Sher

Starting Friday, Channel 11 sports anchor Gerry Sandusky will add the Orioles' pre-game radio talk show on WBAL (1090 AM) to his duties.Sandusky, 35, will not only be host of "Sports Line" before Orioles games, but also will continue to deliver sports reports on Channel 11 during the same time.Greg Sher, who took over as "Sports Line" host in January, will now anchor just the post-game talk show and contribute taped reports to the pre-game show. Sandusky and Sher will split the duties on nights the Orioles aren't playing.

Though 26 is a tad young to be reaching a career crossroads, Greg Sher, nonetheless, is there after he was demoted this week at WBAL (1090 AM) from pre- and post-game Orioles talk show host to just post-game moderator through the end of the baseball season.Sher; his boss, Jeff Beauchamp; and his replacement, Gerry Sandusky, are publicly calling the switch a chance to bolster the station's Orioles coverage. But one can't help but think this was recognition that Sher's work so far has been considered spotty.

So many things are crucial to the intensely ordered life of an Orthodox Jew: a synagogue within walking distance of home, a trustworthy rabbi, and schools to teach the galaxy of nuance inherent in Judaism's 613 separate commandments.The outside world rarely gets to see the striped shawls and tiny boxes filled with sacred Scripture worn by religious Jews at daily prayer. But the next time you're cruising the streets of Northwest Baltimore, be alert for an obvious sign of the Orthodox way of life -- the faded and rusting full-sized American station wagon.

Competition is certainly hot and heavy between local television stations, which is good news for the consumer. But where does competition end and pettiness take over?Strange as it may sound, the death of one of Baltimore's most beloved television personalities, Stu Kerr, has brought this to the front. Stu Kerr and WMAR-TV (Channel 2) were synonymous.After Kerr's death, WJZ (Channel 13) reporter Richard Sher, who had known Kerr for 30 years, called Channel 2 to ask for dubs with color and sound.

Saturday night television in Baltimore is going to be a little less community oriented after tonight.WJZ (Channel 13) is pulling the plug on "Square Off," ending its 17-year run as one of the highest-rated public affairs shows on local TV.In fact, based on that November "sweeps" ratings from A.C. Nielsen, the discussion-and-debate show hosted by anchorman Richard Sher is the highest rated weekly public affairs show on Baltimore TV.So why is the station axing...

Chesapeake Beverage Corp., a soft-drink bottler based in Havre de Grace, was shut down abruptly yesterday, leaving more than 100 employees out of work -- and without their last two-week paycheck.Officials of the company, which had filed last year for protection from its creditors under federal bankruptcy law, gathered employees in the cafeteria shortly before noon, told them of the plant's closing and sent them home.Joel Sher, a court-appointed trustee for Maryland National Bank, said the decision to close the plant came late Thursday night.

Fifteen companies are considering purchasing Chesapeake Beverage Corp., the bankrupt Havre de Grace bottler that shut down abruptly Oct. 30, a court-appointed trustee said.Joel I. Sher, a Baltimore attorney appointed Chesapeake's trustee by a federal bankruptcy judge, said the companies have placed bids or plan to do so.Mr. Sher would not identify the companies or reveal the amount of the bids he has received for Chesapeake. The bottler's closing left more than 100 employees jobless and without pay for their last two weeks of work.

Chesapeake Beverage Corp., a soft-drink bottler based in Havre de Grace, shut down abruptly Friday, leaving more than 100 employees out of work -- and without their last two-week paycheck.Officials of the company, which had filed last year for protection from its creditors under federal bankruptcy law, gathered employees in the cafeteria shortly before noon, told them of the plant's closing and sent them home.Joel Sher, a court-appointed trustee for Maryland National Bank, said the decision to close the plant came Thursday night.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Senate yesterday passed a bill that would require Maryland's 12 remaining state-chartered credit unions to obtain federal insurance within four years and would terminate the private company that now insures them.By a 31-16 vote, the legislators agreed that although the company, the Credit Union Insurance Corp., is as healthy as its small member institutions, whatever risk Maryland assumes in allowing the company to continue is too great.Like the private company that insured Maryland's thrifts before 1985, CUIC originally was created by state law. Its members hold deposits of about $60 million.

PharmaKinetics Laboratories Inc. has asked for more time to file a reorganization plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.The generic drug-testing firm filed for Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act in November. The move was precipitated by Maryland National Bank, which called loans totaling more than $6 million. The original deadline for submitting a restructuring proposal passed late last month.Joel I. Sher, the attorney representing Baltimore-based PharmaKinetics, said his client's "reorganization is proceeding pretty smoothly."

At 67, TV newsman Richard Sher is still irrepressible. And it is all but impossible not to get caught up in his enthusiasm. The 49-year broadcast veteran came to an interview last week to talk about his reinvention of a one-time Baltimore TV landmark, the long-running public affairs show "Square Off," and he was going to hit a talking point that he wanted to emphasize - over and over, so help him God. Near the end of the conversation, after he had...

