Mug

Every May, Pimlico hosts one of Baltimore's most striking juxtapositions: Thousands of infield revelers guzzle beer and soak in live music while a stone's throw away, the prim and proper set sip Black-Eyed Susans and don fancy hats. It's hard to imagine a more polarized scene. That's Preakness for you. This year, all eyes are on the infield. After the Maryland Jockey Club banned the long-standing BYOB policy last year, infield attendance plummeted. Now, the club is trying to lure back partyers with a bottomless-mug special, a younger-skewing live-music lineup and a controversial ad campaign.

Governor Martin O'Malley narrowly avoided a minor Twitter storm over beer Saturday morning after making a bet with the governor of California on the Super Bowl . Friday afternoon, he responded to a wager with California Gov. Jerry Brown by staking a case of Natty Boh. But Saturday morning, the Brewers Association of Maryland posted a message asking O'Malley to support the local economy and consider putting up a tasty beverage that is...

Q: We have a ceramic "Little Orphan Annie" mug from the 1930s. It is three inches tall and was an Ovaltine premium. Is it worth anything?A: Little Orphan Annie was a comic character created by Harold Gray in 1924. When she debuted on radio, Ovaltine was the sponsor. The mug was just one of the many premiums offered by Ovaltine. "Hakes Guide to Comic Character Collectibles" by Ted Hake lists a mug, circa 1932, similar to yours at $50.Q: I have a Staffordshire figurine of a poodle that was given to my parents as a wedding gift in 1912.

With country music blaring, honky-tonk decor, and a menu stacked with smokehouse favorites, Cowboys & Rednecks (also known as CNR) is hardly shy about its theme. We half expected the hostess to greet us with a "Yeehaw!" CNR's owner, Federal Hill resident and big-time country music fan Guy Naylor, opened the bar in late 2011, imagining that it would be a fun addition to his neighborhood. Local bar-hoppers agreed; CNR is often packed to overflowing on weekend nights. CNR's success as a bar is uncontested, but its status as a go-to restaurant is less confirmed.

First there was the $200 haircut. Now there's the $2,200 fiv o'clock shadow.Lamenting a stubble and a "just-woken-up" expression, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros ordered his official portrait removed from 220 HUD offices from Baltimore to Honolulu last month.The 8-by-10 color photograph depicts Mr. Cisneros in a bureaucrat's navy blue suit in front of the American flag, but a dull facial expression sparked an order to yank the mug shot from the walls of HUD field and administrative offices where he shared the spotlight with a smiling President Clinton.

AT THE TABLES in DeGroen's Grill on Albemarle Street, the place where the Baltimore Brewing Co. dwells, the members of the Mug Club sit at the dear old copper bar they know so well and raise their glasses high, draining the brewery's last kegs. After 15 years of brewing German-style beers that made men weep for joy, that helped transform scholarly librarians into high-fiving football fans, that encouraged city building inspectors to rub shoulders with professors, doctors and museum docents, the Baltimore Brewing Co. is brewing no more.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department may soon join a growing number of law enforcement agencies trying to speed investigations by scanning computerized images of suspects.File cabinets stuffed with mug shots may soon be relegated to dime-store detective novels if the County Council on Jan. 5 approves a $70,000 fund transfer to buy the technology.The system would use five digital cameras at police stations to snap pictures of suspects during booking, said Sgt. William Krampf, a police spokesman.

Baltimore police detectives cannot easily access mug shots from a computerized database run by the state prison system, drawing complaints from city investigators that arrests of potentially dangerous criminals are being hindered.A prison spokesman called the problem a "temporary glitch" that will be fixed in one to two months and allow detectives "to search to their hearts' content." City police, however, remain skeptical."It's a real concern to the Police Department," said Maj. Jeffrey Rosen, head of the Central Records Division, who said the state is a year behind in updating its mug shot equipment.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department may soon join a growing number of law enforcement agencies trying to speed investigations by scanning computerized images of suspects.File cabinets stuffed with mug shots may soon be relegated to detective novels if the County Council approves on Jan. 5 a $70,000 fund transfer to buy the technology.The new system would use five digital cameras at police stations to snap pictures of suspects during booking, said Sgt. William Krampf, a police spokesman.

Collaring criminals in Baltimore County could get easier if the county approves a new computerized system that would let police get clearer, more accurate mug shots and create an electronic archive of those shots."

