Baltimore City

Maryland Live! Casino at Arundel Mills will have its grand opening at 10 p.m. June 6, casino officials announced Thursday morning. The grand opening still requires approval by the Maryland Lottery, which will oversee a trial run to take place before June 6. The announcement comes as the state slots commission on Thursday considers a bid to open a casino in Rocky Gap, in Western Maryland, by Evitts Resort LLC. The commission also has yet...

Since the weekend, Las Vegas has served as a sort of glitzy Maryland West -- with government and business leaders from the state attending the Global Retail Real Estate Convention in droves. With galas and events at casinos, the annual four-day conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), which ended Wednesday, serves as the ultimate business-government networking event with more than 20,000 in attendance. Mayors and various county executives have been attending for years (former Mayor O'Malley's delegation spent $80,000 on the trip in 2002, for instance)

In Baltimore County Turners Station to mark achievements tonight at library DUNDALK - Turners Station, one of Baltimore County's oldest communities, will celebrate an impressive list of its residents' accomplishments at 6 p.m. today at North Point branch library, Merritt Boulevard and Holabird Avenue. Spotlighted in a program called "Celebrating Our Firsts" will be former residents Robert Curbeam, an astronaut; Elsie Winston, who helped develop Project Head Start in the 1960s; Dr. Joseph Thomas, who served in a diplomatic post in Haiti; and Dunbar Brooks, a former president of the county school board.

How sad that Del. Patrick McDonough chooses to use his bully pulpit to frighten tourists away from Baltimore City ("Baltimore and bigotry," May 18) - and how said that the media lets him get away with it by using race-baiting headlines. Yes, a lot of teenagers came down to the harbor just like a hundreds of other people to enjoy the weather, and yes, the police need to be more prepared to handle the few troublemakers who show up. But those of us who live here and enjoy all of the wonderful things the city has to offer would appreciate it if those who want to destroy Baltimore would keep their negativity to themselves.

It seems like every time I watch the news or read the newspaper Baltimore City has reported homicides all the time. This city is no longer a safe city to live in. Most homicides are due to robbery. What is this city coming to? I think our mayor needs to fix it. Milton Hill, 70, was the eighth homicide victim last week. Having eight homicides in one week really shows how dangerous Baltimore City is. Most of the homicides were people who did no wrong and were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

In Baltimore City Ex-CareFirst worker sentenced to year in prison for mail fraud A former administrative assistant with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield was sentenced yesterday to one year in federal prison for steering more than $150,000 from Maryland's largest health insurer to a fictitious printing company she had created using her home address. Lindsay Marshall-Hall, 33, of Baltimore pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges in December. At her sentencing yesterday, U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg ordered Marshall-Hall to pay $152,626 in restitution to CareFirst.

Baltimore City is hosting the first of 14 community meetings to discuss the newly completed Neighborhood Health Profiles , which includes an assortment of information on the health and well-being of residents from the level of chronic disease and average lifesplan to access to healthy food to safe places to exercise. The city wants to help the communities identify their biggest health problems and come up with plan to address them. There will be a meeting in each City Council district.

If you live in Howard County you're among the healthiest people in Maryland, but Baltimore city residents ranked the worst in the state, according to a new report. Baltimore residents had the poorest health in Maryland when looking at these factors: people who die before age 75, the rate of low birth weights, people who report being in fair health and the number of days people report being in bad health. The study also looked at health factors such as smoking, obesity, excessive drinking and the availability of primary care physicians.

Since the weekend, Las Vegas has served as a sort of glitzy Maryland West -- with government and business leaders from the state attending the Global Retail Real Estate Convention in droves. With galas and events at casinos, the annual four-day conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), which ended Wednesday, serves as the ultimate business-government networking event with more than 20,000 in attendance. Mayors and various county executives have been attending for years (former Mayor O'Malley's delegation spent $80,000 on the trip in 2002, for instance)

Baltimore City police are investigating an overnight shooting that left a man dead in the city's Park Circle neighborhood Police arrived on the 3800 block of Park Heights Avenue around midnight and found an unidentified man lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head, according to Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Homicide detectives were called to the scene, he said, and the man was transported to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Guglielmi said police could offer no information about a suspect or a motive in the killing.

