by Mary Spiller

August 31, 2024

Woman Charged With First-Degree Murder After Ordering Rottweiler To Fatally Attack 9-Year-Old Girl

The entire incident, and other instances of child abuse, was caught on home security cameras.

Florida woman Tyshael Elise Martin has been charged with murder after allegedly ordering her 100-pound Rottweiler to attack a 9-year-old girl. The alleged Rottweiler attack, which occurred in June, was captured on the family’s security camera.

Florida investigators described a series of disturbing clips in a 10-page arrest affidavit obtained by People, showing Martin allegedly holding the dog’s leash and repeatedly ordering it to bite 9-year-old Jamaria Sessions as she lay prone on the floor.

Later in the videos, Martin allegedly kicked Jamaria to the floor, “grabbed the child by her hair,” and pulled her around while “repeatedly” striking her.

According to the affidavit, Martin said, “I’m fixin’ to kill her.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported that two days later, police arrested Jamaria’s father, LoJuan Sessions, and charged him with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Sessions told investigators that he and his girlfriend had argued on June 12, and he moved out the next day, leaving Jamaria with her. Four days after he moved out, someone called 911 to the home for an “unresponsive child, who was cold to the touch.”

When first responders arrived on the scene, they found Jamaria naked and described her as having “a significant number of abrasions, small punctures, burns, possible bite marks, and bruising covering her body, all in various stages of healing.” Per the affidavit, she had a swollen face and several broken teeth. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The medical examiner ultimately ruled her death as a homicide and explained that it was caused by “complications of multiple blunt injuries of head, torso, and extremities and thermal injury of right foot,” but overall, many of the injuries were consistent with extended physical abuse.

Although Sessions’s first court appearance was on Aug. 31, Martin has already appeared before a Lake County judge and refrained from entering a plea.

Officers executed a search warrant on the home, leading to the arrests of Sessions and Martin after they found video footage of Jamaria being attacked by the family’s 103-pound Rottweiler on June 15, with Martin encouraging the attack.

Jamaria had lived in Sessions and Martin’s household since October 2023, before her death.

This is not the first time the couple has been in trouble with the law. According to People, they both have a criminal history of possession and dealing illegal narcotics and charges related to “exposing their children to dangerous situations.” Sessions spent five years in prison for drug trafficking, along with two counts of felony child neglect before the Rottweiler attack.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Tupac Murder Suspect Denied Bond Again, Judge Suspects Cover-Up Of Source Funds

Duane 'Keefe D' Davis' $750,000 cash bond has been denied for the second time in a row.

Duane “Keefe D” Davis’s bail has been denied for the second time in a row after a judge questioned the sources of the funds.

Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny denied a request to pay Davis’ $750,000 bail due to her suspicions of a possible cover-up, the Associated Press reports. Davis’s attorney said he would provide additional proof showing that the music record executive offering to cover the bail had obtained the money legally.

However, Kierny expressed skepticism after receiving two identical letters from an entertainment company claiming Cash “Wack 100” Jones wired him the funds as payment for his work. The judge noted that one letter was signed with a name unrelated to the company, while the second letter featured a misspelled name and a return address linked to a doctor’s office.

“I have a sense that things are trying to be covered up,” Kierny said.

Davis’ lawyer, Carl Arnold, asserted that the bail bond agent Davis used had given the entertainment company copy-and-paste instructions for the letters and could testify about their authenticity. However, prosecutor Binu Palal said the bond dealer may have committed a felony by submitting “a false document to this court.”

“The state takes that very seriously,” he said. “Be advised that it will not go uninvestigated.”

Kierny also pushed back the start date for Davis’ trial from Nov. 4 to March 17.

In June, Wack 100 testified about his reasons for wanting to cover the cost of Davis’ pricey bail, stating that Davis has “always been a monumental person in our community … especially the urban community.” He also mentioned Davis’s reported battle with cancer.

During an interview earlier this year, Wack 100 expressed his interest in bailing out Davis in hopes of using it for video content.

“It’s only $750,000,” he told VladTV at the time. “I’ve been thinking about going to get him with the stipulations that I’ll do the series on it.”

