Ed Norris

It has all the elements of a great urban legend: a wayward rodent and terrorized Girl Scouts crossing paths in the august surroundings of the Lowe House Office Building. Add to that the implicit rat/politician jokes. Surely too good to be true. But the tale of the Annapolis House rat actually checks out. So says General Services spokesman Dave Humphrey, who recounts yesterday's 9:30 a.m. incident so well that I'm just gonna let him tell it: "The subject rat was on the second floor of the House of Delegates building.

LOS ANGELES -"The District," a new CBS police drama starring Craig T. Nelson, is set in Washington, but the issues faced by the new, reform-minded police chief that Nelson plays are going to seem most familiar to Baltimore viewers. That's because Nelson's character, Police Chief Jack Mannion, is based on Jack Maple, the colorful former deputy commissioner of police in New York City who now serves as consultant to Mayor Martin O'Malley and the City of Baltimore in their efforts to improve police and other city services.

Browns cornerback Eric Wright, who was torched by Anquan Boldin for three touchdowns in Week 3, recently told The Cleveland Plain Dealer that Browns fans threatened his life last season . Appearing on "The Norris & Davis Show" on 105.7 The Fan this morning, Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason was asked if he had ever received a death threat . He said no, adding that if you're going to threaten someone, you better do it to his...

Radio host Ed Norris, a former Baltimore police commissioner and superintendent of the Maryland State Police, knows what it's like to be on a force amid political change. "There's always turmoil, and it trickles down to the streets," Norris said. He said that he believes a Rawlings-Blake mayoral administration might be wise to conduct an audit of the Police Department's crime statistics to see whether the numbers are giving commanders an accurate look at crime in Baltimore. Norris urged a greater focus on quality-of-life crimes, such as panhandling and prostitution.

You'd think Ed Norris would be sick of secret rendezvous by now. But when the mayor of Baltimore asked to meet him on the QT at a Hunt Valley hotel, he was game. No matter that officially, the city was snubbing Norris, with police leaders refusing to appear with the ex-con ex-commish at last week's TV "town hall" meeting on crime. Privately, Sheila Dixon wanted his two cents. So she approached him, spokesman Anthony McCarthy said, through "some of her police contacts who are still big supporters of Ed Norris" - not the usual channel for mayoral meeting planning.

It's hard to buy Ed Norris dinner in this town. Six months in the slammer would hardly kill a guy's appetite for fine dining, so that's not the problem. Fresh from federal prison, his job options limited but his tragically hip palate intact, Norris is all champagne tastes, bread-and-water budget. "I'm broke," Norris says with cheerful bravado when he accepts my recent invitation for an over-dinner interview. Norris suggests a few restaurants, including Sotto Sopra, the chic Charles Street eatery whose Italian name roughly translates to "You spent HOW MUCH on duck ravioli?"

BALTIMORE police Commissioner Ed Norris missed becoming Dr. Ed Norris by a few years and several thousand dollars. Norris had a medical career in his sights when he entered New York City's Brooklyn Tech High School. He had to pass a competitive exam just to get in. Only two other New York City public high schools - Stuyvesant and Bronx School of Science - require competitive exams for admittance. "It was eight hours daily of school for four years," Norris recalled. "Four years of math and four years of science."

I CAME TO this story about one of Ed Norris' trusted commanders before Ed Norris decided to make the dubious career move from Baltimore police commissioner to state police superintendent. The story has little do with Norris and everything to do with Anthony Barksdale, a young major in charge of a special violent-crime unit. I just wanted to know what motivated Barksdale to become a cop in the first place. Tom Newman, a detective Barksdale knew well, had just been killed execution-style, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to ask why a man seeks this dangerous job. "I want to be there," Barksdale answered.