Petersburg

IT'S EASY TO FALL in love with St. Petersburg. The baroque palaces alone are breathtaking, glistening along the Neva River and its innumerable canals. Then there is the spirit of Peter the Great's creation - bold, enterprising, rebellious. With such inspiration, it's no wonder St. Petersburg ranks among the world's top cultural capitals. Starting today, Baltimoreans will have an extraordinary chance to sample those riches. With events that will continue through March 2, more than 60 area arts organizations are joining to celebrate St. Petersburg's 300th birthday.

Veteran midfielder Kyle Dixon (Archbishop Spalding) had seven points and tied a Major League Lacrosse record with three 2-point goals as the Chesapeake Bayhawks opened the 2013 season by beating the Rochester Rattlers, 17-14, in front of an announced 3,940 at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla. Dixon, a seventh-year professional, increased his MLL career record for 2-pointers to 50. The perennial All-Star also had an assist as Chesapeake began...

We'd like to take a cruise to Scandinavia that ends in St. Petersburg, Russia, so we can spend a few days there. Can you help? Most of the major cruise lines offering Baltic cruises include St. Petersburg - but none ends in the Russian city. However, some cruises that include it on their itineraries spend at least an overnight there, giving you two full days to explore its many sites. Three major lines that do are Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com), Carnival (carni val.com) and Princess (princess.

Alexey Titarenko's black-and-white photographs conjure up gray areas between motion and inertia, living and getting by, past and present. The images haunt, and are haunted. For the third time since 2003, Baltimore's C. Grimaldis Gallery is presenting a Titarenko exhibit. This one focuses on the place where the 50-year-old Russian photographer was born — known then as Leningrad and, since the fall of the Soviet government, as St. Petersburg. The photographer, whose works have been exhibited widely and are now in museums in Europe and the U.S., started taking pictures in the 1970s but stayed largely underground until perestroika allowed for freer artistic expression.

ST. PETERSBURG -- A $180 million shipping infrastructure master plan to revitalize the seaport of this great city, Russia's main outlet to the Baltic Sea, is acting as a magnet for growing investment.Privatization and the decline of the obsolete industries in the former communist-dominated countries around the highly polluted Baltic are already reflected in the slow but significant recovery of the sensitive marine ecosystem.Funds for the harbor extension and privatization scheme are being raised by the port and city authorities, the Russian government and various banks.

MOSCOW -- With his ideology and empire already in ruins, Vladimir I. Lenin's name was stripped yesterday from Russia's second-largest city, and Leningrad once again became St. Petersburg.A vote of the presidium of the Russian Federation's parliament affirmed the preference of 54 percent of the city's residents for the original name, expressed in a referendum June 12, Tass reported.The precise legal status of the name remains somewhat debatable, since some officials insist that only the Russian Congress of People's Deputies, the full republican parliament, has the right to make the change.

The 2nd Maryland Infantry Battalion was organized at Winchester, Va., in the fall of 1862, of companies recruited in Richmond, Va., by officers of the old 1st Maryland Regiment and some Marylanders who had come to Virginia after the battle of Antietam.The 2nd Maryland was employed during the winter and spring of 1863 at New Market, Harrisonburg and various other points along the Valley Pike.In June 1863, when Gen. Robert E. Lee commenced his move on Pennsylvania, the 2nd Maryland fought at Winchester and then at Culp's Hill during the battle at Gettysburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- This is Russia's imperial city, where the Romanovs lived 200 years of extravagance.Evening shadows beneath a long, mustard-colored arcade conjure Raskolnikov's tortured skulk from crime to punishment. At any of a hundred carved mansion doors, Anna Karenina could be stepping out into a lace of winter snowfall, hat brim pulled low for a secret rendezvous with Vronsky.St. Petersburg is known for the treasures kept in the Romanovs' restored gilt palaces; the Hermitage and the winter and summer palaces offer imperial life under glass.

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! Baltimore may not seem the most likely place for a Russian invasion, but that's pretty much what will happen over the next three weeks, as Vivat! St. Petersburg, a multimedia celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg, takes over the city's arts scene. First suggested four years ago by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Yuri Temirkanov, who doubles as chief conductor and music director of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Vivat!

Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., one of America's oldest investment bankers, is now one of Russia's newest.The Baltimore-based company was host to a group of officials this week from St. Petersburg, Russia, who have enlisted Alex. Brown as their city's financial adviser. The goal is to set up a market for municipal bonds, old hat for a company that helped finance the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad more than 100 years ago.The challenge is to do it in a country whose infrastructure is either crumbling or non-existent, whose inflation rate exceeds 365 percent a year and whose citizens still would rather stick their money in a mattress than a bank.

