Reopen

The State Highway Administration reopened its long-closed South Mountain rest stops along Interstate 70 near the Frederick- Washington County line this week after an $18.3 million renovation project. The agency opened a section of the eastbound and westbound rest stops after expanding the parking area and updating restroom facilities. The stops, between Exits 35 and 42 in Frederick County, have been provided with walking trails, picnic areas, parking and restrooms that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. According to the SHA, the reopened rest stops each have 76 parking spaces for passenger vehicles, 26 parking spaces for commercial trucks and six parking spaces for RVs and buses.

A decade since the 2003 tropical storm that began its fiscal and operational woes, Market House in downtown Annapolis is expected to reopen in the coming weeks with a lineup of vendors selling falafel, gelato, sandwiches and crab cakes from the historic building. Since Tropical Storm Isabel blew through and flooded the building in 2003, the Market House has operated in fits and starts as the city struggled to repair the building and attract a stable lineup of vendors. Between renovations and lawsuits from former tenants, the city has spent millions of dollars on the Market House since 2003.

Starting today, Sudhir Shah will close his Catonsville convenience store three hours earlier. In the fall, he will lock the door at dusk and only take in customers whose faces he recognizes. The changes, though, will end there. Shah said he won't keep a gun, trusting, instead that something such as the November robbery at his store — in which he was shot in the head and a customer was killed in front of him — will never happen again. "It screwed up my life," said Shah, as he prepared the store earlier this week to reopen on a full-time basis with a communitywide celebration.

Ocean City's fishing pier officially opened Friday as the Maryland resort town signaled it is ready for summer visitors. During last fall's storm, about 100 feet of the pier collapsed into the surging sea. The damage was featured prominently in news coverage of the storm. But at Friday's rededication, Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said the town had put all of that behind it. He said the re-opening the pier let's visitors know that “it's business as usual in Ocean City.” The pier was originally built in 1907 and has been rebuilt many times since then.

A Harford County retailer as popular for its yard-sale atmosphere as its couture fashions is reopening next month more than a year after closing. But it will no longer carry the C-Mart name that bargain shoppers knew so well. C-Mart once attracted a loyal following of frugal shoppers with high-end tastes from around the region until attempts by new owners to modernize in a bad economy forced it out of business in 2008. Now a member of C-Mart's founding family is reopening the store Feb. 3 in its original location under the name The Big TARP Company Store.

The Route 90 bridge to Ocean City, closed since mid-October for emergency repairs, will reopen about 10 a.m. today - just in time for Thanksgiving, the State Highway Administration has announced. The bridge, one of two connecting the mainland with the ocean resort, had been expected to remain closed through mid-December. The 38-year-old bridge over Assawoman Bay in Worcester County was closed after inspectors discovered deterioration in a girder on an 85-foot section of the span. While the bridge was being repaired, the U.S. 50 bridge was the only one serving the barrier island.

Police are investigating a shooting in the Lakeland neighborhood of South Baltimore, but have reopened westbound lanes on the 2100 block of West Patapsco Avenue as they search for evidence and interview residents. An unidentified male was shot around 10:30 a.m., police said. The shooting took place across the street from the Hollinswood Park shopping center. At least three shell casings were seen on the sidewalk near where the shooting occured. Police did not release information on the victim's condition.

Farmers Bank will reopen Monday on a limited schedule for a temporary period, said spokeswoman Jacquelyn Lebow. The bank will draw on staff from affiliated banks to reopen.

Florence Bain Senior Center in west Columbia will reopen Wednesday, according to Howard County officials. Flooding from a burst sprinkler pipe Jan. 11 closed the center last week. Workers dried carpets and walls after the pipe broke in the ceiling of an exercise room, pouring out water to a depth of 4 inches. The exercise room where the pipe broke will remain closed for several weeks, until a new wood laminate floor can be installed, said Arleen Dinneen, director of the center. Machines have bored into walls to dry them, and rugs have been dried and treated to prevent mold.

The Hackerman House, where the Walters Art Gallery displays its Asian collection, reopens today after a four-day hiatus.The planned months-long closing of the house, which Walters officials blamed on city budget cuts, was averted thanks to rapid response to a fund-raising plea, and a special gift from Mr. and Mrs. Willard Hackerman, the original donors of the Mount Vernon mansion.The Walters has received about $30,000, including the Hackerman gift, since Monday after making an emergency appeal at the end of last week.

