Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Hillary Clinton Backs Police Body Cameras Amid Texas Bill - CBS Local

Women In World Summit Held In New York

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AUSTIN: (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — 2016 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton Wednesday proposed body cameras for all police departments.

About 50 Dallas Police officers have been wearing the cameras and recording since early this year. Police departments in Houston and San Antonio are also testing body cameras on officers.

A senate bill supporting the use of body cameras by law enforcement was approved by state lawmakers just last week. Sen. Royce West (D) of Dallas authored the legislation. Dallas Police Chief David Brown wants the cameras to be standard equipment to cut down on disputes during arrests.

The video can also be used in court just as dashboard camera video is used.

Speaking at an urban policy forum at Columbia University, Clinton tied the problem to her broader campaign theme of inequality, citing “cycles of poverty and despair” in inner city neighborhoods. “We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population,” she said.

In December, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $263 million for police body cameras and additional law enforcement training. Though Congress has yet to act on this, states like Texas are leading the way.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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White Sox check out early on historic, 'weird' day - Chicago Sun-Times

The Baltimore Orioles bat against the White Sox during a game without fans Wednesday in Baltimore. Due to security concerns the game was closed to the public. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

BALTIMORE—Needless to say, the White Sox won’t want to do this again.

Play in an empty stadium? No thanks.

Play bad baseball?

Better not.

Be out of it in the first inning — with one of their top pitchers going?

It just can’t happen.

After waiting around a hotel for three nights, through two postponed games because of rioting in Baltimore, the Sox finally got around to playing baseball again Wednesday afternoon. And before they even had a chance to soak in the eerie, strange feeling of playing in an empty stadium, they were down 6-0 in the first inning.

“Today started off bad and got worse,’’ manager Robin Ventura said.

“It was just a weird day.”

Major League Baseball decided to have this game played in the afternoon and, for security reasons, close Oriole Park at Camden Yards to the public. Media were allowed, and a few scouts watched from behind home plate.

When Chris Davis homered against Jeff Samardzija with two runners on to give the Orioles a 4-0 lead in the first, Orioles radio broadcaster Gary Thorne was heard yelling “outta here.” Fans outside the park peered in through a fence and cheered. Another group, with a Wrigley Field-like rooftop view, could be heard cheering from a hotel balcony.

The scene on a sunny, pleasant day was strange and highly unusual, of course, as foul balls landed harmlessly in the seats before being picked up by a stadium employee. Ballgirls picked up foul balls on the field and kept them in their possesson. Players were heard all the way up in a full press box cheering each other on and yelling “cut” and “got it” on defense.During the seventh inning stretch, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” was played and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” an Orioles tradition, was blared on the speaker system. Before it started, plate umpire Jerry Layne waved to the media in the press box, and then to the empty seats.

Sox rookie Micah Johnson said he heard play-by-play announcers on the field. He said “weird” five times describing the experience.

“It’s quiet, there’s nothing going on,’’ Johnson said. “You hear everything. Obviously it was better for the Orioles than us today. The atmosphere, it’s not how baseball is supposed to be played.’’

The Orioles’ big first inning seemed to take the life out of the game, although it was hard to tell because of the eerie silence. In the pressbox, the paid attendance was announced as “zero.” It was the first time a game was played with no fans.

The only good thing about this one is that it passed in a 1960s-like two hours and three minutes, almost an hour faster than an average game.

And they can say they were part of history, for what that’s worth.

“I was talking to my friends and family last night, it’s going to be a part of history no matter what, playing a game with nobody here,’’ said right-hander Scott Carroll, who pitched two scoreless innings. “I think it’s cool to go into the history books but we wanted to win.’’

The Sox (8-10), who will return to Baltimore for a doubleheader on May 28 to make up for the two postponed games, left for Minneapolis, where they open a four-game series Thursday night. Samardzija wasn’t sharp, Jose Abreu made a key error in the first and Ubaldo Jimenez held them to three hits over seven innings. Ventura was clearly unhappy with his team’s performance.

