Fare

Cracker Jack, popcorn, and candy for $32! And $16 muffins! And there are hungry people in this country, or so I thought. But these pigs in the U.S. Department of Justice aren't going hungry. Typical of everyday Democrat-run government. Nothing but the best whether it's junkets to Spain or lunches. When are the voters going to snap out of their acceptance of this free-loading Obama administration? F. Cordell, Rock Hall

Saturday's 8-4 loss to No. 7 and reigning national champion Loyola weakened No. 13 Johns Hopkins' profile for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. But the program's bid for a 42nd consecutive appearance in the postseason could depend on what happens with other teams. Half of the 16-team field will be filled by teams that win their respective conference tournaments and capture the automatic qualifiers associated with those victories. If conference tournament favorites like No. 3 Notre Dame (Big East)

Say your bus is laid over for a while at the Baltimore Travel Plaza. This is your first time in Baltimore, and so, you think, "I sure should get a crab cake." Say you walk away from the fast-food joints at the terminal and, guided by instinct, across the parking lot toward the Baltimore Truck Wash, and there it is: the Cornerstone Grille, one of the luckiest breaks you're likely to have on the long, lonely highway. The Cornerstone Grille might not have the oddest location of any place I've reviewed, but it's close, and it definitely ranks No. 1 as the most unusual location to offer outdoor seating - me, I could sit there all day, watching cars and trucks come and go on and off the ramps of Interstate 95. There are a few other things that distinguish the Cornerstone Grille from the majority of the restaurants that come up for review.

With Alex Len's decision to leave Maryland after two years for the NBA, it's interesting to see how other former Terps fared when making similar decisions. The majority never amounted to the kind of stars they might have become had they remained in College Park. Brad Davis was the first Terp to leave early, after his junior year in 1977. A first-round draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers (No. 15 overall), Davis took a few years to get his NBA career on track. After bouncing between the NBA and the CBA, Davis stuck with the expansion Dallas Mavericks in 1980 and 11 seasons later ended his career as the first player in franchise history to have his jersey retired.

The Orioles' top two prospects turned in solid performances Sunday in the MLB Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Dylan Bundy, the Orioles' first-round draft pick in 2011, picked up the win for the U.S. in its 17-5 win over the World. The right-handed starter gave up three hits but pitched a scoreless fourth for the victory. Manny Machado, the O's first-round draft choice in 2010, went 1-for-3 with a double that scored two U.S. runners in a nine-run sixth inning.

Port officials have asked the state Public Utilities Commission to set a flat rate for taxi services to and from the cruise ship terminal and three popular city locations. James White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, said passengers — many from out of state — have complained "that they are being overcharged and that taxi drivers are not turning their meters on. " He asked the commission to set a fare for trips to Fort McHenry, Pennsylvania Station and the Inner Harbor in the same way it established a $30 flat rate for fares to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

A taxi driver was stabbed by a fare early Saturday in Bel Air, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office, sending the driver to the hospital. Police said Robert E. Donley, 53, or Aberdeen, had picked up and driven a man to the intersection of Crescent Knoll Drive and North Fountain Green Road. when the unidentified man demanded money, assaulted Donley and fled. Police were on the scene around 1:35 a.m. Donley, who drives for ABC Company, is in serious condition at the Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, police said.

The token, good for one fare on a Baltimore bus or streetcar since 1919, is on its way out. The victim of cost-cutting at the Maryland Transit Administration and the relentless march of progress in fare collection systems, the token will go off the market at the end of next month. The dime-sized slugs will be locked in a vault - perhaps melted down - and eventually replaced by electronic fare cards. Hardly anyone may notice their absence because hardly anyone uses tokens anymore. About 2 percent of trips on MTA buses, light rail and subway trains are paid for with tokens, a figure that has been in steady decline.

A Maryland Transit Administration employee used keys to improperly open bus fare boxes and rail ticket machines, and $475,000 is missing, according to a legislative audit released yesterday. The audit, which criticized the MTA for failing to track employee access to such keys, said the agency referred the matter to criminal investigators at the attorney general's office in January. The report said that as of last summer, the matter was under investigation by state and federal officials.

Question: : In February, I booked a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, with a return from Athens, Greece. The flight includes legs on American and its flight partner, Iberia Airlines. The cost was $1,122. Friends who booked the same trip later paid $822. I called American and asked for a refund but was told that doing so would incur a $250 change fee, thereby wiping out the savings. But I am not changing anything. The itinerary remains the same in every way. Why can't I take advantage of the lower fare instead of being penalized for booking early?