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum should reopen Oct. 4, the group responsible for making it profitable announced this week. "That's the official goal. That's the date," said Baltimore-based actor and author Mark Redfield, vice president of Poe Baltimore. "Things are coming along. " Tentative plans call for the house to be open weekends until spring 2014, when hours would be expanded. Final details are still being developed, Redfield said, but plans call for a museum that will be similar to what had been available to visitors before the closing of the house in September 2012.

The formerly city-owned Barclay Recreation Center will make its debut as a privately run community center May 18, serving the Charles Village area, including the Abell, Oakenshawe, Harwood and Old Goucher communities. A grand opening celebration, possibly with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in attendance, is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center, 2900 Barclay St., in the Charles Village area. The Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks last year turned over the underutilized, 7,300-square-foot facility to the city public school next door, Barclay Elementary/Middle, to operate as a social and education center in a public-private partnership with the nonprofit Greater Homewood Community Corp.

All northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Laurel have reopened Sunday evening after a person fell from an overpass onto the roadway earlier in the day, police said. Prince George's County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said a person jumped or fell from the Brooklyn Bridge Road overpass and was fatally injured about 3 p.m. The roadway was shut down for about three hours. Authorities did not immediately have any information on the person who fell or the circumstances. cwells@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The Roosevelt Park Recreation Center reopened Wednesday after being closed for about a month because of a broke water pipe. "I missed it," said Gabrielle Barnes, 10, a third grader from Hampden Elementary/Middle School. She was one of 14 children who returned to the center for after-school enrichment activities. Usually, that number is about 25, but some families might not have gotten the message yet that the center was reopen, director Joshua Fissel said. The pipe was repaired at a cost of $10,000, said Kia McLeod, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks.

Mountain Road (MD 177) in Pasadena was closed in both directions on Tuesday morning as Anne Arundel County Fire Department officials investigated what it deemed was a suspicious item near a dumpster, but about an hour later county police said the state highway had been reopened after the item was deemed safe. The state Department of Transportation reported at 9:11 a.m., that MD 177 was closed in both directions. Anne Arundel County Fire Department Division Chief Keith Swindle said that MD 177 between Postal Court and Magothy Beach Road was closed as state and local fire officials investigated the scene.

The Western School of Technology and Environmental Science in Catonsville is scheduled to reopen Friday after an early-morning fire Thursday damaged two portable classrooms and the roof of the high school's main building, school officials said. Staff worked Thursday to prepare the building for reopening and ensure that it would be safe for students, school system spokesman Mychael Dickerson said. Firefighters responded to the school in the 100 block of Kenwood Avenue about 2:34 a.m. Thursday for reports of a possible fire and found one portable classroom engulfed in flames, with the fire spreading to a second portable classroom, according to the Baltimore County Fire Department.

As soon as the last race was over at Laurel yesterday, workmen began tearing out old mutuel machines in order to replace them with new Spectrum 2000 terminals.The track will be shut down through Thursday so that the pari-mutuel system can be installed and tested.General manager Jim Mango said that a 45-man crew will work almost around the clock."We should have the installation done by [Monday] morning," Mango said. "Then we go through the procedure of testing all [computer] hardware and software.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore will reopen March 13, but some exhibits will remain closed to visitors after damage caused by February's historic snowstorms, a zoo spokeswoman said Tuesday. The zoo's March 1 opening was postponed when storms brought down trees and destroyed two aviaries, causing $1.5 million in damage, and the costs of repairs, employee overtime and lost revenue have provided more challenges as the institution tries to emerge from recent financial difficulties. The African Aviary might not reopen until the fall, zoo spokeswoman Jane Ballentine said.

Lost City Diner is open again. When Lost City Diner opened, suddenly, in August 2010, it was a surprising twist in a long-running story that played out for years on the corner of Charles and Lanvale, a half block up from the Club Charles. A diner was always coming, and it never came. And then it did. The brainchild of Club Charles owner Joy Martin, Lost City Diner was beautiful, with antique fixtures and fanciful retro-industrial elements evoking the giddy atmosphere of a Buck Rogers serial from the 1930s.  Then, in February 2012, just as suddenly as it opened, the Lost City Diner closed.

A trailer that became separated from the vehicle pulling it smashed into a jersey wall along Interstate 83 North near Northern Parkway about 10:25 a.m., closing the highway in both directions, according to Baltimore Police. The trailer came to rest partially overturned in the left lane of the highway, police said. As of about 1:30 p.m. all lanes reopened with one northbound shoulder closed. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun