Expansion

Six months after the game's initial release, the whispers of the first expansion pack for Bethesda Softworks' "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" have finally been confirmed . The pack is titled "Dawnguard. " The name is, as far as we know, unique within the Elder Scrolls universe, and isn't referenced in any in-game literature (according to the very useful Elder Scrolls Wiki ). If you consider the "Dawn" part of the name, the location immediately seems to point to the northern Skyrim city of Dawnstar, which is near the edge of the current playable map. Of course, "Dawn" could point to time, not location.

Baltimore County planners want to allow hundreds of houses on waterfront conservation land along the Bird River in Middle River, over the strong objections of environmental regulators. Some county officials say a proposal for up to 400 homes where only three are now allowed would defeat the purpose of multimillion-dollar public investments in natural resource protection and would represent an unprecedented expansion into an area where the county has restricted growth since 1967. Joseph Stamato, owner of Verus Development LLC, the company that wants to develop the site, said "we're protecting the land" by using only about half of the 292 acres of woods and fields.

I have a suggestion regarding an article in the Catonsville Times ("Councilman not yet sold on proposal by Central Y," July 11). I oppose the expansion as proposed mainly because of the additional traffic that a mega-Y and a medical center will draw. What good is a traffic survey? We all know that the current traffic problem will worsen and that crosswalks are a waste of taxpayer money. The one in front of the library is useless - pedestrians have to wait for at least ten cars to pass before someone yields.

Gov. Martin O'Malley named an 11-member work group Monday night to study a possible expansion of gambling in Maryland and announced that if the group can reach consensus he would call a special session July 9 to vote on casino legislation. O'Malley selected John Morton III, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority and prominent business executive, to chair the panel. Representing the administration will be Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster, chief of staff Matthew Gallagher, appointments secretary Jeanne Hitchcock and chief legislative aide Joseph Bryce.

A new high-rise Sheraton Hotel would be part of any expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center on the site of the existing Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, under a proposal that the nonprofit Greater Baltimore Committee is studying. GBC president Donald C. Fry said in a radio interview Monday that a new Sheraton could rise on the north side of Conway Street between South Charles and Sharp streets. It would replace the existing Sheraton, which would be razed under the proposal to make way for an 18,500-seat arena and convention center expansion.

The city's spending board voted Wednesday to approve $500,000 for a major expansion of the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, and waived air rights over a portion of the street to accommodate a new cantilevered building. Work has begun on the $160 million expansion of the hospital, which will include a new six-story building with 50 intensive- and intermediate-care beds, 10 operating rooms and a center to train health professionals to deal with traumatic injuries. The building will be capped by a new helipad, on which the Maryland State Police helicopters that transport critically injured patients can land.

The Ruppersberger administration has decided to put an additional $1.4 million of county money into a 400-seat expansion of Perry Hall Middle School.The expansion, which includes a large meeting-performance room off the cafeteria and new administrative offices, will enable the school to split into two separately run modules operating in the same physical complex. The concept is called a "school within a school."The project was to cost $5.4 million, including a state contribution of $1.4 million.

Representatives of the American and National leagues are scheduled to present their cases today to commissioner Fay Vincent about the division of $190 million in expansion fees.Two teams will be added to the National League for the 1993 season. The expansion committee is choosing from six cities and will make its decision known when major-league owners meet June 12 in Los Angeles.The American League wants a percentage of the expansion fees, but was unable to reach an agreement with NL officials.

KONA, Hawaii -- When National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue talks about expansion, he's still talking about 1993."I'm still assuming we're looking at '93 as a target date," the commissioner said yesterday after giving both the owners and the members of the media an upbeat picture of the state of the league at the annual March meetings.When Tagliabue mentioned the subject of expansion to the owners, he said he told them the league is currently "looking extensively at expansion in the league office."

When the American Health Care Association sought a site for a convention in October 1995, its first choice was Baltimore.But when planners contacted Baltimore's Convention Bureau last year to reserve space, they were told the building was already booked.As a result, the association took its business elsewhere, and Maryland lost a meeting that officials estimate would have injected $2.7 million into the economy.Preventing losses like that is a major reason why state officials want to expand Baltimore's 13-year-old Convention Center.

