Common

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

The Baltimore Teacher's Union has called for the district hold off on attaching penalties to schools' performance on the the new  Common Core assessments, citing insufficient professional development and resources to implement the new high-stakes curriculum. In a news release, BTU's President Marietta English echoed the call of one of the nation's largest teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, which called for a moratorium on penalties associated with the standardized testing that will measure a radically new curricula being rolled out across the nation, including Maryland, next year.

A prominent Ellicott City blogger and businessman was stabbed to death by his daughter's 19-year-old boyfriend, who plotted with the 14-year-old girl to kill him so the two could run away together, Howard County police said Friday. Dennis Lane, 58, was found before dawn in his Winding Ross Way home. Police charged Jason Anthony Bulmer and Morgan Lane Arnold, both students at Mount Hebron High School, as adults in his killing; they both face conspiracy and murder counts. Both were held without bail, according to online court records.

I was very happy to see that additional development was barred at Green Spring Station and that common sense prevailed in our county's decision making. Anyone who travels through this intersection during the week days, especially rush hours, can tell you this is a failing intersection that it fully deserves its "F" rating. To those legislators who upgraded it as a "D" rating, I would suggest that without major improvements in place beforehand, any further development at Green Spring Station would overnight decrease its rating to a "F". For this reason, I believe the restriction that prohibits development only near "F" rated intersections should be expanded to include "D" rated roadways and intersections; this is only common sense, guys.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

The Lyric Opera House will host Ladies Night Out featuring Common on Sunday night. The hip-hop artist, a member of the loose collective Soulquarians, worked with artists Kanye West, will.i.am., D'Angelo and Lily Allen for his latest album, Finding Forever, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and received multiple Grammy nominations. Common also branched out into film, having acted in Smokin' Aces and American Gangster. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $47.50-$97.50. The Lyric is at 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.

The art of Ruth Channing and that of Jimmie Miller are not superficially a lot alike. Miller creates colorful mixed-media collages that are largely abstract but can also occasionally be read as representational, if you like. Channing's images are definitely representational. She is best known for her prints but lately has turned to painting.For their joint show at Resurgam, their artists' statements reveal something in common. "I should title my works "Enjoyment #1, Enjoyment #2, etc., because that's what they represent for me," writes Miller.

Today, millions of American voters will go to the polls angry and despairing; more will simply not go at all. The sad fact is that confidence in America has been replaced by cynicism and distrust. The S&L catastrophe, the federal defic commitment of politicians, trust that the process really works.Common Cause was born 20 years ago in a political climate not unlike today's, when the U.S. was mired in the Vietnam War, the White House was about to be enveloped by scandal and confidence in government was ebbing.

Last year, while working on the independent film "LUV" in Baltimore, Common received the type of treatment typical for a celebrity of his stature. He met the mayor in her office. He played basketball at Carmelo Anthony's gym. But now, reflecting more than a year later, the 40-year-old Chicago-native born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. says it was meeting the people in their communities that made his brief time in Baltimore "one of the best experiences" the rapper and actor ever had. "I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore," said Common, who returns to the area Saturday for the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion . "I definitely felt a connection to the people.

WASHINGTON -- Common Cause is an organization that the politicians hold in what might be called minimum high regard.It would be hard to argue that its goals are not worthwhile. Presumably, everyone is in favor of clean, democratic government responsive to ordinary Americans rather than those high-priced lobbyists in their Gucci loafers. But nobody likes holier-than-thou nags, and that is the way Common Cause is seen by the politicians who are so often its targets.The Common Cause assault on President Clinton the other night is a quintessential example.

It is premature to attribute gains in kindergarten readiness to basing pre-K on the common core curriculum introduced two years ago ("City's revamped pre-K showing promise," April 27). Contrary to The Sun's report, the rise in readiness scores was not "unprecedented. " Examination of the data available from a recent Baltimore City Public Schools press release shows that the 4 percent gain seen from 2011 to 2012 is part of a general trend of increased readiness in test scores since 2007 for all children entering kindergarten in Baltimore, whether enrolled in common core aligned pre-K or not. In fact, most of the gains in non-common-core-aligned pre-K programs were larger than those seen in common-core pre-K programs.

