Post-Panamax Upgrades Require Baltimore-Area Bridge Closures Today

Drivers in the Baltimore area will face traffic jams due to several temporary bridge closures this afternoon that come just as the region faces the first heat wave of the season.

The bridges, including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Key Bridge, and are being temporarily closed because the Port of Baltimore is set to receive a ship carrying four cranes necessary to upgrade port facilities to handle the next generation of super Panamax ships. The closures are meant to prevent accidents due to rubber necking and gawking at the sight of these massive cranes passing within feet of the bridge deck.



The Port of Baltimore crane upgrade is a scene being repeated at ports around the nation. In order to handle the expected opening of the expanded Panama Canal, ports are rushing to upgrade their facilities.

For the New York City metro area, that means expediting the raising of the Bayonne Bridge. Ports that don't carry out necessary upgrades will likely lose business to those ports that are ready to receive the larger ships.

It's a business decision, but it has tremendous economic impacts on regions.

For instance, if the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey can't get the Bayonne Bridge raised in time, shipping companies may look to Baltimore or Norfolk, Virginia as alternatives, meaning lost jobs and economic opportunities in the New York City metropolitan region. That's why the bridge raising project is so vital as well as a host of less visible projects, including ongoing dredging of New York harbor and the recently completely dredging of the Kill Van Kull to allow deeper draft shipping.

Baltimore Man Arrested In Alleged Car Bomb Plot

Details are still sketchy at this point, but authorities have arrested a man from Baltimore, Maryland in connection with a plot to blow up an Armed Forces recruiting station in Cantonsville, Maryland.

The man -- described as a 21-year-old convert to Islam -- is upset that the military continues to kill Muslims, a law enforcement source said. His name and residence were not immediately made available.

Marcia Murphy with the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore said the suspect was arrested in the morning hours "in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland, with what he believed to be a vehicle bomb."

He is to make an initial appearance in a U.S. District Court in Baltimore at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The arrest comes after a high-profile string of unsuccessful terror attempts, such as last year's alleged Christmas Day bombing attempt, the botched Times Square car bombing, and the alleged Portland, Oregon, plan to attack a Christmas tree-lighting.

The suspect had been monitored for months by law enforcement agents, and Murphy said there was "no actual danger to the public" because the explosives were "inert."

The most recent attempted terror attacks in the US have been carried out by recent converts to Islam, who seem to be the most radicalized and most likely to follow through on threats to attack the US and its interests domestically.

It will be interesting to see whether ties to other known terrorists and their ideologues become known, including ties to Anwar al-Awlaki.

This plot was busted in much the same way as a plot to bomb a tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon.

UPDATE:
The suspect's name is Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammed Hussain.

ACORN Funding Investigations Open Across the Nation

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R) has cut funding to ACORN amid the widening scandal facing the group.

"I have instructed the State Fiscal Officer to conduct a comprehensive review of the state's relationship with ACORN, and all state agencies are to cut off funding for any current contracts with ACORN to the extent the law permits," Governor Barbour said.

Mississippi joins a growing list of states severing ties to the group after a video was released showing employees in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, N.Y., advising two undercover activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute to lie about the prostitute's profession, suggested they launder the money and advised how to hide underage prostitutes.

San Diego's Board of Supervisors might go back and audit the group's voter registrations. Nice. Isn't that a little late? Considering that the group has repeatedly been caught engaging in voter registration fraud - a separate and distinct issue from actual voter fraud - it should have opened an investigation long ago. The ACORN office in San Diego says that if their voter registrations should be audited, so should all the other registrations. Good point (even if broken clocks are right twice a day). Local and state elections officials have repeatedly shirked their responsibilities to confirm that those who register to vote are actually eligible to vote (including failing to cull the deceased from voter rolls). But, special scrutiny should be paid to ACORN-related registrations primarily because of the flexible moral and ethical conduct of ACORN employees as witnessed on the multitude of videos.

Maryland Attorney General has finally launched an investigation into ACORN activities, stemming from the video showing the Baltimore office's gross misconduct. That's after Baltimore officials appear more than willing to overlook matters:

Hours after the Justice Department's inspector general announced Monday that he plans a review of funding to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Maryland's top law enforcement officer also moved to launch an investigation.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) asked and received permission from Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute "conduct involving" ACORN.

Gansler's investigation effectively usurps Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. She had called the secret taping of ACORN employees giving tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute illegal under Maryland's requirement for two-party consent for audio recordings.

"As time went on, it became clear that the local authorities were not going to look into it," said Raquel Guillory, Gansler's spokeswoman. "It's obviously something that needed to be looked into, and that's why we've taken this step."

Baltimore's more interested in prosecuting James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles than going after the gross misconduct at ACORN. Curious how that works. Instead of trying to deal with the huge mess that O'Keefe and Giles kicked over with their expose, Baltimore's prosecutor wants to hit the duo. Nice.

It's also good to see that the US Justice Department is finally opening an investigation. They're going to look for improprieties in any funding obtained through the Department. I would suggest that Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services likewise open investigations given that ACORN may have obtained funds through both of those agencies as well as part of their homeowner assistance programs and other community programs.

Such investigations are long overdue (going back years in fact), but there is no way one can possibly ignore the mess.

The Baltimore Experience

This past weekend, I went down to Baltimore to get away from the NYC metro area for a bit and to take in Orioles Park at Camden Yards. We managed to see a bit of the city, including the Washington Monument, Fort McHenry, the Inner Harbor, and the area around Camden Yards.

The area around the Inner Harbor was full of life and the place was packed on this perfect spring day. The weather was just amazing, and I have the sunburn to prove it (wear your sunscreen and hats folks).

Parts of the city remind me of Brooklyn and the new ballpark fits in nicely with the downtown area. There's a reason that so many other teams have tried to replicate the feeling, ambiance, and intimacy that Camden Yards affords fans.

Our seats were awesome and had I tried to spend that kind of money at the new Yankee Stadium, I would have been in the terrace level in the outfield. For roughly $50, we had prime seats behind home plate just rows from the field. Eutaw Street is a thriving area just past the right field fence, and they've even got home runs out on the street immortalized with little plaques.

 

Inside the stadium, the Orioles mascot did his best to keep the crowd interested, and he brought kids out on to the field before the game started to play around. It was quite cute.

 

The first pitch was thrown out by none other than former Bush and Clinton Administration member Norman Mineta, who was introduced as the first Asian American mayor in the country and someone who had lived through the FDR internment of Japanese during World War II.

The outcome of the game didn't particularly matter to me, but the Tigers won 6-3 over the Orioles. However, Oriole fans have a lot to look forward to as Matt Wienters got his first major league hits in the game - a triple followed by a single. Congrats to him, and I expect we'll be hearing lots more about him in coming years. He's got quite the pretty swing.

 

All in all, we had a great time down in Baltimore and I can see going to more games. On that front, Baltimore definitely has a lot to offer, although that is a double edged sword. At times, it sounded like there were more Tigers fans in the stands than Orioles fans, and that's despite the fact that the Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup. I can also see why so many New York fans go down there to catch games - it's cheaper and it's a great ballpark.

UPDATE:
This photo panorama doesn't quite do the park justice. It's a combination of a dozen separate photos.