Davis has claimed in interviews and his 2019 tell-all memoir that he is the only surviving suspect in the 1996 fatal drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur at a traffic light near the Las Vegas Strip. The ailing former Los Angeles-area gang leader has been incarcerated awaiting trial since his arrest last September.

RELATED CONTENT: Keefe D Secures $750K Bond

by Mary Spiller

August 31, 2024

Actress Betty A. Bridges Passes Away At 83 At Home Of Son Todd Bridges

Betty A. Bridges died in the home of her son Todd while under hospice care.

Actress Betty A. Bridges has died. According to her representative, Elizabeth Much, Bridges passed away at 83 in the home of her son, actor Todd Bridges, in Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug. 27.

Betty Bridges reportedly passed away while living with her son in hospice care, and Todd honored the veteran actress with a series of tributes posted to social media. Todd posted an image of his mother smiling, with the years 1941-2024 written across the bottom. Later, he posted another photo and a video compilation of various pictures of his mother, which was soundtracked by Everly Fair’s “I Love You Always Forever (Acoustic).”

Comments from people touched by Betty and her work came from friends of the family and other followers, including words of condolences from Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Gilbert, and Tyrone Burton.

Burton wrote, “I send My Condolences to You & Your Family. I sent some Prayers up asking the Father to comfort your family through His Word in this time of your beautiful Mother’s passing. I thank God we did a movie together with her starting in it, help to keep her memory alive.”

He added, “#FosterBabiesRIP/RIH Betty Bridges. Much Love Fam!!”

Kravitz simply commented, “Rest in power, Queen.”

Betty had over four decades of experience in her filmography and has worked in the industry since 1974. Notably, she has appeared on screen in Police Woman, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman and Quincy, M.E., and even shows like Flamingo Road, Lou Grant, Dallas, NYPD Blue, ER, and Scrubs. Most recently, she appeared in 2 Broke Girls in 2014.

Aside from starring on the screen, Bridges also worked as a manager and acting coach in Hollywood, co-founding the Kane Bridge Academy acting school as a teacher. She acted as a mentor and guiding force for big names Nia Long, Tony O’Dell, Marcus Chong, Shashawnee Hall, and both sisters, King sisters Regina and Reina.

Bridges is survived by her son Todd and his wife, Bettijo Bridges, her son Jimmy Bridges, daughter Verda Bridges Prpich, adopted son Zerondrick Hubbard, as well as 12 grandchildren.

KAMALA HARRIS, media interviews, The View, Howard Stern

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Kamala Harris Snubs Trump’s ‘Tired Playbook’ About Her Ethnicity, ‘Next Question, Please’

Kamala Harris sat down with CNN and answered many questions, except ones about Trump's attacks on her race and ethnicity.

Kamala Harris sat down for her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee and answered all questions except one about her race and ethnic background.

The Vice President and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke with CNN’s Dana Bash about policies their administration plans to implement if they win the 2024 election. At one point during the nearly 30-minute interview, Harris brushed off Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, dismissing her rival’s suggestion that she “happened to turn Black.”

“Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”

Dana Bash: “Trump suggested that you happened to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”

Kamala Harris: “Same old tired playbook. Next question, please.”

Dana Bash: “That's it?”

Kamala Harris: “That's it.” pic.twitter.com/yBUebgVg0Z
— Reda (@RedaMor_) August 30, 2024

When it comes to Harris’s immediate plans upon taking office, she stressed her urgency to strengthen the economy.

“First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class,” she told Bash.

Elsewhere, Harris explained why she adjusted some of her positions on fracking and immigration, noting that while her core values remain the same, her experience as vice president has given her new perspectives on some of the country’s most pressing issues.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she said. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed –- and I have worked on it -– that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.”

Harris also addressed how she would tackle the ongoing border crisis and immigration issue in the country by highlighting her record as California attorney general when she prosecuted gangs accused of cross-border trafficking.

“My values have not changed. So that is the reality of it. And four years of being vice president, I’ll tell you, one of the aspects, to your point, is traveling the country extensively,” she said. “I believe it is important to build consensus, and it is important to find a common place of understanding of where we can actually solve problems.”

