Fuel

I enjoyed Mike Tidwell's article on phasing out carbon fuels in favor of renewable energy sources ("Forecast calls for pain,", Feb. 6). Taxing carbon is the best way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Having lived and traveled in Germany, I know that the U.S. is way behind in green living and sustainability. In Germany renewable energy is booming. Many people commute via mass transit, trains offer the option to go anywhere in Europe, and bicycling is very popular. Organic stores are everywhere, and everything is recycled so people don't consume as much.

Many factors played into the Ravens' run to Super Bowl XLVII, including quarterback Joe Flacco's inspired play, wide receiver-return specialist Jacoby Jones' contributions and the revamped offensive line's performances. Outside linebacker Terrell Suggs thinks another reason was inside linebacker Ray Lewis' retirement announcement four days prior to the team's first playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. “You could say what sparked it was Ray [Lewis'] announcement when he said that this would be his last playoff run with us,” Suggs said Friday night as a guest of the NFL Network's “NFL Total Access” program.

Not long after President Barack Obama promised to fight climate change in his inaugural address, temperatures soared to 70 last week in Baltimore - in late January. Our weather continues to be unrecognizable. Last summer was the hottest ever recorded at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. And across the 48 contiguous states, 2012 was the warmest on record by a huge margin. Globally, the heating trend - fueled mostly by the combustion of fossil fuels - proceeds apace.

The following is compiled from police reports. It is the Baltimore Messenger's policy to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Baltimore City Police Department's Northern District at 410-396-2455. Barclay Street 3200 block at 7 p.m. Jan. 28. Cell phone snatched from victim. 3000 block at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 29. Stolen gold, 2007 Chrysler Sebring with Maryland tags MXW166 recovered.

National Weather Service forecasters are raising predictions for Wednesday's warmth, from the upper 50s to the lower 60s and now, closer to 70 degrees. When a cold front reaches that mild air late Wednesday night, it could fuel storms, though they are not expected to be severe in Maryland. The weather service is forecasting a high of 67 degrees at BWI Marshall Airport Wednesday. The record high for Jan. 30 is 72 degrees, set in 1914. A record the airport could come closer to threatening is that for the warmest low temperature recorded, a 50-degree minimum on Jan. 30, 2002.

Baltimore and Maryland's counties could impose their own 5-cents-a-gallon tax on gas to pay for local roads and buses under a proposal by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. Miller also proposed Thursday leasing a state toll highway to a private operator to raise money for mass-transit projects in Baltimore and the Washington suburbs. His proposal comes as lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling to find ways to raise money for transportation projects they say are long overdue.

A tractor trailer overturned in a median on Interstate 695 near Hollins Ferry Road in Baltimore County about 10 p.m. Wednesday, shutting down lanes on both the inner and outer loops because of a fuel spill, officials said. The driver of the tractor trailer was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, according to the Maryland State Police. No other cars were involved. Several lanes surrounding the median were closed as hazardous materials teams tried to clean up the fuel. The road remained closed as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Lee Richardson is a pioneer of sorts in taking a new look at a very old energy source. The Wicomico County poultry farmer just finished installing a commercial-sized wood pellet stove to heat one of his chicken houses in Willards, east of Salisbury. When his next flock of chicks arrives from Perdue, Richardson will test how the wood-warmed birds fare compared with those raised in a neighboring house, which is heated by burning propane gas. "We're going to run it for a year and see what happens," Richardson said.

When Keith Short began delivering packages for UPS in Glen Burnie 23 years ago, he used bulky pads of paper to track parcels and pens that froze in the cold. Today, Short scans packages on and off his truck with a handheld computer that tells him what to deliver where and when, and can even direct him turn-by-turn. "The whole route is in here," said Short of his handheld "DIAD" computer — an abbreviation for for Delivery Information Acquisition Device. The handhelds — now in the fifth generation — have made UPS drivers' jobs more efficient, especially during the peak holiday season when UPS picks up and drops off millions of packages each day. The ideas for improving the technology percolate in the offices of UPS' Information Services Group in Timonium.

There is some question whether the geographical proximity of the Orioles and Washington Nationals - and their annual home-and-home interleague series - combine to create a dynamic rivalry, but there is no denying that one has developed between the ownership of both franchises. The long-running dispute over the value of the Nationals' television rights has done more to ramp up anti-Oriole emotion in Washington than anything that has happened between the two teams on the field, and this Mid-Atlantic misunderstanding has led to all kinds of speculation about the future of their unhappy cable partnership.