Philadelphia

Speculation that Andres Alonso would leave the Baltimore City school CEO job for a new superintendent post has been rampant for years. Whenever an opening for the top job in an urban district appeared, Alonso's name seemed to be mentioned. He has always denied he was searching for a new job. When the Philly job came open, many education insiders insisted that Alonso was a strong contender. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote today that the school system has announced the name of two finalists, and Alonso isn't one of them.

In a recent column, I wrote about Gen. George Washington's aide-de-camp, Tench Tilghman, Maryland's version of Paul Revere, whose historic ride in October 1781 from Virginia to Philadelphia brought news to the Continental Congress of the British surrender at Yorktown and the end of the Revolutionary War. An email arrived several days later from an old friend and colleague, Mary Corddry, who had been The Baltimore Sun's Eastern Shore correspondent, recalling...

Several readers wrote me about last week's column that told the story of federal Judge Sarah Tilghman Hughes, a Baltimorean who swore in Lyndon B. Johnson as president aboard Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. They pointed out that Hughes' Maryland lineage included Tench Tilghman, who, like Hughes, had been at the center of one of history's most momentous events. Tilghman, Revolutionary War aide-de-camp to Gen. George Washington and one of Maryland's most famous patriots, carried the news of the British surrender in 1781 at Yorktown, Va., to the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, in a ride that has been compared as being second only to that of Paul Revere.

Toward the end of their concert in Philadelphia this month, First Aid Kit addressed the crowd: "We want to try an experiment. " For the past hour, Klara and Johanna Soderberg, the two Swedish sisters who make up the band, had been performing the kind of music that can be best summed up with the word "lovely. " It is Americana by way of Stockholm, pretty ballads and melancholy anecdotes sung in two frail, harmonious voices over quivering basslines. The duo was playing Union Transfer, a cavernous former rail baggage depot and my second stop on a visit to Philly's abundantly rich music scene.

After jumping out to a 10-5 advantage in the third quarter, No. 1 Calvert Hall went silent for nearly 22 minutes while Philadelphia public school power Conestoga scored the game's final six goals to stun the Cardinals, 11-10, Friday night at Russo Stadium in Towson. Calvert Hall, ranked No. 1 nationally by several lacrosse publications, looked out of sync down the stretch against the Pioneers' aggressive defense and its superb senior attackman, University of Maryland-bound Bradlee Lord, who scored a game-high five goals including the game-winner with 2:21 remaining.

After years of gaining fans the old fashioned way - self-produced albums, incessant touring - the time came in the summer of 2009 for Dr. Dog to graduate from low-fi psychedelic folk group to a fully formed band, with the confidence to rise above knock-off Beatles comparisons. Around then, the Philadelphia sextet left tiny Park the Van Records for the much larger ANTI- label, and producer-extraordinaire Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck) signed on for the group's next record.

Local college basketball fans have long fantasized about an arrangement in which area schools would regularly play each other in a format akin to the city series of Philadelphia's Big 5 - Villanova, Temple, La Salle, Penn and St. Joseph's. But it looks like that's all it is - a fantasy. For one thing, Maryland and Georgetown have no plans to play, and the Washington Post reported that Maryland isn't scheduling games with the Hoyas in other sports until a men's basketball agreement is reached.

Judy Berman was named senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Baltimore Sun Media Group on Monday, a position that will give her oversight of all advertising sales for the company's print and digital products. "Given the importance of growing revenue, Judy's marketing and business acumen, knowledge of direct marketing and expertise in leveraging data to increase revenue are among the many reasons she is perfect for the job," CEO and Publisher Timothy E. Ryan said in announcing Berman's expanded role.

Upon their arrival on Thursday the Washington Wizards held a team dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. The team-building exercise was intended to break up the monotony and division that naturally comes with being on a losing team. "When you do things like that, go out to eat, do different things together, it builds a bond, and a relationship to make you want to play with each other on the court, and play hard for each other," Rashard Lewis said a day later. Whatever happened over the course of eating prime cuts of beef was lost the moment the Wizards set foot on the floor Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, as they suffered perhaps their most embarrassing defeat of the season, 120-89, at Wells Fargo Center.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, icy conditions have been reported around Philadelphia Road and Golden Ring Road in Rosedale, where a broken water main is being repaired. There were no major delays reported on Baltimore area transit systems.