Senate confirms Hur as
U.S. attorney for Maryland
The Senate unanimously approved President Donald J. Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. Attorney in Maryland late Thursday, rapidly moving his approval during the course of a single day after it appeared to stall for weeks. Robert K. Hur, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland who was nominated in November, will succeed Rod J. Rosenstein in the post. Rosenstein, then the longest-serving U.S. attorney in the country, left the job last year to become deputy attorney general. Hur had appeared to stall in the Senate Judiciary Committee even as more recent U.S. attorney nominees in other states cleared the Senate. The committee’s chairman, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, told The Baltimore Sun last week he was seeking information from the Justice Department before moving forward on Hur. Multiple sources said Grassley was seeking additional material about the department’s probe into the 2016 presidential election. Hur was scheduled for committee review soon after the Sun’s coverage, and was approved by the Senate unanimously on Thursday.
Arundel couple watches as son heads to space station
When Ricky Arnold’s grandmother gave him a replica of the Apollo 11 spacesuit for Christmas when he was 5 years old, his father never expected to be watching his son launch into space, albeit wearing a different suit. Yet for Richard Arnold Sr., 80, who’s watched his son go from teaching abroad in places like Morocco and Saudia Arabia to launching with Russian cosmonauts into space, it’s now become the norm. Arnold joined NASA astronaut Drew Feustel and Roscosmos’ cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev as they blasted off Wednesday from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. Ever since he joined NASA as a mission specialist in 2004, he’s been featured in any number of different missions, whether it be aboard the International Space Station or the world’s only undersea laboratory, Aquarius. He was scheduled to be aboard the space station again Thursday, to join station residents Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Man fatally shot in head inside West Baltimore home
A 40-year-old man was found fatally shot in the head in his home in West Baltimore late Wednesday, according to Baltimore police. Ricky Dale Jones of the 200 block of S. Gilmor St., a block south of Union Square, was discovered in his home by officers responding to reported gunfire about 11:56 p.m., police said Thursday. Police said they knew of no motive and had no suspects in the shooting. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.
Man found dead in home; carbon monoxide detected
A man was found dead Thursday inside a Canton home where high levels of carbon monoxide were detected, Baltimore fire officials said. Firefighters were called at 10:30 a.m. to a home in the 900 block of S. Highland Ave. for a wellness check and found a man’s body. High levels of carbon monoxide were found, the department said. The Fire Department said the cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office.
‘Rise Up’ choir to perform
at March For Our Lives
The Baltimore middle school choir whose powerful rendition of “Rise Up” went viral last fall will perform at an anti-gun violence protest this Saturday in Washington. The students at Cardinal Shehan School will sing with Andra Day — who first wrote and performed the song — and Common at the March For Our Lives protest, according to a publicist. It’s the choir’s second time performing with Day and Common. Last year, they teamed up during an episode of “The View.” Day and Common were just nominated for a Daytime Emmy award for that performance, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Wednesday. Last year, they sang the national anthem before a December Ravens game and performed live on “Good Morning America.” The original video — of the group performing “Rise Up” during practice — catapulted the group to fame last September after director Kenyatta Hardison posted it online. It has now been viewed more than 60 million times. “During the rehearsal, I added a few parts to it, and then I said, ‘Let me just go live with it,’ just so the parents could see,” Hardison said. “When I pushed ‘Live,’ it just changed. These kids were changing the hearts in the world.” Many other Baltimore students from the area are expected to attend the March For Our Lives. Earlier this month, Mayor Catherine E. Pugh announced that Baltimore will pay as much as $100,000 to hire a fleet of buses to help transport city school students to the planned national gun control protest.
Morning apartment fire in Harford being probed
Fifty firefighters responded to a three-alarm apartment fire in Harford County early Thursday. Crews responded to the 1200 block of Raven Wood Court in the Belcamp area around 2:39 a.m., officials said. The Abingdon Volunteer Fire Company rescued two occupants from the fire, according to Jeremy Drehmer, assistant chief of the Abingdon company. No occupant injuries were reported. One firefighter sustained minor injuries. A preliminary investigation found that the fire was likely accidental and due to discarded fireplace ashes, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. According to a statement from the fire marshal, a third-floor resident woke up to the smell of smoke and found fire on her balcony. The fire quickly spread into the attic of the apartment. The resident and two others in the apartment escaped and activated the alarm to alert others in the complex. Fifteen residents of the apartment building were displaced and are being assisted by the Red Cross. The fire was placed under control by 4 a.m., according to Drehmer. The fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause.
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