Annapolis

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

From its start, Infinity Theatre Company has had a mission to bring New York City productions to Anne Arundel County. It was a goal fulfilled in the troupe's first full season in 2011 with the show, "My Way," that played in Annapolis after it had previewed in Manhattan two months before. Now, Infinity has come full circle - with the troupe serving as a co-producer of a Tony-nominated Broadway revival of "Pippin," and also with efforts under way to bring last season's Annapolis hit, "Dames at Sea," to Broadway as well by spring 2014.

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

A committee building a new memorial in Annapolis has extended the deadline for names of those who took part in the August 1963 March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The committee had initially set a deadline of May 19, but has extended it to May 31. The memorial is scheduled to be unveiled in Whitmore Park in Annapolis, where a bus departed for the march, on Aug. 28 - the 50 t h anniversary of the march. It is being paid for by donations to the committee.

National Rifle Association President David Keene said Tuesday that the organization intends to challenge the constitutionality of Maryland's newly passed gun law, as a conservative group readied plans to try to overturn the law through voter referendum. Keene said during a radio interview the group will “absolutely” go to the courts. “We are already in court in New York and we will be in court and aiding those in Maryland - and I am myself a Maryland resident - who want to challenge the constitutionality of this and other provisions here in Maryland,” Keene said to the Washington, D.C., station WTOP.

They're tucked away in residential neighborhoods, alongside marinas and on the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries. But for those who don't have a navigational system in their car or boat, Anne Arundel County's picturesque waterfront restaurants can be tricky to find. A trek to Deep Creek Restaurant in Arnold, Windows on the Bay or the Cheshire Crab in Pasadena - with a left turn here and a right turn there - takes a visitor through tree-lined neighborhoods, past rows of boats suspended on lifts and ends in laid-back culinary delights.

Four former and current African-American Annapolis police officers have filed a federal racial-discrimination lawsuit against the city, claiming that they were unfairly treated, subjected to harassment, wrongly turned down for promotions and, for two of them, given walking papers. "African-American officers in the Annapolis police department are subjected to unequal treatment," claims the lawsuit, which was filed this month in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. It also claims that the black officers were singled out for harsher discipline than white colleagues.

April 1 is the official start to the blue crab harvest in Maryland. But don't reach for your mallet just yet. "It's not time for crabs," said Jessica Borowski, a manager at Midtown BBQ and Brew. "It's too cold out. " The crabs seem to agree. The Chesapeake Bay's water temperature hasn't risen enough for the crabs to become active - and catchable. Consumers set on Maryland crabs will see limited availability for now - and prices to match. Prices for Chesapeake Bay crabs are typically high at the start of the season, and people who want them in April will have to pay even more than usual.

SPOILER ALERT: This story reveals features of the plot. Baltimore-born film director Barry Levinson has said his new eco-horror movie, "The Bay," about a Chesapeake Bay turned deadly by environmental abuse, is "80 percent factual. " Bay scientists and one activist who've seen it say the film, which opened Friday, does touch on some very real issues affecting the bay. But they say the artistic license taken with the facts and the gore that makes it a horror movie may overwhelm any back story about what's wrong with the Chesapeake.

When area residents begin lining up outside the Nancy Hammond Editions art gallery in Annapolis early Sunday morning for copies of the artist's latest city poster, it will be a bittersweet time for fans of Hammond's work. Having moved to the Eastern Shore, Hammond will close her Annapolis gallery on State Circle Dec. 31 and end a brief but popular tradition of selling hundreds of copies of an annual limited-edition poster, many at a big discount, on a first-come, first-served basis. As she prepared for a celebration to mark the introduction of her latest work, Hammond said it was the right time to end the series.

With a flick of his wrist, a U.S. Naval Academy baseball player from Orlando, Fla., tossed an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument on Monday, leading his 2016 classmates to launch into cheers of "Plebes no more!" amid roars from onlookers. "I was considering jumping and making it a little more dramatic," said Patrick Lien - who is a catcher, not pitcher, on the Navy team, "but I didn't want to fall and make a scene. " The Herndon climb was itself a scene: hundreds of plebes, or freshmen, charged a slickened, 21-foot tall granite obelisk at the service academy in Annapolis.

