Madison Street

City needs funds to repair pipes The Baltimore Sun's article about the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission seeking to claim a portion of the stimulus money available for water projects that would otherwise go to Baltimore cited the recent Montgomery County water-main break seen on national TV ("Md. to review water grants," March 6). But I, for one, think funding projects in one of the nation's richest counties, Montgomery County, by taking money from a poorer jurisdiction, Baltimore, is counterproductive.

On my way home the other evening, I spotted Father Bill Watters crossing Madison Street and casting a critical eye at a left-behind student backpack, momentarily abandoned on a city sidewalk where possessions disappear quickly. It was the dismissal hour at an all-boys middle school, and it was producing the kind of jumping khaki-pants bedlam that erupts when classroom-bound young minds get sprung for the day. This was the same Watters I took a phone call from in the late summer of 1991, when he'd come to Baltimore as the newly appointed pastor of St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church, where my parents and I have attended since streetcars ran past the front door.

From The Sun Oct. 24-30, 1843Oct. 25: About a dozen ducks, belonging to Anastarus Deter, residing in Fell's Point, died yesterday morning, with evident symptoms of being poisoned.Oct. 28: We see it stated in a number of papers that Daniel Webster intends to pay a visit to the South, this winter. He will doubtless be received with the respect due so eminent a man.From The Sun Oct. 24-30, 1893Oct. 25: Architect Jackson C. Gott has prepared plans for the new Maryland Penitentiary. The plans contemplate the occupation of the entire block from Madison Street on the south to Eager Street on the north, and from Forrest Street on the east to Concord Street and the jail premises on the west.

As Public Works crews prepared to tackle the problem of a 10-foot-deep sinkhole in downtown Baltimore, the city announced yesterday that Cathedral Street between Monument and Centre streets - near the site of the depression - will be closed to traffic for several weeks. "The best-case scenario would be a few weeks," said Kurt L. Kocher, a spokesman for the city Department of Public Works. "It could be less than a month, or it could be a month. It just depends on the magnitude of the problem."

A District Court judged ordered an Annapolis man held on a $50,000 bond after police charged him with robbing a woman at knifepoint Friday.Daniel Roosevelt Forrester, 54, of the 1100 block of Madison Street, was being held in the county detention center yesterday.At 12:30 p.m. Friday, police say, a man walked up to a 28-year-old woman who was getting into her car with her nephews in the Hecht's parking lot of Annapolis Mall and stuck a knife to her side.He told her if she did not give him money, he would hurt the children, police said.

In Baltimore CityConway arrested, accused of failing to move from sceneState Sen. Joan Carter Conway was arrested last night in East Baltimore, charged with hindering a police officer when she allegedly refused to move away from an accident scene while paramedics and firefighters tried to aid a 6-year-old child hit by a car.Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a police spokesman, said the Northeast Baltimore Democrat -- a former city councilwoman -- was among several people...

In Baltimore City Book festival prompts street closings in Mount Vernon area Several streets in the Mount Vernon area will be closed, some beginning today, in preparation for the Baltimore Book Festival, which is being held Friday through Sunday. The first thoroughfares to close are East and West Mount Vernon Place from St. Paul Street to Cathedral Street beginning at 8 a.m. today and continuing through 4 p.m. Monday. Charles Street will be closed from Centre Street to Read Street starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow and will reopen to traffic at 6 a.m. Monday.

In Maryland General Assembly re-elects Kopp as state treasurer ANNAPOLIS - The General Assembly re-elected Nancy K. Kopp yesterday as the state treasurer. There wasn't any doubt about the outcome because Kopp was the only candidate in the secret ballot by the 188 members of the General Assembly. She was first elected to the post last year, when the former treasurer, Richard N. Dixon, retired for health reasons. The treasurer runs the agency that handles billions of dollars of state funds each year, paying bills and investing money.

A Severn man has been charged with assault after police said he threatened a woman with a gun early Tuesday morning.Detectives said a31-year-old woman called police about 4 a.m. and said a man was threatening her with a gun in her home in the 7800 block of Coutros Courtin Pasadena.Officers found a man hiding upstairs in a bedroom, carrying a .44-caliber Magnum handgun. The woman told police he had broken into thehouse shortly before she called.Richard Edward Janey, 26, of the1700 block Circle Road in Severn, also was charged with breaking andentering.

As of 9 a.m. Monday, traffic was slow on Lombard Street near Lloyd Street in Baltimore City, due to an accident. An accident was slowing traffic on Fallston Road near Pleasantville Road in Fallston. A water main break was disrupting traffic around Madison Street and Guilford Avenue in Baltimore City. North Charles Street was closed between North Avenue and West 21st Street in Baltimore City, due to water main repairs. Officials recommend that motorists use Calvert or Howard streets or I-83 as alternative routes.