Eastern Avenue

Traffic on northbound I-83 is slow from the downtown entrance at E. Fayette Street through North Ave. There is an overturned vehicle near the intersection of the expressway and North Ave., according to police reports. Police officers and firefighters are on the scene, said Det. Jeremy Silbert, a spokesman for the police department. Otherwise, there were no accidents reported on major Baltimore area highways. There were no delays on local mass transit systems.

All lanes of southbound Interstate 95 have reopened north of the Eastern Avenue exit after a six-vehicle crash Tuesday morning, according to a Maryland Transportation Authority Police spokesman. The crash was reported about 6 a.m., and as of 6:30 a.m., only the left lane was moving, but by 7:45 a.m., traffic had resumed its normal pattern, said the spokesman, Sgt. Jonathan Green. One person reported non-life-threatening injuries, but no one was taken to a hospital, he said.

I am fond of skateboarders. One of my sons used to be one. When our young skater used to slip away from home, my wife and I knew chances were good that he was either at "the statue" in front of the Lyric Opera House or at "the bowl" in Lansdowne, working on his tricks. In those years, I learned that although many skaters looked "hard," they were good souls. But until I visited Johnny Rad's, I did not know that skaters were so fond of vegetables. Johnny Rad's, named after a character in a skateboard movie, sits in the 2100 block of Eastern Ave., next door to a firehouse and across the street from a duckpin bowling alley.

Eastern Avenue was closed in both directions at Broadway after a building collapsed Tuesday morning, Baltimore police and fire officials said. According to state tax records, the building, the former Eastern Auto Supply Co., is owned by 504 South Broadway, LLC -- the address of the Ritz Cabaret. The cabaret owners planned to open a steakhouse, said Jason Sullivan, the executive director of Fells Point Main Street. The owners could not be reached for comment. City firefighters responded at 8:45 a.m. to a report of a building in dangerous condition, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman.

A Virginia developer is moving ahead with a new townhouse community on an industrial swath of Baltimore's Greektown neighborhood but scaling back more ambitious plans to build condos and apartments. Representatives of Kettler, a land and multifamily housing developer based in McLean, Va., said Thursday they are in talks with potential builders of 125 townhouses planned for nearly 5 acres several blocks south of Eastern Avenue. The developer, which has owned the site for six years, has the support of community members who say the project will play a key role in spurring neighborhood revitalization.

The newspaper headline - "Middle River Girl Killed by Train" - could have run last week when 14-year-old Anna Marie Stickel was struck and killed by a passenger train while walking to Kenwood High School. But the headline actually ran in May 1968, when 9-year-old Bonnie Louise Calhoun was run over near Martin Boulevard and Old Eastern Avenue - within walking distance of where Anna was killed - by a Pennsylvania Railroad train. Little has changed over four decades on these tracks in eastern Baltimore County, where the nation's busiest passenger rail corridor divides neighborhoods from several schools.

On December 31, 2009, CATHERINE LILLIAN MITCHELL, beloved wife of the late Clarence Mitchell; devoted mother of Claudia Reynolds, Charmaine Hershey, Charlotte Frederick, Colleen Johnson and Colette DeGruchy. Also survived by eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Friends may call at the family owned Bruzdzinski Funeral Home P.A., 1407 Old Eastern Avenue, Essex at route 702 (beltway exit 36) on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., Funeral service on Tuesday at 11:00 A.M. Interment Holly Hill Memorial Gardens.

The problem:: A hole formed at a corner storm drain near Patterson Park despite calls for help. The back story:: This week's Watchdog features a problem that may be a familiar sight to Baltimore residents. Cheryl Shiflett called to complain about a storm drain at Eastern Avenue and South Glover Street. Several months ago, she and other neighborhood residents noticed that the manhole and curb were crumbling. "The curb started to fall off, and cars of course were hitting that," Shiflett said.