Minors

ANAHEIM, Calif. - As a veteran of 14 major league seasons, it took a while for right-hander Freddy Garcia to get used to those long bus rides in Triple-A. But when the 36-year-old pitcher decided to sign a minor league deal with the Orioles before this season - and then agreed to remain with the organization past his initial opt-out date earlier this week - he had the faith that he'd soon pitch again in the big leagues. Garcia will make his Orioles and 2013 major league debut on Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium, where he is 8-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 16 career starts.

A two-alarm fire in Remington Wednesday night did not damage any of the artwork in the Open Space gallery, tenant Max Guy said on Thursday afternoon. Organizers, with community help, were moving the artwork into storage Thursday. Guy is the curator of "Solitary Stones on a Rocky Shore," which was scheduled to debut at Open Space on Friday. The Open Space website describes "Solitary Stones" as "large-scale graphite drawings and monumental concrete sculpture by Miranda Pfeiffer and Ledelle Moe. " Guy says the exhibition has been postponed until further notice.

Maryland plans to steer to minority and women-owned businesses 29 percent of the nearly $8 billion a year it spends on contracts, increasing a target that was already among the most aggressive in the nation, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said Monday. The new goal - an increase from the current 25 percent - would if attained have a profound impact on boosting minority-owned construction firms, IT contractors, engineers and other companies in Maryland that have historically struggled to land state government contracts, supporters said.

For at least a generation of pop-culture consumers, the soundtrack of their lives has included themes from the likes of Mega Man and Super Mario. As they've grown up, the music of video games has branched out - to solo piano, to rock concerts and to symphonic performances. Among the developments is the University of Maryland's Gamer Symphony Orchestra, whose 100-plus members will take to the stage at College Park's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 4. "The quality of video-game music has grown exponentially over the years," says Joel Guttman, president-elect of the group, which specializes in arranging and performing pieces taken from the background music on video games such as Halo, Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy.

I knew I was not politically correct, but now I am a minority in my views on gun control too ("Tyranny of the minority," April 19). President Obama said "this [gun control] law would probably not have prevented Newtown. " He was right. I am not an NRA member and I don't own a gun. I do believe in the Constitution, however. The Democrats' insistence that they know better than Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, etc., is unbelievable. Fortunately, since I am old, I hopefully will not live to witness the final change of this country from the USA to the USSR.

The Great Gourmet is Kimberly Scott's way of introducing the world to Maryland seafood. Her Eastern Shore company sells crab cakes, oysters and clams to wholesale and retail markets. In 2006, just three years after opening, The Great Gourmet was logging $1.8 million in revenue. Three years after that, Scott had revenue of $3.8 million, 15 employees and a place on Inc. Magazine's 500/5000 fastest-growing companies list. With her company expanding, Scott turned to Richard Loeffler at the Eastern Region Small Business and Technology Development Center at Salisbury University in 2009 for advice about a small-business loan that would allow her to move from rented space to a building of her own in Federalsburg with more freezer space.

Maryland has self-reported a series  of secondary violations to the NCAA. The violations involve a number of teams, including football, women's basketball and men's soccer, but are not  considered serious, according to an official with knowledge of the infractions. Most, if not all, of the violations involved calls or texts to recruits. In some cases, the official said, a coach returned a call or text not knowing they were contacting an unsigned recruit. The rules governing such communications have been evolving.

A man was stabbed inside MedStar Harbor Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon amid a dispute with another man, police said. Baltimore police said the stabbing victim's wounds were superficial, that his injuries were being treated and that police had a person of interest in custody. No one else was injured. Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the men had some prior knowledge of each other, but investigators were working to determine further details. The hospital was never locked down, he said.

Cellphones and the Internet have not only altered the way we communicate, they have changed the way we can injure one another. The telecommunications revolution has created the capability of causing far greater harm to children than the bullying many of us remember from when we were young. The omnipresent nature of the Internet means that there is no place for the child who is victimized to hide. Not even one's home is a safe haven when repeated, vicious attacks appear on Facebook and Twitter.

"We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone. " - National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, May 27, 1999. Let's get one thing straight about the Senate's failure Wednesday to support a too-modest extension of the national background check system for gun buyers to cover sales at gun shows and over the Internet.