On the Record

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The Maryland State Bar Association has announced the winners of its 2009 “Law In Your Daily Life” YouTube contest. Sponsored by MSBA’s Public Awareness Committee, the contest invited state residents to submit videos designed to help people better understand the legal system.

A judging panel awarded a total of $2,000 in prize money to what it deemed the best videos submitted by children and adults. On Wednesday, the audience for the MSBA’s Law Day event focusing on the law and young people saw all of the videos and handed out $1,000 in prize money for “People’s Choice” winners.

Personally, I think the audience got it right. My favorite part - besides the singer’s shirt - are his co-stars.

I used my Twitter account for the first time last week while covering the Exxon verdict in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Turns out I chose to start using the “micro-blogging” site (which limits entries to 140 characters or less) just as ”tweets” in the legal process were making headlines.

Earlier this month, a federal judge allowed a reporter in Kansas to “tweet” from a federal racketeering gang trial. Lawyers were worried jurors would read the posts, but a federal judge ruled jurors are already told to avoid news accounts of their trial, and Twitter would be no exception.

Then, on Friday, an Arkansas company said it would appeal a $12.6 million verdict because a juror tweeted during the trial. One of the posts read: “I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”

The company’s lawyer said the messages demonstrate the juror “was predisposed toward giving a verdict that would impress his audience.”

All of this Twitter talk makes arguments about cameras in the courtroom seem kind of quaint, don’t you think?

Click here to see the slideshow in a larger format.
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*Barack Obama’s sweep of the ‘Potomac Primary’ and the ice storm that threatened whether voters would make it to the polls

*Incumbent Reps. Wynn and Gilchrest lost their seats to rivals

*A developer is planning to create a Chinatown for Baltimore

*On Valentine’s Day, same-sex marriage debate rages in Annapolis

*And much more

… in this edition of Week in Photos!

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Andy Rosen wrote for our print edition today about the “harsh response” in Annapolis to a bill that would ban special tax districts.

One affected project would be the Charles Street Trolley proposal, which relies (in part) on funding from a property tax surcharge on homeowners in a special tax district near the site.

Here’s what some Charles Street business owners and managers had to say about the trolley proposal and what it would cost.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

Video shot and edited by Brett Keller

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Sometimes you’re looking in vain for a blog post to kick off the day, and sometimes one just falls into your lap.

The latter was the case this morning, after this story came down the wire, about a veteran Baltimore cop who was suspended after a YouTube video of his encounter with a 14 year-old skateboarder at the Inner Harbor made the rounds.

In the video, it appears that the officer is ordering a group of teens to stop skateboarding (which is banned at the Inner Harbor). When the 14 year-old resists, the officer puts him in a headlock and berates him for being disrespectful.

At one point, the officer asks the teen: “Are you from the County or something?” He then proceeds with this zinger: “Obviously, your parents don’t put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don’t understand the meaning of respect.”

WJZ-TV even got an interview with the teen.

Watch the video below and let us know if you think the cop was out of line or not.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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It was an eventful week, for sure - from the horrible news of the Browning family murders, to more developments in the foreclosure realm, to Super Tuesday results and their implications for the primaries in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. Watch the Week in Photos feature below.

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With the state’s smoking ban in effect as of this weekend, many Baltimore-area bars and restaurants held a final hurrah on Thursday night.

Photographer Rich Dennison was at Morton’s the Steakhouse to cover a 55-person event where cigar aficionados bid farewell to a public pastime. Listen to the audio slideshow below and view Rich’s exquisite photographs from the last night of indoor smoking in a Baltimore restaurant.

See the slideshow in a larger format here.

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This week’s been full of announcements: two appointments to the Court of Special Appeals; Legg Mason’s choice for CEO; a Republican proposal for an alternative to the computer services tax.

And let’s not forget this week’s other big news: the start of the statewide smoking ban.

Watch it all unfold in photographs in our Week in Photos feature below.

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Good evening to On the Record visitors!

I hope I haven’t kept you waiting with the later-than-usual Week in Photos. This week seems to be dominated by news from the legislative session … but there’s plenty of other stories as well.

Take a moment to flip through some of the highlights from The Daily Record’s newsroom! And have a great weekend.

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