Two weeks ago, an employee of Johns Hopkins Hospital informed administrators that OB/GYN doc Nikita Levy was taking photographs of patients (“and possibly others,” according to the hospital — though it’s unclear what that means) without their consent. After being barred from contact with patients, Dr. Levy killed himself at his Towson home.
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Oh, Baltimore. You’re a city of so many wonderful things (kaddo bowrani; Lower Dens; and Ray Rice — to name a few), but still you have so many problems. Our roundup of 2012′s biggest Baltimore scandals is below; let us know if we’ve forgotten anything juicy: Read More →

The photograph was only online briefly, but that was long enough to spur a minor controversy. The image featured members of Duke’s women’s lacrosse team dressed up as the Little Rascals for Halloween — and Duke junior/Ellicott City native/McDonogh grad Taylor Virden is in blackface.
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Gov. Martin O’Malley just gave away $38,000 in campaign funds he received from Jeff Thompson, his associates, and businesses . The money is not dirty in itself and was donated legally to O’Malley’s campaign, but the funds are tainted by Thompson’s alleged involvement in a massive campaign finance scandal in D.C. involving more than $650,000 in undocumented funds funneled to Vincent C. Gray’s successful mayoral campaign. The money was donated to the Maryland Veteran’s Trust Fund Read More →

City school evaluations show problems in instruction – Baltimore Sun
Inside City Hall: The claws are out – Baltimore Brew
In Ocean City, open beer in public now can lead to arrest – Baltimore Sun
Baltimore County man sentenced to life in murder-for-hire scheme – Baltimore Sun
More hospitals protect gay patients, report says – Washington Post

Last week’s “semi-covert” ethics forum led by professors from the Hopkins School of Education for the benefit of Secret Service agents may have been planned long before the organization’s recent kerfluffle in Colombia, but that controversy added an extra tinge of urgency to the event. Hopkins has partnered with the Secret Service since 1997, and before the scandal broke, the school expected 20 agents to attend. One hundred showed up.

Although the conference’s focus wasn’t on the Cartagena controversy, the agency did ask that the Hopkins team “retool the event in its context.” That context meant addressing the fact that twelve agents have been accused of soliciting prostitutes when traveling to Colombia with President Obama for the Summit of the Americas. But Hopkins was quick to stress that the ethics forum was not remedial. Read More →

More police settlements to cost Baltimore taxpayers $270,000 – Baltimore Brew
Seventh officer sentenced, to 2.5 years in towing case – Baltimore Sun
Meteorologists: Spike in tornadoes doesn’t mean higher risk in Md. – Baltimore Sun
Now Everyone’s Talking About How Barack Obama Ate A Dog – Business Insider
Taliban commander turns self in… for reward on ‘Wanted’ poster – Washington Post

Remember those SAT scammers from Long Island? Although they didn’t end up getting away with their scheme, they can at least rest happy that their actions resulted in lasting change. Their legacy:  Starting in September, test-takers will have to provide a photo when applying to take the test. Then, when they actually show up at the testing site, test officials will make sure that that photo matches both the photo ID provided and the student standing in front of them.

This is a clear reaction to the New York scandal, in which Sam Eshaghoff, then a student at Emory University, used fake IDs in order to take the test on behalf of several students, including one girl. As the case developed, four other students were arrested for being paid to take the tests; each got paid between $500 and $3,500 per test.

Eshaghoff and his cronies accepted plea deals to avoid prison time. In a lovely instance of the punishment fitting the crime, Eshaghoff must spend his community service hours tutoring low-income students on SAT test-taking strategies.

HOT HOUSE: 1718 Greenspring Valley Road, Stevenson, MD 21093

Sprawling 1900 colonial with a strange past, on eight acres in the Greenspring Valley. Recent site of the Mensana Pain Clinic, it has seven fireplaces, six bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms: $1,400,000 (minimum bid)

What: Built in 1900 by Edward Burke, an original member of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, this house was once a high-end man cave. Animal heads on the wall, zebra skins on the floor, dark beams, big fireplaces — and commanding views over the valley. A hundred years later, it was operating as a low-end man cave, owned and run by Dr. Nelson Hendler as the Mensana Pain Clinic.  Here, Dr. Hendler — a nationally renowned, Hopkins trained psychiatrist — was alleged to have sexually abused at least six of his female patients, in addition to trading drugs for sex, handing out painkillers without a prescription, keeping unlicensed guns on the premises and failing to keep his office clean and sanitary (really). His medical license was revoked, and he narrowly avoided jail time. (See The Baltimore Sun and WBALTV stories for the amazing details.) Interestingly, Dr. Hendler then started a website, selling pain diagnoses to plaintiffs lawyers…Knowing the back story, the house has an undeniably creepy feeling. Dead trees in the front meadow probably don’t help. All the rooms are on a grand scale and full of interesting touches – but the house is dark and the furniture looks like it’s waiting for ghostly patients to sit down. The kitchen is like the Titanic. Realistically, it needs at least a million dollars worth of work.  Still, it’s coming up for auction in a few weeks, date not yet announced, and for a certain buyer, looking for a real estate  adventure, this might be just (you guessed it) what the doctor ordered…Call Woodward’s Auction House in Hampden (410) 662-1875 to check the auction date. 

Where: Driving west out Greenspring Valley Road from Greenspring Station, number 1718  is  about 100 yards past Stevenson University,  across the road, on the right.  Sign on the driveway reads 1716. The driveway forks, and the house to the left  is 1718. It’s a very good location, less than two miles from 83, the beltway, Tark’s Grille….

Why:  Because you believe in second chances, even for houses.  Because the outcast persona of this house strikes a chord in you. Or, just because $2.5 million all-in (best guess) doesn’t strike you as that much for eight acres and a house with a great story in the fabled Greenspring Valley.

Would Suit: Jack Torrance in The Shining

NB: Basement is beyond scary, but the roof doesn’t leak and the heat works.  

Schools worry about test-hackers and computer-aided cheating, but Sam Eshaghoff pulled an SAT scam the old-fashioned way… by using fake IDs. According to allegations, the 19-year old from Long Island took the test seven times, once on his own behalf and then passing as six others (including a girl with a gender-neutral name!).

The fraud itself sounds so basic that Eshagoff can’t be the only mastermind attempting something like this: