Map

Haven't paid your city property taxes? Then you're on the city's list of owners whose properties could end up in tax sale this May, along with nearly 27,000 others who (as of last week) were behind on taxes, water bills or other city tabs. That's more than 10 percent of city properties, located in neighborhoods as varied as Poppleton and the Inner Harbor . If previous years are any judge, many owners will pay up quickly and avoid tax sale altogether. Here's an interactive map that shows where all the properties are. You can click on the dots for more details, including the address, who owns and how much the city says they owe. (Keep in mind that some may have paid already -- and at least one is an error .)

County officials are urging residents to purchase insurance policies if their homes have recently been added to newly redrawn flood insurance rate maps. The Federal Emergency Management Agency worked with Maryland's Department of the Environment to overhaul the statewide maps, which show which homes and businesses are most susceptible to flooding, and thus are generally required to buy flood insurance . In Howard County, the maps have not changed since 1986. Because of better technology, an additional 360 residences and 130 other structures near rivers and streams will be identified as being at risk of flooding, unless their owners appeal.

As a representative for a non-partisan legislative group, my position requires me to see as many people and businesses in Maryland as I can every day to get their opinions on urgent issues facing the federal government At the end of the week, I amass these opinion ballots and send them to Congress. In order to do this correctly, I enter an official Congressional website and post the addresses of these constituents to ensure that I am sending their ballots to the correct elected official.

The weather map was first published in an American newspaper on May 12, 1876, at the International Exposition at Philadelphia, according to the U.S. Weather Bureau. The New York Herald was working with the Weather Bureau, which telegraphed data to make a demonstration map. The weather map didn't begin to appear regularly in a newspaper until May 9, 1879, in the New York Daily Graphic. USA Today first published on Sept. 15, 1982, and revolutionized the weather map with color and more data, causing the newspaper industry to change and update.

Above, find a high-resolution map of Merriweather Post Pavilion grounds on Saturday for Virgin FreeFest. The map looks much like last year's. There are three stages: a dance forest, a festival stage on the venue's West side, and a main stage at the amphitheater. There will again be a ferris wheel. The heart of the venue will be again commandeered by festival sponsor Kyocera. Doors will open at 11 a.m. The first band goes up at noon on the dance forest stage. The full schedule is here .

Maryland's legislature should take the time to develop congressional districts that make sense. Democratic officials have said that the current map was just a starting point from which to develop new districts, which sounds good on the surface. But if we continue to take that approach every 10 years, the congressional district maps will get more and more ridiculous. Surely the data and computer software are available, or can be reasonably developed, to lay out congressional districts that look reasonable on a map and that group constituents with similar interests together.

As a member of the 2011 Councilmanic Redistricting Commission, I write with great disappointment over the commission's decision. The map that has been recommended is a slap in the face to all those citizens who came out in support of keeping their communities together as much as possible. Residents of Brampton and Wheatfield pleaded their case that they have the most in common with their neighbors across Montgomery Road, Ellicott City and the rest of District 1. A point was made several times that while residents visit Columbia occasionally, they shop, worship and go to school in the Ellicott City area.

Members of the Howard County Council are divided over what changes they would like to see in a proposed map of council districts. The council has until March 15 to approve changes, or a redistricting commission-recommended map will become law. At a work session Monday, each council member seemed to have different ideas about where the map's boundaries should be drawn. Councilwoman Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat representing District 1, offered her own proposal in an attempt to address concerns expressed by residents of the Wheatfield neighborhood of Ellicott City.

The weather map was first published in an American newspaper on May 12, 1876, at the International Exposition at Philadelphia, according to the U.S. Weather Bureau. The New York Herald was working with the Weather Bureau, which telegraphed data to make a demonstration map. The weather map didn't begin to appear regularly in a newspaper until May 9, 1879, in the New York Daily Graphic. USA Today first published on Sept. 15, 1982, and revolutionized the weather map with color and more data, causing the newspaper industry to change and update.

Congratulations! It takes a great deal of courage to publish an editorial (Oct. 6) in a one-party state advocating fair boundaries in congressional districts. While most people prefer natural boundaries instead of political-party-count boundaries, professional politicians would rather draw snake-shaped districts to retain their personal power. It has nothing to do with giving the people what they want, but rather with grabbing the golden ring and a personal pedestal of honor.

