Ken

Committed. Passionate. Talented. Three words that accurately describe one of our honored men of Harford this year, local painter, Ken Karlic. We chose Ken because he transformed a life-long passion for watercolor painting into a medium that has captured so many beautiful, scenic venues in Harford County. His water color paintings represent the best of rural living and we are happy to tell his story.   Originally from Chicago, Karlic has spent the last 25 years in the Baltimore area and in 2003 moved to Harford County with his wife, Eve Morra, a photographer and their now 9-year-old son Julian who attends Harford Day School.

Howard County's dramatically designed Robinson Nature Center is nearing completion, but County Executive Ken Ulman couldn't wait to show it off in an hourlong sneak-peak tour in Wednesday's blazing sunshine. Built on a hilly 18 acres of woodland near the stone ruins of a Colonial-era mill on the Middle Patuxent River, the new 25,000-square-foot, $16.7 million facility is to open Sept. 10, Ulman said. The first thing a visitor sees is a tall concrete retaining wall along the driveway, but the building itself appears deceptively modest from the front, concealing its full height, soaring wooden roof pillars and wide patios — only visible from the sides.

Ken Rosenthal, the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com, is one of the most respected media insiders in Major League Baseball. He's so plugged-in, most reporters dream they could one day report the breaking news nuggets he Tweets out when he actually goes to sleep (OK, maybe it's just me). Rosenthal is still very familiar with the Orioles organization from his days reporting and writing columns for  The Baltimore Sun back in the 1990s. Last week on FOXSports.com, he wrote a column that was critical of the Orioles' farm system , which he said puts them "at a severe disadvantage as they try to compete in the game’s toughest division, the AL East.

Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo inherited a potentially thankless assignment when he was hired to replace Paul Johnson, the architect of a dramatic change in fortune for a football program that had languished for decades before his appointment. Niumatalolo not only picked up where Johnson left off, but he has taken the program even further, defeating Notre Dame twice in his first three years as coach and winning the Commander in Chief's Trophy in two of those three seasons. What Niumatalolo does not do is promote himself.

The Ravens found a replacement for injured fullback Le'Ron McClain on Tuesday, signing free agent Jason McKie , who spent seven years with the Chicago Bears. To make room for McKie on the roster, general manager Ozzie Newsome announced the team had released safety Ken Hamlin . McKie, 5 feet 11 and 247 pounds, played with the Bears from 2003 to 2009. He started 11 of 16 games in 2009 with Chicago and was released last March. In 88 career games, including 47 starts, he contributed on goal-line offense, catching passes and blocking.

I was thrilled to learn that Baltimore recently received a federal Smart Policing Grant to fund and evaluate gun-suppression efforts. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's commitment to reduce gun violence and increase public safety is commendable. Together, the mayor and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III have worked to achieve significant decreases in violent crime, compared to past years. Specifically, weekend violence is down by almost 16 percent. Still, gun violence exists.

The jury in the trial of three men accused of the murder of Kenneth N. Harris had two questions Monday — neither of which the judge answered. In the first, jurors wondered how many guns had been used in the hold-up of the New Haven Lounge, to which retired Baltimore Circuit Judge David Ross responded that the jury should study the evidence at its disposal. The second question was whether Jerome Williams, the youngest of the defendants, was holding a gun during the crime. The judge's answer was the same.

Ken Mehlman probably should not expect a fond embrace from the gay community, at least not right away. The Pikesville native outed himself last week in the Atlantic magazine and pledged to lobby for same-sex marriage. But the memories of his days as campaign manager for George W. Bush — and the Republican president's gay-bashing reelection strategy — live painfully on. In the interview, Mr. Mehlman explains that he only recently recognized his identity. "It has taken 43 years for me to get comfortable with this part of my life," says the former Republican National Committee chairman who now makes astronomical wages as an executive vice-president for a major private equity firm in Manhattan.

In another context, Gloria Steinem had the perfect comeback. Told that she didn't look her age, the glamorous feminist said, "This is what 50 looks like. " Well, this is what gay looks like: Ken Mehlman. The former Republican national chairman, who grew up in Pikesville, publically came out last week and instantly set the punditry class abuzz. Not so much over the idea that a single, 43-year-old man who recently moved to New York's Chelsea neighborhood turned out to be gay — welcome to the cabaret, ol' chum!

One of the marks of an artist is his or her ability to take something that we think we know inside and out and then show it to us in such a way that we see it in a totally different light. The great artists also often evoke a deep emotional response in us as part of that process. Ken Burns, public television's documentary filmmaker laureate, does that with Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken in his new production, "The Tenth Inning," set to premiere Sept. 28 and 29 on PBS. Burns and his co-director, Lynn Novick, showed clips from the new film and fielded questions from staffers at The Baltimore Sun last week.