Ignited

A proposal from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require ignition interlocks for all drunk-driving offenders in Maryland has received a lot of support lately, including in this newspaper. At first glance it might seem like a good way to get drunks off the road, but there is an important argument to be made against the mandatory use of these devices in the cars of all offenders. Ignition interlocks are in-car Breathalyzers that prevent a vehicle from starting if its driver's breath registers above a pre-set blood-alcohol concentration limit.

Creative types are everywhere at Ignite Baltimore, an event that features speakers giving five-minute presentations on eclectic topics. As 250 folks gathered at the Walters Art Museum for the most recent Ignite Baltimore, we "Glimpsed" an artfully dressed Katie McDonough Kutil. The 28-year-old co-owner of Chelle Paperie near Ruxton is a custom stationery and invitation designer. She describes her style as "creative with no fuss - super-simple pieces with fun details." And many of those details she creates herself.

All Baltimore mourned the death of a 20-year-old Johns Hopkins University student recently struck and killed by a truck witnesses saw driven erratically earlier in the day. The sadness is likely to turn to outrage at the news that police have charged a man with a long history of drunken-driving convictions in the incident. The death of Miriam Frankl need not be in vain if it spurs lawmakers to make it far more difficult for intoxicated drivers to get behind the wheel. The campaign against drunken driving has taken many forms, from lowering blood-alcohol levels to funding sobriety checkpoints.

Frederick Co. woman killed in head-on crash 1 A 51-year-old Frederick County woman was killed in a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on Route 26 at Old Liberty Road, state police said. Police said Patricia Marie Ryan was killed when the car she was driving east on Route 26 crossed the center line and collided with a pickup truck, causing the truck to overturn. Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck, Alfonso Contreras Balderas, 32, of Frederick County and two passengers were taken to Washington County Hospital, where they were treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.

Ignite Baltimore, a free networking event that features an eclectic mix of speakers giving rapid-fire slide-show presentations, has grown so popular that it will be moving from a quirky club in the city's Station North neighborhood to the Walters Art Museum later this year. The event will hold its third series of presentations tonight at Windup Space, at 12 W. North Ave., where it got its start last year. Mike Subelsky, a co-organizer, said the venue can hold about 300 people, but its popularity has meant having to keep a waiting list.

Two state agencies have launched investigations of a Northwest Baltimore salon where a woman was badly burned Saturday after a bowl of heated acetone ignited while she was having her artificial nails removed. The action by Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the state Board of Cosmetologists comes two days after Niquita Andrews, 35, was burned at the Nail Studio in the 5400 block of Reisterstown Road. The Owings Mills woman had been soaking her hands in a small machine that heated acetone when the flammable chemical ignited, said Kevin Cartwright, a Baltimore fire spokesman.

CLEMSON, S.C. - Rarely in basketball does one play perfectly illustrate just how far apart two teams are in talent and execution. But two minutes into the second half of Clemson's 93-64 thumping of Maryland last night at Littlejohn Coliseum, Tigers forward Trevor Booker did exactly that. Clemson was beginning to pull away from the Terps after a competitive first half and was on its way to handing Maryland its worst defeat in the series, but no one could have predicted what was about to unfold.

It's a wonder the fire alarms didn't go off at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday night. The incendiary matchup of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor Vasily Petrenko and piano soloist Stephen Hough produced one of the most memorable concerts of the season. Tonight's repeat should be just as gripping. The Russian-born Petrenko, who became principal conductor of England's Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at age 29, put together a hefty program: Shostakovich's daunting Symphony No. 8; Tchaikovsky's sweeping Piano Concerto No. 1; and a rarity (on these shores)

The image did not add up in Raymond Berry's mind. There he was, sharing a moment of purest fulfillment with his Baltimore Colts teammates as they left Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28, 1958. World champions! They could call themselves that after beating the New York Giants in a tense overtime before a huge national television audience. And yet, there stood National Football League commissioner Bert Bell, quietly weeping. "I didn't comprehend why, but the memory stuck with me," Berry said recently from his home in Tennessee.

Six weeks after former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. was gunned down outside a Northeast Baltimore nightclub, his family and supporters are growing impatient with the pace of the investigation. But they are taking divergent paths in their quest for answers, sparking a bitter family dispute that went public this week. Harris' widow, Annette, appeared at City Hall on Monday in support of a City Council resolution calling on police Commissioner Frederick H.