“You give them opportunities,’’ Ventura said, “they take advantage of it. I don’t think we were all that selective offensively, either. It was just a weird day. You move on and get ready for the next one.’’




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Canadian Partnership Shielded Identities of Donors to Clinton Foundation - New York Times

Photo

Bill Clinton with Frank Giustra, a philanthropist and mining financier who helped establish a Canadian partnership for the Clinton Foundation. Credit Joaquin Sarmiento/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Aides to former President Bill Clinton helped start a Canadian charity that effectively shielded the identities of donors who gave more than $33 million that went to his foundation, despite a pledge of transparency when Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of state.

The nonprofit, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (Canada), operates in parallel to a Clinton Foundation project called the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, which is expressly named in an agreement Mrs. Clinton signed to make all donors public while she led the State Department. However, the foundation maintains that the Canadian partnership is not bound by that agreement and that under Canadian law contributors’ names cannot be made public.

The foundation cited that restriction last weekend in explaining why it did not disclose $2.35 million in donations from the chairman of Uranium One, the subject of an article in The New York Times last week. The article examined how company executives and shareholders had sold a majority stake in the company — and with it a significant portion of American uranium reserves — to an arm of the Russian government in a deal that required the approval of the United States government.

“This is hardly an effort on our part to avoid transparency,” said Maura Pally, acting chief executive of the Clinton Foundation.

Instead, the foundation said that the partnership was created by the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra to allow Canadian donors to get a tax benefit for supporting his work with Mr. Clinton — a benefit that came with the price of respecting Canada’s privacy laws. On Wednesday, the partnership issued a statement citing a legal opinion that “charitable donors have an expectation and right of privacy.”

However, interviews with tax lawyers and officials in Canada cast doubt on assertions that the partnership was necessary to confer a tax benefit; an examination shows that for many donors it was not needed, and in any event, since 2010, Canadians could have donated to the foundation directly and received the same tax break. Also, it is not at all clear that privacy laws prohibit the partnership from disclosing its donors, the tax lawyers and officials in Canada said.

The partnership, established in 2007, effectively shielded the identities of its donors — and the amount they gave — by allowing them to bundle their money together in the offshoot Canadian partnership before it was passed along to Clinton Foundation programs. The foundation, in turn, names only the partnership as the source of those funds.

In response to questions about the tax-break rationale for the formation of the offshoot charity, the Canadian tax experts pointed out that donations to the partnership from other charities and foundations would not have been eligible for tax breaks. That is because the donors who gave money to those other charities had already received their tax benefit. Records show that those nonprofit groups accounted for about half of the donations to the Canadian partnership.

For example, the Uranium One chairman, Ian Telfer, used his family charity, the Fernwood Foundation, to make his donations to the partnership. Mr. Telfer would have received a tax benefit when he first put his money into Fernwood, not when Fernwood donated to the partnership.

“There would only be one tax benefit no matter how many charities it passes through,” said Mark Blumberg, a tax lawyer in Toronto.

The partnership might have been necessary to provide a tax benefit to early individual donors, but not since 2010. That year, the Clinton Foundation was specially designated by the Canadian government, allowing Canadians to write off donations given directly to it.

“It makes no tax difference,” Mr. Blumberg said, “whether a donor gives the money to a Canadian charity or the Clinton Foundation.”

Because of longstanding concerns about potential conflicts of interest, the Clinton Foundation agreed to strict limits on foreign government donations while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state. The existence of the Canadian Clinton Giustra partnership has implications for the foundation’s recent pledge to limit donations from other countries, and disclose all donations quarterly, while Mrs. Clinton is running for president. Ms. Pally said the foundation “will only accept funding from a handful of governments, many of whom the foundation receives multiyear grants from, to continue the work they have long partnered on.”