CNN – KAMALA HARRIS INTERVIEW BY DANA BASH [FULL LENGTH] pic.twitter.com/VUbp34OLjR
— The Gas Stove (@TheGasStovee) August 30, 2024

Since becoming the official Democratic nominee, Harris laid out an economic policy plan focused on bringing down food, housing, and childcare costs by going after large corporations guilty of price gouging and improving affordable housing. However, Bash asked Harris why her policy plans hadn’t been implemented during the three years that Biden has been in office.

“We had to recover as an economy, and we have done that,” she said while noting efforts toward containing inflation, cutting costs for prescription drugs, and tax cuts for families. “There’s more to do, but that’s good work.”

Harris remained in line with her commitment to serve as a president for “all Americans” by revealing her plan to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected. This approach revives a tradition from recent decades—one not followed by Trump or Biden—of including at least one opposing party member in the Cabinet.

“I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” she said. “But I would, I think. I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion.”

Harris continued, “I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

Ricard Moore, death row, execution, South Carolina

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Death Row Inmate In Missouri Pleads Case Weeks Before Scheduled Execution

Marcellus Williams is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 24.

Death row inmate Marcellus Williams appeared before St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton Wednesday during an evidentiary hearing to prove he did not murder a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter in 1998, CNN reports.

Williams, 55, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24 for the murder of Felicia Gayle, who was found stabbed to death in her home.

Despite always maintaining his innocence, Williams was sentenced to death in 2001 after he was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, and other charges. The Missouri Supreme Court has ordered the hearing after blocking an agreement, previously approved by Hilton, between the inmate and the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s Office that would have spared Williams’ life.

The case has set Wesley Bell, a local prosecutor running for Congress as a Democrat, against state Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican seeking reelection. In January, Bell ordered the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to file a motion to vacate Williams’ conviction, arguing that DNA evidence, which could potentially exclude Williams as the killer, had never been reviewed by a court.

Prosecutors were expected to present evidence in court to support the motion last Wednesday. The evidence was based on analysis by three DNA experts who concluded that DNA testing excluded Williams as the person who wielded the knife that killed Gayle.

However, the hearing did not proceed as planned after Bailey’s office opposed the local prosecutor’s motion, arguing that new DNA testing revealed the knife had “been handled by many actors, including law enforcement” and therefore would not exonerate Williams. There were also reports that the new DNA testing revealed the presence of DNA from an investigator who worked for the prosecutor’s office during Williams’ trial, as well as the prosecutor who handled the case.

A prosecutor admitted to touching the knife without gloves. A forensic DNA expert testified that due to the knife’s handling in the past, it is impossible to determine whether Williams’ DNA was ever on it.

Now Williams’ attorney, Jonathan Potts, said the mishandling of that evidence “destroyed” Williams’ “last and best chance” to prove his innocence. After last week’s hearing was postponed, Bell’s office announced that it had reached an agreement with Williams. Under the consent judgment, which was approved by the court and Gayle’s family, the inmate would have entered an Alford plea to first-degree murder and, in exchange, would have been resentenced to life in prison.

However, the attorney general’s office opposed the deal and appealed to the state Supreme Court, which quickly blocked the agreement. Bailey’s office commended the court’s intervention, while the prosecutor’s office expressed continued “concerns about the integrity” of Williams’ conviction.

Williams’ claim of innocence is supported by attorneys from the Innocence Project and the Midwest Innocence Project. Since 1973, at least 200 individuals sentenced to death have been exonerated, including four in Missouri.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Naomi Osaka Crushed After U.S. Open Loss, ‘My Heart Dies Every Time I Lose’

Naomi Osaka is heartbroken following her return to the U.S. Open, where she suffered a second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova.

Naomi Osaka was left heartbroken following her return to the U.S. Open, where she suffered a second-round defeat to Karolina Muchova.

The decorated tennis champion, who won the title in 2018 and 2020, returned to the U.S. Open after missing last year’s tournament following the birth of her daughter, Shai. Osaka, 26, had a strong start in the competition after beating Jelena Ostapenko in the first round, her first major win in over four years, BBC reports.

