Balloon

The Stanislavsky Theater Studio might not sound like a Maryland troupe, but this young company is based in Silver Spring. Founded by theater professionals who immigrated to this country from the former Soviet Union, the company takes its name from the late Russian director, actor and teacher Konstantin Stanislavsky.Tomorrow, the Stanislavsky Theater makes its Baltimore debut with the first of two productions to be performed at the Theatre Project. "The Little Tragedies," a quartet of short pieces by Alexander Pushkin, will run weekend nights through April 11. On March 20, it will be joined by matinees of a double bill of "Kashtanka," an adaptation of an Anton Chekhov story about a dog, and "The Miraculous Magical Balloon," an original pantomime.

Federal deficits are too large, and mounting national debt threatens future generations. But as Democrats and Republicans squabble over the mandatory spending cuts known as sequestration that went into effect Friday night, they are failing to face the facts of our budget situation or acknowledge the lessons of history. Since 2007, annual federal spending is up $1 trillion, and deficits jumped from $161 billion to $1.2 trillion over five years. Higher taxes on the wealthy and Obamacare levies will pull down the gap in 2014, but then it will rise again.

For the second year in a row, Turf Valley Resort is hosting a hot air balloon festival and other activities in the days leading up to the Preakness, the second leg of thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown. The two-day event starts at 2 p.m. Thursday and will include the Hot Air Balloon Festival, and a Pee-Wee Preakness with competitions for children such as three-legged races, face-painting and appearances from characters such as Bob the VidTech. There also will be more than 50 vendors at the event.

Maryland's Fire Marshall has banned sky lanterns, the increasingly popular paper balloons that are sent aloft by the heat of a candle or fuel cell suspended from the bottom. "They're made with oiled rice paper and bamboo - it's almost kindling," said Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce D. Bouch. "They have to land somewhere, and sometimes they're still partly on fire when they hit the ground. They've been known to ignite dry vegetation. " Bouch said the fire marshal's office frequently gets calls from people interested in using sky lanterns in weddings or other celebrations who want to know if they are legal in Maryland.

Whether it was done for profit or as a malicious prank, the thief who stole the 30-foot-tall hot air balloon from the Boston Chicken restaurant in the 7900 block of Ritchie Highway will never be accused of a lack of ambition.The theft happened sometime between 5 p.m. Sunday and noon Monday, police said. The white balloon displayed the restaurant's logo and had hovered over the restaurant since its opening.Police said the balloon is worth $1,200. There are no suspects, they said.POLICE LOG* Woods Edge: Someone stole a stereo and cassette tapes, all worth more than $500, from a 1991 Mercury Capri parked on Starwood Drive Sunday night.

As minds shift toward the Preakness, many Baltimoreans look forward to balloons as much as horses. The annual Preakness balloon race -- celebrating its 20th launch tomorrow -- now qualifies as a major spring tradition.And, over the weekend, 32 hot air balloons from across the country will lend seasonal charm to other events around the area."Balloon races have such a great ability to draw people from all walks of life and of all ages," says Dan Sherrill, owner of the American Balloon Corp.

I had always wanted to go up in a hot-air balloon and decided there was no better way to do it than to attend the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Festival. So I joined a tour offered by Smithsonian Journeys. On the first day of the tour, we took a balloon ride as part of the mass ascension, during which hundreds of balloons rise in waves off the desert floor as the sun rises. A hot-air balloon rides with the wind, so the trip is quiet and the air is still - it's almost surreal at times.

NEW YORK -- It is early Sunday morning a few weeks before Thanksgiving, in front of Macy's on Herald Square. Manny Bass, Macy's head balloon designer -- master of "cold air inflatables" as he calls them -- is overseeing the test flight of his latest creation.Dudley the Dragon, a 60-foot replica of the character from the children's show on PBS, is lying flat as a pancake on a tarp spread across Broadway, ready to be inflated. Mr. Bass, a handsome man of 60 with snow-white hair and twinkling light-blue eyes, excitedly traverses the edge of the tarp, advising the staff on the helium truck and instructing new balloon handlers.

Children and adults admiring the hot-air balloons at Turf Valley Resort in a few days can thank a Howard County native who loves horses for bringing the popular Preakness event to the county. Laura Clark, 25, was a serious rider between the ages of 9 and 13, she said, competing in English-style horse shows throughout the region. After graduating from Glenelg Country School, she attended Purdue University with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. An internship at the Maryland Jockey Club, though, led her down a slightly different career path, and now she is director of special projects for the Preakness Stakes, Baltimore's second jewel in the Triple Crown that takes place Saturday.

WASHINGTON -- Lex Latex, the talking balloon, is feeling a little deflated these days.Sure, kids still squeal with delight when he's twisted into the shape of a poodle.But release him into the sky and those squeals become howls of protest. Or worse.In fact, legions of protesting schoolchildren have persuaded four states and a host of municipalities, including Baltimore, to ban the mass release of balloons.The youngsters, egged on by a pair of crusading biology teachers and a small group of environmentalists, say that wayward balloons can end upfatally lodged in the gullets of sea turtles, whales and shore birds.

The Baltimore Development Corp. is requesting proposals for the former "balloon site" at 701 E. Baltimore Street after receiving a new, unsolicited plan for the site from The Cordish Cos. -- the Baltimore development firm that until recently held the development rights for the property. Cordish gained the right to build on the site in 2005. But Cordish's exclusive negotiating privilege for the property has expired, said Kim Clark, the BDC's acting president. Because Cordish recently submitted a new plan for the site, the BDC issued on Friday another request for proposals, she said.

It's the second leg of "The Amazing Race," and we learn some interesting factoids about the teams. For example, one of the blondes snorts when she is almost hit by a taxi. Was it a snort of laughter? Or of fear? It all happened so quickly. Also, were you wondering how Team Monster Truck met? Her former husband was his best friend, and the husband was killed in an accident. Wow. At least they're both happy now, although I think they would be even happier if they both had green hair.

The developer of city-owned land over the Shot Tower Metro station wants to again revise its plans for the parcel, which has sat unused since 2004, the city's development corporation said Wednesday. The Cordish Cos., which gained development rights to 701 E. Baltimore St. in 2005, now wants to build a structure that contains 226 apartments, 15,000 square feet of retail space and 225 parking spots, according to a statement from the Baltimore Development Corp. The revised project is expected to cost about $63 million, according to the BDC statement.

It didn't take long to discover that a balloon wasn't going to work. After breaking first one egg in a hot-air balloon like contraption, then another attempting to stuff it into a balloon filled with cotton balls, friends Sarah Krammer, 12, Lucy Yezulinas, 12, Jessica Lang, 13, and Megan Jones, 12, nixed that idea completely. "It exploded," Sarah, 12, said, of the egg inside the balloon. "It got a little sticky. " Several eggs later, the team of seventh graders from St. John Catholic School in Westminster created a contraption that successfully protected a large egg from cracking upon a drop of 4 meters.

Hours before the 2012 General Assembly session started, Gov. Martin O'Malley dusted off the frustrating passivity he employed to such ill effect in 2011. Speaking to Marc Steiner in the radio host's annual pre-session show, Mr. O'Malley casually mentioned that if he had his "druthers," Maryland would avoid a lot of the cuts that will be necessitated by its current budget woes and would instead raise the sales tax by another penny. Not that he's actually proposing such a thing, he and aides hastily clarified later.

Hot air balloons will float above Bel Air at the 2nd Annual Rising Above It Balloon Festival, Friday, Sept. 2, 7-11 p.m., at the Maryland Golf and Country Clubs (1335 East MacPhail Road) and Saturday, Sept. 3, noon-7 p.m., at the Harford County Equestrian Center (608 North Tollgate Road). The event will feature such activities as horse rides, moon bounces, a scavenger hunt and balloon twisting and is being held as a fundraiser for the Sexual Assault Resource Center. For admission details, go to http://www.sarc-maryland.org or call 410-836-8431.

The Glen Burnie balloon company that created Woody Woodpecker for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the gigantic red crab for the opening of the legislative session has packed up and moved to Delaware.Bob Kemp, president of Kemp Balloons Inc., said he relocated his 21-year-old business to give it room to expand.Delaware economic authorities were able to offer him more space at lower cost."I don't know if I could have pulled it off [in Maryland]," said the 63-year-old balloon maker, a Maryland native and a 1948 graduate of Glen Burnie High School.

It took less than 24 hours for a little blue balloon to lift off in Illinois, float 600 miles and land in a New Windsor cornfield.Popcorn, a 5-year-old Labrador retriever, found the balloon in the cornfield near her owner's home early Wednesday morning."

As long as the weather holds, 10 hot-air balloons will be launched into the air Saturday, Sept. 3, from the Harford County Equestrian Center. They'll go up as part of SARC's Family Fun Day, one of two events this weekend to help raise money for SARC's programs, which include a 24-hour helpline, a safe house, counseling, crisis intervention, a teen corner, hospital companions and legal advocacy and representation. For more information about SARC (Safety, Awareness, Resources, Change)