But the statement did not make clear whether parallel organizations like the Canadian entity would be allowed to accept donations from governments that the foundation itself would not take. The Canadian partnership’s records show that it took donations from outside Canada in 2009 and 2010, the origins of which do not have to be made public. Foundation officials said it was their understanding that the non-Canadian donations to the partnership had not come from governments.

How many more such entities exist, or might be created in the future, is also unclear. A search of charity registrations in Britain, for instance, found a William J. Clinton Foundation UK that has raised about $1.5 million for a climate change initiative. Foundation officials said those donations were made public.

Canadian records show that the partnership was incorporated in August 2007, but it was not until Dec. 5 of that year that it was registered to accept charitable donations. The founding board included Bruce R. Lindsey, a longtime aide to Mr. Clinton who at the time served as chief executive officer of the Clinton Foundation, and Eric Nonacs, another aide to Mr. Clinton and Mr. Giustra.

Six days earlier, in response to questions from The Times, the foundation turned over records that by law must be made public and that made clear that the Clinton Foundation had attracted a $31.3 million donor. The records contradicted the foundation’s repeated assertions that a $31.3 million line item on its tax return was an aggregate of small contributions. It initially refused to identify the donor. But with the foundation’s activities drawing scrutiny amid Mrs. Clinton’s first run for president, the foundation reversed course and Mr. Giustra stepped forward as the donor on Dec. 18.

The following month, The Times reported that the $31.3 million donation came after Mr. Clinton accompanied Mr. Giustra to a dinner with the president of Kazakhstan; days after that dinner Mr. Giustra finalized a lucrative uranium mining deal in the Central Asian republic.

This week, in an interview with Bloomberg News, Mr. Giustra said he was frustrated with the media treatment he had received, and echoed the foundation’s position on Canadian privacy law, saying that by law he could not even tell the Clinton Foundation who his donors were.

“We’re not trying to hide anything,” he said, adding that all the money, “every penny,” was passed onto the Clinton Foundation to fund specific charitable initiatives.

But tax specialists said the disclosure prohibition was not as clear-cut as the foundation made it seem.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Revenue Agency, Magali Deussing, said that the tax law “does not regulate whether a registered charity or other qualified donee can disclose donor information.” However, other federal or provincial privacy laws may apply, she said.

Malcolm Burrows, the head of philanthropic advisory services at Scotiabank in Toronto, said that “general Canadian privacy rules” could apply to charities, but that “in most cases” it is not a concern because charities and their donors want the publicity.

“The irony here is that the foundation is saying they’re not allowed to do it,” he said. “But many foundations want to put that information out there.”

Mr. Blumberg, the tax lawyer, said that while privacy laws would prohibit charities from misusing donor information for commercial purposes, they generally did not otherwise prevent disclosure of donors. But, he said, laws in the province of British Columbia — where the Clinton Giustra partnership is set up — are stricter. But even there, he said, a charity could arrange for disclosure of donors if it wanted to, something Mr. Giustra is now saying he will attempt to do.

“If an organization operating in British Columbia wants to be transparent about who their donors are, then they could easily provide an opportunity for donors to consent to the disclosure of their name and/or donation amount,” Mr. Blumberg said.

In disclosing its contributors, the Clinton Foundation says only that the Canadian partnership gave more than $25 million — making it among the foundation’s biggest donors. Canadian tax records show that the partnership took in $33.3 million between 2008 and 2013.

About half the $33.3 million was given by other charities, which, like the partnership, must file financial reports with the Canadian Revenue Agency. The reports list donations made by the charities — but not donations received — making it possible in some instances to identify donors to the partnership. Searching the records in this way found that in addition to the $2.35 million from Mr. Telfer’s foundation, a charity controlled by Mr. Giustra, the Radcliffe Foundation, gave $10.5 million to the partnership that bears his name.

That leaves about $20 million from donors whose identities remain a mystery, at least for now.

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Latest on Police-Custody Death: White House Talks About Mom - New York Times

4:15 p.m.

Attorneys representing people arrested during this week's violence and looting are frustrated that suspects are being assigned bail they believe is exorbitant.

Many of those charged can't pay it, and may spend months in jail awaiting trial.

In several cases Wednesday, Assistant Senior State's Attorney David Chu asked that bail be revoked.

Among the first cases was 28-year-old Gerard Anderson, who faced charges of malicious destruction and felony burglary.

Linda Ramirez, an attorney working pro bono, argued Anderson was going to a grocery store to get food, not to loot. Ramirez said her client wasn't identified as a person who damaged the store's windows. She wanted his bail set at $25,000.

The judge wasn't swayed and set bail at $100,000, with the first $500 in cash.

Asked if he had anything to say, Anderson replied, "I'm good."

___

3:15 p.m.

A White House spokesman is reflecting on the video of Toya Graham, saying the Baltimore mother who chased her son away from a riot with police represented "a powerful expression about the role that parents can play."

"The thing that resonated with me is — was her expression that she was concerned about her son facing the same fate as Freddie Gray," spokesman Josh Earnest said. "And while I'm sure that it was not the immediate reaction of her son to feel like she was looking out for his best interest, there is no doubting that her reaction was one that was rooted in her concern for his safety and his well-being and her love for her child."

A clip of Graham smacking her son around has become very popular on television broadcasts and social media.

The riots started after the police-custody death of Freddie Gray.

___

2:40 p.m.

Police say they arrested 35 people, including one juvenile, after the city imposed a curfew.

Capt. Eric Kowalczyk (koh-wall-check) says more than 100 people are still waiting in jail to be charged in the riots Monday night. He says police have a 48-window to charge them or else they will go free. About 100 people who were also arrested have been charged.

He says the backlog has occurred because officers have to fill out documents and do other work to file the charges. He says if people are released, they may face charges later after officers review video and social media.

The unrest occurred on the day of Freddie Gray's funeral. He suffered critical injuries while in police custody.

___

2:15 p.m.

In what promises to be one of the oddest spectacles in major-league history, the Baltimore Orioles are playing the Chicago White Sox in a stadium with no fans.

Media is buzzing over Wednesday's deserted game. The press box is full, but the grandstands are vacant. TV camera crews line the field and are stationed outside the ballpark.

Officials closed the game to the public because of safety concerns after riots broke out this week, sparked by the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. He suffered spinal injuries in police custody.

Before the first pitch, the public address announcer at Camden Yards announced the playing of the national anthem, informing "ladies and gentlemen" what was to follow. A recorded version of the song played.

The game then began, with the usually teeming concourse barren and concession stands locked up.

__

1:40 p.m.

The Baltimore mayor is defending her response to the unrest, saying when the protests turned violent, she knew the city needed help from the National Guard.

Asked about Gov. Larry Hogan saying he didn't get calls back from her as the riots unfolded Monday afternoon, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said state officials were part of the operation the entire time.

"When he has people right there in the (emergency operations) center with us, the notion that he didn't get a call back from me directly and that was of concern, that's absurd when you have people in the room," she said Wednesday as schools reopened and tensions eased in the city.

Rawlings-Blake is a Democrat who took office in 2010. Hogan is a Republican who was sworn in earlier this year.

People in the city have been demonstrating since the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died after suffering spinal injuries in police custody.

___

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is decrying the rioting in Baltimore, calling it "senseless acts of violence" that were counterproductive.

In remarks at the Justice Department, she said while the city is in some ways a symbol of the issues the nation has been talking about when it comes to police use of force against black men, it is more than that. It is a city that police are trying to protect, and that peaceful protesters are trying to improve, she said, while "struggling to balance great expectations and need with limited resources."

Lynch, the former federal prosecutor for portions of New York City, was sworn in Monday to replace Eric Holder, becoming the first African-American woman to serve as the nation's top law enforcement official.

People in Baltimore have been angry over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered critical injuries in police custody.

___

1 p.m.

A few dozen protesters have gathered outside the office of Baltimore's top prosecutor to demand swift justice in the case of a black man who died in police custody.

Organizers say they are rallying in support of State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who took office in January and pledged during her campaign to address aggressive police practices.

Police have said they will turn over their report on the death of Freddie Gray to Mosby's office on Friday. She will then face a decision on whether and how to pursue charges against the police officers who arrested Gray. Six officers have been suspended during the investigation.

Gray's death from a spinal injury while in custody has led to protests, rioting and looting.

The protesters chanted "No justice, no peace!" and "This is what democracy looks like!" They say the city needs to return to peaceful protests.

___

12:40 p.m.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has played a free outside concert in the city as tensions appear to be easing after the riots.

The symphony played around lunchtime and dozens of people gathered and sang the national anthem as the orchestra played along. The concert is part of the city's efforts to return to some sort of normalcy after rioters looted stores and burned businesses on Monday night.

A weeklong nighttime curfew started on Tuesday and there were very few problems. Protesters have taken to the streets because they are upset over the police-custody death of Freddie Gray.

___

11:15 a.m.

After the curfew was lifted in Baltimore, rush-hour traffic began flowing through downtown, including at an intersection where demonstrators and police had faced off Tuesday night.

There were about 15 officers in riot gear protecting a check cashing business that was trashed.

Elsewhere, schools were reopened and tensions seemed to ease, but the Baltimore Orioles are going to host a baseball game in the afternoon with no fans because of the unrest in the city.

People in Baltimore have been angry over the police-custody death of Freddie Gray. They have marched in the streets for more than a week and riots unfolded Monday, the day of Gray's funeral.

___

9:30 a.m.

Justice Department officials say they have met with the family of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody, and with an injured police officer who remains hospitalized.

The department says the meetings happened Tuesday.

Justice officials also say representatives from a specialized office that mediates conflict between police departments and communities are also in Baltimore and met with residents who shared concerns about a lack of trust in law enforcement.

Separately, the department says the results of a federal review of the Baltimore Police Department's use of force practices are expected to be announced in coming weeks. The department also has begun a civil rights investigation into Gray's death.

___

9 a.m.

Looting, fires and gunfire broke out overnight in Ferguson during protests in response to the death of a black man in police custody in Baltimore.

Several dozen people gathered Tuesday night on West Florissant Avenue, the site of several protests last summer and fall following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white Ferguson police officer.

The protests were more subdued Tuesday evening in Baltimore, where a curfew was imposed. Rioting shook the city Monday following the funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody.

In Ferguson, there were reports of two people being shot late Tuesday and early Wednesday, though it wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were linked to the protests.

A gas station was looted. Trash cans and a portable toilet were set on fire. People threw rocks at police cars.

There were no reports of officers being injured.

___

8:30 a.m.

A mother who was recorded hitting her 16-year-old son after she saw him throwing objects at Baltimore police says that she just wanted him to be safe and that his actions were unacceptable.

The video of Toya Graham, a Baltimore mother of six, was taken Monday as riots broke out in the city. The clip has become popular through social media. On Wednesday, she appeared on "CBS This Morning."

Graham says her son told her Sunday night that a group would be meeting at a mall Monday afternoon. She headed there when she heard that schools were closing early.

At the mall, she saw police and helicopters. She stood on the same side of the street as police with shields as teens threw bricks at the officers.

"I was like in awe. It was like, 'oh my God' ... to see my son come across the street with a rock in his hand. I think at that point I just lost it," she said.

She says that if her son had wanted to stay home to go to Freddie Gray's funeral, she would have allowed that. The 25-year-old died of a spinal injury days after being taken into police custody. The riots erupted hours after the service.

___

7:40 a.m.

President Barack Obama says the Baltimore riots show that police departments need to build more trust in black communities.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday on "The Steve Harvey Morning Show," Obama says his heart goes out to the Baltimore officers who were injured by rioters. He says there's no excuse for that kind of violence and that Baltimore police showed "appropriate restraint."

But he is calling on police departments "to hold accountable people when they do something wrong." He says Attorney General Loretta Lynch is reaching out to mayors to let them know what resources are available for retraining police and providing body cameras to hold them accountable.

And Obama says problems will continue if the response is only to retrain police without dealing with underlying social issues such as poor education, drugs and limited job opportunities. He says tackling those problems will require a broader movement.

___

6:30 a.m.

A citywide curfew in Baltimore ended at 5 a.m. and the morning rush is getting underway with traffic flowing on most streets downtown. There are still a few road and lane closures around police headquarters and around Pennsylvania and North avenues, where demonstrators have been congregating and a hotspot for rioting Monday night.

Local television showed a large police presence at that intersection and the CVS pharmacy in that neighborhood that burned in Monday's riots being boarded up on Wednesday morning.

Also, schools are set to reopen Wednesday morning after they were closed in the wake of Monday's riots. In a letter to the city school community on Tuesday, schools CEO Gregory Thornton thanked the students who avoided violence and law-breaking on Monday. But he also condemned students who participated in the riots, saying they will be held accountable.

___

12:40 a.m.

For the people arrested in Baltimore under the state of emergency, there could be a longer wait than usual to see a District Court official.

Normally, state law requires that people arrested without warrants appear before a court official within 24 hours of their arrests.

But as part of the state of emergency declared Monday by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan following unrest in the city, the governor extended the period to no later than 47 hours. That's according to a letter he sent Tuesday to Judge Barbara Baer Waxman, the administrative judge for the Baltimore District Court.

"This exercise of my authority is necessary to protect the public safety and to address the more than 200 arrests that were made by Baltimore Police Department and other law enforcement officials," Hogan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

___

12:12 a.m.

At midnight Tuesday, Baltimore police arrested one man wearing a Wu-Tang Clan T-shirt for violating the 10 p.m. curfew near the scene of Tuesday night's demonstration.

Police placed him in plastic handcuffs and arrested him without incident.

The man, who declined to give his name, said while he was being arrested that he was out at that hour because he had car problems. He said no animosity toward the officers.

"They're doing their job," he said.

Officers placed him in a prisoner transport van and told him they were taking him about 2 miles to Central Booking.

___

11:40 p.m. Tuesday

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts says a citywide curfew seems to be working.

Batts told a news conference shortly before midnight Tuesday that only 10 people had been arrested following the 10 p.m. curfew, including seven for violating the curfew. He said two people were arrested for looting and one for disorderly conduct.

Batts said he was pleased with the efforts of dozens of community organizers, clergy and neighborhood activists who urged residents to remain calm.

"The curfew is, in fact, working," Batts said. "Citizens are safe. The city is stable. We hope to maintain it that way."

Officials called for the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew following riots that started hours after Freddie Gray's funeral Monday. He died after being injured in police custody.

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Citing Baltimore unrest, Hillary Clinton calls for police body cameras and an end ... - New York Daily News

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 12:03 PM

Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 1:19 PM

Amid continuing unrest in Baltimore over the death of a young black man in police custody, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called for widespread use of police body cameras and an end to mass incarceration during her first major policy speech since launching her presidential campaign.

The former senator and secretary of state said the violence in Maryland over the death of Freddie Gray, 25, “tears at our souls” and “has to stop.”

“Those who are instigating further violence in Baltimore are disrespecting the Gray family and the entire community. They are compounding the tragedy of Freddie Gray’s death and setting back the cause of justice,” Clinton said.

“But more broadly, let’s remember that everyone in every community benefits when there is respect for the law and when everyone in every community is respected by the law. That is what we have to work towards in Baltimore and across our country.”

Speaking at Columbia University at an annual forum organized by former Mayor David Dinkins, Clinton said the nation’s justice system has fallen “out of balance,” with minorities most often on the losing end.

She called the expanded use of body cameras a “common sense” measure that “will improve transparency and accountability” and “help protect good people on both sides of the lens.”

As she has increasingly done during her second bid for the presidency, Clinton couched her policy arguments in personal terms.

“Not only as a mother and a grandmother but as a citizen, a human being, my heart breaks for these young men and their families,” she said.

“We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America.”

To repair the sometimes violent rifts in relations between cops and the public created by the death of men including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner in Staten Island, “We can start by making sure that federal funds for state and local law enforcement are used to bolster best practices, rather than buy weapons of war,” Clinton said to vigorous applause.

In advocating an end to the large-scale imprisonment of low-level offenders, Clinton noted that “One in every 28 children in our country now has a parent in prison.

“Think about what that means for those children,” she urged.

“Without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people will be living in poverty” and fewer families will be torn apart, Clinton said of a prison system that costs taxpayers $80 billion a year to maintain.

She also pushed strongly for renewed attention to the need for mental health services, drug diversion programs, and substance abuse treatment.

The former first lady’s support for reforming the prison system stands at odds with sentencing policies pursued by her own husband during his presidency.

But Clinton argued that the U.S. would not be taking a safety risk by dialing down on the number of people warehoused in jails.

“If the United States brought our correction expenditures back into line with where they were several decades ago, we would save an estimated $28 billion dollars a year and, I believe, would not be less safe,” she argued, saying “you can pay a lot of police officers” with those funds.

“It's time to change our approach,” she said.

While highlighting her own track record as a senator who supported community policing, Clinton also struck a humbler note.

“I don’t know all the answers. That’s why I’m here — to ask all the smart people in Columbia and New York to start thinking this through with me,” she said.

“I know we should work together to pursue together to pursue alternative punishments for low-level offenders. They do have to be in some way registered in the criminal justice system, but we don’t want that to be a fast track to long-term criminal activity,” she continued. “We don’t want to create another ‘incarceration generation.’”

Clinton concluded by inviting the audience to join her in praying for the people of Baltimore, where rioters have looted stores, clashed with cops, and attacked reporters, and also “for the family of Freddie Gray, and all the men whose names we know and those we don’t who have lost their lives unnecessarily and tragically.” 

Although Clinton's remarks coincided with the escalation of tensions in Maryland, Dinkins made clear that her appearance had been scheduled far in advance.

"This is not a campaign stop and we are not campaigning," the former mayor said. 

ON A MOBILE DEVICE?   WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

ckatz@nydailynews.com

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Orioles Play in Eerily Empty Stadium, Sirens in Distance - New York Times

Photo

With the exception of two scouts, the seats at Camden Yards were empty for the game between the White Sox and Orioles. Credit Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

BALTIMORE — On what might have been a perfect spring afternoon to sit with a beer and a hot dog and watch baseball, an eerie emptiness greeted the Orioles and the White Sox on Wednesday afternoon in what was believed to be the first major league game played without spectators.

Except for two scouts sitting behind home plate and a press box full of reporters, the 45,971 seats and three decks at Camden Yards were an empty expanse of green as the first pitch was thrown at 2:06 p.m.

“This isn’t the way you want to make history,” said Chris Davis, the Orioles’ first baseman.

The police presence is light around the stadium. Three dozen or so fans peeked through a wrought-iron fence beyond left-center field, shouting, “Ohhh,” at the familiar moment of “O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave” in the national anthem, a Camden Yards tradition. Still, the anthem was recorded instead of sung, for the first time in recent memory.

The fans clapped and yelled when Chicago’s first batter, Adam Eaton, struck out. A “Go Orioles” banner hung from the balcony of a nearby hotel, where other fans gathered. But there was a barren feel to the afternoon. The Eutaw Street walkway beyond right field, normally full of foot traffic for a restaurant, barbecue stand and souvenir shops, was closed. Orange umbrellas at picnic tables were drawn.

When the Orioles’ leadoff hitter, left fielder Alejandro De Aza, fouled three balls in the bottom of the first before drawing a walk, one of the fouls bounced back onto the field. The other two remained among the empty seats and were not immediately retrieved.

Nor apparently was the three-run home run that Davis soon hit to right field. Only a television camera operator was in the vicinity. It was so quiet that Gary Thorne, a television announcer for the Orioles, could be heard exclaiming, “Goodbye,” as the ball cleared the fence.

The stadium lights were turned on. The scoreboard was in operation. Batting practice took place as usual, and the sound echoed in the empty stadium. The ball sounded sharp hitting the catcher’s mitt. But it only added to the sense of desolation at Camden Yards amid the unrest in this troubled city after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, an African-American man who died after suffering a severe spinal injury while in police custody.

The Orioles led, 6-0, after one inning, but the intermittent sounds of sirens outside the stadium brought a more somber reality to the afternoon.

After games were postponed Monday and Tuesday, it was decided the teams would play on Wednesday. The game was shifted from 7:05 p.m. because of a nightly curfew. And the public was locked out for reasons of safety and the need for security to be deployed elsewhere in the city.

Adam Jones, the Orioles’ center fielder and perhaps the most popular black athlete in Baltimore, said Wednesday’s game could be valuable in providing a small distraction from the city’s troubles for a few hours, noting that sports “unite communities in dark times.”

But given the rawness of feeling in Baltimore and the urgent need for a police presence elsewhere in the city, Jones said, “It makes sense not to have any people here today.”

Because a major league game without fans had apparently never happened before, no one knew quite what to expect. “Does the mascot work today?” Orioles Manager Buck Showalter asked reporters.

He wondered whether his starting pitcher, Ubaldo Jimenez, might become unnerved if he heard the bullpen phone ringing in the empty stadium, knowing that he would soon be relieved. And he joked about whether the talking of reporters in the open-air press box would become a distraction.

In spring training, Showalter noted, the Orioles had practiced drills with piped-in crowd noise to simulate the regular season. “We didn’t practice the quiet one,” he said.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy, on the disabled list while recovering from a shoulder injury, was among a number of players to joke that they would have to be circumspect about what they said on the field and in the dugout.

“A lot of guys on the bench will have to shut up more so they don’t get tossed,” Hardy said beforehand. “The umpires can hear everything we say.”

Zach Britton, the Orioles closer, wondered who would retrieve home run balls given the absence of fans, and said it might be up to the bullpen.

“Maybe if our guys hit a home run, we’ll go and grab it,” Britton said.

On a more serious note, Jones, the center fielder, described the rioting in Baltimore as a cry of frustration by the city’s youth.

“Your frustration is warranted; it’s understood,” Jones said.

At the same time, he said about the destruction of property: “The actions I don’t think are acceptable. But if you come from where they come from, you understand. But I think ruining a community that you have to live in is never the answer, due to the fact you’re going to have to wake up in three or four days and go right back to those convenience stores, right back to all those stores.”

Instead of playing a weekend series here against Tampa Bay, the Orioles will now go on the road to play the Rays, but as the home team. Showalter dismissed any inconvenience that his team would encounter.

“To say that something we’re going to go through on a baseball field, playing in the big leagues, is difficult is really insensitive to everything else that’s going on,” Showalter said. “It’s a small thing for us comparatively speaking.”

Referring to the unsettled atmosphere in Baltimore, Showalter added, “It’s a great honor to be able to try to do something that might help things a little bit.”

Correction: April 29, 2015

An earlier version of this article misidentified the point in “The Star-Spangled Banner” at which Orioles fans traditionally shout, “Ohhh.” It is at the beginning of the line, “O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,” not of the line, “O, say, can you see.”

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