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A Hungarian man's attempt to blackmail a U.S. hotel chain into giving him a job landed him in U.S. custody, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Attila Nemeth, 26, pleaded guilty to hacking the computer system of Marriott International Corp. and threatening to release the company's proprietary information unless the chain gave him a job maintaining the company's computer system, according to a statement by Maryland's U.S. Attorney's Office. Marriott is headquartered in Montgomery County.

The Home Builders Association of Maryland is moving from its Woodlawn home to a new headquarters in Howard County. The trade organization has sent out invitations for a Nov. 21 groundbreaking ceremony for its two-story, 10,000-square-foot building, which will be called the Maryland Center for Housing. The building is scheduled to open next summer in the commercial district of Maple Lawn, a mixed-use community in Fulton in southwestern Howard County. In addition to the association, it will house the organization's nonprofit arm, the Building Industries Foundation, which will own the building.

On a sunny fall day in Locust Point, neighborhood residents are out in force. Toddlers frolic in Latrobe Park's playground as tennis players trade volleys on a nearby court. Joggers thread through narrow streets lined with Formstone facades and renovated rowhouses with rooftop decks, while bicyclists pedal along the waterfront promenade outside Under Armour's Tide Point office complex. Under Armour may be a $1 billion company that sells its sports apparel around the world, but home is Locust Point, be it ever so humble.

SunEdison LLC, one of the nation's largest providers of solar energy services, said at a news conference with California's governor Monday that it had moved its headquarters from Beltsville to California's Silicon Valley. The news was announced by California Gov. Jerry Brown, who said in a statement that the company would bring 200 employees from Maryland to Belmont, Calif. SunEdison also pledged to create 300 new jobs over the next five years. Brown attributed the company's decision to relocate to a tax relief law geared toward solar energy firms that was passed this summer.

A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with robbing another of his cellphone Monday, then shooting him in the arm on a wooded path near Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn. Gary Stokes of the 6700 block of Richardson Road in Gwynn Oak is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center on charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault and armed robbery. The lunchtime shooting prompted authorities to lock down the sprawling Social Security campus off Security Boulevard for more than an hour.

So much for transparency in Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration. Mr. CityStat cum StateStat professes a love for data but shrouds the truth with the same gusto with which he bares his biceps in sleeveless T-shirts. Take the planned move of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) from Anne Arundel County to Prince George's County. Discussions surrounding the change have been going on for over a year and earlier this month became almost final with the selection of a developer and location.

Howard County Police headquarters were evacuated Monday evening after officials received word of a. possible bomb in a nearby car, but the report turned out to be false. Howard County Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said that police got a call that there was possibly a bomb in a car. "They found a device. It was a fake," said Llewelyn via an emailed statement. "[That] has been confirmed by [a] bomb expert. " A police official on site said the headquarters was evacuated about 5 p.m., and the building remained unoccupied as a section of the headquarters parking lot was cordoned off by police, fire and ambulance officials.

Under Armour is hoping to double the size of its Baltimore headquarters to accommodate additional employees, a retail store and a company museum. The sports apparel company wants to build an additional 400,000 square feet at Tide Point, an office complex in the Locust Point neighborhood that the firm, which had rented there for years, bought earlier this year. The company envisions a 20,000-square-foot store opening in 2013, with offices and the museum to follow. Underground and surface parking are also planned.

Two groups have joined together to host the Family to Family Community Thrift Store, which will offer gently used, donated items for sale this weekend, all priced at $10 or less. The thrift store will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Prince George's County Police Headquarters, 7600 Barlowe Road, Landover, and is a joint effort of the Police Department's Community Services Division and local nonprofit Community Outreach and Development Inc., an organization that works to provide services that help individuals and families become self-sufficient.

We've been told over and over that the most effective way to improve the quality of public school instruction is to put a great teacher in every classroom. But apparently it isn't a very high priority for the Baltimore County School District. In fact, county school leaders seem to think just the opposite. A Sun analysis this week showed that the district is spending $1.9 million on salaries for newly hired administrative and support personnel in the coming school year, even as it reduces the number of classroom teachers and increases class sizes.