Bar

For weeks, my inbox, Twitter timeline and ears have burned. Readers and colleagues can't stop talking about WC Harlan, a new bar in Remington. The praise has been gushing and unanimous. To them, WC Harlan is a wonder. But there was something else: The bar's owners - Matt Pierce of the local band Big in Japan and writer Lane Harlan - are not interested in publicity and would prefer we not list its address. During a time when bars hire public relations teams to generate buzz via social media and other outlets, WC Harlan would rather find success through solid execution and word-of-mouth marketing.

Maryland's Constitution provides recourse, the referendum, to those who believe bad laws are on the books or new laws are necessary. The general idea is, let's put it to a vote. The process for getting a referendum question on the statewide ballot begins with gathering a certain number of signatures on a petition. Enough signatures, and the ballot question becomes one of your choices on Election Day. But what about those signatures? Who gets to sign? How are the signatures to be gathered?

Many Marylanders live on the water, but the owner of this contemporary townhouse in Baltimore can walk out on three balconies and be over the water. The five-level home, built in 2006, sold for $1,125,000, about $100,000 less than the asking price. "This home was fun to sell because it showed so well and had excellent views of Baltimore's Inner Harbor from every level," said real estate agent William J. Ganz III, who listed the townhouse at 647 Ponte Villas South. "Combined with the fact that it is located in the private, gated Pier Homes at Harborview community, it was just a matter of time before it sold.

Welcome to a spring training version of Connolly's Bar We're in Florida, so we'll put some boat drinks on special. I'm afraid to light the Tiki torch, though. I don't want to burn the whole place down. So we'll just concentrate on baseball instead. Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts held court Monday in Sarasota. He's 8-for-20 in seven Grapefruit League games so far. He has not played on the road yet. He has not dived headfirst into the bag on a steal attempt (though he did do it at first base on a pickoff attempt with no problems)

Michael D. Eaton ran up a tab for 17 beers plus other drinks before he left a Gaithersburg tavern, according to court records. Forty-five minutes later, behind the wheel of his Range Rover, he slammed into the back of a Jeep Cherokee at a speed estimated as high as 98 mph. Ten-year-old Jazimen Warr had nestled on her sister's shoulder, the two children sleeping in the back of the family's Cherokee on the drive to a relative's home in Bowie....

They weren't allowed to be at work, but now they're paying for being absent. Some administrative employees who were barred from the Johns Hopkins at Keswick complex in North Baltimore twice in the last two weeks because the buildings were closed due to outbreaks of illness are being told to use personal time or vacation days to make up for the time missed, Johns Hopkins officials confirmed Wednesday. Others were working overtime to catch up. For example, the majority of 284 patient financial services employees who work on the fifth floor of the Keswick complex's south building worked overtime hours three days last week - including Saturday - to make up for the day they had missed.

A judge delivered a major blow Monday to the state's case against two men accused of fatally slashing the throats of three children nine years ago, ruling that the testimony of a key witness is inadmissible. As prosecutors try for a third time next month to convict Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 31, and Adan Canela, 26, they'll have to do so without some important evidence and witnesses they used to secure a 2006 guilty verdict that was later thrown out by Maryland's top court. Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock told the prosecution that it may not use the statements of the woman who said in the earlier trials that she drove the men from work to the crime scene.

The Senate rejected a bill Monday night that would have prevented the Maryland Transit Administration from audio-taping passengers' conversations after a vigorous debate over the competing values of safety and privacy. The 23-22 vote to kill the measure was a victory for Baltimore senators, who were annoyed that they were not consulted in the development of a bill that disproportionately affects their constituents -- many of whom travel on buses through high-crime neighborhoods.

Regarding your editorial on President Obama's State of the Union plea for Congress to act on gun control, Marylander's deserve much more than a vote, they deserve true representation ("We deserve a vote," Feb. 17). The editorial highlighted the president's call for the voices of the victims of gun violence be heard, and it denounced the NRA, Republicans and certain Democrats for opposing legislation that would ban military-style assault rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

For 102 years, people have been treated unequally by the Boy Scouts, and on Jan. 28, the organization's board delayed a vote on whether to allow local chapters to decide whether to admit gay members and leaders. In Maryland where gay couples are now legally allowed to get married, they still may not be allowed to join Scouting. This ultimately provides an adverse consequence to a newly-earned freedom. No one should not be declined from the Boy Scouts because of sexual orientation.