Screen

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

In a pair of low-slung green stables manned by security guards and watched by 24-hour surveillance cameras, a pack of brawny young horses will be monitored, poked and assessed down to the blood in their veins. The horses set to race in the 138th Preakness are to be kept under a microscope from their arrival at Pimlico Race Course until they burst from their starting gates Saturday — not only to avoid injury but also scandal. "It's become more sophisticated," said David Zipf, 72, the Maryland Racing Commission's longtime chief veterinarian for thoroughbred racing.

The count is in for 1990.Nine hundred thirteen video dealers voted for what they considered the best products of the year in the annual poll by Audio/Video International, a leading trade journal.The dealers, after all, are the most influential link between the product manufacturer and the consumer, the ones who guide customers toward the specific makes.Sunday's report covers television sets, which were evaluated according to five criteria: picture quality, general level of engineering design, reliability, precision and craftsmanship of manufacture, and cost-performance ratio.

Kennedy Krieger Institute has announced a new program that will offer free autism screenings to infants between five and 10 months who have a sibling with autism.  “We launched this initiative to increase the likelihood of identifying children most at risk for ASD,” said Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger. “My hope is that Maryland families will take advantage of this opportunity to seek help sooner and not miss out on early intervention, which can improve lifelong learning, communication and social skills.” For more information or to schedule an appointment visit Kennedy Kreiger's website or call 443-923-7892.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently received a gag gift of protective headgear after she suffered a concussion and blood clot near her brain after a fall. While Clinton can now make light of the injuries, a blood clot can be a serious health risk that can lead to death. Dr. James L. Frazier, III, a neurosurgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, talks about the dangers. What causes a blood clot to form in the brain? A blood clot or thrombus can form in the arteries that supply blood to the brain.

A fourth theater at Rotunda Cinemas will open Friday, owner-operator Ira Miller announced today. "It's the first part of an expanded entertainment center that will also include a coffee shop," he said. The new auditorium, which Miller has installed in the space formerly occupied by Tomlinson Craft Collection, is roughly the same size as the 80-seat theater that Miller opened in fall 2010. But this one is 3-D-ready (like the Rotunda's bigger theaters) and boasts a larger screen.

A fourth movie screen is coming to Hampden's Rotunda Cinemas. The additional screen, which will accommodate an audience of just over 100, should be ready by early May, said Ira Miller, a veteran exhibitor who has been operating the theater since May 2009. He signed the agreement with the mall's owners, New Jersey-based Hekemian & Co., earlier this week, he said. "We finally made the deal and signed it," said Miller, who has been talking about adding a fourth screen for over a year.

Ever since I saw this on Engadget before it came out I've wanted one. I don't even do first person shooter games. Maybe you can rig this thing so I can watch football while Lauren watches Glee or some documentary about whales. Anyways, regularly $399.99, temporarily slashed to $299.99 over at Best Buy .

Actress Lillian Gish, who died Saturday at age 99, enjoyed a movie career that spanned nearly the entire history of the motion picture industry. She first appeared before the camera in 1909, at the age of 16, in a short film by the pioneering American director D.W. Griffith. Her last movie performance, as an indomitable old woman in "The Whales of August," came in 1987, when she co-starred with another screen legend, Bette Davis.Ms. Gish, whose family lived briefly in Baltimore during the 1890s, was only 5 when she made her acting debut.

The number of movie screens within Baltimore is set to practically double, with the planned Nov. 2 opening of a seven-screen theater in Harbor East, the burgeoning neighborhood between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. The 1,300-seat facility, to be operated by Los Angeles-based Landmark Theatres, will be part of a 35,000-square-foot commercial and residential complex at Aliceanna and President streets. Its opening will increase the number of theater screens within the city's borders to 15, including five at the Charles, two at the Rotunda Cinematheque and the single-screen Senator.

