Baltimore’s murder rate tops big cities, Chicago is 4th

BALTIMORE — Crime statistics released by the FBI place Baltimore’s homicide rate last year well above that of any other U.S. city with a population over 500,000 people. The 342 homicides notched last year in Maryland’s biggest city yielded a punishing homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people, according to the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States report released Monday. The city has a roughly 615,000 inhabitants. The per capita rate was a record high for the city. Among major U.S. cities, Baltimore was followed by Detroit, which last year recorded a homicide rate of 40 per 100,000 people; Memphis, with a rate of 28 per 100,000; and Chicago, with a rate of 24 per 100,000. St. Louis, with a population slightly over 300,000, had a rate of 66 murders per 100,000 people.

Lawyer slams firing of Dallas police officer

DALLAS — The firing of a white Dallas police officer charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her black neighbor inside his own apartment was premature and unfair, an attorney for the officer said. Robert Rogers, who represents former officer Amber Guyger, said Monday night that Police Chief U. Renee Hall “bowed to pressure from anti-police groups and took action before all of the facts had been gathered and due process was afforded.”

Va. prisons nix tampon policy

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is suspending a newly introduced policy that would have barred women who visit inmates at state prisons from wearing tampons or menstrual cup. State prison officials had planned to ban tampons starting next month as a way to prevent contraband from being smuggled into prisons.