However, she was unable to overcome Czech player Muchova, losing 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) after failing to convert three set points to force a third set.

“It’s a little rough because I do take these losses really personally. It’s like a dramatic word, but I feel like my heart dies every time I lose,” Osaka said. “I’ve been trying to be more mature and learn and talk more about them.”

Prior to the U.S. Open, Osaka admitted to not feeling “like I’m in my body” since her return from maternity leave. She’s competed in the WTA Tour, Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and the French Open this year but has not gone beyond the quarter-finals of any event.

Despite the early exits, the four-time major winner described 2024 as a “learning year.”

“It’s been a little difficult because obviously, I can only gauge how I’m doing by results. Like, I feel faster. I feel better, but I lost in the second round. So it’s a little rough,” Osaka said.

“But, also, it’s been fun playing a lot of tournaments. It’s been a commitment for sure, but I’ve been able to go to different cities that I’ve never been to.”

While she didn’t win the competition, Osaka remains a champion in the fashion department with her eye-catching tennis uniforms sported on the court. She stole the show in one ensemble that matched the tennis balls she played with.

Naomi Osaka's U.S. Open outfit deserves an extra game point! 🎾💚 pic.twitter.com/zlzhNyCPYF
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) August 27, 2024

“Very cutesy,” one fan wrote.

“Literally obsessed,” added someone else.

Giant bows were the theme for Osaka’s fashion-forward looks, each featuring a large bow that flowed down her back and matching bows on her sneakers.

This is Naomi Osaka's world and we're just living in it pic.twitter.com/fiBfwIRQjk
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) August 29, 2024

Just in case you lose, why not look good while doing it?

Arrest, father, Paulsboro, student, highschool, argument, confrontation,Texas, sheriff, Freddie. Douglas

by Sharelle Burt

August 31, 2024

Oops! Murder Suspect Dropped Into Hands Of Police After Falling Through Roof Of Hiding Spot

Well that's bizarre....

Alleged murder suspect, Deario Wilkerson’s luck, ran out after the roof of his hiding spot in Memphis, Tennessee, collapsed, landing him in the hands of police, NPR reports.

The U.S. Marshals Service said agents in Memphis captured the 20-year-old Wilkerson on Aug. 26 after being on the run for months for charges of first-degree murder and reckless endangerment, all in connection to a fatal shooting. The suspect’s whereabouts were being tracked, leading authorities to a residence. “Wilkerson attempted to hide in the attic as the USMS searched the residence; however, he fell through the ceiling,” a statement read.

Officials said Wilkerson wasn’t injured in the fall and was taken into custody immediately.

The dramatic arrest capped off a string of incidents that started in April 2024 when a shooting left Troy Cunningham dead and a woman injured. According to the Shelby County District Attorney’s office, Wilkerson was one of three people arrested in connection with the incident. After police were called to an apartment complex on April 2 for a disturbance, multiple gunshots were heard. The statement said, “The victim, Troy Cunningham, was discovered on the sidewalk near Peres and Merton Street, having sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head.”

At the time of the incident, according to WREG, one of the other suspects, identified as Jarius Hibbler, was seen wearing a blue hoodie and pointed a gun at the victim. When Cunningham put his hands in the air, Wilkerson lunged at him, starting the fight. One of the victim’s family members told authorities she heard the suspects admit to Cunningham that they were going to take his “Gen,” which is allegedly slang for “Glock” or a gun.

The gunshots struck a vehicle that was passing with two female passengers inside, one of whom was shot in the shoulder. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment, suffering noncritical injuries.

Wilkerson has been on the wanted list since May 9 following an issued arrest warrant. While the suspect was on the run, the case was turned into a fugitive investigation handled by the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force (TRVFTF) department. The task force is described as a “multi-agency task force within Western Tennessee.”

With offices in Memphis and Jackson, the department consists of Deputy U.S. Marshals and officers from Shelby, Fayette, and Tipton County. Special agents from the Tennessee Department of Correction Special Agents and Tennessee Highway Patrol also serve on the force.