Though Gov. Martin O'Malley just called a May 14 special session to deal with budget issues Friday, the General Assembly's staff and a consultant are already laying the groundwork for a possible second act in late summer. Warren Deschenaux, chief policy analyst for the Department of Legislative Services, said his staff and the firm of Price Waterhouse have begun preparations for a study of the issues surrounding an expansion of gambling in Maryland. Price Waterhouse is already under contract with the department to conduct studies for the state commission that decides where slot machines can be located.

Six months after the game's initial release, the whispers of the first expansion pack for Bethesda Softworks' "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" have finally been confirmed . The pack is titled "Dawnguard. " The name is, as far as we know, unique within the Elder Scrolls universe, and isn't referenced in any in-game literature (according to the very useful Elder Scrolls Wiki ). If you consider the "Dawn" part of the name, the location immediately seems to point to the northern Skyrim city of Dawnstar, which is near the edge of the current playable map. Of course, "Dawn" could point to time, not location.

The Under Armour brand is poised for continued growth with a soon-to-be-released football cleat that's expected to drive footwear sales, as well as plans to keep expanding into international markets, executives told stockholders Tuesday. Consumers who choose Under Armour over other sports apparel brands do so because the products help solve problems for athletes, said Kevin Plank, the company's chairman, president and CEO, during the company's annual stockholders' meeting at its South Baltimore headquarters.

To be Mike Miller, it seems, is to be misunderstood. The Senate president and Annapolis institution has been getting most of the blame (including from this editorial page) for the failure of key budget and tax bills at the end of the General Assembly session last week. The general impression had been that he was holding up consideration of the budget as leverage to get what he really wanted: a referendum to allow a casino inPrince George's County, and, as part of the bargain, table games at all of Maryland's slots parlors.

T. Rowe Price will likely occupy two new buildings at its Owings Mills campus next year, more than three years after the Baltimore money manager put its expansion plans on hold during the recession, the company's chief executive said Tuesday. James A.C. Kennedy said Tuesday that the company would make a decision about opening the two buildings in the next month or so. "So the likelihood is sometime in the second half of 2013 we're moving in," he said after Price's annual shareholder meeting at its Owings Mills campus.

Under Armour's proposal to double the size of its Locust Point headquarters in South Baltimore has been sent to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for final approval. The Baltimore City Council on Monday night approved changes that would allow the $1 billion global sports apparel company to build a new office tower and the city's first Under Armour store and expand other office buildings on its waterfront campus. The mayor is supporting a request from the city's economic development agency for up to $35 million in city tax increment financing for infrastructure projects near the campus, a mayoral spokesman said Tuesday.

Let's say, for the sake of argument (and also because it's going to happen), that St. Louis is awarded the NFL's other expansion franchise next month. Did the 28 league owners benefit from having Baltimore in the fight?Are you kidding? If we never play a game, we still padded their savings accounts. Considerably.Visiting teams receive around $500,000 a game right now. We upped the ante to $1 million, stunning the other expansion finalists, who had to meet or top our offer. The Glazers took it up another notch to $1.5 million in their Tuesday pitch to the owners.

PARIS -- The executive branch of American government seems determined to commit the United States to responsibilities in Europe which common sense says the Congress will refuse.The administration wants rapid expansion of NATO. It wants this in defiance of the fact that expansion offers destabilization rather than stabilization in East-Central Europe and Russia.From the beginning of the debate over NATO enlargement, critics have maintained that it is most unlikely that a two-thirds majority of the U.S. Senate would agree to extend unconditional U.S. nuclear guarantees to NATO's new members.

In part two of our interview with "World of Warcraft" lead systems designer Greg Street, he discusses what it takes to be a game designer and what we can expect from "WoW's" latest expansion pack, as well as MMO games in general. If you missed part one of Game Cache's Q&A with street, you can find it here . The fourth "World of Warcraft" expansion pack, “Mists of Panadaria,” just went into beta testing. How is that going so far? This is a really fun time in the project for me. Once we get something in beta, there's enough stuff in there that players can try it out and there's still time to make changes.

A high-stakes bill to expand gambling in Maryland is still unsettled in Annapolis, but one thing is clear: Right now, the payout is going to lobbyists. Various casino interests have hired the state capital's best-known lobbyists — including the 10 highest-paid — to advance, shape or kill the legislation. Four of them used to work for Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. A fifth was chief of staff to House Speaker Michael E. Busch until late last year. "I've never seen anything like it before," said Del. Frank Turner, a Howard County Democrat who chairs the House subcommittee overseeing the bill, which would allow table games and a sixth casino in the state.