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Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. expects first quarter earnings of 27 cents to 30 cents per diluted share, down from 53 cents per share in the first quarter of 2012, the Hampstead-based retailer said Monday. Sales for the quarter that ended May 4 dipped 3 percent, with unseasonably cool weather hurting spring business, the company said. The men's apparel seller was able to control expenses and improve advertising efficiency but had higher inventory sourcing costs during the quarter, the company said.

Millennial Media's stock has lost three-fourths of its value since the Canton company went public a year ago as an established force in the mobile advertising market. Ask CEO Paul Palmieri about that, and he'll repeat what he deems wise words from a prominent contemporary. "I care very much about our share owners, and so I care very much about our long-term share price," Palmieri said, quoting from an interview Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos gave to the Harvard Business Review in January.

We've shown you our Preakness-inspired fashion ideas . Now, we want to see what you've got in your wardrobe - and we're putting tickets to see Kenny Chesney at stake. Put together your best Preakness look, and share it with us on Pinterest before noon on Sunday, May 19. Our Baltimore Sun judges will choose the look they like best, and the winner will get a pair of tickets (and a parking pass) to see Kenny Chesney at FedEx Field on Saturday, May 25. Looks can be anything from one item (a fancy hat)

Jenna Miller agreed to marry her longtime boyfriend, Benjamin Woods, just months after he rescued her from near-certain death by performing CPR when she experienced a sudden cardiac arrest. But on Jan. 8, two weeks after their first wedding anniversary, her heart gave out again, and she died as Woods held her in his arms. Miller — with her fiery red hair, bright smile and plans to help others — died at age 26 of cardiac arrest brought on by a decade of binge-eating and purging.

With the recent changes to the state law directed toward the sharing of the road with bicycles I have seen a dramatic increase in bicyclists behaving unsafely. The traffic laws apply to everyone on the road. Obeying stop signs, traffic signals and driving on the right side of the road only seems to apply when the bicyclists feel like it. The three-feet rule is for both the motorist and bicyclist. When traffic is stopped (for a light), why doesn't the bicyclist stop when there is not three feet of room around the traffic?

I am sure I will take some flack for this. But here goes anyhow. Our elected leaders are mostly talk and no action. Why? Because they know we as a country are short of the cash it takes to get things done. Remember it is always the money. The rest of us are just whining, and hoping somebody else will fix the problems. So here's an idea. Add a $1 tax to all the gasoline sold in this country for one year. Let the individual states collect it, keep half, and send the rest to the federal government.

Michael Phelps' phone rang as he headed to the Olympic pool here on Wednesday. "Michael?" he heard. "Please hold for the president of the United States. " "OK!" Phelps said. President Obama wanted to tell him that everyone back home was proud of him becoming the world's most decorated Olympian after he won his 19th medal Tuesday night. Then, the two very busy men said their goodbyes, but not before Obama had one final thing to say. "He finished by saying, 'Make sure you tell your mom I said hi,'" Phelps said.

On Oct. 27, the Harford County Department of Community Services, Office of Drug Control Policy, Juvenile Drug Court and Shoes 2 Share presented a used and new shoe drive. Nearly 3,000 pairs of shoes were collected thanks to an overwhelming response from the community. The one-day shoe drive was extended due to the "generosity from county residents, employees and businesses" which "surpassed my expectations," Jenn Hannibal, assistant coordinator of the Juvenile Drug Court, said.

It is amazing how the Under Armour line of apparel has caught on with the school kids. I had a chance to attend grandfather's day recently and stood in the back of the room watching the kids sitting on the floor and singing. Initially, I thought all of the kids were in uniform, but when I looked more closely I was surprised to see that all the shirts bore the Under Armour logo. Also, at a recent soccer game many of the players' fathers also wore shirts with the Under Amour logo.

More than 250 bicycles would be available for short-term rentals at 25 stations throughout Baltimore by this time next year under a bike-sharing program similar to those in Washington and London, city officials said. The city's financial oversight panel approved an agreement with the state Wednesday to establish Charm City Bikeshare. Stations — much like the drop-off and pick-up spots for "Zipcars" — are planned for downtown, midtown and Southeast Baltimore. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the rental bikes build on the city's effort to bolster its renewable transportation system, including on-street bike lanes and bike parking in Charles Village.

