Author Archives: Sean Yoes

On July 25 the Baltimore City Council’s Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee voted 5-2 to amend the council’s ill-fated attempt to impose a mandatory minimum one-year sentence on anyone “illegally” carrying a gun within 100 yards of a school, public park, church or any other public facility in the city. The revised bill would impose […]

A controversial proposed Baltimore gun law, which would enforce a mandatory one-year sentence on anyone illegally carrying a gun in many sections of the city, was watered down significantly in a Baltimore City Council committee July 25. A protester was arrested by Baltimore City Police after one of several skirmishes between opponents of a proposed […]

Baltimore native Carmello Anthony, a perennial NBA All-Star with the New York Knicks and surefire hall-of-famer is the face and host of, “The Basketball Tournament,” a $2 million, single-elimination tournament featuring 64 teams (a mix of professionals, college players and neighborhood blacktop legends, among others), which will end in Baltimore with the semi-final and championship […]

Renaissance Academy, the beleaguered high school housed in a decrepit, rodent-infested building in West Baltimore near the epicenter of the April 2015 uprising, was almost shuttered for good by city schools administrators earlier this year. But the violence-plagued school has been given an injection of hope, in the form of $1.5 million from the Baltimore […]

A new attempt to impose a mandatory one-year jail sentence for anybody caught carrying a handgun in Baltimore, within 100 yards of a church, school, park, or any other public facility has members of the Baltimore City Council at odds and many in the community in opposition or unsure. On Monday evening (July 17), members […]

“Good cops don’t like to work with bad cops,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a statement, following the announcement last week that three of the seven officers indicted for racketeering in March, have been hit with additional charges by the U.S. Attorney. “The vast majority of our agency is comprised of good cops,” […]

Over the Fourth of July weekend we learned two high profile Baltimoreans, connected intimately to the criminal justice system lost loved ones to violence. Baltimore Police spokesman, T.J. Smith delivers the horrific news of homicides, that devastates families, because it is part of his job. But, tragically for Smith on July 2, it was his […]

The Paper Moon Diner in Remington arguably has the best blueberry pancakes in Baltimore City. And it was the blueberry pancakes (sans powdered sugar), along with the addictive duck bacon that summoned me back to the eatery last Sunday for a very late breakfast. Years ago the restaurant was the choice of the late night, […]

Charmaine Wilson desperately needed help. The 37-year old mother of eight wanted out of the public housing unit where she lived with her children in the 1700 block of Gertrude Street, in Southwest Baltimore. Sean Yoes (Courtesy Photo) According to reports (as well as information presented by a caller during AFRO First Edition on June […]

The fight to get African Americans legally registered to produce and dispense medical marijuana in Maryland is far from over. Different varieties of marijuana flowers are displayed at medical marijuana dispensary. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka) Cheryl Glenn, chair of Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus (LBC), recently urged Maryland residents to join the LBC and demand the state’s […]