Palm Springs

You've got to love a place where golf carts are street legal, a former mayor was one-half of Sonny and Cher and palm-lined boulevards are named after such American idols as Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.Palm Springs has been called the golf capital of the world -- and it's no wonder. If you laid the golf courses in this desert valley end to end, you could play all the way from Palm Springs to Phoenix.This sultry setting has been identified with golfing for the last 50 years, and it now features some of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.

Thomas Stansbury and Laurence Fechter were married in a civil ceremony near Palm Springs CA on Friday June 20, 2008. Their marriage was preceded by a 16 year engagement, and became possible after an enlightened California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-gender marriage. The couple met in 1991 when both were invited to a dinner party at the home of mutual friends in Baltimore. At the time, Dr. Fechter was on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and Mr. Stansbury was a flight attendant for USAirways.

There has been a whole lot of shakin' going on at the Honeymoon Hideaway, where rock and roll king Elvis Presley once stayed -- and neighbors want it stopped.The city of Palm Springs has gone to court in a bid to bar commercial parties and functions in the spaceship-like home where Presley and his bride Priscilla spent their first married days in May 1967.Second only to Graceland as a mecca for Elvis fans, Honeymoon Hideaway is at the center of a legal storm over commercial use of former celebrity homes located in residentially zoned areas, including estates once owned by Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace and Cary Grant.

Doug Morrison saw the snow outside his Edmonton, Alberta, bedroom window one recent morning and knew this was the time. Three hours later, he was on a plane to Palm Springs, Calif. By lunchtime, the 49-year-old Canadian bureaucrat was checking out a two-bedroom condominium on a golf course, priced to sell at $322,500. Later that afternoon, Morrison pondered the deal as he dined in shirtsleeves at a sidewalk table. "There's Christmas music and it's 70 degrees," he said as music played softly from the restaurant's speakers.

On February 3, 2005 CHARLOTTE "SNOOKIE" DIAMOND (nee Bulmash) formerly of Baltimore, passed away in Palm Springs, California. She was the loving mother of Ronny and Jodi Rubin; grandmother of Remi Rubin; sister of Myra Levine and Joel Bulmash; sister-in-law of Larry Levine and Helane Bulmash; daughter of the late Albert and Cecelia Bulmash. Funeral services will be held in Palm Springs on Sunday, February 6. It is requested that any donations be made to "Guide Dogs of the Desert".

Now the satellite dish, an eyesore on the suburban and rural landscape, can perch on a lawn disguised as a patio umbrella and table.Called Under Cover, the dish provides shade in the summer.Even in the winter, as incongruous as it may look outdoors, its synthetic covering protects the dish from snow while allowing signals to pass through.Under Cover was originally designed for residents of Palm Springs, Calif.The resort town had more than 90 country clubs but no satellite dishes until 1987, when Ron Roberge began selling the special dish.

The terrible news came by telephone: Shelly Bussey, a 17-year-old from Brooklyn Park, was one of the Girl Scouts riding in a chartered school bus that careened off a mountain highway in Palm Springs, Calif. Wednesday afternoon, killing seven passengers.Lisa Young, who lives next door to Shelly's family in the 300 block of Walton Avenue, heard the news Wednesday evening, when Shelly's mother called her."I couldn't understand what she was saying: 'Can you watch Jessie? Can you watch Jessie?

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- The matter of wrapping up a national tennis title taken care of, Dustin Friedman was trying to make a quick getaway.After blowing through the boys 14-and-under draw at the Easter Bowl tournament without dropping a set, Friedman, of Owings Mills, wanted to put Palm Springs behind him and get to Los Angeles for the O. J. Simpson trial, or at least see the courthouse where it's taking place.In the Easter Bowl event, Friedman upheld his top seeding with a 6-2, 6-2 rout of No. 6 William Boyles of Pensacola, Fla., in the final, earning a silver platter.

Thomas Stansbury and Laurence Fechter were married in a civil ceremony near Palm Springs CA on Friday June 20, 2008. Their marriage was preceded by a 16 year engagement, and became possible after an enlightened California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-gender marriage. The couple met in 1991 when both were invited to a dinner party at the home of mutual friends in Baltimore. At the time, Dr. Fechter was on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and Mr. Stansbury was a flight attendant for USAirways.

Injured LSU's O'Neal will miss SEC tourneyLSU center Shaquille O'Neal, the nation's leading rebounder and Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, will miss the SEC tournament this weekend because of a hairline fracture in his left leg, the school announced last night.A news release said it wasn't immediately known whether the 7-foot-1 sophomore might be available if LSU advances to the National Collegeiate Athletic Association or National Invitation Tournament. The nation's leading rebounder with an average of 14.6 a game, O'Neal also is averaging 27.7 points and five blocked shots.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Southeast water shortage and the California wildfires, Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea (opening today for one week at the Charles) provides a funky, terrifying and improbably funny demonstration of environmental neglect leading to ecological disaster. Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer have made a stranger-than-fiction documentary about a freshwater desert lake that turned into a salty inland sea and threatens to become a giant sewer or source of alkaline clouds.

LOS ANGELES - An earthquake roiled southern California early yesterday afternoon, shoving bottles and bric-a-brac from shelves and shaking buildings from the desert to the Pacific Ocean. At least one injury was reported at a resort in Lake Arrowhead. There were also reports of minor damage, including downed telephone lines. Two rockslides were reported in San Bernardino County. Yesterday's earthquake followed several others during the past week. An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 rattled off of the coast of northern California on Tuesday evening.

On February 3, 2005 CHARLOTTE "SNOOKIE" DIAMOND (nee Bulmash) formerly of Baltimore, passed away in Palm Springs, California. She was the loving mother of Ronny and Jodi Rubin; grandmother of Remi Rubin; sister of Myra Levine and Joel Bulmash; sister-in-law of Larry Levine and Helane Bulmash; daughter of the late Albert and Cecelia Bulmash. Funeral services will be held in Palm Springs on Sunday, February 6. It is requested that any donations be made to "Guide Dogs of the Desert".

$1.25 million loan aimed at preserving affordable housing Annapolis-based Homes for America was awarded a $1.75 million loan recently by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The loan will be used to preserve affordable housing in Maryland and several other Mid-Atlantic states. Homes for America has 13 affordable rental communities in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Montgomery, Carroll, Calvert and Harford counties, and in Baltimore. The group also has rental communities in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware.

For the most part, Brian Setzer lives in the past. Well into the new millennium, the singer-musician still sports a heavily styled pompadour and long sideburns a la Elvis. His enunciation crisp, his voice booming like that of a sport broadcaster, Setzer says, "I'm a '50s guy, man. I wear my hair greased like that every day. I can go to the 7-Eleven and get away with it." His look matches his signature sound: a high-octane blend of rockabilly, country and electric blues interspersed with blazing, jazzy horns.

Remember the Elegant Lady, a clothing store on Reisterstown Road? It belonged to Rhona Blank and a co-owner. Customers came not just for dresses, but for Blank's great eye. When the store closed 20 years ago, Blank went on to open Macy's personal shopping department. And after a 10-year stay in Palm Springs, Blank is back in Baltimore and now works at Woolworks, a knit shop on Falls Road. There, Blank is still known for her exquisite taste -- and her extraordinary knitting ability.How did you learn to knit?

$1.25 million loan aimed at preserving affordable housing Annapolis-based Homes for America was awarded a $1.75 million loan recently by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The loan will be used to preserve affordable housing in Maryland and several other Mid-Atlantic states. Homes for America has 13 affordable rental communities in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Montgomery, Carroll, Calvert and Harford counties, and in Baltimore. The group also has rental communities in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware.

Ryland Group Inc., the homebuilding company, reported yesterday that it will take a pretax fourth-quarter charge of $13 million because of problems with two housing developments in California.Nevertheless, the Columbia-based company said that it expects be profitable in the fourth quarter, as well as for the full year -- mainly because of the strength of its mortgage-related financial services segment."We anticipate a profit for the full year, but results will be well below our previous expectations due to these necessary reserves," Roger W. Schipke, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

There has been a whole lot of shakin' going on at the Honeymoon Hideaway, where rock and roll king Elvis Presley once stayed -- and neighbors want it stopped.The city of Palm Springs has gone to court in a bid to bar commercial parties and functions in the spaceship-like home where Presley and his bride Priscilla spent their first married days in May 1967.Second only to Graceland as a mecca for Elvis fans, Honeymoon Hideaway is at the center of a legal storm over commercial use of former celebrity homes located in residentially zoned areas, including estates once owned by Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace and Cary Grant.

There's been much discussion in the gay community lately concerning the so-called "circuit parties," which have become annual high holy days for tens of thousands of gay men. For the uninitiated, circuit parties, in such gay meccas as Fire Island and Palm Springs, are marathon bacchanals where gay men ingest prodigious amounts of drugs, cruise incessantly, and bop and bounce their stunningly buff bods at 140 beats per minute.They've been going on for years, but they've been under the microscope since last August, when a Fire Island partygoer overdosed and ended up comatose and on life support.