The TRVFTF has captured over 2,600 violent fugitives and sexual predators since 2021.

high school, football, player, dies, Chance Gainer, Patrick Pass, Under New Transfer, Jackson state

by Sharelle Burt

August 31, 2024

Brooklyn High School Football Coach Accused Of Smashing Student‘s Head Into Wall

The student claims it was all because he fell asleep during a football team video review.

The mother of Shayson Willock, a 14-year-old high school student, is accusing his coach of smashing her son’s head into a wall, leaving him unconscious, The New York Post reports.

In a criminal complaint and civil lawsuit, coach Nicholas Nugent is accused of severely slamming Willock’s head into the wall of a stairwell at James Madison High School in Brooklyn in September 2023. Willock allegedly lost consciousness and required six staples to his skull.

Shayson’s mother, Deslyn Willock, filed a $2.5 million lawsuit on Aug. 26 against Nugent, the city of New York, and the Department of Education, claiming she doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

“I don’t know if I can trust the teachers,” she said. “I don’t know if I can trust the coaches. I don’t even know if I can trust the justice system. I don’t know who to trust at this point, because I felt like everyone failed me. Everyone failed my son.”

The complaint alleges Nugent became enraged when Willock fell asleep during a football team video review. According to the suit, the minor was getting over a bout with COVID and was having trouble staying awake during after-school activity. The coach then kicked him out and then followed him into the hallway. Willock was then allegedly slammed into the wall multiple times and pushed into a metal pole, before running back into a classroom with blood gushing from his head.

The high schooler said that’s when he passed out. “He was trying to tell them that he needed to go to the bathroom so I could wipe off the blood,” his mother said.

Deslyn Willock claims administrators told her that her son fell back during the argument but she could hear her son over the phone screaming, “He hurt me, he hurt me.” The family’s lawyer, Richard Kenny, said an MRI suggested a potential brain contusion and damage to his spine. “He has a compromised cervical region with multiple herniations, which is wholly abnormal for anyone remotely close to his young age,” Kenny said.

The Brooklyn high schooler, who received six staples in his skull, hasn’t been able to play the sport he loves since the incident.

After the coach was arrested on Sept. 18, he was charged with several counts of felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment and menacing. While he is on supervised release, Nugent said he can’t discuss the case but is excited to have his day in court.

“I’m shocked by the phone call to find out it’s a news thing, but hey, it is what it is. It’s all good,” he told The New York Post. “That’s why we’re going to trial, because I’m all about defending my freedom. I’m all about defending my rights.”

The mother said the school’s principal, Jodie Cohen, did keep in touch with her son and was concerned about his well being, however, she called out James Madison’s lack of concern with the coach’s behavior and working with law enforcement. “I don’t even think other parents really knew,” Deslyn Willock said.

This will be the second time in 2024 the school has come under fire for certain administrative decisions. According to CBS News, parents were fuming after city officials moved thousands of asylum seekers from the Floyd Bennett Field tent shelter in January 2024 to the school as protection against high winds and rain. The intense backlash resulted in a bomb threat.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Community Organizations In Cleveland Rally To Increase Black Male Voter Turnout For November

The event brought together 300 Black men with the shared goal of getting other Black men out to the polls this November.

Several community organizations in Cleveland have come together to increase the voter turnout among Black men for the 2024 election.

Members of 100 Black Men of Cleveland, Prince Hall Masons, and local Divine Nine fraternity chapters joined forces with several other community organizations on Aug. 27 for a nonpartisan event designed to mobilize voter engagement among Black men in Northeast Ohio, WKYC reported.

The event brought together 300 Black men with the shared goal of getting other Black men out to the polls this November.

“It’s wrong to steal the ballot from Black men. It’s wrong to lie to Black men who have been lied to this country ever since we have been here, it is wrong to continue to incarcerate Black men at a rate faster than anyone in the world,” Pastor C. Jay Matthews with United Pastors said.

The nonpartisan event comes ahead of a planned canvassing day where the men will go door-to-door throughout Cleveland.

“Black men, get in the game. This is a call to action for all Black men in our community to get involved in voter engagement this coming election season,” Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin said.

Local churches have already mobilized their congregations to get an early start on voting this November.

