Pier

Ruth's Chris has had a good long run in Pier 5 Hotel. It opened in the hotel's main restaurant space in 2005. But nothing seems to work in hotel's smaller restaurant space. The Peacock Grill, Pizzazz Tuscan Grill and My Panini have come and gone. But that space has an amenity that Ruth's Chris doesn't have -- a waterfront deck. Actually, that deck hasn't always been there, and none of the cafes ever took full advantage of it. Now, Ruth's Chris at Pier 5 has taken over both the cafe space, which it will be using as a banquet facility and the adjoining deck, which they will open Wednesday through Sunday nights.

A 100-foot tugboat sank off Pier 3 in Locust Point on Saturday night. The tugboat Kaleen McAllister sank before 10 p.m., Mike Reagoso, the vice president of Mid-Atlantic operations for McAllister Towing, said Sunday. No one was injured in the incident, Reagoso said. Everyone had left the boat by the time it sank, said Petty Officer David Marin, a Coast Guard spokesman operating out of Baltimore's Curtis Bay yards. "It is too early to determine what the extent of the damage may be, but the submersion of the tug is not expected to interfere with any harbor operations or any port operations," Reagoso said in a statement.

A woman rescued early Thursday from the water off a pier in Canton has died, police said. Baltimore police responded to a call at 4:48 a.m. with the Marine Unit for a woman in the water near the 2300 block of Boston St. in Canton. It's unclear how she ended up in the water. More details weren't immediately available. ywenger@baltsun.com twitter.com/yvonnewenger

The CSX Transportation dockworker who is suing a Panamanian shipping company for $5.2 million in connection with an accident at a Curtis Bay coal pier last August will be in court next week on charges he sexually abused a child. David Rienas, 42, of Abingdon was indicted in December on three counts of sexual misconduct for an encounter last year, Harford County Circuit Court records show. He faces a felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and two misdemeanors.

A fire at the South River Marina in Edgewater damaged three boats and a pier early Thursday morning, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. Firefighters responded to the marina in the 1000 block of Turkey Point Road for reports of a fire about 3:50 a.m. and found two boats in flames, said Lt. Cliff Kooser, a department spokesman. A total of 21 firefighters working with the assistance of two county fire boats and a fire boat from the Annapolis Fire Department took about 20 minutes to extinguish the fire, Kooser said.

Maryland is so eager for its residents to try solar power that it offers homeowners thousands of dollars in grants to mount photovoltaic panels on or around their homes to generate electricity from the sun. Just don't try to put them on your boat pier. That's what Robert Bruninga found out when he proposed putting PV panels on a wooden pier jutting out into Marley Creek in Glen Burnie. An engineer at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Bruninga says he needs to use his pier because there are too many trees elsewhere on his property to get a steady dose of the sun's energy-producing rays.

Fishing piers are one of the great ways for kids to learn the sport. Good ones are sturdy, long and wide. Unfortunately in the greater Baltimore area, they're also few and far between. But by this time next year, the ranks will grow by one. You can thank the Pasadena Sportfishing Group for applying a little pier pressure on the Anne Arundel County Council. George Bentz, the leader of the group, began agitating for a fishing pier at Downs Park at the end of Route 177. The 245-acre park on the Chesapeake Bay has picnic pavilions, trails and ball fields but no good place for little ones to stand safely at the water's edge.

The proposed fishing pier at the old Severn River bridge most likely will be 280 feet, now that state transportation officials are coming around to the idea and the state Department of Natural Resources has decided not to fight for a longer pier."

Fire investigators were looking into the cause of an early morning blaze that damaged part of a Naval Station pier in Annapolis yesterday. The fire, which was reported about 3 a.m., resulted in no injuries and will have no operational impact on the base, which is across the Severn River from the Naval Academy and supports the school, said Cmdr. Rod Gibbons, a spokesman for the Naval Academy. The pier is part of the base's Morale, Welfare and Recreation program, he said. Naval Academy, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County firefighters responded to the blaze, he said.

A 17-year-old Pasadena man was found dead yesterday on a pier at High Point Community Beach, Anne Arundel County police said.The body of Eric Lee Downey of the 7000 block of Edgewood Road was found beside a bicycle by a neighborhood resident walking along the beach. The resident notified police at 10: 36 a.m.The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore yesterday afternoon for an autopsy.Downey was last seen by friends between 6 p.m. and 6: 30 p.m. Tuesday at the pier in the 800 block of Riverside Drive in Pasadena, police said.

