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Maryland Live! Casino at Arundel Mills will have its grand opening at 10 p.m. June 6, casino officials announced Thursday morning. The grand opening still requires approval by the Maryland Lottery, which will oversee a trial run to take place before June 6. The announcement comes as the state slots commission on Thursday considers a bid to open a casino in Rocky Gap, in Western Maryland, by Evitts Resort LLC. The commission also has yet...

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) -- The Boardwalk has been a tourism nucleus for decades. And while it stays relatively the same year after year, with a multitude of stores, eateries and other attractions, each season brings a few changes. This season, visitors will notice the actual Boardwalk has received a facelift. During the off-season, some portions of the 2.5-mile span were reconstructed. It's easy to tell where upgrades were made, as the new boards are a lighter shade of brown.

Maryland has hosted 1,775 clinical trials for new medicines targeting six major chronic diseases since 1999, including 369 that are still in the early stages of recruiting patients, according to a study by two pharmaceutical industry groups released Friday. The report assessed the economic impact of clinical trials in the state, noting that the industry helped support 81,000 jobs, total employee salaries of $1.9 billion and $71 million in Maryland taxes as of 2008. More than half of the continuing clinical trials in the state are occurring in Baltimore, at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University, the report found.

Maryland has hosted 1,775 clinical trials for new medicines targeting six major chronic diseases since 1999, including 369 that are still in the early stages of recruiting patients, according to a study by two pharmaceutical industry groups released Friday. The report assessed the economic impact of clinical trials in the state, noting that the industry helped support 81,000 jobs, total employee salaries of $1.9 billion and $71 million in Maryland taxes as of 2008. More than half of the continuing clinical trials in the state are occurring in Baltimore, at the University of Maryland Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University, the report found.

The sight of a forklift lowering a 9,300-pound concrete slab ontoPratt Street attracted a crowd Monday night at the Inner Harbor. Curiosity-seekers joined organizers running the first Baltimore Grand Prix as the second phase officially began in constructing the downtown race course that will be used for the Labor Day weekend event. Martyn Thake, the Baltimore Grand Prix 's director of operations, said that the first phase, resurfacing and repairing many of the city streets that will be part of the two-mile course, has been completed.

The State Highway Administration has announced that it expects to reopen East Main Street in Westminster from Little George's near Church Street to Manchester Avenue today.At the same time the reconstructed blocks are opening, the next phase of construction will start. The Main Street and Washington Road intersection, plus a small portion of Washington Road between Main and Green streets, will be closed for construction.The last phase of the project is expected to take about six weeks, depending on the weather and unforeseeable complications.

T. Rowe Price, the giant Baltimore-based mutual fund manager, yesterday showed off to elected county and state leaders the completed first phase of its new financial center in Owings Mills.About 950 are expected to be employed in the two four-story office buildings, each with about 100,000 square feet of space, that make up the first phase.The workers, who are primarily moving out of the Baltimore headquarters, are expected to move into the new offices by the end of the month, said company spokesman Edward F. Giltenan.

A ceremonial planting of a tree yesterday marked the end of the first phase of a $900,000 beautification project of Albemarle Street between the Baltimore City Life Museums' 1840 House and the Flag House Courts public housing project.The tree was one of 18 planted in the yards of low-rise units in East Baltimore.Last summer, 18 neighborhood teen-agers helped erect cast-iron fences in front of more than 30 units.Next year, the street will be repaved and new street lights installed."It really was a ceremony to acknowledge the contribution of the kids," said Nancy Brennan, executive director of City Life Museums.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. has finished the first phase of its acquisition of St. Louis' River City Broadcasting, a deal that will make it the seventh-largest broadcasting company in the nation.Baltimore-based Sinclair completed its acquisition of the "nonlicense assets" of River City on Friday. The assets include office space and television and radio equipment, said Pat Talamantes of River City, who has been named head of investor relations for Sinclair."In terms of the acquisition, this is by far the biggest piece of it," Talamantes said.

The commissioners may continue to take money from the county's water and sewer expansion fund to phase in rate increases over a three-year period.The county had originally planned to double water and sewer rates in Eldersburg and nearly double sewer rates in Hampstead in just one year. Although the ultimate increases will be just as steep, the residents would pay less the first two years if the phase-in is approved.Water and sewer rates for Eldersburg residents using 18,000 gallons of water per quarter -- a typical residential use -- would increase from the current annual average of $220 to $298 starting July 1, to $378 in 1993 and $456 by 1994 under a proposal to phase in the increases.

