Hilton

It's probably appropriate that my last weekend in South Florida will coincide with Miami Beach Fashion Week, since everyone always asks me where I get my tent-sized Hawaiian shirts. (The answer: Probably the same place Fred Manfra gets his.) The four-day fashion event is open to the public, and 150 free tickets are distributed before each fashion show on a first-come, first-served basis. The talk of the weekend is the new fashion line that will be introduced by Nicky Hilton tomorrow night in Miami's Design District.

Thefts of ATMs net 3-year sentence Charles E. Harrison, 48, who was charged with cracking into or stealing more than 30 automatic teller machines, was sentenced to 33 months in prison. Park plan submitted for review Swann Park, which was closed in April after officials discovered high levels of arsenic in the soil, would be covered with clean dirt under a plan submitted to the state. Lull in city homicides broken Baltimore's weeklong stretch without a homicide was shattered when a man was found fatally shot Friday inside a house on Eutaw Place.

She's 17 now, a senior at Baltimore City College, and for Evonne Gibson, that lucky break in the fifth grade seems "almost unreal."Could it be that a total stranger pledged a college scholarship if she would graduate on time seven years later?It was 1992. A retired city principal named Magdalene Fennell had been a volunteer mentor in Gibson's fifth-grade class at Hilton Elementary School in West Baltimore.At the end of the school year, Fennell and her husband, Harold, called the 31 pupils together.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Hilton Hotels Corp. said yesterday that it is in talks to buy Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., a purchase likely to total more than $4 billion and add well-known casino resorts such as Luxor to its gaming business.Hilton said that if a deal is concluded, it would separate its hotels and casino resorts in a tax-free spinoff. The gaming company would then combine with Circus Circus, one of the biggest casino operators, through a stock swap.Combining Hilton's casino operations with Circus Circus would create the largest U.S. gaming company by far. It would be the biggest in Las Vegas, the leading gaming market.

NEW YORK -- Hilton Hotels Corp. said yesterday that it won't raise its $80-a-share offer for ITT Corp., disappointing some investors and hurting its chances in this week's showdown with rival suitor Starwood Lodging Trust.The fate of ITT, whose roots go back to 1920 as an international phone company, now hangs on tomorrow's proxy contest between directors nominated by ITT and Hilton. Starwood is bidding $85 a share in cash and stock.Some investors had expected Hilton Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bollenbach to ante up a final time in his 10-month quest for the hotel and casino company that has cost tens of millions.

NEW YORK -- ITT Corp.'s shareholders backed Starwood Lodging Trust's $13.7 billion takeover bid yesterday, ending Hilton Hotels Corp.'s 10-month pursuit of the hotel and casino company.Shareholders voted 2-to-1 to re-elect ITT directors, rejecting Hilton's rival slate and $12.8 billion offer. ITT Chairman Rand Araskog said the company accepted Starwood's $85-a-share offer, although the agreement doesn't preclude offers from anybody else. Hilton had previously said it would drop its pursuit of ITT if its directors were rejected.

WASHINGTON -- Hilton Hotels Corp., which proposed in January a hostile takeover of ITT Corp., has asked a federal court to block ITT from its plan to break into three companies.The ITT plan ignores the interests of shareholders, who should be allowed to vote on the spinoffs, Hilton said.ITT announced the plan last month as part of its strategy to thwart Hilton's takeover bid. If carried out, the plan would make the assets harder for Hilton to acquire.Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton put the fate of its $70-a-share bid for ITT in the court's hands Monday, saying it won't pursue the $11.5 billion takeover if it fails to block ITT's plan to break up, buy back a quarter of its shares and take on $2 billion of new debt.

NEW YORK -- ITT Corp. rejected Hilton Hotels Corp.'s $10.5 billion takeover offer yesterday as too low and vowed to remain independent by investing in and expanding its Caesars World casinos and Sheraton hotel chain.To keep investors from selling shares to Hilton, ITT intends to boost its sagging stock price by selling such properties as Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, which it bought in March 1995 but never fit in with its main businesses.The arena, teams and other peripheral assets could fetch more than $3 billion, analysts said.

The necessary rezoning hasn't been obtained and not a spade of dirt has been turned, but developers of a planned hotel in the Owings Mills town center are already talking expansion."

