Resolved

A U.S. District Court judge has approved a settlement in a Baltimore fair housing case dating back to 1995. The case arose when the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland on behalf of public housing residents sued HUD, saying that it demolished old public housing high-rises where mostly African-Americans lived and then moved residents to equally segregated housing and poor conditions in other parts of the city. Under the settlement, HUD will continue a program established in an earlier part of the case that moves families to mixed-income neighborhoods throughout the region.

I think after Hurricane Sandy and then the election, I'm going to be OK. Many are stressed out right now and I think these two events are the cause. My wish is that when the election is over, regardless of the results, we may learn from the past two years of negative campaigning and our country return to the process of government in cooperation, community and trust. We have become a society of "I win, you lose" or a bloodbath to the finish line with an application of hate. The division and austere language, the bickering and lame-duck results of our Congress did not exist "then" to the degree as it does "now," neither were citizens of the United States taught to hate fellow countrymen because of their political affiliation.

Among the queries considered by the Anne Arundel County Council this year are issues large and small that lawmakers have asked voters to resolve: Should the Anne Arundel County Council take a vacation in August? What day should the county executive deliver his annual budget to the public? Should the county executive retain line-item veto authority? How should a council member convicted of a felony be removed from office? The council placed a total of 15 local questions onto the ballot this year, making Anne Arundel's the largest ballot in the state and drawing concerns about voter fatigue.

Every morning, Monday through Friday, blogger Matt Vensel will hook you up with reading material -- mostly on the Ravens but with some other Baltimore sports stuff, too -- to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday. That way he'll have an excuse to do the same to start his workday, too. On Tuesday, someone from the Bovada sportsbook sent me over some interesting Ravens prop bets. Now I'm not encouraging gambling, but it is fun to talk about over/unders.

Ravens veteran safety Bernard Pollard has never been one to mince words, and he stayed true to form today when he was asked about whether he had any concern about the replacement officials who are on track to referee Week One.   "You know what, this is what it is right now,” said Pollard, letting out an audible groan as the question was asked. “I would love to see the refs come back. I could care less if you fine me or whatever. I would love to see them come back, but this is the business part of the NFL. They want things to happen, the refs want things to happen.

Time and weak opponents over the latter half of the preseason have quelled the concern over the play of the Ravens secondary in the first half. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones caught six passes for 109 yards and one touchdown in a quarter on Aug. 9, and Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson finished with five receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown in about a quarter-and-a-half on Aug. 17. Even Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Justin...

Returning to school a little shaken, some students walked in clusters behind their parents, while others went arm-in-arm. A few even took their parents' hands, as though they needed the same reassurance they had received in elementary school. At the front flagpole, the band kids, the football players and the chorus members melded together to pray for both the "sweet and kind" victim and the alleged assailant in the shooting at Perry Hall High School. Students came back Tuesday searching for ways to continue to heal a community they say has been drawn closer by the shooting inside their school.

Maryland's highest court on Tuesday partly backed off its April decision that pit bulls are inherently dangerous, admitting that it went too far when it applied its standard to cross-bred dogs. But the new ruling, which affects only purebred animals, does not clear the waters, according to experts. The issue, they say, is that "pit bull" is not a specific dog breed and that it's difficult to positively identify a pit bull. In a rare reversal, the Court of Appeals had granted a motion for reconsideration in a case - brought by the parents of a 10-year-old boy who was mauled by a pit bull - against the dog owner's landlord.

More than 30,000 customers lost power as a result of the thunderstorms Thursday night, mostly in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and the majority had service back by late Friday morning, according to BGE Corp. Utility officials said on their web site Friday that they expect to have service restored to the vast majority of BGE customers by Friday night. They warned that additional storms are expected on Friday, and that likely would result in additional power outages to restore.

When junior goalkeeper William Lane's career came to a swift end after suffering a concussion -- the fifth of his athletic career -- in the second game of the 2012 season, Hood employed three different freshmen before settling on Joseph McCulloh. The Westminster native and Winters Mill graduate registered a 10.56 goals-against average and a .596 save percentage in 14 contests, including 10 starts. Ordinarily, those numbers might be good enough to cement McCulloh as next year's starter, but John Martin, a redshirt junior who made seven starts in 2011, is slated to return to the team after sitting out last season due to academic issues.