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Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

MD Gov. Calls Crime in Baltimore ‘Urgent Crisis’

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Thursday, February 6, 2020   

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Addressing violent crime in Baltimore is the most important challenge facing Maryland today, according to Gov. Larry Hogan.

In his sixth State of the State address Wednesday, the Republican leader called on lawmakers to pass tough-on-crime bills to deal with shootings and murders that he says are destroying the state's largest city.

Two of Hogan's proposed bills would increase penalties for people who threaten or intimidate witnesses, and those who use guns in violent crimes.

"People are being shot every single day in Baltimore city," the governor said. "This is an urgent crisis. And we have an obligation to do something about it right now."

Criminal justice advocates say Hogan's proposals to toughen sentencing won't solve the rise in Charm City's crime.

They say what's needed is more investment in the city's communities for much needed jobs and better social services.

Harsher sentencing laws such as what Hogan is proposing were tried before during the 1990s, according to Marc Schindler, executive director of the advocacy group Justice Policy Institute.

Schindler says data shows those initiatives did nothing to reduce crime. In fact, he points out that they led to a new crisis:

Maryland now has the highest number of incarcerated young black men in the nation.

"What it results in is people going to prison for longer terms, even beyond any threat to public safety, and a very disproportionate and harsh impact on communities of color, particularly blacks in Maryland," Schindler points out.

Baltimore ended 2019 with 348 homicides, the worst rate on record and second worst among U.S. cities.

A recent poll shows Marylanders think crime is the top priority that state lawmakers need to tackle.


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