ON THE SITE... Man seriously injured in city house fire :  City firefighters responded just before 3 a.m. to the 7100 block of McClean Blvd. in the Hamilton Hills neighborhood. They found the two-story town home engulfed in heavy fire and smoke. Baltimore City ethics disclosures show disparity in reporting gifts :  Ten members of the City Council report that they received no gifts from people who do business with the city, according to recently filed disclosure forms.

While many governments are moving toward posting ethics disclosure forms, residents of Baltimore still have to travel to City Hall and to a sixth-floor office to see the documents. To save you a trip, we're posting those forms from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and the rest of the City Council online. (The forms are posted to the left.) Ten members of the City Council report that they received no gifts from people who do business with the city, according to recently filed disclosure forms.

Two adult drivers, including a Baltimore City police officer, were transported to the hospital Sunday afternoon following a two-car accident in the 800 block of Walker Avenue, near The Alameda. According to witnesses, the city police car and a burgundy sedan collided on Walker Avenue, and the police car knocked down part of a wooden fence. The sedan was driven by a woman, according to one witness. Neither driver appeared to be suffering life-threatening injuries, and the officer was seen walking around after the accident, according to a witness.

The 15-year real estate tax abatement for the Superblock in West Baltimore raises important policy issues that need to be addressed. Specifically, should the city — and in certain cases, the state — grant economic incentives for real estate developments that 1) create competitive disadvantages for existing property owners and 2) reduce the city's property tax revenues from large-scale commercial developments? From my private-sector perspective, the answer to the question is simple: Granting tax abatements that disadvantage existing taxpaying properties is wrong and will lead to an overall loss of tax revenues for the city.

North Calvert Street 3400 block, between noon and 3 p.m. May 10. Handicap placard stolen from vehicle. 3300 block, between 6:45 a.m. and 3:38 p.m. May 7. Credit cards, driver's license, Social Security card stolen from purse at work. Cator Avenue 700 block, between 9:30 p.m. May 8 and 8:30 a.m. May 9. Tan wicker furniture stolen from front porch. Cedarcroft Road 1100 block, between 9:30 p.m. May 10 and 12:08 a.m. May 11. White, 1997 Mercedes S420 with Maryland tags 8FZD89 stolen.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for occasional showers and thunderstorms, with a high temperature near 73 degrees. Tonight is expected to bring showers, and possibly thunderstorms, with a low around 63 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM THE WEEKEND... Police report 4 shootings Sunday in Baltimore; at least 1 man killed : A 33-year-old man was shot and killed near the intersection of North Loudon Avenue and West Franklin Street at 4:42 p.m. Sunday, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

A 59-year-old man died late Friday after being shot multiple times in the 900 block of Valley Street, police said. Det. Donny Moses, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, said police responded to shots fired at 11:06 p.m. There they found the man, whose name has not been released, and transported him to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died at 11:49 p.m. Police don't have any witnesses or suspects, Moses said. A possible motive is not known, he said. ywenger@baltsun.com twitter.com/yvonnewenger

City voters were on their way to approving loan authorizations for $125 million in projects, including construction at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and Lyric Opera House, and renovations at the downtown courthouse and other buildings. Based on incomplete returns, voters also backed a charter amendment to create a Department of General Services.

ADVERTORIAL CONTENT The allure of city living continues to draw interested homebuyers to downtown Baltimore. With its historic landmarks and social centers like the Inner Harbor, it's no wonder so many are looking to call downtown Baltimore their home. In response to the growing demand for new construction homes in the city, Ryan Homes has opened the doors to the lowest-priced new townhome and condominium community in Baltimore, Wyndholme Woods. Perched on a hilltop with a picturesque wooded setting, this metropolitan oasis combines the convenience of an urban lifestyle with the charm of low-maintenance, suburban living.

Sunday's story on violence at St. Patrick's Day attracted many reactions. Most people writing me emails and in comments at the bottom story said the city had become scary. It's further proof of the uphill battle the city has trying to show improving crime numbers when one incident such as this can undermine the stats. Many readers, as they do time and again, pressed for why the racial makeup of the crowd was not reported. Simply put, we don't include race unless there is a racial issue to the story.