“We have already launched our 100 churches to have 100 people vote by early mail before the election starts,” Matthews said.

Organizers are confident that they can get “1,000 brothers on the ground,” according to Aaron Phillips with Cleveland Clergy Coalition. The message they want to get out is clear: Get registered to vote and know that numbers do matter.

“When you have a thousand men coming together to help get out the votes in our neighborhood, particularly men of color out working the streets to get our kids engaged, get seniors re-engaged, there is something special out there that is happening,” Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

August 31, 2024

Maryland Supreme Court Denies Baltimore Property Tax Cuts And Payments To New Parents In Proposed ‘Baby Bonus’

The Supreme Court of Maryland denied ballot proposals in Baltimore for property tax reductions and a baby bonus for new parents.

The Supreme Court of Maryland shut down two ballot proposals in Baltimore that would’ve offered tax reductions and payouts to new parents.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland’s highest court ruled Thursday that the two proposed ballot questions violated the state’s constitution. The state Supreme Court reviewed the two cases after separate Baltimore Circuit Court judges found that each question should not be included on the ballots for city voters in the upcoming fall election.

The high court agreed with the judges and determined that the ballot questions infringed upon powers reserved for legislative bodies such as the Baltimore City Council. The ruling was issued on an expedited basis due to the Maryland State Board of Elections, which is scheduled to begin printing ballots for the November election on Sept. 6.

The court’s ruling came one day after it heard arguments from Renew Baltimore, the organization supporting the tax proposal, and the Maryland Child Alliance, which sponsored the proposed payments to parents, commonly called the Baby Bonus. Renew Baltimore, a coalition of economists and former city officials, gathered over 23,000 signatures in support of its proposal to reduce the city’s property tax rate nearly in half over seven years, from 2.248% to 1.2%.

In July, the Baltimore City Board of Elections informed the group that the measure would be removed from the ballot, stating that only the mayor and City Council have the authority to set the property tax rate. In its order on Aug. 29, the Supreme Court ruled that the proposed ballot measure violates a provision of Maryland property tax law, which designates it as the exclusive responsibility of a county’s “governing body” to set the property tax rate each year.

“The circuit court correctly determined that the proposed charter amendment impermissibly sets the property tax rate … and, therefore, cannot be presented on the November 2024 general election ballot,” the order states.

Leaders of Renew Baltimore issued a statement critiquing the court’s ruling, accusing the courts of denying citizens the right to “fair and equitable property taxes.”

“It is unfortunate that the Court decided to ignore the demands of the tens of thousands of residents who have called for responsible property tax reform, denying them the opportunity to control their financial future and improve the prospects of the City they love,” Ben Frederick and Matthew Wyskiel wrote.

Judges also listened to arguments for and against the Baby Bonus, which proposed paying city parents $1,000 upon the birth of a new child. Sponsored by a coalition of city teachers, the measure was designed to help alleviate childhood poverty. However, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the proposed Baby Bonus ballot measure violated a section of the state constitution that grants county legislative bodies “law-making power.”

“The circuit court correctly determined that the Baby Bonus Amendment violates … the Constitution of Maryland because it is not proper ‘charter material,’” the order read. “Accordingly, it cannot be presented on the November 2024 general election ballot.”

Organizers of the Baby Bonus initiative expressed how “deeply disappointed” they were with the Supreme Court’s ruling, stating that the decision “denies Baltimore voters the chance to decide on a policy that could have supported families welcoming new children.”

The Baby Bonus will not appear on the ballot. Our hearts hurts for every kid born in this city who will struggle because of this ruling.

The fight for kids is not over. But we will grieve this loss. pic.twitter.com/igrfA8nvxH
— Baltimore Baby Bonus (@bbbfund) August 29, 2024

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Mayor’s office agreed with the court, saying the “decision was the right one.”

“While we’ve said from the beginning that we align with the goal of providing more Baltimore residents with access to guaranteed income, this proposal was not legally sound and should not have been on the ballot,” Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said. “We’re grateful the Maryland Supreme Court agreed. It is our sincere hope that everyone supportive of this effort joins us in advocating for more guaranteed income programs, particularly at the national level.”