Lexington

WJZ meteorologist Bernadette Woods is leaving the CBS-owned station to join a non-profit firm in New Jersey focused on climate change, she said Wednesday night. Woods, who has been with WJZ for seven years, said she will remain at the station helping with the transition for the next month. After that, she, her husband and their two children will be moving to Princeton, N.J., where she will join Climate Central as staff meteorologist. "I'm very excited about the opportunity in Princeton," she said.

I cannot believe that our mayor or any other city or state officials would even consider allotting up to $25 million for renovations at Lexington Market ("Lexington's update," April 7). As a retired merchant with 30 years' experience at Lexington Market, I suggest management give more thought to painting and to hiring a good Realtor to bring in gourmet cheese shops and a French bakery. The market should also offer incentives and stop the beer and liquor drinking among customers shopping in the market.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- The Charles Town Races will present a simulcast of this afternoon's $125,000-added Lexington Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile test for 3-year-olds, as part of a full-card simulcast from Keeneland Park in Lexington, Ky.The Lexington, one of the final preps leading up to racing's Triple Crown, will be run as Keeneland's eighth race with post time for the first of nine races at 1 p.m.

Like Baltimore author Patricia Schulteis, I too have fond memories of eating oysters with my grandfather at Faidley's seafood café in Lexington Market ("Loving Lexington Market," April 11). What the market needs is what other great regional markets, such as Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market or New York's Chelsea Market, offer: Food manufactured on-site. The lack of local produce at Lexington Market betrays the disconnect the market currently labors under with today's foodies: The majority of the foods sold there have little connection to the location.

A light-rail train and a vehicle collided at the intersection of Howard and Lexington streets in Baltimore on Tuesday, a Maryland Transit Administration spokesman said. A car turned into the path of a train around 3:56 p.m., said MTA spokesman Terry Owens. He said one light rail rider claimed injury but refused treatment when medics arrived. The driver of the vehicle was not injured, he said. Service was delayed for about a half-hour until the medic arrived, Owens said. The driver of the vehicle is believed to be at fault, he said, but added that the crash was still under investigation.

YOU may not think of the "Peanut Shoppe" as a monument. It's an unimposing store just off the southwest corner of Lexington and Liberty streets at 101 W. Lexington.But a monument it is -- to the days when the once-and-famous first block of West Lexington Street included such well-remembered Baltimore institutions as the Century and the Valencia movies, Huylers Fountain Shop, Maron's candies and the Lexway movie. (Is there a better remembered block from pre-renaissance Baltimore?)Of the establishments that made up the block in the years before they were torn down to make way for Charles Center, the "Peanut Shoppe" is all that's left.

Even the elements seemed to conspire against Teri Reyes and her crusade to bring a playground to the community of homes and children in the Lexington Run subdivision.The long-awaited playground was set to be installed last weekend, but rain and cold weather prompted volunteers to postpone the event until Saturday. On Saturday, Ms. Reyes and others discovered the holes they had dug for the equipment were too shallow and in the wrong spots.Yesterday, volunteers faced unusually cold weather and snow flurries.

BALTIMORE CLEARLY has money to burn. Why else would the city hire a consultant to study bringing cars back to Lexington Mall when another set of advisers has not reported on a plan to revitalize the troubled Howard Street retail corridor?In 1974, when cars were banned from three blocks of Lexington Street between Cathedral and Eutaw streets, pedestrian malls were an urban craze. In city after city, the shared belief seemed to be that marginal retail areas would thrive again if shoppers jTC could stroll in landscaped areas without having to dodge traffic.

The laid-back college town of Lexington, Va., cherishes its Revolutionary and Civil War history along with its local eccentrics. And the state-supported Virginia Military Institute is just part of the community -- albeit a part of the community where women need not apply.Any day now, after six years of legal wrangling, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether VMI has been violating the Constitution by refusing to admit women and, if so, what should be done about that.But in Lexington, the residents -- even those who support women's rights and believe VMI's policies can't be defended -- take a more neighborly view.

Often, younger brothers try to follow in the footsteps of older brothers. That's been reversed for the Lexington, Ky., team in the Cal Ripken World Series. The Lexington team that will play Aberdeen at 8 tonight has three boys whose younger brothers have been there and done that. Just 10 days ago, the Lexington 10-year-old team won the Cal Ripken World Series in Williamsburg, Va. Devin Jackson, Stephen Kimbrell and Scout McCamy played for the 10-year-old champs, and now their older brothers -- Logan Jackson, Lee Kimbrell and Chris McCamy -- are trying to bring home a title for the 12-year-old team.