The decision the Orioles face with Ryan Flaherty was already one of the most difficult ones of the of the spring before major league camp began, and as the team's days in Sarasota are whittled away, the 26-year-old utilityman has done nothing to make the organization's choice any easier. Last season, as the Orioles' Rule 5 draft pick, the choice was more definitive. If the Orioles didn't keep Flaherty on the roster for the entire season, they'd very likely lose him. This year, Flaherty can be optioned to the minor leagues.

Editor: I enjoyed [Jim Kennedy's recent column]. I grew up in Richmond, Va., and shad roe in the Spring was a big deal. I will admit that was 35 years ago. Each spring many local restaurants advertised "Specials on Shad roe. " Almost any way you could think of was a good idea. I personally enjoyed roe with scrambled eggs for breakfast. Sautéed roe for lunch or dinner was also very good. The local grocery stores advertised roe in their ads. We even had a local canner, "Tidewater," offer canned roe that made it available seasonable.

Port officials have asked the state Public Utilities Commission to set a flat rate for taxi services to and from the cruise ship terminal and three popular city locations. James White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, said passengers — many from out of state — have complained "that they are being overcharged and that taxi drivers are not turning their meters on. " He asked the commission to set a fare for trips to Fort McHenry, Pennsylvania Station and the Inner Harbor in the same way it established a $30 flat rate for fares to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Some occasions require a touch of romance. Nothing too formal or over the top - no scattered rose petals or strolling violins. Just good, interesting food served capably in a special setting. Baldwin's Station in historic Sykesville is just the place. Housed in a renovated 19th-century train station on the Old Main Line, the restaurant straddles the border of Howard and Carroll counties. Baldwin's Station's current incarnation opened in 1997. Owner Stewart Dearie is a restaurant veteran who managed the Conservatory at the Peabody Hotel and Antrim 1844 in Taneytown.

Kelechi Osemele, a second-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft, has been challenged throughout his rookie year. Growing pains were to be expected, but Osemele has passed most of the tests. The latest came in Sunday's 24-9 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the wild-card round, and he aced it. After starting every game during the regular season at right tackle, Osemele slid inside to left guard when the Ravens inserted Bryant McKinnie in the starting lineup and moved Michael Oher from left tackle to right tackle.

Your editorial, "Annapolis Gridlock" (Jan. 4), is off base. In order to get transportation funds back to normal several things need to happen. The legislature needs to put on their big boy pants and replenish the transportation trust fund to the funding levels before Gov. Martin O'Malley raided it for general fund projects. This must be done before any budget or funding is passed in the next session. The Mass Transit Administration must determine how much it actually costs to operate the various transit systems and adjust fares accordingly.

The Internet is perhaps the only place where first-class fliers are treated like second-class citizens. A report issued last month by Consumer WebWatch, a division of Consumers Union, said that people who spent the most money on airline fares must at times overcome serious technology failures in their quest to book premium tickets. According to Forrester Research, an Internet consulting firm, nearly 19 percent of Americans who booked tickets online last year bought domestic business or first-class tickets.

In a move to expand its share of business travelers, Southwest Airlines yesterday said it would begin selling a premium fare that guarantees buyers will be among the first to board the plane. The early boarding privilege will also be extended to passengers who fly at least 32 flights a year on the airline. A round trip counts as two flights. "We're simply offering business travelers more reasons to choose Southwest," Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said. "It will knock down some hurdles and hopefully gain us a lot more passengers."

Midseason used to be a time for networks to put on series that weren't good enough to make the fall lineup. The thinking was: The money has been spent to make these episodes, so let's try to get something out of them by plugging them for shows that have bombed. But thanks to cable and huge changes in the way that people access and watch TV, midseason is in many ways now the best season for TV viewing. This is especially true when it comes to drama, the genre that network television has by and large abandoned to cable, PBS and now Web operations like Netflix because it has been deemed too expensive and risky for efficient (read: cheap)

With a 10-5 record and the AFC North title in tow, the Ravens are currently the No. 4 seed in the AFC postseason. A win against the Cincinnati Bengals and a New England Patriots loss to the Miami Dolphins Sunday, and the Ravens would leapfrog the Patriots for the No. 3 seed. The difference in seeding could mean a divisional playoff game on either Jan. 5 or Jan. 6 against either the No. 5 seed Indianapolis Colts (10-5) or the No. 6 seed Bengals (9-6). No Ravens player or coach will say which team he'd rather face, but NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes said if he was a member of the Ravens, he would prefer Indianapolis over Cincinnati.