Top 5 Live-WURD Wednesday May 6

1. Mothers charged after toddlers rescued from roof,window

Police say two mothers are facing charges after one toddler was rescued from a Frankford roof and another child tried to climb out a window.
Officers were called to a home on the 4700 block of Leiper Street at about 1:30 p.m. Monday when someone reported seeing a child on the roof of a three-story home.

The officers had to force their way into the third-floor apartment, where they found two children, the 2-year-old boy on the roof and a 1-year-old boy who was trying to get out of a window.

Emergency responders rescued the 2-year-old from the roof.

The children had been left home alone, police said. They were taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for observation.

Their mothers returned to the residence while police and fire crews were at the scene and taken to the department’s Special Victims Unit for questioning.

 

2. Mike Huckabee’s announcement speech attacks rivals

During his presidential campaign launch yesterday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee took shots at a majority of presidential contenders without mentioning names.

On Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton:
“I don’t have a global foundation or a taxpayer-funded paycheck to live off of. I
don’t come from a family dynasty, but a working family. I grew up blue collar, not blue blood.”

On elected officials like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio

“… Give the taxpayers what they’re paying for and the job that you said you wanted. If you live off the government payroll and you want to run for [an] office other than the one you’ve been elected to, then at least have the integrity and decency to resign the one that you don’t want anymore.”

 

3. City orders reinspections of buildings

The city has ordered the reinspections of scores of buildings that were originally examined by inexperienced and uncertified inspectors from the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

The action comes after The Inquirer reported in March that L&I had sent out uncertified inspectors to conduct 600 inspections on buildings throughout the city that had been declared unsafe – either badly damaged or deteriorated.

State officials declared later in March that any of the original inspections of 181 buildings that fell under the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code had to be performed by a person certified under the UCC. A large number of the inspections were affected by that and thus, had to be repeated, according to people familiar with the situation.

“Any UCC inspection not performed by a UCC-certified individual is not valid,” Department of Labor and Industry officials told The Inquirer.

Nine newly hired inspectors who were not UCC-certified conducted the February inspections, then recorded their work in the L&I database under the name of an inspector with more experience who had the required certification.

 

4. Senate passes GOP budget proposal

The Senate passed a Republican-backed budget blueprint that boosts defense spending while cutting $5 trillion in spending, largely on social programs.

Lawmakers approved the blueprint on a 51-48 party-line vote.

Republican 2016 presidential contenders were split on the measure, with Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham voting in favor, while Rand Paul and Ted Cruz voted against.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted the vote as an example of “sensible” governance from Republicans.

“No budget will ever be perfect, but this is a budget that sensibly addresses the concerns of many different members. It reflects honest compromise from many different members with many different priorities,” he said on the Senate floor.

 

5. ‘We are part of the problem,’ Baltimore police commissioner says

Baltimore’s police commissioner says he didn’t know that six of his officers would face charges including second degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Freddie Gray until 10 minutes before State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced it nationally.

In his first interview after Gray’s death, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts told CNN that the community lacks trust in law enforcement, and police must acknowledge that “we are part of the problem.”

“The community needs to hear that,” he said. “The community needs to hear from us that we haven’t been part of the solution, and now we have to evolve. Now we have to change.”

In a subtle shot at Mosby, Batts compared the thoroughness of his investigation into Gray’s death — he said he assigned 45 to 50 officers to the case, pulling some off other homicides and robberies — to the state attorney’s much-smaller group.

Click here to read these stories on 900amWURD.

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Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon