The Blackout of 2003

The city lay in darkness... the placid mortals stayed in their homes
stairing at their blank television screens like lambs without a
shepard. Out in Brooklyn the Zulo Nation raided their local gun store and ran
through the streets burning and shooting. In queens Thug Death and Packs-R-Us broke into the new MoMA and did a fire dance with the Yoko Ono exibit. In The Bronx the Skulls and the 69ers stayed quiet. In manhattan Shadow Inc. rallied the local Lasombra for a celebration of the darkess. The anarchs on Statten Island took advantage of the lack of stop lights and drag raced up and down the island. All in all a typical not so monumental NYC black out... except for times square when the power came on there. The giant billboard above the Coca-Cola sign displayed a large overweight black man holding a black box. A booming voice came out over the crowd "Lo and I say look to your city, it is black. Black with the corruption, black with the blood of innocence, black now without the light that blinds you. Bow down and worship me for I have taken away the corrupting electricity and I shall reign as the King of Darkness." a telephone number and the message "to give a donation call" began flashing at the bottem of the screen. For the the next
twenty minutes the "King of Darkness" rambled on about his undead
power and how he used his box (a gift from "that which dwells in the
darkness everlasting") to shut off all the lights in the world and
how it's pointless to resist him because he can controll the
darkness. To demonstrate he wraps the shadows on his body fully
around himself (obten 1, for those of you who would have seen it or
persued seeing a copy of it and would know what that is). In
addition he says that the best way to join him is to call up and
give him all your money. He is abruply cut off in mid-sentance and
the screen goes blank and then after about a minute the normal ads
comes back on.

Mob Blamed for Terror in Baltimore

Two weeks past a series of minor explosions followed by severe fires
bathed Baltimore in the orange glow of chaos. Arsonists, in terrorist-
style attacks, set ablaze a number of city fire stations and caused
substantial damage to the city's water pumping stations. The last of the embers was quenched early Sunday evening, as the direct damage caused to major firefighting units crippled the city administration's ability to
effectively fight the further spread of the fires, which dotted the cityscape. Fortunately, Baltimore City Police quickly apprehended some suspects
who, as it turns out, had been under surveillance for some time, according
to a source in the BCPD. Currently in custody are a handful of members
of what police and press are describing as a "militant revolutionary group"
with nebulous ties to one or more Central American regimes. The arrested
suspects readily confessed to the attacks, wearing proud smiles on their
faces. In reaction to these attacks and the recent difficulties with widespread gang violence in West Baltimore, Mayor O'Malley has given the green-light to the formation of a new quick-response and investigatory unit within the BCPD. Some editorials in the past week have criticised O'Malley's "let's form a committee" response as too little, too late - and perhaps largely talk in this election season. Local charities and labor unions in and around Baltimore have rallied to the cause, raising a great deal of money in the past two weeks alone to assist in the rebuilding of the damaged firestations. Despite this groundswell of support, Maryland pundits and citizens alike are wary of what may be yet to come. Steve Geppi, Baltimore multimillionaire industrialist and known nationally as a comic-book distributor, has announced that the next issue of 'Baltimore' magazine (also published by Geppi) will contain a special section focussing on the incidents of recent weeks, including the gang issue, with the cover copy reading: "Are We Safe? Charm City Reverts to Mobtown".