For the past six years, the building at 6228 Sykesvillle Road (Route 32), in Eldersburg, once known as Nathan Henry's Restaurant, has stood empty. But it hasn't been forgotten. The nondenominational Journey Church Community has been planning to turn the site into the Ugly Mug, which organizers describe as a not-for-profit coffee/cafe/concert house for the community, especially young adults. After six years of fundraising, campaigns, setbacks and road blocks, proponents say the goal is still alive - and in fact may be close to reality.

I was jumped last Friday night. Around 11 p.m., while reaching for my keys to enter my apartment building, I was grabbed from behind, hit in the face, thrown to the ground and punched repeatedly a few feet from my door. My teenage assailants surprisingly made no effort to take anything from me and ran off laughing as I gathered my bearings and staggered inside. Though I had a fat lip, a bruised cheek and a pounding headache, my encounter left me with no lasting scars. Instead, my experience put me in a reflective mood.

It was with a profound sense of personal validation that I opened Volume V of the Dictionary of American Regional English  to discover an entry for the term my family back in Kentucky used for the chamber pot: thunder mug .  There are also entries for thunder jar  and thunder jug,  little maps showing regional distribution. And I was also happy to see that what we called a sweat bee  is also known as the hayfield wasp , the ice-cream bee , and other terms.  For scholars of American English, this volume and the series it completes are a hoard of riches, and also a work of heroic proportions for more than four decades.

--- Get a free cup of Caribou Coffee on April 22 when you bring in your own mug. Save 50 cents everyday when requesting a drink in reusable mug. --- Get a free cup of Starbucks coffee or tea when you bring a reusable mug to a participating location on April 22. (You can also request the beverage in a "for here" mug, if you don't have one of your own.) Bring your own mug any other day of the year and you'll save 10 cents on any beverage . --- Bring five plastic shopping bags to the Disney Store on Friday, April 22 and get a free reusable shopping tote . Just be warned: outlet locations are not participating.  --- Lowe's is giving away 1 million trees on April 23 . Stop by and pick one up while supplies last, and don't forget to bring along your old CFLs, plastic bags, batteries and plastic paint pots for recycling.

When three men attacked, punched and robbed a man of his cellphone near downtown last weekend, the muggers apparently forgot about the hundreds of surveillance cameras watching over many of Baltimore's street corners. One of them captured the mugging, and police quickly arrested two men and recovered the stolen cellphone from a suspect's pants pocket. Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III told the story at a budget presentation Monday, in part to argue for the necessity of the camera program.

Lacrosse Stanwick among local stars on Under-19 women's team Notre Dame Prep's Covie Stanwick , McDonogh's Jen Cook , C. Milton Wright's Alyssa Blevins and Winters Mill's Erin McMunn were named Tuesday to the final United States Under-19 women's team that will compete for the world championship this summer in Germany. Coaches cut the team from 24 to 18 players after games last weekend in Florida. Krystin Porcella Stanwick, an All-Metro attacker, is the fourth member of her family to be named to a U.S. national team.

When I was a youngster, I drank a lot of milk with Ovaltine so I could send away for an Uncle Wiggly mug. I still have the mug. Can you tell me what it's worth?Ovaltine used the Uncle Wiggly mugs as a premium in 1930 and '31.There are two versions. One shows an Ovaltine sign on the house behind Uncle Wiggly. That's worth $40 in mint condition. The mug without the Ovaltine sign is worth $35 in mint condition.The back of a gold and fake ruby pin I own is marked `CoroCraft.` Do you have any information on the company?

Harford Road has long been home to a bevy of colorful bars. But in recent years, gentrification has left its mark on the two-mile stretch from Baltimore's Hamilton/Lauraville neighborhood to Parkville. This mix of newer, high-end watering holes and bizarre hometown bars makes Harford Road a prime destination for a bar crawl, where a group of adventurous drinkers hits up several spots in one night. Since each bar is one stop on a larger trek, the trick is to have a drink, then move on to the next destination.

Baltimore police can text you with news of shootings and arrests. You can see pictures of officers and their helicopters and horses on Facebook, where you can also add comments, good and bad, on the department's wall. You can even follow the department on Twitter. And now, your city cops can send mug shots of wanted felons right to your cell phone. It's a new social media adventure that began Monday and could be expanded if it proves useful and popular. Many police departments across the country are online in various ways, but few use instant communication to inform residents of breaking crime news.

The second jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown is almost afoot and I'm still trying to get my Preak on, but you know how that goes. It's a little like finding your old college letterman's jacket and trying to fit back into it. If you don't get the whole "Preak" thing, it means that you'll either be wearing loafers in the box seats at Old Hilltop or a big floppy hat that cost so much you'll try for years to come up with one more excuse to wear...