Beloved

Two important decisions emerged from the recent meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that should have a positive impact on the Chesapeake Bay's striped bass (rockfish) industry. The first was a decision not to restrict the harvest of striped bass, the other to significantly curb the Atlantic menhaden catch. How could a decision to leave alone rockfish, a species highly prized by commercial fishermen and recreational anglers alike, while restricting the harvest of the lowly menhaden, an oily little fish that no self-respecting hook-and-line fisherman would use for anything other than bait, be a win for conservationists and the fishing industry?

Divine lives! Proving it's impossible to keep a good Baltimore drag queen down, even one who's been dead for 23 years, Charm City's own Divine is back this week, in the pages of Entertainment Weekly. As part of its feature on comedian Melissa McCarthy, EW dressed the recent Emmy winner (for "Mike & Molly") and star of this summer's "Bridesmaids" in a variety of guises - including the gloriously plus-sized Divine. No word yet on whether McCarthy will be showing up in any John Waters movies.

Dr. McRae Whitaker Williams, a retired physician and former administrator at Union Memorial Hospital, died Tuesday at home. Dr. Williams' family did not request an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The longtime Owings Mills resident was 75. "He was [a] role model and mentor for many of us and had a direct grace that was truly remarkable. He spent most of his professional life at Union Memorial, as first physician, then executive, and [then] physician again," said Dr. Stuart B. Bell, vice president of medical affairs for Union Memorial, in an email last week to colleagues.

It is sad that The Sun chose to announce the death of Rabbi Jacob A. Max with a very small article that dwelled primarily on a negative aspect of his life. Rabbi Max was so much more to generations of Jewish families. He was there for us at happy times and celebrated our births, weddings, bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. He shared our problems and calmed our fears. Rabbi Max stood right beside us during sicknesses and deaths. He was a part of our families and he made us know we were his family.

Last Monday, one of the most famous sets of call letters in the history of Baltimore radio was resurrected on local airwaves. And so far, listeners are split about the new HFS. Broadcasting on 97.5-FM, the newest incarnation is patterned closely after the influential alternative rock station once found at 99.1 on the dial — until its abrupt switch to Latin pop station El Zol in 2005. "The music made popular by HFS has lived on long after the station went off the air," CBS Radio senior vice president Bob Philips said last week when announcing the new station, noting that the brand had been kept alive as a streaming Internet station over the past six years.

Both of my grandmothers made their own chicken noodle soup, and the results were spectacular. My Poultney Street grandma put a touch of whole tomato in hers. My Guilford Avenue grandmother made her own egg noodles and dried them over a radiator. After their deaths in the 1970s, I despaired of ever having good noodle soup again. About 30 years ago, I made a visit to Vince Rallo's restaurant. One spoonful of his chicken noodle soup, and I was back in a circa 1955 Baltimore kitchen, well-fed and happy.

Dr. Frederick Joseph Hatem, a retired Havre de Grace obstetrician who delivered thousands of babies in Harford and Cecil counties during his four-decade career, including baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. , died June 6 of heart failure at Harford Memorial Hospital. He was 84. Dr. Hatem, whose parents owned and operated a general store, was born in Havre de Grace, where he spent his entire life. He was a 1942 graduate of Havre de Grace High School and served in the Army as an administrative assistant stateside to a colonel, until being discharged in 1946.

In his will, William Donald Schaefer left money and mementos to his most loyal friends and colleagues. But Maryland's celebrated public figure seemed to leave out someone — a furry little someone that, in the end, was as close to him as anyone. Even so, it appears that Willie IV, his doted-on long-haired cat, has hit the kitty jackpot. After Schaefer died last month at age 89, people wondered and worried about the cat. "What happened to Willie?" was a question that kept coming up. The answer?

To borrow from "A Hard Day's Night," Russell Brand is a mod, a rocker and a mocker. He's got an edgy version of elfin charm — if you can call a 6-foot-1 man elfin. Lately he's had a mocker's version of a Midas touch. He gave voice to the Easter Bunny's teenage heir in "Hop" — and the film ruled the box-office last weekend. The Russell Brand brand should get another boost Friday when he opens in his first star vehicle, "Arthur. " Credit goes to Jason Winer, his Pikesville-bred director.

The couple was sound asleep in the early-morning darkness when the telephone rang, jarring them to consciousness. "Do you still own the Old Stein Inn?" the caller asked in an urgent tone. "Have you seen what's going on?" Mike and Beth Selinger hadn't, but when they bundled themselves up for the 6 a.m. chill of Dec. 31 and raced to the top of the hill near their Edgewater home, they soon found out. It was his parents' dreams and their own, not to mention 28 years of Gemütlichkeit and memories, going up in smoke.