Reading about the rain water tax, I see that government buildings do not have to pay this tax. The government evidently knows how to keep their runoff from causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Why not tell the rest of us their secret so we can keep our rain water from being contaminated and the Bay will quickly become pristine clean? Believe that and I'll tell you another one. Mary Chesney Schwind Cockeysville

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said Thursday it has closed on the planned purchase of four television stations owned by Cox Media Group for $99 million in cash. The broadcaster also priced its previously announced offering of Class A stock at $27.25 per share and said it is offering 18 million shares. The offering, to raise money for pending and future potential acquisitions, is expected to close May 7. The Cox deal is one of three acquisitions the television station owner and operator announced in the past two months.

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported a 42 percent drop in profit for the first quarter, as operating and interest costs rose and revenue increased but fell short of analysts' expectations. The television station owner and operator said Monday that its income fell to $17 million, or 21 cents per common share, from $29.4 million, or 36 cents per share, during the three months that ended March 31. Its earnings did beat Wall Street's expectations of 17 cents per share, yet its stock fell Monday, closing at $26.69 per share, down 2.9 percent.

Two people were beaten outside a Baltimore County restaurant Friday night, police said, an attack that was captured on a cell phone video and shared on Facebook. Jesse Agusto, 30, and Denise Thompson, 24, both of the Baltimore area, were assaulted by a crowd outside the Windsor Inn in the Windsor Mill area of western Baltimore County, police spokesman Lt. Robert McCullough said. They sought treatment at Northwest Hospital and were released, he said. A third person was also assaulted but did not seek medical treatment, McCullough said.

Friends and former classmates gathered Saturday at Johns Hopkins University to remember Anne Smedinghoff, a Foreign Service officer who was killed in a bombing in Afghanistan earlier this month, sharing stories of a too-short life marked by adventure. As photographs of Smedinghoff in front of monuments and ruins around the world flashed by on projector screens, friends recalled her various escapades, including a coast-to-coast cycling trip, which saw the young woman eat a live bug to fulfill an item on a scavenger hunt list.

First Mariner Bancorp on Tuesday disclosed the price of a stock offering it will make to existing shareholders in a bid to raise up to $20 million - the latest step in the bank holding company's efforts to satisfy federal regulators. Under the offering by the owner of Baltimore's largest independent bank, subscription rights will entitle existing shareholders to purchase up to 17.4 million shares at $1.15 per share, according to a regulatory filing. The company's stock closed Tuesday at $1.43 per share.

Spicemaker McCormick & Co.'s stock price swooned by more than $4 a share Thursday after the company's earnings forecast for the year fell short of what Wall Street analysts anticipated. The Sparks-based company said Thursday that earnings per share in 2013 will likely range from $3.15 to $3.23 - an increase from last year, but less than the $3.35 per share anticipated by analysts tracked by Zacks Investment Research. McCormick said its earnings-per-share expectations would have been 23 cents higher for the year if not for an increase in retirement expenses and a higher tax rate.

I showed up at the door of a Greenway home I've admired for years. Charles B. Reeves — who goes by "Sprat" — greeted me with his enthusiastic welcome: "Delighted. " For the next 90 minutes I tried to take notes about his version of the history of North Baltimore's Guilford. "I was born in 1923. Huzzah!" said the neighborhood patriarch. I posed a few questions about Guilford's centennial, an event that is being celebrated Sunday with a house and garden tour. Who else but this retired Venable attorney, fox hunter and Austrian skier could tell me where the bodies were buried?

Micros Systems Inc., a maker of software for the hospitality and retail industries, reported third-quarter net income of $44.3 million Thursday, a 2.4 percent increase compared with the same period in 2013 and a record for a third quarter. The Columbia-based company said it also set third-quarter records for earnings per share and sales. Diluted earnings per share rose 3.8 percent to 55 cents per share, the company said. Sales grew 13.3 percent to $315.1 million for the quarter that ended March 31. "We continue to execute in a difficult environment and I am confident in our ability to meet not just the challenges but the opportunities which lie ahead," Micros CEO Peter A. Altabef said in a statement.