—From Amarillo, Texas

Baltimore: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake yesterday asked the Justice Department to investigate her own police department to determine whether it has been guilty of excessive force, discriminatory harassment, and illegal stops and arrests. “I’m willing to do what it takes to reform my department,” she said.

Six Baltimore offers are facing charges after the death of a prisoner.

It’s unusual for a politician to make such a request. In other cases, as in Los Angeles, the Justice Department has had to move in and police the local police.

In an unrelated development, the FBI admitted that it had a surveillance plane over Baltimore watching for disturbances.

World: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came right down to the deadline to form a ruling coalition of only 61 votes in the parliament. He had to make concessions to right wingers and religious parties. Some political analysts say it’s a coalition that can’t do much or last very long.

Spin City: An enormous tornado swept past Oklahoma City yesterday afternoon, destroying dozens of homes and overturning cars on Interstate 35. No deaths were reported, but at least 12 people were injured. Tornadoes also hit rural Kansas and Nebraska.

Super: Hillary Clinton is teaming up with the super PAC “Priorities USA Action” to help raise money in support of her presidential campaign. She’s the first Democrat to fully embrace one of these Political Action Committees that doesn’t have to report the names of its donors.

Welcome to America: Ehab Al Shihabi, the boss of fledgling network al Jazeera America, got the bounce yesterday, the same day the NY Times printed a story about his troubled leadership.

Citing a wrongful termination lawsuit and the resignation of three unhappy senior executives, the Times quoted Shihabi saying, “If people are not happy, we will make them happy. We will invest in their morale.”

His superiors in Doha did that by getting rid of him. But the network still has hurdles to jump. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars, AJ America makes no profit and has an audience that barely registers on the Richter scale.

The Obit Page: Former Congressman Jim Wright, the Texas Democrat who rose to become Speaker of the House before resigning in disgrace in 1989, has died at age 92. A ramrod of a leader much disliked by the Republicans, Wright was the target of an ethics investigation for receiving illegal gifts in the guise of royalties for a book he wrote that few people bought and nobody read.

Say It Ain’t So: Two locker room attendants cooperating with New England quarterback Tom Brady deflated the balls used in the Jan. 10 playoff game won by the Patriots according to a 243 page NFL report.

   The report incudes 68 pages of scientific analysis, but what it all comes down to is that Brady probably cheated to win.

Brady likes a ball with less inflation than required by regulations. The report says Brady did not have hands on involvement, but he’s known as a very particular guy and “We nevertheless believe, based on the totality of the evidence, that it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities.”

   The spotlight is now on Commissioner Roger Goodell to determine punishment.

-30-