Loyola's Devin McNamara and Deemer Class felt the pain of losing to rival Calvert Hall last Friday. They made sure they didn't feel it again at home Tuesday against Gilman. The two accounted for 11 points as the third-ranked Dons (12-2, 4-1) jumped all over No. 2 Gilman en route to a 10-5 win in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game. Loyola generated a four-goal lead in the first quarter to help put away Gilman (7-3, 3-2). "We came out really strong," said McNamara, a junior.

A developer working to transform vacant, city-owned properties in a North Baltimore neighborhood into hundreds of new and rehabbed homes received city design approval Thursday for 69 new apartments that will get under way this fall. The city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel approved the layout and plans for five new buildings that Telesis Corp. will develop in the blocks bounded by East 20th and East 21st streets, Barclay Street and Greenmount Avenue. The company plans to start construction in September on 69 one-, two- and three-bedroom units in buildings that will resemble traditional Baltimore rowhouses.

Most of the boys and girls scattered across the turf Saturday for the grand opening of Blandair Park weren't born at its inception. The children, with their lacrosse sticks and football helmets, waited to try out the fields and playground as the politicians congratulated one another on the completion of the first phase of the 300-acre park that has been 14 years in the making. The playground, 278-space parking lot and three multi-use turf fields, which can be used for soccer, lacrosse or football, are the highlights of the latest evolution of the land that was once a Colonial-era farm.

Environmental expert Alex Pavlak pointed out some interesting facts regarding Governor O'Malley's offshore wind farm idea ("The energy is clean, but the system for getting it is not," Feb. 10). The governor's goal is to produce one-fifth of our energy needs by green methods by 2022. Mr. Pavlak points out that green energy costs roughly four times as much to produce as our current generators. A little simple math shows the average cost per kilowatt hour would double in today's dollars.

The 2013-2014 school year may seem like a long way off, but state school officials are already fretting over a perfect storm of education reforms that could make today's extensive state testing regimen seem like a snap. That's the year when students could take as many as five state-mandated tests, on top of their teachers' occasional pop quizzes and the tests given several times each year by the local school systems. While the Maryland School Assessment will be phased out, those tests will still overlap with a new battery of four new assessments to be field tested here and in 23 states.

Matthew Slater bulked up in a big way the moment he entered the NFL. The Patriots handed the former UCLA standout not just one Yellow Pages-sized binder but two — one for offense, the other for defense. "The first day in this building, they gave me two playbooks," Slater said Thursday in a phone interview. "There was no, 'We'll give you one, then we'll give you the other.' It was, 'Here's both.' I felt like I was in a graduate-studies program, making flash cards and everything.

Q: We have a lot of trouble getting our 3-year-old son dressed. There may be two or three pairs of pants or shirts that he'll wear, but anything else -- or something new -- he'll scream and cry and complain that it hurts him. I sure would like some help.Jim Statsky, Berwyn, Ill.A: Most preschoolers go through difficult clothes phases -- everything from insisting on the same pants for days to refusing any outfit that buttons down the front.If it's a phase, it'll pass, and the best thing is simply to avoid a battle.

Some numbers to ponder while waiting for the Orioles to pull out of this "slump":They have lost 24 of their last 30 games and 35 of their last 49 dating to last season.They're five games under .500 since sweeping the Braves 277 games ago in June 1997.Yes, that's a period that has included two front office regimes, numerous personnel moves and several blueprints, but still, the pattern is impossible to miss.You can keep calling their 4-13 start a slump or a phase or whatever, but the reality is the Orioles aren't a winning ballclub and haven't been for some time.

Although some of the Occupy Baltimore protesters are expressing disappointment and anger at their early morning rousting from their McKeldin Square encampment, both they and the Baltimore Police Department deserve congratulations for peacefully handling the kind of encounter that has led to violence and destruction in other cities. It would not have served the interests of either the police or the protesters to have a confrontation in which dozens of activists — and the homeless and others who had been welcomed in the encampment — were hauled off to jail.

In the continued effort to reduce infant mortality in Baltimore, health officials and the Family League of Baltimore City have launched an effort to reduce secondhand smoke near babies and pregnant women. The campaign, called "Just Hold Off," is the second phase of the B'more for Healthy Babies program. The first phase, launched in August 2010, focused on safe sleep: Babies should sleep alone, on their backs in a crib. Officials are urging smokers to back away from pregnant women and babies in the home, vehicles, bus shelters and elsewhere.