Falls Road

A winter weather advisory remains in effect for the Baltimore area until 1 p.m. Saturday, as rain continues to fall on top of last night's snow, creating an icy mess. The wintry mix left less than an inch of snow around Baltimore City, but higher accumulations in the outer suburbs, according to observations from the National Weather Service, which lists 1.9 inches near Bel Air and 1.4 inches near Laurel. Freezing rain will continue to fall in the morning, changing to rain in the early afternoon, the National Weather Service says.

Spike Gjerde's Hampden project has a name - Half Acre - says the Baltimore Business Journal.  First reported on here last April, Spike Gjerde's new project is located at 3801 Falls Road in Hampden. Half Acre will have no table service, although there will be limited seating inside and out. When the project was first announced last spring, Gjerde said that it, like Woodberry Kitchen, would be driven and inspired by the food of the region.      

As of 9 a.m. Monday, there were no major accidents on Baltimore area roads. The Maryland Transit Administration is advising patrons that there will be delays to the Central Maryland light rail line due to an incident Monday morning in which a pedestrian was struck on the tracks north of Lutherville. Service has been temporarily suspended between the Falls Road and Lutherville stops, and a shuttle bus service will be available to carry passengers. Gates are stuck in the down position at some crossings where the light rail line meets roads in Baltimore County.

Heavy rains infiltrated sanitary sewer lines at two locations in Baltimore and caused more than 24,000 gallons of untreated sewage to overflow from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, according to the city Department of Public Works. A 12,100-gallon spill occurred in the 1700 block of East Chase Street and 12,300 gallons overflowed in the 1900 block of Falls Road. "Rain gets into the cracks of these old pipes," said Kurt Kocher, DPW spokesman. "We are aware of the problems at these locations, when it rains heavily.

James Floyd Jackson, a retired truck driver and Baltimore church musician, died Nov. 16 of a heart attack at Church of God by Faith while preparing to play for evening services. The Loch Raven resident was 74. Mr. Jackson was born in Baltimore and raised in Franklin Square. After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in 1955, he enlisted in the Air Force, from which he was honorably discharged in 1959. A long-distance truck driver, Mr. Jackson retired in the 1980s.

Look around! Christmas has come to Hampden once again. As if it wouldn't. As if you could miss if it you wanted to. But if I may speak frankly for just a moment (and really, would you be reading this column if I didn't speak frankly?), of all the great neighborhoods in our city, Hampden by far is the most Christmasey. Don't get me wrong, other neighborhoods display really nice holiday spirit, but no one can touch the holiday cheer that Hampden puts on display. Aside from the Miracle on 34th Street, we also have the Mayor's Christmas Parade.

On Wednesday I went to Whole Foods in Mount Washington. When I came out, the line of traffic leaving Whole Foods extended from the back of the parking lot to Falls Road. It did not budge.    A bus and a pickup apparently had collided at the entrance of the narrow Smith Avenue bridge. Neither vehicle could move until the police came and photographs were taken. No cars could go over the bridge in either direction. Gridlock lasted about an hour.     Mail trucks lined up along Falls Road waiting to turn to go over the bridge.

The following is compiled from police reports from the Cockeysville Precinct. Our policy is to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. Phoenix Poplar Hill Road , 13600 block, between noon and 1 p.m. Sept. 6. A 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck reported stolen and later returned. Sparks Falls Road , 15300 block, between 8:30 p.m. Sept. 6 and 1 p.m. Sept. 10. Padlock on garage door cut and door handle broken, but no entry gained.

Police were investigating two shootings, on opposite sides of Baltimore, and an assault Saturday night. A man was shot in the leg in the 4300 block of Eldone Road, near the intersection of Yale Avenue in the Yale Heights neighborhood, at about 10 p.m., police said. About an hour earlier, a man was shot near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Fayette Street, on the western edge of the Baltimore Highlands neighborhood. An adult male was assaulted in the 3600 block of Falls Road in the early evening, said Det. Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman.