Northern Virginia

The big dig-out that will send the snowbound Washington region back to work and school will take several days, and a nuisance snowstorm forecast for Tuesday could keep some suburban areas paralyzed even longer, officials said Saturday. "Right now, we think it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before people can think about getting to work," said Sean T. Connaughton, Virginia's secretary of transportation. It might be almost as long before power is restored to thousands of homes and businesses after the heavy snow and high winds conspired to topple trees across power lines throughout the region.

The nonprofit group that promotes Baltimore living isn't just hoping that relocating BRAC workers will move to the city. It's busing them in for a weekend tour. Live Baltimore will pick up a busload of Fort Monmouth personnel and contractors in New Jersey and bring them to Baltimore Sept. 12 and 13, the first overnight stay the group has organized. Workers will go to the "Buying Into Baltimore" home-buying fair on the first day, which is open to anyone, and will get a BRAC-only tour the following day. Nearly 40 people have signed up. "We thought it would be a great way to show more of the city," said Anna Custer, executive director of Live Baltimore.

When will home sellers and buyers be on basically equal footing? When supply equals demand. The magic number, many housing experts say, is six. As in, "it'll take six months to sell all the homes now on the market at the current pace of sales." During the first half of the year, the Baltimore metro area's supply averaged 11.5 months. "As that number approaches six, we'll start to see stabilization in pricing," said Kenneth Wenhold, director of the Mid-Atlantic region for Metrostudy, a housing-market research firm.

An Army master sergeant who grew up in Baltimore and graduated from St. Frances Academy was killed Tuesday while distributing food on a humanitarian mission in Biaj, Iraq, the Department of Defense said. Master Sgt. Anthony Davis, 43, had served in the Army for 26 years and was planning to retire when his tour ended, said his brothers and sisters, who gathered yesterday in Baltimore's Harwood neighborhood to remember the man who loved the Army so much they called him "G.I. Joe." Sergeant Davis was married and had five children and one grandchild.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Sen. Barack Obama whipped up crowds of ebullient Democrats in Virginia yesterday, hoping the high wattage of his retail-level campaigning can translate into political momentum on Election Day. After a revival-like appearance at the Virginia Democratic Party's annual dinner on Saturday and morning newspaper polls showing a commanding lead against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Virginia, his appearances started to take on the feel of a victory...

It was 91 degrees yesterday, the hottest October day Baltimore has seen since ... well, the day before yesterday. The mercury at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport passed the 90-degree mark for the second straight day. It was the first time in 60 years we've seen two October days in the 90s, according to the National Weather Service. It was also the high for any Oct. 8 since recordkeeping began in 1871, busting the 88-degree record set back in 1931. There's more hot weather in store today, with predicted highs again near 90 degrees.

After calling Northern Virginia home for more than 20 years, AOL LLC announced plans yesterday to shift its headquarters to New York City in a move that's more symbolic than physical. New York is the world's advertising hub, and AOL is aiming to become an advertising empire, building on the success of its Baltimore-based unit, Advertising.com. All ad-related businesses will now be swept into an umbrella network - collectively called "Platform A" - alongside the Locust Point company. Yesterday's developments were described as the final stages in AOL's transition from a dial-up Internet service provider to an ad-driven company.

There are still reasons to believe the housing heartache won't badly hurt the rest of the economy, but not as many as a few days ago. Countrywide Financial Corp., which handles nearly a fifth of all U.S. mortgages, reported soaring delinquencies, falling profits and increased default risk last week. Baltimore's First Mariner Bancorp disclosed similar problems. Sales of existing homes fell for the fourth month in a row, and more than expected. New-home sales were even worse. Homebuilders also reported worse-than-predicted results as sales plunged and assets depreciated.

10 FOR THE ROAD Roaming with Rover The best cities in the United States and Canada to take your dog, from DogFriendly.com: 1. Boston 2. Vancouver, British Columbia 3. New York City 4. San Francisco 5. Austin, Texas 6. Portland, Ore. 7. Northern Virginia (Alexandria, etc.) 8. Orlando, Fla. 9. San Diego 10. Dallas / Fort Worth WORLD Polls close July 6 for seven wonders The Great Wall, the Colosseum and Machu Picchu are among the leading contenders to be the new seven wonders of the world as a huge poll enters its final month with votes already cast by more than 50 million people, organizers say. As the July 6 voting deadline approaches, the rankings can still change.

Contracts TeleCommunication Systems Inc. announced that the Annapolis-based company was awarded a $1.1 million contract to provide satellite system components to the Defense Communications and Army Transmission System at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Awards Martin P. Brunk, a managing director with RSM McGladrey's mid-Atlantic Economic Unit, received the 2007 Public Service Award presented by the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants. For the past eight years , Brunk has been actively involved with the Maryland Food Bank, serving as treasurer, vice president and, currently, as board chair.