month. As of publishing, News4 has not heard back. 

The federal agency said it’s working to crackdown on these types of crimes. 

So far, the USPS says it has made 73% more arrests for letter carrier robberies this fiscal year compared to last year. 

The agency says it has taken several actions nationwide, including deploying 15,000 hardened blue boxes, and installing 28,000 electronic locking mechanisms. Almost 9,000 more hardened blue boxes are set to be installed. 

“To have more security maybe around the area, we also need light around the community. It’s very dark during the night time,” Solorzano said. 

Other members of the community are asking for accountability and hoping this doesn’t happen again. 

The USPS recommends asking customers to not let incoming or outgoing mail sit in the mailbox. Instead, drop it off or pick it up at the local post office. Also, sign up for informed delivery notifications alerting about package deliveries.

In the first attack, a woman suffered bites to her arms and legs near Patuxent Drive and Lost Creek Drive in Ashton, count officials said.

In the second attack, near Bell Road in Burtonsville, a woman suffered a bite but was able to fight off the coyote and stab it.

The coyote captured later Thursday had wounds that would be consistent with being fought off by the second victim, the Montgomery County Office of Animal Services said.

Anyone who may have had contact with the rabid coyote should contact their doctor.

Attacks like the ones reported Thursday are extremely rare, animal experts say. Most of the time, coyotes will do everything possible to avoid humans.

It’s their mating season, and some are in dens with their pups. If a coyote appears to be following a human, it’s likely making sure the leave the area of the den, experts say.

The Montgomery County Office of Animal Services reminds residents of the importance of keeping pets’ rabies shots up to date.

“Growing up, I didn’t see Black doctors,” Dr. Kathryn Kelly said. “I really got into this to take care of my community and to take care of patients, and I feel like I’m able to do that.”

Kelly traveled a long way to get to this point in her medical career. Along the way, her dream of becoming a doctor never wavered, even after she discovered motherhood would begin for her much earlier than most.

“Even as being a teen parent — like, people in school knew, everybody knew,” Kelly said, “but I also was still the person who was doing what I needed to do, and also being encouraging to others.”

The motivation of providing for her daughter kept her laser-focused on her dreams.

“I was still trying to go to school and still trying to get good grades and that kind of thing,” she said.

Kelly credits her own mom for encouraging her to work toward her goals and go to Howard University. Kelly did just that, double-majoring in anthropology and biology, all while juggling motherhood.

Her determination paid off in 2001, when she graduated from Howard University with not one but two degrees. She later also graduated from Howard’s College of Medicine.

“Having gone through what I’ve gone through, it allows me to be humble when I’m talking with to my patients, and allows me to be a better doctor, a better wife, a better human being,” Kelly said.

One of her patients, Bernice Bass-Abner, said she appreciates Kelly’s life story and her attention to patients’ needs.

“She feels like a friend taking care of a friend,” Bass-Abner said. “I always feel like she’s got my very best interest at heart.”

Common courtesy and kindness are two major components of Kelly’s private practice, Kelly Collaborative Medicine, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“Most of my patients, I think they come in to just to hear my stories and to have some fun and talk in addition to healing,” Kelly said, “because healing is more than the medicine you give. Healing is about how you make people feel in your space and the energy that you give out.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s collapse following a freighter collision an “economic catastrophe” and described the challenges ahead for recovering the workers’ bodies and clearing tons of debris to reopen the Port of Baltimore.

“What we’re talking about today is not just about Maryland’s economy; this is about the nation’s economy,” Moore said at a news conference, the massive crane standing in the background. “The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in this country.”

Moore went to the scene Friday and said he saw shipping containers ripped apart “like papier-mache.” The broken pieces of the bridge weigh as much as 4,000 tons, Moore said, and teams will need to cut into the steel trusses before they can be lifted from the Patapsco River.

Equipment on hand will include seven floating cranes, 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats, Moore said. Much of it is coming from the Navy.

“To go out there and see it up close, you realize just how daunting a task this is. You realize how difficult the work is ahead of us,” Moore said. “With a salvage operation this complex — and frankly with a salvation operation this unprecedented — you need to plan for every single moment.”

Water conditions have prevented divers from entering the river, Moore said. When conditions change, they will resume efforts to recover the construction workers, who were repairing potholes on the bridge when it fell early Tuesday.

“We have to bring a sense of closure to these families,” Moore said.

The Coast Guard is focused on removing what’s left of the bridge and the container ship that struck it in order to clear the port’s shipping lanes, Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said.

