New Carrollton

NEW CARROLLTON - When she stepped from her car yesterday morning, an icy wind billowed the silken skirt Tanya Gilly wore beneath her long overcoat. But the 30-year-old mother of two, a native of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, paid scant notice to the 10-degree chill that reddened her face and swept her hair as she made her way to the Ramada Inn in New Carrollton on this momentous first day of the rest of her life. After you've fled your homeland as a child, lost kinsmen in mass graves, and learned of government agents trying to assassinate your parents, a late-January freeze is a minor obstacle when the moment has come to exercise your political freedom for the first time.

Havre de Grace. -- In the interest of local literacy, herewith a regional reader to make the alphabet more meaningful to Marylanders.A is for Annapolis, its harbor full of boats, and also for Assembly, where lobbyists buy votes. Allegany offers us another use for A. (Don't spell Allegany in any other way.) A is very useful when you mention Aberdeen, where the Army tests Artillery, and the Air is slightly green.B is for Baltimore, Charm City sublime. It has certain little problems, not the least of which is crime, but it also offers hTC Baseball in a Ballpark which is nice, and Bars for Buying Beer in mugs all rimmed with ice. (B used to be for B'hoys, but it isn't any more.

NEW CARROLLTON -- Seeking political mileage from Maryland's long commuting times, Mayor Martin O'Malley proposed a transportation plan yesterday that he said would emphasize Smart Growth principles, promote public transit and reduce congestion on the highways. After spending the early morning rush hour shaking hands with commuters at the Metro station here, O'Malley held a news conference where he criticized Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. for what he called a "knee-jerk opposition to rail" in mass transit projects.

NEW CARROLLTON -- In many ways, Harry Finley is your average 55-year-old man. He likes classical music, reads the New Yorker obsessively and prefers a good biography to the latest episode of "Friends." He lives in a quiet suburb of Washingtonwith his black tabby and a pile of portraits he's painted over the years.But visit his home, and you'll find there's much more to Harry Finley than first meets the eye. The confirmed bachelor has gone to some extraordinary lengths to spice up his otherwise quiet existence.

New Carrollton -- Britain's kings drew lines from east to west and, ever since, the central section of the Allegheny Plateau has been divided into West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Business wise, it hasn't worked out. We're getting small returns from a grand setting.After tearing down and building back up for 300 million odd years, old Mother Nature finally got it right. This ancient plateau has the character, variety and grace that gives joy to life. It has hills, deep forests, great ridge mountains, glades, streams, rushing rivers, waterfalls, lakes, strange sandstone formations and on and on for a countless number of scenic delights.

Maryland's MARC commuter trains, which have always operated Monday through Friday, will begin offering weekend service between Baltimore and Washington on the Penn Line in coming months. The expansion - put on hold in 2008 when the recession hit - is possible as the result of the new transportation revenue law that raises the state's gas tax, officials said. The governor signed the bill Thursday. The news was welcomed by Baltimore officials, who said it would offer city residents a less expensive means than Amtrak of traveling to Washington for weekend events while also encouraging D.C. residents to travel to Charm City.

When the state Department of Housing and Community Development's 380 employees pack up and move from Crownsville to New Carrollton in 2015, fewer women will work out on their lunch break at Curves. It also may mean fewer people getting their cars repaired, having their dry cleaning done or picking up lunch at local businesses along Generals Highway. "It's going to hurt our local economy," said Jodi Kubisiak, manager of Curves, less than a mile from the housing department's office.

Early Friday in a small, brightly lit operating room in Johns Hopkins Hospital, a half-dozen doctors and nurses huddled over the gut of a cancer patient, quietly passing metal instruments and surgical sutures. After more than four hours of cutting and sewing, the lead surgeon, Dr. John L. Cameron, lifted his slightly bloodied hands, thanked his colleagues and headed for the door. The 75-year-old immediately declared the complex, life-saving surgery "one of the simpler ones. " He should know.

The route for a Purple Line linking the Washington suburbs has been whittled down to three options, with preference going to a light rail service that would connect Interstate 270 and New Carrollton, and stop at Bethesda, College Park and other points. That route is cheaper than the other two routes, which would require more expensive heavy rail, like Washington's Metro subway, said Henry Kay, director of planning for the state Mass Transit Administration. It also is the only option that doesn't extend into Virginia.

The state is planning a new building in Prince George's County to house the state Department of Housing and Community Development, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Monday. The agency, which employs 385 workers, will move from Crownsville to New Carrollton next fall, O'Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said. The new building, to be called Metroview, is to be built near the Orange Line and the proposed Purple Line of the Washington Metro. O'Malley called it a "modern investment" that will "allow us to do the right thing for reducing traffic and sprawl, the right thing for our quality of life, and the right thing for our land, our water, and our air. " Metroview is to be developed by Carl Williams of Grand Central Development, the governor's office said.