Foxx

The glitz. The tears. The Robin Williams one-liners. The boring, boring speeches. "I'd like to thank my agents, and there's a lot of them ... ." The big winners - Sideways, Desperate Housewives, The Aviator, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hilary Swank and mostly veteran actors, from Anjelica Huston and Glenn Close to Annette Bening and William Shatner. Only last night it was the Golden Globes, Oscar's poor cousin, that "other" awards show in the movie-publicity machine known as "awards season."

Sixty miles east of Babe Ruth's birthplace, in the drowsy town of Sudlersville (population 497), stands a statue of the other great slugger from Maryland's past. But you'll have to stop at the town's only red light, corner of Church and Main, to view the life-size likeness of Jimmie Foxx at roadside. From his follow-through swing to the look on his face, it's clear that the bronzed Foxx has just done what he did 534 times in his 20-year career - he knocked one out of the park. That lusty swing landed the Queen Anne's County farmboy in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

SUDLERSVILLE -- Neighborly pride and stirring recollections of one of baseball's and Maryland's most notable heroes will be expressed both verbally but, more significantly, in bronze HTC tomorrow when a statue to native son Jimmie Foxx is unveiled in the center of his hometown, where he was born 90 years ago. The public is invited to the ceremony that is scheduled to begin at 11 o'clock.Foxx, considered one of the most powerful right-handed hitters in the history of the game, entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951, six years after his retirement and a 20-year major-league career in which he handled every position with the exception of second base.

In a major shake-up at City Hall, new chiefs were announced Friday for three key Baltimore agencies. Public Works Director David E. Scott said he was asked to resign because of a "difference of opinion" with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration and that his abrupt departure has created instability in the department. Col. Alfred H. Foxx Jr., 57, who has headed the Transportation Department for a decade, will take the helm of Public Works. Khalil A. Zaied, head of the Department of General Services, will fill Foxx's former post.

An Army colonel has been picked to head Baltimore's new Office of Transportation, ending a long and often frustrating search for someone to attack one of the city's toughest issues. Mayor Martin O'Malley is expected to announce today that Col. Alfred H. Foxx Jr., 49, executive director of civil works for the Army Corps of Engineers, will begin his job Sept. 1. He will be paid $130,000 a year. "Colonel Foxx has incredibly strong leadership skills, plus 25 years' experience in overseeing major capital projects, planning, design and construction," said Laurie B. Schwartz, deputy mayor for economic and community development.

Alfred H. Foxx, the director of the city's Department of Transportation, acknowledged yesterday that he attended a city vehicle auction with his sons in July but said that he did not advise them, pay a bidders' fee or participate in the sale in any way. Department policy prohibits transportation officials from participating directly or indirectly in the auctions. Foxx said that a sign-in log for the auction and a receipt for $25 bidders' fee with the name "A. Foxx" on it does not refer to him but to his 25-year-old son, Jonathan A. Foxx.

Alfred H. Foxx, the head of Baltimore's transportation department, registered as a bidder and paid $25 to participate in a city auction despite department rules barring top officials from taking part in those sales, according to a receipt and sign-in log obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The transportation department documents do not show whether Foxx purchased anything at the July 30 auction, and last week he said that neither he nor his family members have...

To Baltimore Transportation Director Al Foxx, snow is a four-letter word in more ways than one. But yesterday Foxx had two other four-letter words to let city residents know that his department is ready to battle the wintry adversary: blue salt. At a downtown news conference yesterday, Foxx announced that 1,000 tons of blue salt would soon be at his department's disposal for a test run in designated neighborhoods when snow hits. The colorful salt won't make the snow melt any faster than regular salt, but Foxx hopes it will pre-empt criticism from residents complaining that their snow-covered streets have not been salted.

Baltimore Director of Transportation Alfred H. Foxx said his department adopted a policy barring officials from participating in city auctions because their positions give them access to information not available to the public. One of Foxx's top aides, deputy director of transportation in charge of operations, Anthony P. Wallnofer Jr., is being investigated by the city's inspector general because he is in possession of 15-foot Eagle motorboat that was auctioned by the city. That boat was purchased at a July 30 auction for $1,900 by Frankford Towing Company, a city firm that has been lobbying the Transportation Department to increase towing fees by $25. "It is a case of fairness," Foxx said.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox's World Series victory ended the "Curse of the Bambino," ushering the sour memory of Baltimore-born legend Babe Ruth out the door. This month, another one of Maryland's favorite baseball sons likely will be nudged from a prominent spot in Red Sox history. Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, again a legitimate Most Valuable Player candidate, had 48 homers before yesterday's doubleheader. Three more will break the club's single-season record. The record-holder - the one who has had it for nearly 68 years - is the late Jimmie Foxx, the pride of Sudlersville, the Eastern Shore town.

