Charles Village

Two people were shot shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday in the 100 block of E. 22nd St., police said. A 36-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man were conscious and breathing when they were taken to the hospital and are in serious but stable condition as of 12:45 p.m., said Baltimore police spokesman Detective Kevin Brown. They are expected to survive. The victims were in a burgundy SUV at the time of the incident, he said. The woman was shot multiple times, wounding her in the hip and leg, and the man had been shot in the arm, he said.

The Charles Village apartment was largely empty — except for the guns, the drugs and the 20-ton hydraulic compressor. The apartment, in the 2900 block of St. Paul St. near the Johns Hopkins University, was raided this week by detectives after a monthlong investigation. Police said Joseph Batson, 39, was arrested on the street with a 10 mm Glock pistol and 4.5 ounces of crack cocaine, while his wife, Jamie Batson, 25, who was put on home detention for a drug conviction in Baltimore County about a month ago, was arrested inside the apartment.

The city's bicycle and pedestrian planner wants a "bike boulevard" to run up Guilford Avenue through Charles Village, an area already filled with commuters using pedal power. But a series of attacks on cyclists and several bike-jackings are creating concern. Police had arrested three people in two bike robberies this month and thought they had a handle on the situation until three young men pushed Michael Byrne off his Blue Falcon bike Wednesday night at North Charles and 20th streets.

A 23-year-old Johns Hopkins research assistant was fatally stabbed Sunday night in Charles Village during an apparent robbery, two days before the victim's birthday, according to city police. Officers responded to a call of an attack at about 11:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. and found the man in the road, suffering from stab wounds all over his body. The victim was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later, police said.

The developer of a vacant lot in Charles Village owned by the Johns Hopkins University has decided not to build a grocery store there. The university supports the decision about the site, at the corner of St. Paul and E. 33rd streets, said a statement released Wednesday by Armada Hoffler, the lead developer of the 1.1-acre site. The other firms involved are Beatty Development Group LLC and Skye Hospitality LLC. The development group, 3200StPaul, has met with residents of Charles Village and the surrounding communities in recent weeks to solicit their thoughts on how the land should be used.

Jill DiMaura said she has never felt safer in her Charles Village neighborhood than she has since a shooting last summer at 28th and Barclay streets. "The police have been like neighbors," DiMaura, 52, told local law enforcement officials and city council members Monday, at a meeting to update residents on public safety. "I've been able to walk my dog at night," said DiMaura, a nine-year resident of Harwood, who was one of 70 people at the crime meeting. "It's been like a completely different neighborhood.

It was Stephen Pitcairn's 24th birthday Tuesday, and his friends marked the occasion with cake and flowers. On the Charles Village block where the young John Hopkins researcher was killed Sunday night, his friends and fellow lab workers built a makeshift memorial honoring his memory. Pictures of Pitcairn, wearing his signature grin, were bound to a tree with red ribbons in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. At its roots rested chocolate cake, red licorice whips and three oysters on the half shell — each with a dollop of cocktail sauce.

The problem: The bicycle rack at Baltimore's first on-street bike parking area in Charles Village is missing. The back story: Susan Walther was excited after her new neighborhood, Charles Village, became home to Baltimore's first on-street bicycle parking area. She and her husband are cyclists, and they have admired other bike-friendly communities around the country and in Europe. The on-street bike parking, in front of Eddie's Market in the 3100 block of St. Paul St., was lauded by city officials when it was installed in March.

The line between subtle and bland can be small. As I ate pizza from Maxie's in Charles Village, my mind kept jumping back and forth between the two adjectives. The pizzas have thin, well-made crusts, but it was the toppings that gave me pause. Sometimes they had delicate flavors, while other times they were dull. The white eggplant pizza ($18.95 for a large), with baked eggplant, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, plus garlic and seasoning, had distinct spinach and garlic notes.