Peta

N o matter how much snow lands on Maryland, one thing's for sure: Katie O'Malley will face it furless. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals surveyed the nation's first ladies on their outerwear habits and trumpeted the results in a news release Wednesday. "[A]fter mentioning that first ladies Michelle Obama of the U.S. and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy of France had issued statements that they are fur-free" - no pressure! - "[PETA] simply asked, 'Do you wear fur?

One of Baltimore's biggest companies, Constellation Energy Group, could be gobbled up by a Florida utility. What's the most serious fallout for Charm City? Losing one of Baltimore's last Fortune 500 companies? Bummer, but we'd get over it. Losing thousands of jobs. Even bigger bummer. Losing Molly Shattuck as a Ravens cheerleader. Ugh! Perish the thought! I phoned Ms. Molly the other day as news of the merger was spreading to ask what it meant for her cheerleading career. If CEO-hubby Mayo had to look for a new job, would she limit his search to NFL cities?

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wasn't exactly jumping when Jada Pinkett Smith asked for her help in protecting elephants earlier this week. The mayor more or less says she had bigger fish to fry -- that and the actress didn't help her out when the city needed it. But Friday Pinkett Smith's aunt, who runs the Baltimore-based charity of the actress, said her niece has done quite a bit for the city -- and she's surprised that the mayor doesn't...

Las Vegas names Roy `Citizen of the Month' Illusionist Roy Horn, recovering from a near-fatal tiger mauling, missed the excitement as the Las Vegas City Council honored him yesterday as "Citizen of the Month." There was a proclamation from the mayor and an interview with "Siegfried & Roy" show manager Bernie Yuman, but there was no Siegfried. Siegfried Fischbacher was on his way to Los Angeles. The animal act was shut down after a white tiger attacked Horn during an Oct. 3 performance.

A couple of Easter bunnies hopped out yesterday to prove that the holiday isn't just for people with living rooms and lawns, it's also for those without a place to sleep at night.At the Antioch Shelter Home in Baltimore, representatives from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) served a vegetarian breakfast while children swarmed the big bunny, almost knocking off his oversized white head with their hearty hugs.At Baltimore's Carroll Park, another mammoth rabbit presided as more than 100 children from three other area shelters played outdoor games and hunted for 1,000 plastic eggs filled with candy, in an event staged by students at the University of Maryland school of law.Antioch's breakfast menu dropped the usual bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs.

Bowing to pressure from a national animals rights organization, the owner of an Anne Arundel County bar said last night he is ending its rodeo-style bull riding in favor of tropical ambiance. "I hate to give in," said Cancun Cantina owner Tony Toskov, "but its in my best interest to call it quits for the summer. Besides, I just planted 150 palm trees where the bull riding was and I'm not prepared to dig them up." Toskov announced his decision a day after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals stepped up its campaign against the return of bull riding at his Hanover nightclub.

SOME PEOPLE might call it ironic, but it was because of AIDS that I first became involved with animal rights. When my dearest friend, Robert Redding -- who helped me develop the Elvira "Mistress of the Dark," character -- found out he had AIDS, I was determined to keep him going until a cure was found. I was always looking for anything that would make him feel better, and one of the things I heard about was a macrobiotic diet. But the only way I could talk Robert into it was to do it with him. After a while we lapsed from the macrobiotic diet, but Robert and I both stayed vegetarians, and I began reading more about vegetarianism.

NEWS ITEM: Santa's reindeer have been barred from the Christmas Pageant for Peace, Washington's official holiday display. The National Park Service agreed to remove Dasher, Prancer & Co. following complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal-rights group.-- Associated Press, Dec. 13, 1996BOSTON, Dec. 23, 2014 -- Hard to believe now, but it wasn't until 1996 -- just 18 years ago -- that the rehabilitation of Santa Claus began in earnest. PETA's effortless victory in excluding Santa's reindeer from the national Christmas pageant that year encouraged other progressive organizations to mount challenges of their own.The Ms. Foundation and the National Organization for Women were among the first to follow in PETA's footsteps.

Tonight's an abbreviated show due to the presidential debate. Four couples will do their individual routines, and the other four couples will dance their group routine. Tomorrow, they switch. It's "Guilty Pleasures" night -- which, don't get me started. You like what you like and that's ok. Unless it's illegal. In which case, darn tootin' you should feel guilty. Tom tells us the freestyle team dance has already claimed one victim; the camera pans to to Melissa and Tony. (Psst, I read online that she was taken to the hospital with a head injury over the weekend.)

To: All elves, support personnelFrom: Santa ClausRe: Annual update on operationsOnce again we delivered nearly 2 billion toys to good little boys and girls around the world; many thanks to all who worked so hard.Last night's activities did not go quite as smoothly as planned, however.A number of PETA activists delayed our sleigh's planned 6 p.m. departure with a noisy protest near the stables.Their central complaint: Asking eight tiny reindeer to circumnavigate the globe while lugging some 200,000 Gymnast Barbies, 500,000 Power Rangers, countless sleds, baseball gloves, Nintendo games and so on constitutes cruelty toward animals, a systemic pattern of abuse and blah, blah, blah.