NEWS
By Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun | May 31, 2013
Maryland's death penalty will be wiped from the books in October now that efforts to reinstate capital punishment have fallen short. The petition drive to halt repeal of the death penalty ended Friday afternoon, when organizers said they could not collect enough signatures to go forward. Meanwhile, advocates who worked for nearly a decade to end capital punishment in Maryland celebrated the final landmark in their victory. The failure is the first for MdPetitions.com, which had successfully forced a statewide vote on three laws, including same-sex marriage, in 2012.
NEWS
By John-John Williams IV, The Baltimore Sun | May 26, 2013
Dressed in the traditional garb of a Civil War Union soldier, Vince Vaise led the two dozen marchers through Mount Auburn, Baltimore's oldest African-American cemetery. Sword drawn, and a stoic look upon his face, Vaise and his followers snaked through the overgrown grass Sunday before stopping at a small white gravestone, which he later explained belonged to Peter Purviance, the city's first freed slave to join the Union army. On this eve of Memorial Day, Vaise and the small group spent the afternoon honoring African-American veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
NEWS
May 14, 2013
In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose, that they are blinded by their pride. Perhaps that's the root of the problem infecting the Justice Department, where officials secretly obtained months of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press. That Attorney General Eric Holder or anyone else there could find that action acceptable is frightening, to say the least.
NEWS
By Jules Witcover | April 29, 2013
To nobody's surprise, all four living former presidents were on their best behavior last week at the dedication of the library and museum named for the latest of them, George W. Bush, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The honoree's father, George H.W., along with Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, dutifully latched on to the positive about the junior Bush's eight years in the Oval Office, eliminated the negative and, as in Johnny Mercer's old song, didn't mess with Mr. In Between.
CLASSIFIED
By Marie Marciano Gullard, For The Baltimore Sun | April 18, 2013
When hearth and home - together with a growing family and an onsite family business - are at the center of day-to-day living, a small and dated one-story farmhouse in Ellicott City begins to burst at the seams. To keep their extended family under one roof while preserving the one-bathroom house built in 1954, the Harbin and Taylor families found the only solution was to build additions. "My mom and uncle were raised on the original farm down the road," Kim Harbin Taylor said. "That house was on 18 acres, and they farmed an additional 44, raising sweet corn and tomatoes.
NEWS
Thomas F. Schaller | April 16, 2013
Less than 24 hours ago, an apparent act of terrorism marred this year's Boston Marathon. It's too early to know many of the details about this tragic event. Late last night, officials were reporting three deaths and well over 100 injuries; soon we will have a clearer sense of how many were killed and wounded. Their families, friends and co-workers will pay tribute to and then bury their loved ones. When they are ready, some of the wounded survivors and spectators will come forward to recount the horrors they experienced.