The horses, a rumor of thundering hoofs and distant roars disappearing into the fog at the first turn, made an invisible loop around Pimlico Race Course’s liquid track, then suddenly reappeared out of the gauzy mist and came heaving and splashing down the homestretch. Out in front was the strapping chestnut colt named Justify, his white blaze the first thing to come into view. But behind him — and keeping pace, if not gaining — was a pack of rivals.
As he has across the entirety of his brief and meteoric career, Justify answered the challenge and prevailed Saturday, winning the 143rd Preakness Stakes and keeping alive his Triple Crown hopes.
Tested like never before, Justify, an overwhelming 2-5 favorite, ran neck-and-neck with rival Good Magic for much of the race, seized the lead coming out of the last turn and held off late-charging Bravazo down the stretch for a half-length victory, the smallest by far of his five career wins. Tenfold also closed hard and finished third by a neck. Good Magic faded to fourth.
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Justify, with jockey Mike Smith aboard, holds off second-place Bravazo (8) and Tenfold (6) to capture the Preakness, giving him the first two legs of the Triple Crown. (Amber Searls/USA Today Sports)
Washington, D.C., is bracing to be in the crosshairs of a monster storm that could clobber the East Coast with snow and ice this weekend, forecasters warned.
“Confidence is high in this being a historic snowstorm for the Mid-Atlantic region,” NBC meteorologist Bill Karins said Wednesday.
The nation’s capital could get 18 to 24 inches of snow, according to the Weather Channel. The National Weather service issued a blizzard watch for the city on Wednesday, and will be in effect Friday afternoon through late Saturday night. Baltimore, Maryland, was also included in the blizzard watch.
In what is a perceived legal blow for prosecutors, the jury was hung and the judge declared a mistrial in the trial of Baltimore police officer William Porter in the case of Freddie Gray’s death after sustaining injuries while in custody.
Porter was charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in the April 19th death of Gray, who died a week after his neck was broken during a ride in the back of a police van. Gray’s death and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore brought to the fore long simmering tensions in Baltimore and across the nation over socioeconomic disparity and the relationship between law enforcement and the minority communities they serve.
Prosecutors considered Porter’s case key to help strengthening the case against van driver Caesar Goodson, Jr. It was also seen as a signal of how the trials of the other five officers could go.
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An undated image of Freddie Gray provided by the family’s attorney via WBAL
A majority black jury will ultimately decide if William Porter can be found guilty in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a black man who died after a “rough ride” in a police van in April.
Court officials announced Wednesday that eight black and four white jurors will decide the fate of Porter, one of six Baltimore police officers charged in Gray’s death. Porter, who is black, has been charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
A lot is hinging on the outcome of the case. Legal experts claim an acquittal could set the tone for the other five trials. Prosecutors also seek to use Porter as a material witness against at least two other officers.
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The Washington Post via Getty Images
A handful of protesters gather outside the Baltimore Circuit Court on Nov. 30.
A grand jury in Baltimore has indicted six officers in the death of Freddie Gray, the city’s top prosecutor said Thursday.
In a hasty early-evening news conference, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby reeled off the charges handed down by the grand jury against the officers: Caesar Goodson Jr., William Porter, Brian Rice, Edward Nero, Garrett Miller and Alicia White.
The grand jury’s charges differed slightly from those filed by Mosby on May 1, when she announced the results of her office’s independent investigation of Gray’s death. Some original charges, including false imprisonment and assault, were dropped in the cases of some of the officers, and new charges, including reckless endangerment, were added against all of them.
On a frigid day in November 1969, Father Joseph Maskell, the chaplain of Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, called a student into his office and suggested they go for a drive. When the final bell rang at 2:40 p.m., Jean Hargadon Wehner, a 16-year-old junior at the all-girls Catholic school, followed the priest to the parking lot and climbed into the passenger seat of his light blue Buick Roadmaster.
It was not unusual for Maskell to give students rides home or take them to doctor’s appointments during the school day. The burly, charismatic priest, then 30 years old, had been the chief spiritual and psychological counselor at Keough for two years and was well-known in the community. Annual tuition at Keough was just $200, which attracted working-class families in deeply Catholic southwest Baltimore who couldn’t afford to send their daughters to fancier private schools. Many Keough parents had attended Maskell’s Sunday masses. He’d baptized their babies, and they trusted him implicitly.
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Archbishop Keough High School in 1969. (Photo: Archbishop Keough High School yearbook)
A leaked police document that claims Freddie Gray was “intentionally trying to injure himself” while in the back of a police van in Baltimore after his arrest is being questioned due to inconsistencies with earlier reports.
Gray died a week after his videotaped April 12 arrest due to injuries sustained under uncertain circumstances while in police custody, sparking protests in Baltimore and around the nation.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday night that a prisoner who was in the van with Gray allegedly told investigators he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the police vehicle, and said he believed Gray was “intentionally trying to injure himself,” according to a document written by a Baltimore police investigator.
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Actor Jesse Williams unloads on Baltimore critics in passionate Twitter essay
The “Grey’s Anatomy” actor wrote about the prevelance of rioting throughout history
On Monday evening, as Baltimore was rocked by violent and non-violent protests alike, actor Jesse Williams, known for his role on “Grey’s Anatomy” and for occasionally weighing in on issues of race and police brutality, wrote what amounted to an essay on the history of rioting.
The Los Angeles Police Department is ordering officers to ride in pairs because of a warning that street gangs made a pact to “take out” cops after a Baltimore man was fatally injured while in custody.
L.A. officials said they made the call to issue the so-called “blue alert” out of an abundance of caution, and until they can assess how serious the threat is.
In a statement issued earlier Monday, embattled Baltimore police announced they had received a “credible threat” that the Black Guerrilla Family, the Bloods, the Crips and other rivals planned to target officers.
Tom Clancy, a celebrated author of crime fiction and military thrillers, died on Tuesday in a hospital in Baltimore. He was 66.
Ivan Held, the president of Putnam Books, Clancy’s publisher, confirmed his death to the New York Times, adding that Clancy “was a thrill to work with.” He did not provide a cause of death.
Clancy was born in Baltimore, Md., on April 12, 1947. He was the author of the popular Jack Ryan series, among many others. His novels have repeatedly hit #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, and four of his books were adapted for film, including his first, “The Hunt for Red October.” His latest book, “Command Authority,” is slated for publication this December.
Although most of his writing involved fictionalized accounts of the aftermath of the Cold War, Clancy also penned a slew of nonfiction titles, including “Guided Tours” inside nuclear warships and Air Force combat wings.
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Justify, with jockey Mike Smith aboard, holds off second-place Bravazo (8) and Tenfold (6) to capture the Preakness, giving him the first two legs of the Triple Crown. (Amber Searls/USA Today Sports)
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Archbishop Keough High School in 1969. (Photo: Archbishop Keough High School yearbook)
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James' World 2 