I laughed at a news report quoting an official who lamented that Lexington Market lacked a French bakery. The Lexington Market I know is a place that has a thriving bakery, but it sells red velvet cake by the slice and at a price to fit its customers' pocketbooks. As beat-up and poorly maintained as the market is, it possesses a thriving urban vitality. It's good to go there for a Baltimore reality check. The people-watching is incredible and a lot of money seems to change hands.

On a stormy April evening seven years ago, an unexpected email inextricably linked me to a cornerstone of Baltimore's past. The message was this: "Can you do Lexington Market?" And it came from Arcadia Publishing, a firm specializing in pictorial local histories. I read it in a last-minute email check before leaving with my husband for the Maryland Historical Society, which was awarding him its prestigious Brewington Prize for his article on Maryland maritime history. Between the rain, the snarled, rush-hour traffic, and the fact that the evening's focus was on my husband, I corked up Arcadia's message until, arriving at the society, I blurted "I've been asked to write a book about Lexington Market!"

Charles Kelley stands in Baltimore's historic Lexington Market, chowing down on a Faidley's overstuffed crab cake sandwich. It doesn't bother the 37-year-old North Carolina man that the market doesn't have gourmet coffee, wine or cheese shops. He's OK with the faded signs and the dirty floor. As jumbo lump crab meat spills out of his sandwich, Kelley is in a state of bliss. "I've had crab cake sandwiches all over," he says, "and this is the best. " While devotees such as Kelley, who come from long distances for the renowned seafood at the 231-year-old market, are content with their surroundings, city officials are hoping to attract a broader audience.

Managers of West Baltimore's historic Lexington Market are looking for a consultant to help them plan a multimillion-dollar renovation to transform the market into a regional draw. Lexington Market released the call for consulting services on Monday and expects to pick a firm by September. The 231-year-old market wants a face lift that will make it into a "food destination" attracting a "broad mix" of customers, according to the request for consulting services. Owners want the renovation to make the market better looking inside and out, improve the flow of customers in the building, and for the consultants to give recommendations on whether to promote things like healthy eating.

A Baltimore retailer has been ordered by city health officials to stop selling a children's ring, necklace and earrings because the items contain dangerous levels of lead. The Baltimore City Health Department said Tuesday it has issued a nuisance order to Choice Corner on West Lexington St. telling the owners to remove the  jewelry from its shelves because of lead levels above 100 parts per million.  The levels are 900 to 2,400 times what is legally allowed. The products pose a danger to children's health because the lead levels can cause cognitive impairment and neurological problems.

Baltimore's six historic public markets should be equipped with Wi-Fi before the year's end, the city's new Chief Information Officer said Thursday. Chris Tonjes, who runs the Mayor's Office of Information Technology, said it should cost less than $25,000 to equip five markets - Avenue, Broadway Market, Cross Street, Hollins and Northeast - with the service. The upgrade of Lexington Market - the city's best known and first to receive the upgrade - will be funded by a donation from Believe Wireless Broadband, which is giving the city the equipment and bandwidth for the project, officials said.

Lexington is a handsome little village with good buildings. - Isaac Burr, traveling in Virginia in 1804 The night was dark, the narrow country road deserted. The lights from the few houses along the way looked like distant stars. I'd never been to Clark's Lumber Yard, but I'd heard things got hopping out there on Friday nights. The Saw Mill Band, led by 82-year-old Bruce Clark, started playing at 7:30 p.m., and the dancing started at 7:31. Or so I'd been told. Quite frankly, I couldn't imagine anything "hopping" down this remote road, 15 miles north of Lexington, Va., in rural Rockbridge County, except maybe a frog or two. But then again, the Lexington area can surprise you. Bluegrass and Bach mix comfortably here, and visitors will find a thriving intellectual community in the midst of a gorgeous rural setting.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Here in the heart of tobacco country, where farmers have nurtured fields of rich burley leaf since the 1700s, Lexington has done the unthinkable: Banned smoking. Karl Evans sat on a stool at Nicholson's Cigar Bar and stared at the clock, grimacing as the minute hand ticked toward 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Teeth clamped down on a Marlboro cigarette, he took a deep, determined draw. In just under an hour, he would have to stub it out or be in violation of a new local ordinance banning smoking.

The Baltimore region's annual gala for technology companies this year is going to be held Nov. 1 in a new and distinctly Baltimore location: Lexington Market. In past years, the networking event held by the Greater Baltimore Tech Council was held at the Baltimore Convention Center and, more recently, at Rams Head Live at the Power Plant Live in Baltimore. But this year, the GBTC was looking to emphasize Baltimore in the event, and Lexington Market -- with its many food stalls and a wide-open meeting space -- fit the bill, according to GBTC head Jason Hardebeck.