Dario Franchitti won last year's IndyCar championship with flair, overtaking Will Power in the finale after trailing most of the season. Franchitti didn't wait nearly that long to take command of Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The two-time defending series champion passed Power for first place on a Lap 5 restart and went on to lead 94 of 100 laps for his first victory on the 1.8-mile downtown street course. "A lot hinged on that first restart, passing Will there," Franchitti said.

For all of its celebrated universality, the language of music speaks with many different accents. A century ago, a group of Russian composers set out to explore one such accent by forming the Society for Jewish Folk Music in St. Petersburg, with the encouragement of such luminaries as Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Over the ensuing decades, for a variety of reasons, the products of these "St. Petersburg school" composers were mostly forgotten - an undeserved fate that is being vigorously reversed by a man better known for his deftly argued political opinions from a generally conservative perspective.

JOSEPH F. WITEK age 65, of St. Petersburg, FL, formerly of Jarrettsville, MD, died on October 26, 2008. He is survived by his loving daughters Tracy Lewandowski and her husband, David, of St. Louis and Elizabeth Gustin and her husband, Mark, of East Moriches, NY; partner Craig Heidel of St. Petersburg; brother Richard Witek and his wife, Kathy Malo of Monson, MA; sister Patricia Schonback and her husband, Peter, of Monson, MA; former wife Priscilla Bradley...

THOMAS J. "TJ" ARUFFO, 49, of St. Petersburg, died suddenly Thursday, February 28, 2008 at Palms of Pasadena Hospital. He was born in Drexel Hill, PA, on May 30,1958. TJ was an Eagle Scout and attended Bridgewater High School in New Jersey. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1982 and enjoyed a distinguished career as a naval aviator, flying the F14 Tomcat in carrier aviation worldwide. After fourteen years serving our country, he entered the private sector, holding executive positions with Fortune 500 companies, most recently as the Chief Information Officer for Cott Corporation, in Tampa, FL. An avid ocean yachtsman, TJ survived the infamous Fastnet Race of 1979 and enjoyed many subsequent years of ocean racing with friends and family aboard his sailing yacht "Reggae".

We'd like to take a cruise to Scandinavia that ends in St. Petersburg, Russia, so we can spend a few days there. Can you help? Most of the major cruise lines offering Baltic cruises include St. Petersburg - but none ends in the Russian city. However, some cruises that include it on their itineraries spend at least an overnight there, giving you two full days to explore its many sites. Three major lines that do are Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com), Carnival (carni val.com) and Princess (princess.

Alexander Mikhailovich, a photographer who specialized in architectural and art photography, died of emphysema Sunday at his Hartsdale, N.Y., home. The former Mount Washington resident was 80. Born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in the former Soviet Union, he worked with publishers to make photo albums of the architectural sites of St. Petersburg as well as of collections at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. As a young man, Mr. Mikhailovich traveled in Siberia as a freelance photographer, taking pictures of indigenous peoples and their rituals.

MOSCOW -- It's kids against cops in a standoff in St. Petersburg, and the kids aren't flinching.The police have a court order, the might of the city government and plenty of guns on their side. On their side, the kids have nothing but their determination and the weight of Russian culture, which cherishes children.At stake is possession of a choice piece of real estate that for eight years has been occupied by a private Christian school. The city wants the site, which the school spent about $1.5 million fixing up. The city arranged the law on its side.

On Friday, March 2, 2007, LOLA LEE KING, 66, in St. Petersburg, FL, although she was a longtime resident of Baltimore, MD. She was a long time member and volunteer at Light Street Presbyterian Church. she is survived by her five children, Mark, Patty, Joanna, Becky and Michelle. She is also survived by her ten grandchildren. Arrangements by David C. Gross Funeral Homes, 6366 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL, 33707. 727-381-4911. on line guest book at www.davidcgross.com

On Thursday, February 15, 2007, under the care of her family, MARIA LYYDIA LAKKALA, 61, of Dunedin and formerly of St. Petersburg. She was born in Billings, MT and came here in 2005 from Columbia, MD. She was the owner of Video Services and Dub Lady, Inc. in Elkridge, MD. She was a talented actress, singer and director of stage as well as a painter and poet and was well known in the Baltimore theatre community. She was Buddhist. She is survived by one son, Clinton J. Callahan and one daughter, Coby Kay Callahan, both of St. Petersburg.