Laura Lippman was just on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, promoting her new book, Life Sentences. Ferguson asked if she sees much of another famous Baltimorean, John Waters. "Yeah, well, I'll tell the story because it was outed in the newspaper," she said. "We tried to keep it secret. John Waters was my minister. He married us." "Us" being Lippman and Wire creator David Simon. Ferguson needed a moment to get over his shock, but it's true: The Pope of Trash is a man of the cloth, ordained by the Universal Life Church, an outfit that sells minister's licenses by mail order.

R ichard Sher, who announced his departure from WJZ this week after 33 years of reporting and anchoring, says he isn't completely done with the news biz. I'm not sure he was ever completely in it. Among the "many accomplishments" listed on his new Web site, www.richardsher.tv: "talking a suicidal man off a ledge at the University of Maryland Medical Center; negotiating for more than 10 hours with a hostage taker, eventually arranging for the safe release of the man's hostage; and receiving the first civilian lifesaving award ever presented by the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, for helping a man suffering from a heart attack find his way to an emergency room, all the while giving the man nitro glycerin and driving the man's car."

After 33 years of Baltimore television, Richard Sher says he's finally ready to move on. And this time, he means it. "I had done this a few times before," says Sher, whose announced retirement in 2004 lasted less than a month before he asked station management to take him back. "It was tough each time, but I thought this was the time to really do it." Sher, 67, says he made his decision to retire early this month. Although lean economic times have forced newsrooms throughout the country to cut costs, he insists the decision to leave now was his alone, and that he was not forced out by WJZ management.

Richard Sher wasn't sleeping. Wasn't eating. Wasn't happy. The longtime WJZ anchor and reporter - 28 years and counting - put in his resignation last month and was on track to leave the Baltimore CBS station next month. But he couldn't take the thought of change, he says. It made him ache. And so he's decided to stay on the air at the very same channel. "It was the shortest retirement in broadcast history," Sher says. Sher, by his own description "a very youthful 62," has filled a variety of roles at WJZ, including anchor, reporter and talk show host.

Richard Sher, the Baltimore television news anchor now best known as Oprah Winfrey's former co-host, is to step down from WJZ-TV in April after more than 28 years to pursue a new career in commercials and other ventures. "I have been thinking about it for a long time," Sher, 62, said yesterday. "I have wavered on this. ... But I want to try these things." Station officials and Sher separately said his decision to depart is voluntary, and that they asked him to stay full-time. Instead, he said he intends to free-lance for the station.

When junior forward Alex Sher told her McDonogh friends that she hadn't scored in her two-year varsity soccer career, they told her to think of the opportunity the situation presented. "They told me to be patient, because when I score, it will be a big goal," Sher said. Yesterday, Sher scored 28 seconds into overtime to give host McDonogh a 3-2 victory over top-ranked and previously unbeaten Notre Dame Prep in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game. Brittany Tegeler, the metro area's leading scorer, got both of the Eagles' first two goals and assisted on Sher's game-winner for No. 7 McDonogh (11-5-1, 4-2-1)

Patricia R. Sher, a former Democratic state legislator who served as deputy majority leader of the House of Delegates and then as a senator from Montgomery County, died yesterday of emphysema at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. She was 70. Mrs. Sher's political activism began in the 1960s, when she worked to repeal "blue laws" that mandated Sunday business closings. She was first elected as a delegate in 1978 and retired from politics in 1995 as a state senator. "She was very, very easy to work with," said former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel, whose 1970 campaign in Montgomery County was managed by Mrs. Sher.

It is Samantha Bloom's favorite hangout. When the 12-year-old from Owings Mills and her younger brother, Eric, 9, have a free day, they often ask their mother, Rachel Bloom, to take them to the Bibelot bookstore in Pikesville. But yesterday the trip brought Samantha to tears when her mother explained that the store was going out of business. "Please don't close!" Samantha begged a reporter who she initially thought worked for the four-store chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday.

Bibelot, the homegrown bookstore chain that became a neighborhood hangout and forum for local authors, is shutting its doors nearly six years after it emerged on a retail scene dominated by bigger, national stores. The Baltimore area's largest independent book and music seller filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday in Baltimore. It plans to close its four stores and lay off an estimated 100 employees within three months. "It's a real loss for the independent book-selling world," said Avin Mark Domnitz, chief executive officer of the American Booksellers Association in Tarrytown, N.Y. Bibelot, known for showcasing Maryland authors and luring shoppers with entertainment, comfortable lounges and Donna's restaurants, had expanded even as dominant chains Barnes & Noble and Borders Group Inc. forced hundreds of independent chains out of business.