Southwest Baltimore

With blood still streaked on the doorway of a Southwest Baltimore home where a man was shot earlier in the morning, a woman who rented a room there nonchalantly recalled hearing the four shots. "After the first shot, I screamed and dropped to my knees and ran upstairs," said the woman, who identified herself as Cheryl Nancy, 25. Two of her four children stood on the front stoop, near a pack of cigarettes and a flask-sized bottle of vodka. It's not the first such incident of violence she's seen.

A man was shot in the arm in Southwest Baltimore on Thursday night, police said, following a violent couple of days in which 11 people were shot - two fatally - in the city. The man was expected to survive his injury, police said. He was shot in the 1800 block of Hollins Street about 10:20 p.m. More information was not immediately available. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun

Operations are winding down at Eastern Home Products Inc. in Southwest Baltimore after the company announced that it didn't have enough money to continue in business. Eastern Home and its subsidiaries -- Eastern Manufacturing Products Inc., Home and Roam Leisure Products Inc. and Eastern Standard Corp. -- manufacture above-ground swimming pools and window blinds. Its retail stores sell pools, spas and pool tables. About 20 of the company's work force of nearly 200 are working. More than 125 workers were surprised when they were laid off abruptly in late January.

Someone's been making off with the big industrial batteries that provide backup power at traffic signals in Baltimore, and now the thefts are being investigated by the city inspector general's office, which looks into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse in municipal government. A representative of the battery's manufacturer said the thieves, whoever they are, most likely would have tried to sell the 54-pound batteries as scrap for their lead content. Russell Conelley, an agent in the IG's office, confirmed in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that it is investigating battery thefts reported to have occurred along Harford Road in Northeast Baltimore and Wilkens Avenue in Southwest Baltimore.

A 38-year-old man was shot in the upper torso early Wednesday in Southwest Baltimore, according to city police. Officers were called to the 3100 block of Savoy St. at about 12:45 a.m. and found the man suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to an area hospital. His condition was unknown. Police have no suspects and no motives.

A woman believed to be about 50 years old died Tuesday night at an area hospital after a fire broke out in the bedroom of her rowhouse in the Mill Hill section of Southwest Baltimore, said a city Fire Department spokesman. Her name was withheld pending notification of family members, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. She was the city's 24th fire fatality this year, compared with 19 for the same time last year, Cartwright said. Reported at 7:59 p.m. in the 2500 block of Dulaney St., the fire was confined to a burning mattress in a second-floor bedroom of an end-of-group dwelling and was quickly extinguished.

Frank Bond Sr., a retired Maryland Transit Administration bus driver and neighborhood activist who believed in the value of education, died Monday of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. "Frank was a wonderful man who treasured education even though he was not an educated man," said W. Byron Forbush II, who retired in 1998 after 38 years as headmaster of Friends School. "His three children went to Friends as well as two grandchildren," said Mr. Forbush. "He was so devoted and proud that his family was part of that institution.

America is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis - Baltimore, too. Ten million families are paying more than 50 percent of their monthly income on rent, a severe cost burden that leaves little for food and other necessities. Over 32,000 applicants (and counting) are on the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's waiting lists. Public housing authorities can only do so much. With limited, dwindling public resources, private dollars are needed now more than ever to help create affordable housing.

The Greens at Irvington Mews, a 100-unit residential community for seniors and adults with disabilities, celebrated its Grand Opening on Monday. The four-story structure is in the 4300 block of Frederick Avenue across from Mount Saint Joseph High School in the Irvington neighborhood of southwest Baltimore. The $16 million project was developed by Enterprise, an affordable housing finance and development firm that was founded by J ames W.  Rouse, who conceived Columbia. Of the 100 apartments, 85 are already occupied, Enterprise said.  The community was designed by the Baltimore-based architecture firm  Hord Coplan Macht Inc. The contractor was Harkins Builders Inc., headquartered in  Marriottsville.

A two-alarm fire engulfed two connected homes in Southwest Baltimore's Irvington neighborhood Sunday afternoon, though no one was injured even after part of the building collapsed, city fire officials said. The fire started in one of two houses in the unit block of Augusta Avenue, fire department spokesman Capt. Roman Clark said, and four adults in that home were alerted by smoke alarms and were able to get out safely. No one was at home in the second house, where the fire spread, though a resident has been notified.

A Baltimore City Circuit Court jury on Thursday convicted a 22-year-old man of second-degree murder in a shooting in Southwest Baltimore that killed a bystander and left two others injured in 2010. Harry Davis, 22, faces a maximum sentence of 108 years. He was also convicted of two counts of second-degree assault and two weapons violations, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's office said. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2. Prosecutors said Davis approached four men on the 500 block of Eastlynn Ave. on Sept.

No one's heard from Marcus "Anton" Lesane in days. He is black, stands just shy of 6 feet, weighs 150 pounds, has a thin mustache and drives a Buick, which was found abandoned on Sunday with the keys dangling from the lock of the door. Try as they might, his family can't muster much optimism about his mysterious disappearance. "I really don't think he's alive, honestly," his brother, Robert, 29, says as he drives around the city checking vacant homes and wooded areas. "If we can find his body … I think we're real close to it. I know he's in the city.