A digest of Baltimore news from local sources.
From The AFRO American: Anti-Drug Fence: A Symbol of Slain Baltimore Father
"Concerned residents, friends, political figures and police officers came together to finish what a slain father had started.
"Kendal Fenwick, 24, was gunned down outside his home on Park Heights Avenue in west Baltimore. He was in the process of building a fence around his backyard to keep drugs and drug dealers away from his family home.
"A truck driver, Fenwick wanted to give his three children a safe haven in the midst of a city plagued by violence. For his actions, police said, he became the 295th homicide victim in a city where murders have now climbed past 300.
"On a bright, crisp Sunday morning, dozens gathered to pitch in and help complete that dream. Attorney Ivan Bates, a friend of Fenwick’s father, helped launch the event through social media with the hashtag #FinishTheFence.
"About 60 people pitched in to help, so many, Talley said, that they ran out of tools and gloves for the workers."
From The Baltimore Sun: Towson U. President Signs Students’ Demands After 8-Hour Protest in His Office
"A group of about two dozen black Towson University students brought a list of 13 demands to the school's interim President Timothy Chandler's office Wednesday and reviewed them with him until after midnight, when he pledged to address them.
"The protest focused on increasing the number of tenured faculty members of color, adding cultural competency courses and creating a no-tolerance policy on racial, sexual and homophobic epithets with consequences to include "potential expulsion."
"Deb Moriarty, the university's vice president for student affairs, and other administrators helped Chandler review and revise the students' demands for more than eight hours. Together, the group went line-by-line, editing the wording of each demand until Chandler agreed to sign his name and commit to working toward the goals early Thursday morning.
"It was part of a nationwide #StudentBlackOut movement, following students at the University of Missouri protesting and eventually forcing the school's president to resign over his failure to address race issues on campus.
"The Towson students tweeted and live-streamed their protest using the hashtag #OccupyTowson.
"The students wrote that they had endured oppressive conditions at Towson, including 'egg shells and racial slurs being thrown out of windows; racial slurs being shouted at house parties; sexual and racial epithets from classroom professors; lack of representation in black faculty on the tenure track; lack of cultural competency in our peers and professors; the discontinuation of the Towson Debate Team; etc., etc.'
"Chandler, who signed it about 12:40 a.m., said the discussion was 'long and quite difficult' but 'very fruitful.'"
From The Washington Post: Md. Agrees to Expand Medical Care at Baltimore City Detention Center
"Maryland has agreed to expand medical care at the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of pretrial detainees at the sprawling facility.
"The deal, announced Wednesday, requires the jail to provide accommodations for people with disabilities and to establish guidelines for assessing, treating and independently monitoring detainees’ physical and mental health.
“'At last, the Baltimore City Detention Center will provide adequate, timely medical care to detainees instead of abandoning those with injuries and illness,” Public Justice Center legal director Debra Gardner said.
"The settlement comes after the Public Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union moved to reopen a 1993 case addressing allegations of inadequate care at the Baltimore jail."