Teams of engineers from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy and the Coast Guard — along with some private-sector experts — are assessing how to “break that bridge up into the right-sized pieces that we can lift,” Gilreath said.

Maryland’s Department of Transportation is already focused on building a new bridge and is “considering innovative design, engineering and building methods so that we can quickly deliver this project,” Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said.

Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, said there is no indication of active releases from the ship, nor of the presence in the water of materials hazardous to human health.

Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said the Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to establish a tactical flight restriction area that would begin 3 nautical miles in every direction from the center span of the bridge and extend upward to 1,500 feet.

Butler advised people to keep drones away from the area and said law enforcement is poised to act on any violations of that airspace.

The victims of the collapse were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, officials said. At least eight people initially went into the water when the ship struck the bridge column, and two of them were rescued.

Divers have recovered the bodies of two men from a pickup truck in the river, but the nature and placement of the debris has complicated efforts to find the other four workers.

“The divers can put their hands on that faceplate, and they can’t even see their hands,” said Donald Gibbons, an instructor with Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers. “So we say zero visibility. It’s very similar to locking yourself in a dark closet on a dark night and really not being able to see anything.”

One of the two whose bodies were found, Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, left Xalapa, Mexico, 15 years ago to join his mother and sister in the United States, hoping to make enough money to eventually build a house and open a business back in his native country. But the 35-year-old put down roots in Maryland, and the family decided he will be buried in the United States.

“He already had a life there; that’s why they didn’t return his body,” Wenceslao Contreras Ortiz, Hernández Fuentes’ uncle, said Friday in Xalapa. He described his nephew as a hard-working father of four who doted on his mother.

Another sister still lives in Mexico but remained in close contact with Hernández Fuentes, and she is asking authorities for help securing a humanitarian visa to travel to the U.S. and say goodbye.

“She just wants to hug him for the last time,” Contreras Ortiz said.

In Baltimore, locals made morning stops at vantage points Friday to watch for the cranes. Ronald Hawkins, 71, who could see the bridge from his home, recalled watching its construction in 1972. It opened in 1977.

“I’m going to come up here every day, because I want to see the bridge coming up out of the water,” Hawkins said. “It’s a hurtin’ thing.”

President Joe Biden’s administration has approved $60 million in immediate aid, and Biden has said the federal government will pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge, which carried Interstate 695.

Ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore remains suspended, but the Maryland Port Administration said in a statement Friday that trucks were still being processed at marine terminals.

Federal and state officials have said the collision and collapse early Tuesday appeared to be an accident that came after the ship lost power. Investigators are still trying to determine why.

The crash caused the bridge to break and fall into the water within seconds. Authorities had just enough time to stop vehicle traffic but were unable to alert the construction crew.

The loss of a road that carried 30,000 vehicles a day and the port disruption will affect not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to feel the impact of shipping delays.

Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333, said the union was scrambling to help its roughly 2,400 members whose jobs are at risk of drying up.

“If there’s no ships, there’s no work,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can.”

___

Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Washington, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, Alba Alemán in Xalapa, Mexico, and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.

Then, she hung up the phone, not knowing that this would be the last conversation she would have with her son, 35-year-old Alejandro Hernández Fuentes. He’s been identified by authorities as one of the six workers who died after the bridge collapsed on Tuesday.

“I have a deep pain in my heart; I don’t know how to describe it,” Fuentes Ortiz said in an interview with News4.

Hours after the call with her son, she received another call, this time from her daughter-in-law, who alerted her that Hernández had been in an accident.

“At the moment I didn’t imagine it would have been so serious,” she said. “(But) when I got there and saw the broken bridge, I felt a strong pain in my heart.”

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Mar 28

Baltimore bridge collapse victims: What we know about who they were

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Mar 28

Baltimore Orioles honor bridge collapse victims before Opening Day

Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse Mar 28

Wife of Baltimore bridge collapse survivor says workers were on break in their cars when bridge came down

Anguish overtook her body, Fuentes Ortiz said. She spent a day waiting for information from authorities before she learned her greatest fear was true.

“They took us to a room to talk to us, and I was shaking from head to toe. I knew what bad news they were going to give us about my son,” Fuentes Ortiz said.

Officials confirmed that Alejandro Hernández Fuentes had died. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, Col. Roland Butler Jr. of the Maryland State Police said at a news conference that they had also found the body of another victim, 26-year-old Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River early Tuesday, moments after it was struck by the Dali, a cargo ship. The ship had lost power prior to impact, according to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board.

“I didn’t know what to say, what to think. I just wanted to die, too … of pain,” Fuentes Ortiz said, with tears in her eyes.

