Development

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Tuesday called last week's indictments of 25 inmates and correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center "a very positive development" in the state's fight to dismantle violent gangs in state prisons. A day after returning from a weeklong trade mission to Israel, the governor told a State House news conference that he is standing firmly behind Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Gary D. Maynard in the wake of a federal probe that found widespread corruption and smuggling at the city jail.

Here we go again: City leaders want to invest more public dollars in the Inner Harbor ("Improving the city's 'playground,"' April 24). One would have thought had learned from the mistakes of the past. The Inner Harbor long has symbolized the wrong turn our city took in its economic development strategy. We have invested in high-profile projects that benefit a small segment of the population while neglecting ordinary residents and their neighborhoods. In 1970, before the Inner Harbor was redeveloped with enormous infusions of public money, 5.3 percent of Baltimore's housing units were vacant.

Developers plan to build 1,700 housing units near a mixed-use business park in White Marsh, saying it will "supercharge" an area that had previously been targeted for job creation. The $100 million development, Greenleigh at Crossroads, would be part of the 1,000-acre Baltimore Crossroads @95. Baltimore County officials announced the plans Wednesday with representatives from developer St. John Properties and Somerset Construction Co. St. John officials said they'll break ground on the 200-acre project — which will include single-family houses, townhouses, condominium units and apartments — within the next year to 18 months.

A Harford County Council bill designed to block the proposed move of Walmart's Abingdon store about two miles to the north to a plot near the intersection of Route 924 and Plumtree Road came to strange end last week. The bill, which initially seemed to have strong support as it was co-sponsored by four of the seven members of the county council, came up for action last week in a legislative session and died a procedural death. A motion for action on the legislation was made, even as dozens of people in favor of it were in attendance to monitor what promised to be tumultuous legislative session.

The folks at "House of Cards" sure love the Baltimore area. Not only is the majority of the political thriller filmed in and around the city (and, full disclosure, in The Baltimore Sun newsroom), now the show's head honcho, Beau Willimon, is slated to come to Towson University on Wednesday (April 24) to discuss how he developed the addictive series. According to a Towson University press release, Willimon will speak at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Van Bokkelen Hall, Room 204. The event is free and open to the public.

Today is "Skeptical Reader Day" at the Dan Rodricks column. Today, at no extra charge, I will answer a letter from an anonymous reader who questioned a figure that appeared in this space last week, to wit: "The Department of Natural Resources says Maryland loses 25,000 acres of agricultural and forest land to development each year. " "Really?" Anonymous asked. "Can that possibly be true? If a typical house is on .25 acres ... " Take cover, friends! Incoming amazing math! " ... that translates to 100,000 homes per year, or 8,333 homes per month, or in a 30-day month including weekends, 277 homes per day. " Told ya. "Even if you assume one acre per home," Anonymous went on, "the figures are 25,000 homes per year, or 2,083 per month, 69 per day. Granted, some of the loss is to commercial and industrial development, but still ... ?"

Cuban Revolution has come to Baltimore's Middle East neighborhood. Just a few blocks away from the Johns Hopkins Hospital , the Middle East area has seldom officered any reason for outsiders to wander in. That is changing. The neighborhood is being developed as a mixed-use life science campus. The anchor tenant is the Science & Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, but the 80-acre area will include other research facilities along with new housing, parking and a six-acre central park.

Paul Cantabene was not entirely sure how the Stevenson players would react after dropping a 14-13 overtime decision to Roanoke on Tuesday night. But as the No. 3 Mustangs prepare to dip back into Middle Atlantic Conference play with a visit from Albright this Saturday at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills, the head coach is hoping that the team practices and plays with an undercurrent of anger. “I think we need to start playing a little more angrily,” Cantabene said Wednesday. “In my time here, this is one of our nicer teams.

Two regional police departments are accepting applications for youth summer programs that will demonstrate the skills and training involved in becoming a police officer. The Howard County Department of Police and the Baltimore County Police Department are looking for students interested in exploring career opportunities and leadership training through short-term programs under their guidance. The HCDP is considering youths between the ages of 15 and 18 for its Youth Police Academy, to be held between July 7 and July 12 in Marriottsville.

A fifth man has filed a lawsuit against Kevin Clash, the former voice of Elmo on "Sesame Street," making sex abuse allegations similar to those of four other plaintiffs. Kevin Kiadii, now 25, of New York, alleges that he was 16 when he and Clash engaged in sexual contact after meeting on a gay phone chat line. According to the lawsuit, Clash initiated contact with Kiadii on the chat line in 2004, invited him to his New York apartment and sent a luxury car service to pick Kiadii up in Brooklyn.