Two Baltimore County senators, unhappy with their new districts under the governor's General Assembly redistricting plan, have sued to have the map overturned, contending that it gives Baltimore City extra representation at the expense of the county. Sens. Delores Kelley and James Brochin, both Democrats, asked the Maryland Court of Appeals to invalidate the redistricting plan, which automatically took effect this year when the legislature did not move to replace Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan with one of its own. The plan is especially disadvantageous for Brochin, whose district would become heavily Republican under the plan devised by O'Malley and legislative leaders.

Boaters, anglers and anyone bold enough to swim in Baltimore's troubled harbor will soon be able to get timely information about whether they're risking an upset stomach or infection from splashing in water fouled with sewage leaks and other pollution. Starting this month, the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, Tina Meyers, plans to post results online every other week from regular sampling cruises she's making to check conditions in the Inner Harbor and the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River.

If you were reading this blog during the heat wave of mid-March, you know we came close but never set any records depite nearing or topping 80 degrees four times between March 13 and March 23. Meanwhile, across the country, records were shattered day after day. In some parts of the Great Lakes region, lows were so warm, they beat the previous records for highs some days. The National Climatic Data Center map above shows just how aberrant temperatures were in the nation's midsection.

The drive to throw out Maryland's new congressional district maps by petitioning them to referendum is, in all likelihood, something of a futile gesture. Even if the opponents can muster the necessary signatures - battling in the process referendum fatigue from parallel efforts on same-sex marriage - the new, convoluted maps will still be in effect this November. And if the critics of the maps prevail at the ballot box, all they will succeed in doing is getting the same people who brought us the current mess to draw the maps all over again.

A group that has already put one referendum issue on November's ballot has turned its sights to Maryland's new congressional map, announcing Tuesday that it will try to gather enough signatures to give voters a chance to throw out the redistricting plan. "The map is patently unfair," said Del. Neil C. Parrott, a Frederick County Republican who founded MDPetitions, the group that successfully petitioned Maryland's "Dream Act" to referendum. The Dream Act — a law that would allow some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Maryland colleges and universities — would be overturned if a majority of voters cast ballots against it. The new map of congressional districts will be used in next week's state primary and in November's general election.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman announced Thursday that he would not sign off on a County Council bill redrawing district boundaries, instead endorsing a map supported by an appointed bipartisan commission. Under the new boundaries, the Columbia Association will be represented by an additional council district; two Ellicott City neighborhoods will move from their current district, despite residents' protests before the council; and parts of Elkridge will continue to bleed into District 2. The newly drawn council districts will take effect for the 2014 council elections.

A new political map aimed at adding a seventh Democrat to the state's congressional delegation is expected to be sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley Thursday for his signature. The plan won approval in the Maryland House of Delegates on Wednesday after five hours of debate, overcoming unified opposition from Republicans and ire from suburban Washington Democrats. One final stamp of approval is expected from the Senate Thursday morning. Despite two weeks of steady criticism from liberal and conservative groups, the bill passed 91 to 46, with only five Democrats joining the House GOP caucus to vote "no. " House leaders easily fended off three Republican amendments and one from Montgomery County Democrats, who argued that the map denies them a minority voice in Congress.

Many of the books you will read involve interesting locations - an island, a neighborhood, a land far away, a journey. As you read the story, draw a map of where everything is. You will need paper and colored pencils for this project. Add different features and landmarks as you continue reading. Label as much as you can and make your map colorful. You might want to include a key so that the map will be easier to understand. It is helpful to have a map if a story is complex. You can refer to it if you get lost.

The balance of legislative power in Maryland tips farther away from Baltimore under the new legislative boundaries that quietly became law Friday. The city loses two of its 18 delegates and will have to share a senator with Baltimore County under the map, drawn by Gov. Martin O'Malley. It became law Friday, the 45th day of the General Assembly session, because lawmakers, as expected, took no action to change it. The map adds two majority African-American districts to the 47-member state Senate and creates the state's first majority Hispanic House of Delegates district.