The men’s bodies were found shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday inside a red pickup truck submerged in 25 feet of water, where the center portion of the bridge fell, Butler said.

Now, Fuentes Ortiz is waiting for officials to finish the autopsy so she can see her son.

“I would like to see him, hug him … tell him how much I love him,” she said.

The four other workers are presumed dead but remain missing. Their bodies and vehicles are believed to be trapped between the steel and concrete of the crumpled bridge. That debris will need to be removed to get to them.

Earlier Thursday, NBC News reported that the employees were on break in their vehicles when the bridge collapsed.

Maryland State Police initially responded to a crash at about 5 p.m. at Crain Highway and Village Drive, and a driver involved took off on foot, Maryland State Police said. According to two law enforcement sources, state police asked an off-duty D.C. officer for help looking for a suspect following the crash.

Shortly before 6 p.m., off-duty D.C. Lt. Daren Jones, who was in a marked police cruiser, saw the driver who ran from the earlier crash, identified as 28-year-old Ian Tilton, of Annapolis, on the road more than three miles away from the crash scene.

Jones called for assistance, and a Prince George’s County officer arrived at the scene, authorities said.

Tilton then allegedly “produced a knife and lunged at the Prince George’s County police officer,” Maryland State Police said.

The Prince George’s County officer tried to shock Tilton with a stun gun, but it was not effective, authorities said. During the struggle, Jones shot Tilton with his agency-issued gun.

Maryland State Police Aviation Command and Prince George’s County emergency medical services crews gave Tilton aid, Maryland State Police said.

Tilton was taken to a hospital in critical condition, authorities said. He did not survive.

Maryland State Police say their homicide unit is investigating the case.

While investigators believe the crash and police shooting are connected, they did not specifically say that Tilton was the driver who took off.

No officers were injured in the crash or gunfire.

The D.C. officer is now on administrative leave, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said. His body camera was activated, she said. D.C. police and the mayor’s office initially refused to provide information.

The D.C. officer is assigned to the special operations division where he supervises K-9 teams, a law enforcement source told News4.

Dozens of police vehicles could be seen on the busy road, which is by an industrial complex and wooded area. 

All northbound lanes of Crain Highway between Queen Anne Road and Trade Zone Avenue were closed for the investigation.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.

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Miguel Luna, 49, is one of the men now presumed dead, his wife María del Carmen Castellón told our sister station Telemundo 44 in Spanish. 

While access to the disaster zone is restricted, family members like Castellón were able to get in while they waited for news. 

“They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can’t give us information,” she said earlier in the day. “[We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet. We’re just waiting to hear any news.“

Jesús Campos said he’s worked construction for Brawner Builders, alongside some of the missing, for years and that last night his coworkers were replacing concrete on the bridge. 

“Watching what’s happening makes my heart hurt. We’re human beings and they’re my coworkers,” he said. “God willing, they’re alive. It’s what we’re hoping for most.”

Earlier, two people were rescued from the waters of the Patapsco River. One individual declined medical assistance and a second has been released from the hospital, according to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center. 

The search operations were concentrated just where the remnants of the bridge plunged into the frigid waters. 

Brawner Builders Executive Vice President Jeffrey Pritzker confirmed to NBC News that the six missing people are presumed dead. The company had previously confirmed to NBC News that one of its teams was working on the bridge, but did not say specifically if it was Campos’ coworkers. 

By nightfall Tuesday, Coast Guard and Maryland State Police said they were suspending search efforts and moving to a recovery mission.

“It could’ve been me,” Campos said. “Around a month ago I was working on the bridge… we had been moved to the day shift and they went at night.”

Luna’s loved ones say he is from El Salvador and has six children. 

Campos said he doesn’t believe the workers could have been evacuated. 

“It happened in the blink of an eye… It couldn’t be done,” he said. 

Telemundo 44 was able to access a list of names believed to be of the group of workers that were on the bridge during the collapse. Though they appear to be Hispanic, authorities have not provided details on the identities of the victims. 

“They’re fathers. They’re people who come to earn their daily bread,” Campos said. 

According to Campos, the victims came from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and became part of the community in Dundalk and Highlandtown. 

 As night fell, a somber Maryland Gov. Wes Moore expressed compassion for the families of those lost.

“I can’t imagine how painful today has been for these families, how painful these hours,” he said. “Even though we’ve transitioned from a search and rescue to now a recovery mission, we will use every asset to make sure they find a sense of closure.”

Around the bridge, members of the community gathered to express support for the victims and their families wait for more information.