For decades, the Orioles commanded a sweeping empire of fans - a territory larger than some European countries, stretching from southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina and including Washington, where the team operated a popular retail store. The club's games are still broadcast across most of the same region, but the Orioles now share much of it with the Washington Nationals, who are ensconced in a population-rich portion of what was once the Orioles' domain. The Nationals' arrival in 2005 created a complicated relationship in which the teams are at once neighbors, opponents on the field and, lately, bickering business partners when it comes to the regional television network they co-own but the Orioles control.

A recent post on the Lab Rescue Facebook page broke my heart: a woman wrote that her beloved dog died unexpectedly, and that an autopsy showed that her liver had been completely destroyed. The culprit? Heliotrope, a common flowering plant the woman had on her deck that the dog nibbled on. Most of us know to watch out for pet-toxic plants around Christmas and Easter, but we don't think that what's growing in our yards might be just as dangerous. I took a look at the ASPCA's list of pet-toxic plants this morning, and was really surprised to see that some of the things in my yard are dangerous to the Labragator.

A half-empty former shopping mall in Eldersburg will be remade as a Walmart-anchored plaza under plans announced Monday by owner Black Oak Associates. In a move long awaited by many in the community, the Owings Mills-based developer will spend $50 million to renovate Carrolltown Center into Eldersburg Commons, with new restaurants and home, fashion and beauty retailers. For a decade, Carrolltown Center has been a community sore spot. The interior of the small community mall was closed in 2005, and the property languished with a diminishing roster of tenants and an abandoned movie theater.

Maryland skipped over spring and went straight to summer-like weather Tuesday, as a "Bermuda high" system more common to June or July created a chance for record-breaking heat on Wednesday. Temperatures reached 85 degrees at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and 89 degrees in downtown Baltimore on Tuesday. That is 20 degrees above normal, and even more of a departure from what has been a chilly spring - March was, on average, colder than December. The long wait for warmth meant Baltimoreans flocked to the outdoors.

As a recent letter to the editor noted, studies have shown that a gun in the home increases the risk of suicide, murder and accidents ("Arming school employees only raises danger," April 7). As a footnote to all the media coverage about the massacre that occurred in Newtown, Conn., it should be noted that had Adam Lanza's mother taken the precautions needed and necessary to having guns in her home with an unstable individual having access to them, just maybe this terrible shooting would not have occurred.

Columbia's Clemons Crossing is about as far as one can get from an urban area and not be in the country. There are no drive-by shootings, no strangers lurking in dark alleyways. It is a quintessential suburban neighborhood of comfortable homes on quiet, tree-lined cul-de-sacs -- a place sought after precisely because it seems so safe.But even the serenity of suburbia is occasionally shattered, and never so much as when a child is the victim.The tragic death of 8-year-old Simon Robert Decker of Clemons Crossing last Wednesday evening rips the veil off the illusion that "these things happen elsewhere."

Q: I suffer from severe headaches. I went to the eye doctor and he gave me some glasses but I still get the headaches. What could be causing them?A: Without knowing more about you and the kind of headaches that you're having, it's hard for us to give you a lot of information about what could be causing them. However, we do wish to point out that headaches are extremely common among teen-agers. In one study done in Maryland, approximately 65 percent of teen-agers indicated they had experienced a headache in the past four weeks.

Last week, a federal district judge in New York ruled that girls younger than 17 should be allowed to purchase the Plan B contraceptive pill over the counter. Unlike the Obama administration, Judge Edward Korman got this one right. The 2011 decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to restrict access for younger girls not only denied them a safe and legal means to prevent unwanted pregnancy but ignored all scientific evidence that supported its access. Emergency contraceptive pills, commonly known as "Plan B," are drugs that work to prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after sexual intercourse.

When our elected officials announced something needed to be done about gun violence, I had hopes that we would see real solutions. On March 29, I abandoned all hope ("Gun bill advances to floor of House," March 30). Gov. Martin O'Malley's "gun safety bill" had amendments to enhance penalties and remove good time credit voted down. Actually, the amendment was approved, then the Democratic leadership strong armed delegates into re-voting and voting it down. Further, an amendment to allow off-duty police officers to carry their firearms on school grounds was voted down.