Federal Hill

Police shut down a section of South Charles Street near Cross Street Market in Federal Hill Saturday night after a sea of purple flooded the street following the Raven's win over the Denver Broncos. Barricades were set up at the intersection of South Charles and West Hamburg streets, and southbound traffic was held up for several blocks. The police helicopter, Foxtrot, was called in to broadcast the message that revelers needed to disperse. Officers - on foot, horseback and in vehicles - saturated the area around the market.

The Baltimore state's attorney's office dropped rape and other charges brought against a Federal Hill restaurant manager in an alleged New Year's Eve attack, online records show. A patron said Matthew Lasinski, 29, a manager at Blue Agave Restaurante, sexually assaulted her in a bathroom there. But the restaurant posted on its Facebook page that it had video evidence that would clear Lasinski . Reached at work by phone, Lasinski said Thursday that he was pleased the charges had been dropped but didn't know the reason.

For sheer handsomeness, Ryleigh's is hard to beat. This was the old Sisson's, which plain-old Ryleigh's took over, and for a few years languished in, before closing down and reopening in 2007 as a Ryleigh's Oyster Bar. The best view of Ryleigh's is from the sidewalk on Cross Street, from where arched floor-to-ceiling windows create an alluring continuous space between outside and in. Ryleigh's still has the good bones of a commercial market-side...

Corks, Jerry Pellegrino's long-running Federal Hill restaurant at 1026 S. Charles St., has closed. The closing appears to have been unexpected -- a promotion for New Years Eve was still posted on the restaurant's website on Wednesday evening. Corks employees caught unprepared for the closing were allowed back into the restaurant on Wednesday to collect their personal belongings, including chefs' knives. The closing was confirmed by the property's owner, Wayne Brokke. Jerry Pellegrino opened Corks at 1026 S. Charles St. in 1997.

St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, a Jesuit middle school for boys housed in a small space between the parish church and Center Stage on Calvert Street, will be moving to new digs in Federal Hill. The move won't happen until the summer of 2013, but school officials made a public announcement Sunday after securing a space in the former St. Mary Star of the Sea school building on the corner of East Gittings Street and Battery Avenue. "We are really excited. After 18 years in this building we will be moving," said John Ciccone, president of the academy.

Who says pets can't enjoy Fourth of July festivities? On July 4, the American Visionary Art Museum will host its annual Visionary Pets on Parade , a celebration in Federal Hill for pet owners and their furry companions. Pets of all shapes and sizes can partake in the holiday merriment, which includes a parade, costume contest, talent show, games and more. Prizes will be awarded for creative costumes like “Most Visionary Pet,” “Most Patriotic” and “Best Owner & Pet Look- Alikes.” Registration for the 10 a.m. parade begins at 9:30; for more information visit avam.org .

In a moment, you will hear the story of Georgia B. Martin and her exasperating efforts to get someone in government to help her remove a groundhog from her garden in historic Federal Hill. But first, I must think out loud, among patient readers of The Baltimore Sun, about how a groundhog got to Federal Hill in the first place. Federal Hill is in the city of Baltimore, surrounded by water on one side, and on the other three sides by a gentrified urban landscape of rowhouses, retail establishments, restaurants and many barrooms.

Blue Agave has new owners, Brian Acquavella and Nicole Callender. They closed the Federal Hill restaurant right after Cinco De Mayo for renovations. They plan to have it back open on May 17. In the meantime, they're asking the dining public to weigh in on what the new Blue Agave should be like. A message on the restaurant's website says: "We plan on making some changes, but want to make the right ones. Please send us a message via email, Facebook , Twitter , or if you're feeling adventurous stop by in person to give us your feedback.

Many buyers looking for a lovely and quaint place to live in Baltimore City would probably have torn down the crumbling wreck of a house (in a perfect downtown location, however) in favor of rebuilding from the ground up. Not so with Kevin and Shelley Horten, who greet their guests at the side entrance of a completely rehabilitated, end-of-group rowhouse in Federal Hill. "When I first moved to Baltimore, I had never lived in a city," noted Kevin Horten, a 45-year-old vice president of Supplies Unlimited, a building supplier in Southwest Baltimore and an Ohio native.

Like yours, my mind is still swirling. It doesn't exactly hurt like a hangover, and it's not racing like Jacoby Jones' record-setting kickoff return. It's simply still comprehending, ever so slowly, that our city's football team was crowned world champions last night. But I saw something extraordinary last night, and after the clock ran out, I was positive there was no place I'd rather be than Federal Hill, the neighborhood many love to hate, or at least love to roll their eyes at like, "Really, Fed?