Baltimore Region

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Wednesday to start out mostly cloudy and gradually become sunny in the Baltimore area, with a high near 73 . Wednesday night is expected to be mostly clear, with a low around 55. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT Orioles beat Mariners , 4-2, in 18-inning marathon : The Orioles won their 14th consecutive extra-inning game on Wednesday morning, 4-2, in the 18th inning - the second longest contest in Safeco Field history.

The Baltimore-Washington Corridor is sponsoring the 21st Baltimore-Washington Region Government Procurement Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 31, from 8 a.m. to noon at Martin's Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Drive, in Greenbelt. The event offers opportunities for businesses and government agencies to help businesses learn to successfully work with government agencies. Matchmaking sessions will be offered so businesses can meet one-on-one with agency contacts and buyers to discuss opportunities specific to each business.

Robert T. Brown, a retired Veterans Administration executive, died Aug. 25 at the Edenwald Retirement Community in Towson after suffering a fall earlier in the summer. He was 96. Born in Jamaica on Long Island, N.Y., he attended the St. Paul's School in Garden City and earned a bachelor's degree in public administration from Harvard University. Mr. Brown served in the Army during World War II and left military service as a lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps. He then began his career with the Veterans Administration.

There's a lot of cash chasing real estate deals: One in five homes changing hands in the Baltimore region in July wasn't paid for with a bank loan. Such transactions are an indicator of real estate investment activity, and the share has remained high even as more traditional buyers venture back into the market -- and even though the number of foreclosures for sale is far below the supply a year or two ago. All told, 460 homes in the Baltimore metro area were bought entirely with cash in July, according to RealEstate Business Intelligence data.

Around the Baltimore metropolitan area, something is happening. It hasn't happened in many years - almost a generation, in fact. It's the end of August, the Orioles are in a pennant race, and there's a sense of possibility in the air. People are turning to MASN to see if the Orioles are staging yet another dramatic, late-inning comeback. They're flipping on WBAL to hear Joe Angel proclaim - as he has already done more times this season than all of last year - that "The Orioles are in the win column!"

By one measure, the most attractive school district in the Baltimore region isn't the one that probably comes to mind. Real estate site Trulia crunched the numbers to see which districts have a lot of elementary-school-age children -- more than the number of kids too young for school -- as a way of identifying "where parents move, and where future parents might move if they follow today's parents' footsteps. " The local winner: not Howard County, despite its reputation as a place where people move for the schools.

A flash flood warning is in effect for northern Baltimore, southern Baltimore County and central Howard County until 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. As much as two inches of rain had fallen within an hour across the areas under warning, and up to two more inches were expected in the next hour, the service said. The warning means flash flooding is either occurring or is "imminent," the service said. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin and Baltimore MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blake are quite right to draw attention to the need in Baltimore and the nation to reinvest in our failing water systems ("The slow drip of infrastructure crisis," July 31). It is understandable but disappointing that they failed to explain that we - a profligate citizenry and our elected leaders - are largely to blame for decades of deferred maintenance and failure to upgrade to new technology and also that the problems are not confined to our water systems.

A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect Saturday for the Baltimore region until midnight, according to meteorologist Steve Zubrick. The watch covers the city and Baltimore, Harford, Carroll, Washington, Frederick, Cecil and Kent counties along with the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay, said Zubrick, who is the science and operations officer at the National Weather Service's regional office in Sterling, Va. The storm system is caused by...

Public safety workers toiled in record-breaking heat in Baltimore and around the region Saturday to help vulnerable residents regroup as Maryland attempted to return to normal life after a devastating series of weather events. Baltimore's high temperature was 104 degrees Saturday — the highest on record for the date — and the state confirmed that its 10th heat-related death of the season had taken place a day earlier. Streets were empty, and most of those who lost electricity in a powerful storm last weekend were back online.