Elkridge

Marylanders have a new food challenge. There's the Fat Boy burger at Chewy's, the colossal burrito at El Hidalgo in Elkridge and a giant milkshake at Chick and Ruth's in Annapolis. On Oct. 22, the Breakfast Shoppe in Severna Park will introduce the Category 3 Tony Chicken and Waffle 'Pann'wich - six pieces of hand-battered chicken breast, eight pieces of smoked bacon and six pieces of pepper jack cheese, all layered between two bacon-Belgian waffles and topped with scratch made gravy.

GP Strategies Corp., a global business consulting company based in Elkridge, has agreed to buy BlessingWhite, a Princeton, N.J., company that offers employee leadership training, the companies have announced. The roughly $10 million acquisition should be complete within a month, GP Strategies said in a statement Friday. GP Strategies expects the acquisition to add to earnings per share in 2013, the company said. Last year, BlessingWhite had revenue of more than $13 million, GP Strategies said.

One in a series of profiles of Maryland delegates to the Republican National Convention O.P. Ditch almost didn't make it to the Republican National Convention - not because of Tropical Storm Isaac, but rather a missed deadline. The retired Air Force colonel decided in January he wanted to be a delegate for Mitt Romney. But after making up his mind, the 73-year-old Vietnam veteran learned that the deadline to put his name on the ballot was only hours away. There wasn't enough time.

An elegant marble statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary graces the entrance to St. Augustine School in Elkridge, moved there by alumni of the shuttered Cardinal Gibbons School. The sculpted image of a veiled young woman stands beneath a large white cross and above a memorial plaque. When Charlotte "Sis" Slavotinek learned that the archdiocese was closing the all-boys Catholic high school two years ago, she insisted that the statue, dedicated to her son Michael, his two classmates and their teacher who died in a 1968 plane crash, be relocated.

Dorothy Acker and her 12-year-old daughter, Audrey, regularly search for new books at the Elkridge library - on a recent trip they were looking for titles on Audrey's middle-school summer reading list. The Elkridge library is closest to their home, but it has some drawbacks. "The library smells musty. It's kind of grungy inside," Dorothy Acker said. Many patrons feel that the library, like Elkridge, has long been neglected. The community has won some recent victories - fighting off a proposed rail transfer facility and securing money for new schools and a park - but residents maintain a touch of indignation when they talk about their neighbors in Ellicott City and Columbia.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature near 76 degrees. Tonight is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a low temperature around 64 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... 1812 bicentennial celebration kicks off in city with a loud boom : State and local officials gathered to publicize Sailabration, a maritime and air festival that begins its six-day run in the city on June 13. The city will welcome 18 tall ships and dozens of Navy vessels to its harbor and all will be open for free tours throughout the festival.

Howard County Police arrested five out-of-state men Monday in connection with a methamphetamine lab in an Elkridge hotel room. Police arrested Josiah David Marin, 23, of Swansboro, N.C.; Forrest Derrick Rhoades, 34, Sallisaw, Okla.; Joshua Wade Matthews, 33, of Sallisaw, Okla.; Amos Joel Martin, 20, Mesick, Mich.; and Spencer Allen Smith, 22, of Lock Haven, Pa. The men were charged with drug manufacturing, drug possession and possession with...

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is urging CSX Transportation to find a site in the city for its multi-million dollar cargo transfer center rather than look for a site in suburbs to the south. In a letter to CSX President and CEO Michael J. Ward released Thursday, the mayor said she was "deeply troubled" that plans for the Baltimore-Washington Rail Intermodal Facility have stalled and expressed concern that if a new rail yard was not completed soon, "economic opportunity will pass us by. " The truck-to-rail center would allow CSX to bypass the narrow, century-old Howard Street tunnel beneath the city and double-stack containers trucked from the Port of Baltimore onto freight trains.

The Elkridge-Harford Hunt Point-to-Point races will be run once more over the grounds of historic Atlanta Hall Farm, 2933 Pocock Road in Monkton, on Saturday, April 7. This annual race is the traditional warmup for Maryland's Triple Crown of steeplechasing. It has been a testing ground for the country's best timber horses for more than 50 years. There are three levels of parking admission: general, subscriber and finish line. All tickets must be purchased in advance. Contact Julie Smith at viking48@earthlink.net or call 410-404-7071 for tickets.

Sunday, March 25 Concert The Orchestra of St. John's presents its final concert of the season, "Great Masterpieces," at 4 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 9120 Frederick Road in Ellicott City. Admission is $25, $10 for students 18-24 with ID, and free to those 17 and younger accompanied by a paying adult. Information: 410-461-7793, ext. 501 or orchestraofstjohns.org. Wednesday, March 28 Schools The Board of Education's Legislative Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the department's Lobby Conference Room ML 2, at 10910 Route 108 in Ellicott City.