Dodge

It is no wonder Baltimore is fiscally in trouble. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, mayoral contender and Baltimore Clerk of the Court Frank Conaway and Register of Wills Mary Conaway all are trying to skirt the homestead property tax credit law by applying for credit they are not entitled to. More important to the voters is the message they send to others who try the same thing and then say they made a mistake and didn't read all the documents they...

Streams of people flowed back into Ocean City after the mandatory evacuation order for Hurricane Irene was lifted Sunday, and many of them headed straight for the beach. "It's bigger, it's better," said Annamarie Rohrer, who was sitting in the sun with her daughter within two hours of the town's reopening. She marveled at how the storm's erosion had widened the beach's usable space. "I was worried that the hurricane was going to wash it all away," Rohrer said. "But now we're all not sitting on top of one another.

Last month, the Prince George's County Council decided not to impose strict storm-water management standards and instead passed a bill with marginal improvements that delayed for years responsible storm-water standards that are already in place in neighboring jurisdictions likeMontgomery County. That decision was truly disappointing, for our environment and our county's image, both of which are in dire need of rehabilitation. And despite the expressed (and I believe, genuine) intent of County Executive Rushern Baker to restore integrity throughout county government, a decision like that essentially says that county government still kowtows to developers.

If Washington had been located 20 miles farther south of Columbia, the master-planned community would have failed, as land-use strategist Chris Leinberger tells it. "America's City," as it was called in its earliest years, violates nearly every successful planning model across the country by being located southwest of its nearest metropolitan area — the city of Baltimore — instead of north of it, where the upper middle class prefers to...

Baltimore police are investigating three overnight shootings Friday, including one that left a 30-year-old man dead. Officers were called at 6:35 p.m. to the 800 block of West Pratt Street, where 30-year-old Raynard Benjamin was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, said Det. Kevin Brown, a police spokesman. Several men walked up to him and shot him, fleeing in a silver Dodge 4-door pick-up truck, Brown said. Benjamin was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center where he was pronounced dead.

A snowstorm charging up the East Coast largely missed the Baltimore region, playing havoc with the predictions of meteorologists and plans of travelers as forecasts of up to a half-foot of snow amounted to little more than a dusting. But as temperatures dipped after nightfall, state highway officials were watching for icy roads. "You prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said Kellie Boulware of the State Highway Administration. "All in all, the fact that schools aren't in session, people are off for the holiday week, and we didn't have that many travelers on the highway gave our crews a chance to go out and throw down salt.

Feeling pinched this Christmas season? Are your credit cards tapped from buying gifts? Are you underwater on your mortgage and wondering how you will be able to retire before 90? The answer is simple: Use government accounting! It will have you feeling rich in no time. Let's start with bills. If you do not have enough in your checking account to cover monthly expenses, take money from your children's savings accounts, their college savings fund and your retirement account — and run up your credit card bills, if you have any credit left on them.

A potent Republican punch knocked Democrats from power in the House but largely spared Maryland incumbents in Tuesday's midterm voting. As part of that national trend, Maryland's most closely watched House contest saw Republican state Sen. Andy Harris defeat incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil in the 1st District. Nearly complete returns showed Harris doing considerably better on the Eastern Shore than in 2008, when he lost in the historically Republican district by less than 3,000 votes.

Jay Hancock's column Tuesday ("Pension crisis? Candidates little help," Oct. 12) seems unfair to both gubernatorial candidates. Yes, they dodged the specifics on a difficult issue. But don't blame them. Blame the voters and the media informing them. Practical solutions involve pain and fully please nobody. If either candidate proposed a solution, your headlines would warn of its "Draconian cuts" or "Staggering taxes," scaring voters out of their wits. Smelling blood, the other candidate would quickly field attack ads. You and other media would happily run them.

Oniel Cousins has endured sprains and tears of varying degrees. But the 6-foot-4, 315-pound offensive tackle was not prepared when he began experiencing problems with his throat last month. Soon after, doctors discovered a cyst attached to Cousins' esophagus, and the subsequent operation to remove the cyst is the primary reason the third-year pro began Ravens training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list Tuesday. Cousins' troubles began innocently enough. "It started out as a little strep throat, and that got better," he recalled.