Jamie Foxx is no stranger to great music. The actor and singer won an Academy Award for his portrayal of soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray," and critics loved Foxx's performance as tortured cello prodigy Nathaniel Ayers in "The Soloist." Though Foxx's own albums have become club staples and sold millions of copies, he knows that artistically, they might pale in comparison to Charles' or Ayers' music. Foxx is fine with that. Right now, he just wants to make music that will appeal to as many people as possible and fill large venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion, where he performs Saturday.

The twin heroes of The Soloist have to stare down almost every evil modern society can throw at them: mental illness, urban decay, hubris, abuse of power, narcissism, even the declining fortunes of America's newspapers. And while they don't exactly emerge triumphant, they win enough battles to give us all hope. Robert Downey Jr. is Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, and he's desperate for a story. Out trolling one afternoon, he hears violin music coming from the area surrounding a statue of Beethoven.

There is no lush adaptation of Charles Dickens, no first- or even second-rate thrillers this weekend. But there is a holiday treat for the family, and the unlikely TV Santa is C-SPAN. Sunday night, the channel kicks off a "White House Week" with a two-hour documentary about 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Six nights follow with one-hour programs on various aspects of the site. Only a rough cut of Sunday's film was available for preview, but it's enough to see that the film is a winner. The starring role belongs to the long, slow shots of the rooms most Americans have only heard about.

It sounded like just another father-son bonding experience. They could have gone down to the corner bar for a couple of cold ones, or fired up the flat-screen and watched a game. Instead, the Foxxes headed down Pulaski Highway to go ... shopping. And now the poor fellas find themselves in the middle of a stranger-by-the-day scandalette, or whatever you would call this not quite full-blown brouhaha that is unfolding over Baltimore City's vehicle auctions. As The Baltimore Sun's Annie Linskey has been reporting for the past couple of weeks, the auctions of abandoned vehicles have been drawing some in-house interest from employees of the Transportation Department, which oversees the towing section - despite a city policy than bans anyone "in the chain of command" from buying or bidding in the auction.

Alfred H. Foxx, the director of the city's Department of Transportation, acknowledged yesterday that he attended a city vehicle auction with his sons in July but said that he did not advise them, pay a bidders' fee or participate in the sale in any way. Department policy prohibits transportation officials from participating directly or indirectly in the auctions. Foxx said that a sign-in log for the auction and a receipt for $25 bidders' fee with the name "A. Foxx" on it does not refer to him but to his 25-year-old son, Jonathan A. Foxx.

Alfred H. Foxx, the head of Baltimore's transportation department, registered as a bidder and paid $25 to participate in a city auction despite department rules barring top officials from taking part in those sales, according to a receipt and sign-in log obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The transportation department documents do not show whether Foxx purchased anything at the July 30 auction, and last week he said that neither he nor his family members have...

Baltimore motorists who consider the city's red-light cameras a nuisance will soon have nearly a dozen more to gripe about. And there are more to come after that. Officials have signed a contract with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. to place up to 60 additional cameras at intersections across Baltimore, said City Transportation Director Al Foxx. The cameras will be installed in increments of about a dozen, with the first group expected to begin snapping pictures by July. Although some people complain that the cameras are just a way for the city to make money, Foxx insists that they are intended to reduce traffic accidents.

FOR A LONG TIME, Baltimore has been the 98-pound weakling on the regional transportation scene. Now the city has a great opportunity to gain some muscle. Mayor Martin O'Malley yesterday appointed an Army colonel to coordinate transportation planning and oversee the city's traffic needs. Col. Alfred H. Foxx Jr., executive director of civil works at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a welcome sight as head of the mayor's new Office of Transportation. The transportation post was sorely needed.

Baltimore Director of Transportation Alfred H. Foxx said his department adopted a policy barring officials from participating in city auctions because their positions give them access to information not available to the public. One of Foxx's top aides, deputy director of transportation in charge of operations, Anthony P. Wallnofer Jr., is being investigated by the city's inspector general because he is in possession of 15-foot Eagle motorboat that was auctioned by the city. That boat was purchased at a July 30 auction for $1,900 by Frankford Towing Company, a city firm that has been lobbying the Transportation Department to increase towing fees by $25. "It is a case of fairness," Foxx said.

"I'm an Oscar winner but I'm still ghetto," Jamie Foxx told the full house at 1st Mariner Arena on Sunday night. And for nearly three hours, the comedian-actor-singer, who won an Academy Award for his stellar portrayal of Ray Charles in 2004's Ray, mixed explicit comedy with, well, explicit balladry. It was all forced and certainly disjointed as the Texas native tried to segue from slightly juvenile comedy routines about sex to serious crooning about - you guessed it - sex. But here's the problem: Foxx is more engaging as a manic, somewhat-silly comedian than an R. Kelly-style urban crooner.