Tracy Balazs, the president and CEO of an Annapolis-based staffing firm, was named Entrepreneurial Success of the Year last month by the Baltimore district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She founded the company, Federal Staffing Resources LLC, in 2004. It now employs more than 300 people, has eight offices across the country and generates more than $30 million in revenue annually. The company mainly provides health professionals to government outfits, including the Army, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Aviation Administration, though FSR recently expanded its operations to the staffing of private companies.

Four former and current African-American Annapolis police officers have filed a federal racial-discrimination lawsuit against the city, claiming that they were unfairly treated, subjected to harassment, wrongly turned down for promotions and, for two of them, given walking papers. "African-American officers in the Annapolis police department are subjected to unequal treatment," claims the lawsuit, which was filed this month in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. It also claims that the black officers were singled out for harsher discipline than white colleagues.

Gospel concert "Divine & Friends Right Direction Gospel Xplosion," featuring DiVine of Annapolis, the Christian Cavaliers, Tony Winston & Star Christ, the original Little Ark Male Chorus and others will be held at 3:30 p.m. at Cecil Memorial United Methodist Church, 15 Parole St. in Annapolis. Admission is $10, $5 for children younger than 12. Doresa Harvey of the Heaven 600 radio station is the emcee and food will be on sale. Information: 443-517-8984. Meeting The Anne Arundel Cluster of the Women of the ELCA will hold its Spring Cluster Meeting from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 25, at the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, 7606 Quarterfield Road in Glen Burnie.

An Annapolis man who admitted sending a threatening letter from his prison cell to an Anne Arundel County judge who'd sentenced him to serve 10 years for armed robbery had a year and a day added onto his sentence Friday. "I will send a firebomb into your workplace and destroy you if you become more resistant," said the letter that Richard Glenn Parker Jr., 26, acknowledged sending to Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner after Hackner sentenced him in 2010. The letter was signed Jesus Christ, according to Anne Arundel prosecutors.

Sunday, May 19 Concerts The Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra will hold its final performances of the season at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at St. John's College's Key Auditorium, 60 College Ave. in Annapolis. The 3 p.m. concert features the Preparatory Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and Junior Flute Ensemble. The Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, String Orchestra and Senior Flute Ensemble perform at 7 p.m. concert. Admission is free; donations will be accepted.

A day after 20-year-old Krio Ronjay Smith Turner was shot and killed in what Annapolis police called a robbery gone bad, Harbour House residents stayed close to their children and grandchildren as they played outside in the sunny weather after school. "It's not even safe during the day," said Betty Clement, 37, who has lived in and near the public-housing community since 1988 and who heard the shooting about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. "It's not safe here at any time." The Glen Burnie man - a father of two described as a hard-worker who hoped to attend college - is the third person to be fatally shot in Annapolis in the past month and the fourth slain this year.

My town, Annapolis, is a special kind of college town. The students at the Naval Academy are distinctive not for their backpacks, ear buds and school T-shirts, but for their crisp summer whites and their somber dress blues. The midshipmen take off their hats - their covers - when they enter a building, and they say "sir" and "ma'am" when you greet them. At this college, you don't pay anything unless you quit or get kicked out. About 1,400 arrive every July, but only about 800 will graduate four years later.

Tucked away in the state's capital, adjacent to the Naval Academy, sits the Peggy Stewart House, a historic house that played an important role in the American Revolution and was home at different times to a signer of the Constitution and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Georgian-style home, built in the 1760s and designated a National Historic Landmark, is on the market for $3.2 million. The remodeled home at 207 Hanover St. has five bedrooms, 31/2 bathrooms, six fireplaces and an eight-car garage.

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre will begin its 47th season of theater under the stars May 23 with Paul Kelly's "Swing. " The show, which debuted on Broadway in 1999, will open the troupe's season of three musicals at the outdoor theater at 143 Compromise St., across from City Dock. Loaded with great music from the eras of the Lindy Hop to hip-hop, "Swing" will run Thursdays to Sundays through June 15. Summer Garden Theatre president Carolyn Kirby says "Swing" is "not our typical musical, but a celebration of a uniquely American musical phenomenon.