A 31-year-old woman whose birthday bash ended when a drunken 19-year-old killed another partygoer with a samurai sword was found guilty yesterday of providing alcohol to minors.Kelly Anita Dore was given a one-year suspended sentence, with two years of supervised probation and 60 hours of community service for furnishing alcohol to at least four teen-agers during a party Oct. 10, 1993.Ms. Dore told District Judge Alexander Wright that she invited her 16-year-old boyfriend and other teens to the party at her townhouse but provided sodas for them.

On October 22, 2009, THOMAS A.; loving brother of Mary Wynder, Delores Coates, Ruth Bost, Jeanette Harris, Ernest and Hamlet Scovens, and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may visit at the Gary P. March Funeral Home, 270 Fred Hilton Pass, on Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Family will receive friends at the Chapel on Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon, with Homegoing Services to follow. Interment Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery.

On October 12, 2009 WILLIE HART, JR. beloved husband of Arnita Hart. On Tuesday, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN), 8728 Liberty Road from 4:30-8:00 p.m. On Wednesday, services for Mr. Hart will be held at Village Baptist Church, 100 S. Hilton Street, where the family will receive friends 10:30-11:00 a.m. with services to follow. Inquiries to 410-655-0015.

Baltimore officials are investigating a fake City Hall Web page that duped news media on both sides of the Atlantic into reporting that Mayor Sheila Dixon had chastised a high-ranking British official for comparing crime there to that in Baltimore. British blogger and liberal political activist Alex Hilton, 33, took credit for the hoax, saying it was meant as a joke among friends as a debate raged there over comments from Conservative politician Chris Grayling that the Baltimore-based HBO drama "The Wire" had crossed over from a "work of fiction for British viewers" to a "part of real life in this country."

Two years ago, La Tran had never been to Baltimore. If all goes according to plan, his family business will be one of the biggest hotel operators in the city by 2011. Tran is a member of a family business that earlier this year opened the $11 million, 96-room Quality Inn Downtown Baltimore inside the old Title Building at 110 St. Paul Place. His family's company, Tran Group LLC, is nearing completion on a second project nearby, conversion of the historic Hotel Junker at 22 E. Fayette Street to an $8 million, 49-room Envy Hotel by Best Western.

Downtown Baltimore has always been a work in progress. From the days of the Baltimore clipper ships lined up at the docks to the shiny Legg Mason headquarters towering above Inner Harbor East today, change is the only constant - without it, whatever economic ambitions the city may harbor are doomed to failure. And while it's understandable that many of us fret over worrisome matters that arise from time to time, such as whether there's an adequate police presence around the waterfront to counter visitors' concerns over unruly teens, the hopeful signs of growth and new development are too often minimized or even overlooked.

When the $301 million, city-owned Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel opens this month, city officials believe it still can bring sorely needed convention business to the city despite a weak economy that has dampened demand for lodging. Hotel and city officials, who offered yesterday the first peek inside the 757-room hotel, say early booking results by convention groups and other travelers are promising. And the hotel will achieve its goal of opening on time and on budget, they said.

On July 10, 2008, LOUIS GOUGH HILTON beloved husband of the late Lavila Hilton (nee Martin); dear brother-in-law of Delorace Martin Hickey and her husband Joseph J. Hickey. A graveside service will be held on Monday at 1 P.M., in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Arrangements by the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home Inc.

On June 1, 2008, MS. McDANIEL. Visitation at 2140 N. Fulton Avenue on Friday, 3 to 8 P.M. The family will receive friends at Village Baptist Church, 100 S. Hilton Street on Saturday at 10 A.M. Funeral at 10:30 A.M.

On April 8, 2008 Charles W. Hilton. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc. 1050 York Rd. (beltway exit 26) on Saturday from 1 until 2pm at which time a funeral service will be held. Interment private. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to American Heart Association 415 North Charles St. Baltimore, Md. 21201.

When Jim Chrismer researched black Harford County residents who fought in the Civil War about 20 years ago, he discovered that there was virtually nothing known about black history in the county. And people said there wasn't much history to find. "I was told that I might find about eight blacks who fought in the war," said Chrismer, who has been a history teacher at John Carroll School in Bel Air for the past 38 years. "Today I can identify over 200." As a result of the gaps in black history in the county, Chrismer and other county educators, genealogists and historians are doing their part to help document and preserve the county's black history.