A CSX Transportation dockworker who says he suffered disabling injuries last August when a tanker collided with a Curtis Bay pier has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the shipping company. David Rienas of Abingdon was atop a coal-loading machine on the Bayside Coal Pier when the Wawasan Ruby struck, "causing it to be dragged down the pier with great force," according to the suit, filed Friday. Rienas, 42, is asking the court for $5.2 million as compensation for back, neck and rib injuries that have kept him from working and have, he says, caused him permanent injuries "including mental anguish, fright and emotional distress and disfigurement.

Remember all the big, high-sounding media talk right after the massacre at Sandy Hook about how maybe now we will have a "national dialogue" about guns? Remember how many members of the media vowed to put aside their own little, selfish, partisan agendas and get serious about making this a safer and saner country for our children? Well, here we are 12 days out, and what's that big media conversation on guns about? Whether or not "Meet the Press" host David Gregory broke a law by waving an empty ammunition clip on the air Sunday during an interview with the NRA's Wayne LaPierre and how many people have signed petitions to deport CNN talkshow host Piers Morgan for verbally insulting any gun advocate foolish enough to come on his joke of an interview show.

Two large ships being unloaded at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore shifted away from the berth where they were docked amid strong winds Wednesday night, snapping the lines tying them down and damaging a crane, according to officials at the port of Baltimore. The roll-on, roll-off ships, containing heavy machinery, farm equipment and other vehicles, are owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, one of the port's largest roll-on, roll-off customers, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

The collision between a Panama-owned tanker and a Curtis Bay coal pier caused in excess of $22 million in damages - more than four times the original claim - according to documents filed in U.S. District Court by CSX Transportation, the pier owner. The Aug. 25 accident took the Bayside Coal Pier out of action for nearly two months and a CSX employee was hospitalized for injuries, said CSX, a railroad based in Jacksonville, Fla. The 479-foot Wawasan Ruby was making a left turn from Curtis Bay on its approach to the Bitumar Asphalt Dock when it struck the Bayside pier.

A woman rescued early Thursday from the water off a pier in Canton has died, police said. Baltimore police responded to a call at 4:48 a.m. with the Marine Unit for a woman in the water near the 2300 block of Boston St. in Canton. It's unclear how she ended up in the water. More details weren't immediately available. ywenger@baltsun.com twitter.com/yvonnewenger

A day's worth of some excellent storm coverage by CNN was all but shredded during the Piers Morgan show Monday night when meteorologist Chad Myers reported that the New York Stock Exchange was under three feet of water and the hip-shooting host ran wild with the report that turned out to be false. What a shame for all those CNN correspondents in places like Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City and Asbury Park who spent the day and night standing in cold ocean water and rain doing such a fine job of reporting the story.

The frigate HNLMS Tromp of the Royal Netherlands Navy will dock at the Broadway Pier in Fells Point starting today. The warship is scheduled to arrive in Fells Point at 9 a.m. today. The public is invited to a welcome ceremony alongside the ship at 11:30 a.m. Tours are available from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The ship will depart for Norfolk, Va., on Wednesday. Its visit is sponsored by Sail Baltimore.

A Japanese-owned ship picking up American cars crashed into a pier owned by Conoco Oil early yesterday morning in Fairfield, cracking several pipelines and spilling oil, gasoline and other substances into the Patapsco River.The small spill will not harm the river's wildlife, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official said.The 500-foot, 8,801-ton ship Eastern Highway, sailing under the Liberian flag, attempted to dock at the Chespeake Terminal with the help of several tugboats. But the large vessel hit the pier near the 2000 block of Chesapeake Ave. about 4:30 a.m.The impact of the crash submerged about two-thirds of the 120-foot pier, along with five pipelines.

As Sandy pounds the mid-Atlantic coast Monday, the Baltimore region is bracing for gale-force winds and flooding. The area remains under a flood watch through Tuesday evening, with coastal flooding expected late Monday into Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rain, as much as six inches, and high winds, with gusts as much as 70 miles per hour, will occur throughout Monday afternoon and well into Tuesday, according to forecasters. Mandatory travel restrictions will be imposed in Baltimore at 6 p.m. on Monday and stay in effect until noon on Tuesday, banning driving on city streets for everyone but emergency personnel.