Camera

The learning curve for Chelsea Clinton, special correspondent, continues to bend in the wrong direction. Clinton's Wednesday night report on chain restaurants that donate leftover food to charity was slightly better than her previous efforts. But only because the producers used every trick in the book to give us less Chelsea and more of anything they could find to distract us from her. Less was marginally more. One of the most striking aspects of the report was how similar its opening was to the first report she did for "Rock Center" a few months ago. Her debut opened with needy children in an after-school setting getting a free meal, and so did Wednesday's.  But in the first report, the producers gave us lots of Chelsea.

Baltimore police are searching for a man who allegedly took a photograph of a 15-year-old girl in an Inner Harbor bathroom last month by sticking his camera phone underneath her stall. Police said on April 17, the girl noticed someone taking her picture from under the stall, and called out to the person, thinking it was a friend. After she did so, "an unknown male told her he was just messing with his phone," police said. The girl then ran out of the bathroom, police said.

A little more than 31 years ago, when I learned I was pregnant, I was ecstatic. Then I began photographing every part of my daughter's journey. I started with a close-up of the positive pregnancy test, continued with pictures during prenatal visits to the doctor, took portraits of my evolving and growing belly — and finally, I took photos of her birth. Yes, I photographed the extraordinary event as I was giving birth to my daughter at Baltimore's Sinai Hospital. My first view (and photo)

Picture yourself in Laurel history on C Street Gallery's Discover Laurel Bike Ride, Saturday, May 19 from 2 to 5 p.m., starting at the gallery, 19 C St. Participants will bike the neighborhood to follow the gallery's history adventure. Bring a camera to take photographs along the way, and then see your photos on display at C Street Gallery. To register, contact Abbie Chessler at abbie@cstreetgallery.com .

There's no verdict yet in the trial of the pit bull that came to be known as Phoenix, but I say: guilty. No, not Travers and Tremayne Johnson, the 18-year-old twins accused of torching the dog on a West Baltimore street in 2009. She was burned so horribly that she had to be put down several days later. I have no idea if the Johnson brothers did it, or, rather, whether the prosecutors sufficiently proved their case or fell short, as the defense contends. Anyone who has been a juror knows how hard it can be to come up with a verdict in that jury room — much harder than coming up with an opinion out here in the peanut gallery.

The 30-day warning period for Howard County's new speed cameras will end next week. As of 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, drivers caught going 12 mph or more over the speed limit will receive citations and be fined $40, according to the Howard County Police Department. The speed cameras are in vans and operate in school zones on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. The county has two cameras now, but county law allows for up to eight. The police department's website is updated each Thursday with camera locations for the following week, though it does not give specific dates and times.

"The Best of Leon," "My Favorite Leon Part," "Leon Awesomeness" — these are all YouTube titles. The clips are taken from Larry David's long-running HBO sitcom, "Curb Your Enthusiasm. " In the videos, David, the show's neurotic protagonist, is a mere foil. That's because the real star is 47-year-old comedian J.B. Smoove, aka Leon Black and the outspoken half of one of TV's funniest — and unlikeliest — odd couples. Smoove, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer, has been featured on TV (Fox's "'Til Death")

I've learned the identity of the dedicated public servant who tried to stop a Baltimore Sun reporter from filming the Kiefaber Kerfuffle that erupted at a City Council meeting Monday night. It was Marguerite Murray, a legislative policy analyst with the city's Office of Council Services, who held a piece of paper and a binder in front of reporter Erica Green's cell phone camera.  Does obstructing a reporter's view of a public meeting, even a public meeting being disrupted by an agitated ex-theater owner , constitute "council services"?

THOUGH FOR years I favored cameras in courtrooms, I have concluded that the issue needs a lot more thought than people in my profession were willing to give it when the issue first arose.The old argument went something like this. We TV journalists are no different from print journalists, and it's high time that the Fourth Estate stopped treating us like second-class citizens.Television's position in journalism is no longer an issue. When we first fought that battle, we suffered from an inferiority complex.

BOSTON -- From time to time, my husband and I ask each other a humbling question about the human condition: How would you like to see your 10 worst moments on videotape? This is the fate that befell Madelyne Gorman Toogood last month when she was captured on a security camera in a department store parking lot. The mother was taped slapping around her 4-year-old daughter as they got into their SUV. Ms. Toogood got to see this moment -- which we sincerely hope was one of her 10 worst -- again and again and again.

Locations, by school zone, of speed cameras in Baltimore County 1. Arbutus Middle School, 1200 block of Sulphur Spring Road (eastbound) 2. Catonsville High School, 400 block of South Rolling Road (both directions) 3. Dulaney High School, 200 block of Padonia Road (southbound) 4. Dundalk Middle School/Dundalk Elementary School, 7000 block of Dunmanway (westbound) 5. Eastern Technical High School, 1100 block of Mace Avenue (both directions) 6. Halstead Academy, 7500 block of Hillsway Road (southbound)

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake climbed into a cherry picker Wednesday morning, rising above Harford Road to install a new surveillance camera in Northeast Baltimore, one of 33 the city is adding to a network that has grown to nearly 600. The new cameras, which have been installed along East North Avenue and will eventually spring up along Harford and Belair roads around Clifton Park, are funded by federal and local grants. Rawlings-Blake has overseen the addition of 100 cameras to the network since taking office.

I am glad that speed cameras have been installed on South Rolling Road. They have encouraged people to drive slower, which helps make it safer for me and other Catonsville High School students who walk to school. I appreciate Del. Jim Malone's and Councilman Tom Quirk's help in getting the cameras installed. It has made a major difference. Brian Neighoff Catonsville High School

The learning curve for Chelsea Clinton, special correspondent, continues to bend in the wrong direction. Clinton's Wednesday night report on chain restaurants that donate leftover food to charity was slightly better than her previous efforts. But only because the producers used every trick in the book to give us less Chelsea and more of anything they could find to distract us from her. Less was marginally more. One of the most striking aspects of the report was how similar its opening was to the first report she did for "Rock Center" a few months ago. Her debut opened with needy children in an after-school setting getting a free meal, and so did Wednesday's.  But in the first report, the producers gave us lots of Chelsea.

The Maryland Public Service Commission turned down a request Wednesday that would have allowed taxi companies to put security cameras instead of bullet-resistant shields in Baltimore cabs as a form of protection. Baltimore Taxi Affiliation Services, which has 100 taxis under the Arrow Cab and Baltimore City Taxi names, asked the PSC in December to change a state regulation that requires protective guards in city cabs. Shields became mandatory in the city in 1995. During an administrative meeting Wednesday, Norma Reyes, a senior executive vice president with Baltimore Taxi, argued that the shields make the smaller, more fuel-efficient cars now being leased to drivers too cramped and uncomfortable, especially during 12-hour shifts.

Some community leaders want to increase the property surtax in Midtown Baltimore by more than a third to pay for additional security cameras and safety patrols — a plan that has divided residents over whether a tax increase and public safety upgrades are needed. The proposal, which is being pushed primarily by residents of Charles North and Mount Vernon, is set for a vote Wednesday night by the Midtown Community Benefits District's board of directors. Under the proposal, property owners would pay 18.2 cents for every $100 dollars in assessed value, 5 cents more than the current rate.

NASA has selected a Johns Hopkins University design for a $30 million camera to be installed in the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in 1999.The Hubble Advanced Camera for Exploration (HACE) will be a major advance over the telescope's current camera, the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2. That instrument was installed during the space shuttle Endeavour's rescue mission last December.HACE will greatly enhance the telescope's "superlative imaging capabilities well into the next century," said Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA's Hubble program scientist.

The Hubble Space Telescope is on track to resume full scientific operations tomorrow night after engineers resolved an 11-day electronics failure of its main camera. Yesterday, controllers switched to a 15-volt backup power supply serving two of three light detectors on the orbiter's $86 million Advanced Camera for Surveys. After a thorough engineering study of the failure aboard the observatory, "this turns out to be the best and safest next step," said Ed Ruitberg, acting Hubble project manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

Roger Miller and Jeffrey A. Wolk make photography sound easy. These seasoned shooters, who have nearly a century of experience between them, share some simple instructions: Relax, enjoy the scenery, focus and keep taking pictures. "The most important thing about a camera is not to be afraid of it," said Miller, publisher of 34 photography books. "Just keep shooting. You will get some great pictures. " For those uninitiated in the intricacies of today's equipment, these two, both award-winners in their field, have put together a daylong photography workshop that promises candid coaching, technical assistance and lively dialogue.