Joe Tropea thought he was writing a research paper on the Catonsville Nine, a group of Catholic anti-war activists who set draft records ablaze outside a Selective Service office in 1968. But what he was really working on was a movie script. "I just got hooked on telling the story," Tropea says of the six-year film project, undertaken with co-director Skizz Cyzyk, that will be getting its local premiere during this week's 15th Maryland Film Festival. The festival starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

The state has launched a program to streamline the eye exam process for people over 40 who are renewing their driver's licenses. Ophthalmologists and optometrists who sign up for the free program can submit a patient's vision screening results online to the Motor Vehicle Administration. Eligible drivers can then renew their driver's licenses through the agency's website or self-service kiosk. Drivers who use an MVA office can use the vision certification to eliminate the vision screening step in the renewal process.

Israel and Syria continue to fight, Robert Downey Jr. continues to  pretend to fight, and in sunny, pastoral northern Pennsylvania, a former judge is still getting international attention a week after his sentencing over what amounts to a human-trafficking scheme. Welcome to your daily trends report for Monday, May 6, 2013. Mark Ciavarella, a former common pleas judge in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., was sentenced early last week for his role as a cog in the prison-industrial complex. Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, received kickback money from private jail operators to fill their beds with children as young as 10 without due process, often on first-time offenses.

Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas cruise ship returned to the Port of Baltimore Friday after undergoing a $48 million renovation. The ship, which replaces the Enchantment of the Seas, arrived early Friday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a proclamation from Gov. Martin O'Malley, who declared May 3 "Royal Caribbean Cruise Day" in Maryland. As part of the renovation, all of the ship's staterooms have been refurbished with new carpet, furniture and upholstery and flat-screen TVs. New amenities onboard include upgrades ranging from dining to entertainment.

In case you hadn't heard, it is Screen-Free Week . No computers. No televisions. No hand-held devices. (All of this comes with one caveat: your kids can use "screens" to do homework. It isn't like you have to break out the old encyclopedias or go to the public library or anything drastic like that.) To all of you are participating this week, I say: "Go for it!" I won't invite your kids over and show them a cool new video on YouTube or ask if they want to see Orioles' games highlights.

Arundel High School sophomore Chloe Hill entered a screening of the motion picture "42" on Thursday indebted to the film's main character, baseball player Jackie Robinson. The film depicts Robinson's struggles and triumphs in becoming the first African-American to play in the major leagues, breaking the national pastime's color barrier on April 15, 1947. "Thanks to him, I'm able to play," said Hill, who is black and plays for Arundel High's junior varsity softball team. Hill was among 300 junior varsity baseball and softball players from all 12 Anne Arundel County public high schools to attend a screening hosted by OriolesREACH and Major League Baseball at Hoyt's West Nursery Cinemas in Linthicum.

Watching movies or playing games on a 52-inch screen can be remarkable, but it is even more so when the screen appears inside a pair of eyeglasses. That's why Sony's PLM-A35 Personal LCD Monitor Glasstron is such a big deal in portable electronics. This third-generation Glasstron is a personal theater that you wear like a pair of sunglasses. It is small, comfortable, easy on the nose and -- at 3.5 ounces -- will even fit over your prescription glasses. The Glasstron doesn't do much by itself, except display a self-test screen.

While a 'screen saver' program such as After Dark is loads of fun, do you really need one? Several experts said such software was generally a good idea, though no one had any concrete evidence, such as a study showing how they actually prolonged screen life.To the extent that it's a problem, burn-in is more often seen on monochrome screens that run text-based operating systems, such as DOS, which always put characters in the same 80-by-24 grid.Graphic systems, such as the Macintosh and Windows, tend to have a more varied screen appearance, though menu bars and certain icons can be problems because they are often in the same part of the screen.

See video of Adam Jones hosting local baseball players at a screening of the new Jackie Robinson movie "42" Monday in Harbor East.

Active-duty military personnel using BWI Marshall Airport are eligible to participate in Pre-Check, an expedited security screening, the Transportation Security Administration announced Wednesday. TSA officers staffing the Pre-Check station at Concourse D will scan a service member's Common Access Card to determine if they qualify; service members do not have to be in uniform to be considered. Eligible passengers may be directed to a lane that will allow them to leave their shoes, light outerwear and belt on, keep their laptop in its case and their liquids and gels bag in a carry-on.