Stand

During the campaign to get President Obama elected, we were all excited and moved by the hope he inspired us to feel when he talked about change. He told us then that he could not do it alone and that he would be calling on us to help him to fight the good fight. It is time to demand that our representatives on both sides of the aisle come together to solve a huge problem that has been troubling America for 100 years -- our health care system. It is time to stand up to the special interests who profit from the broken system, and it is time to deliver a brighter, smarter future for generations to come.

Jason Hammel picked up his sixth win on Friday night by not allowing a run in the Orioles' 8-2 win against the Kansas City Royals. He now is tied with six others for the AL lead in wins. But the six that's really important from Friday night was the number of innings Hammel threw. Because he hasn't been able to go that long since May 5 due to soreness in his right knee that caused his leg to weaken as an outing progressed. In his last start, he went 5 1/3 innings; the time before that it was five innings.

In response to the article "Md. fights through haze over medical marijuana" (Jan. 31), I say good luck, Maryland. It took New Jersey five years to pass its medical marijuana bill into law. In the end, it was the patients and their testimony that finally swayed legislators in New Jersey to support medical marijuana. That's what it will take in Maryland, too. Patients stood up and spoke out about how marijuana helps them with their afflictions. These were individual acts of courage and selflessness.

Despite a barrage of public comments, many negative, Maryland State Board of Education members said Tuesday that they will push forward with plans to reduce the use of long-term suspensions and expulsions in student discipline. "Everybody gets that kids need to be in school," said board President James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. "The question is how do we do that?" The board received more than 200 written comments after asking for public input when it released a report in late February, detailing proposed changes that would reduce suspensions for nonviolent offenses.

Business has been booming at Springfield Farm, with rising demand for locally grown food helping to double the sales of meat, eggs, dairy and produce, and straining the confines of David Smith's basement retail stand in the northern Baltimore County community of Sparks. Smith, 68, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, has a solution: an expansion that would add a three-level, 6,000-square-foot barn for storage, an office, an egg-washing machine and service for drive-up customers. But after proposing the $250,000 project four years ago, he still doesn't have zoning approval.

It seems like a very long time ago that the Orioles announced the deal to acquire Kevin Millwood from the Texas Rangers and conducted a conference call to introduce the veteran right-hander to the local media, but one thing about that evening still stands out. Millwood didn't sound too thrilled to be coming to Baltimore. It became obvious when he got to spring training that he's just a very low-key guy, so maybe we all just assumed too much about his lack of enthusiasm during that call and ensuing interviews, or maybe he saw all this coming.

Just one more turn . . . it's right there, on the corner. . . . You can already smell the basil and taste that sweet corn. . . . There's the stand. Quick, pull over, hop out, grab some corn, a head of lettuce, the strawberries look good -- hmm, maybe some bananas for breakfast? Are these tomatoes vine-ripened? Have you got any Romas?Where else could you be but the local roadside produce emporium, the place to stop on a busy day to grab some fresh veggies for dinner. No carts to maneuver, no checkout lines, just a quick --, then back to the car and you're on your way.Have you got a favorite stand where you often grab a few items for the family dinner table?

When Carolyn and Mark Cherry began planning a family, they decided that one of them should be at home. So when son Nelson was born in 1988, Carolyn quit her job and opened Custom's Last Stand, a shop selling imported textiles and other handcrafted items from around the world.Then when daughter Claire was on the way, Mark decided he wanted to work at home, too, so he quit his job and became a full-time woodworker, making and selling twig furniture.This weekend (today is the last day) the Cherrys are having their third annual open house, "A Touch of the Hand."

I'll match my patriotism with anybody's. You say "America," I get a lump in the throat. You sing "God Bless America," I'm reaching for hankies. Every time I see the Statue of Liberty, I tell my family, "There's our girl." But, on the issue of kids in a classroom not standing up to salute the flag, I pledge allegiance to those refusing to pledge allegiance. To me, that's the American way. And America still includes the state of Maryland, a fact that apparently comes as news to some of our public school teachers, who wish to create marionettes instead of citizens.

Thomas X. Dinisio Sr., whose Highlandtown produce and flower stand was a neighborhood fixture for 40 years, died Wednesday of heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 78.Mr. Dinisio opened Tom's Produce in 1953 with two boxes of fruit he bought and placed in a stand he had added to his house at Highland Avenue and Monument Street.He quickly earned a reputation for his fine produce, and soon quit his job as a carpenter to devote his full time to operating the stand with his wife, Rita.

Boys lacrosse Standings (as of May 8) Glenelg, 11-0 league, 13-1 overall Marriotts Ridge, 10-1, 12-2 Howard, 9-2, 10-4 Atholton, 7-4, 9-5 Centennial, 7-4, 7-5 Mt. Hebron, 7-4, 7-7 Wilde Lake, 4-7, 7-7 Reservoir, 4-7, 5-9 River Hill, 4-7, 5-9 Hammond, 2-9, 2-9 Oakland Mills, 1-10, 2-12 Long Reach, 0-11, 2-11 Glenelg Country*, 1-9, 2-9 Chapelgate#, 5-7, 6-8...

Baltimore school employees would be forced to take furlough days if the district has to absorb millions of dollars in education cuts outlined in the state's "doomsday" budget, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso said Tuesday as he prepared to present the fiscal year 2013 budget. In preparation for a massive cut to public education should lawmakers fail to approve higher taxes in a special session starting Monday, the school system has developed a plan to negotiate with labor unions to have employees take four unpaid days off. Alonso said the system found that the four furlough days, which would not include instructional days, would yield enough savings to hold school budgets untouched, a guiding principle of the system's budget.

Megan and Don's relationship has come to a place that marks a new beginning -- or a marriage's end. So Megan has decided to quit Sterling Cooper Draper Price (and Don's workplace control). Yes, she seems to be a born salesperson, a natural creative type that can charm the pants off of a hardened Heinz executive (plus she's, you know, smart and has good ideas). But what she really wants to do is act. After last episode's confrontation with her dissapointed father, her ditching SCDP should come as no surprise.

Before Denver's participation in the Eastern College Athletic Conference in 2010, there was Loyola, winner of two consecutive league championships. But the Greyhounds have never won the ECAC tournament, which has been claimed by the Pioneers in 2010 and 2011. So No. 3 Loyola finally has a shot Friday night, meeting No. 18 Fairfield in the tournament final in Denver. It's a rematch of last year's tournament semifinal in which the Stags emerged with a 10-9 decision and a trip to the final.

As a player and manager, Frank Robinson represented seven major league organizations in eight cities. These days, he lives about 2,700 miles away in the Los Angeles area and makes it back to Baltimore only about two or three times a year. But when Robinson gets stopped in the street, wherever he is, there's one team people almost always ask him about. "People will say, 'I remember you, you played with the Orioles,'" Robinson said. "I'll say, 'Well, I played 10 years with Cincinnati first.' "'Oh, you did?

Let's turn to baseball to sum up the Maryland legislative session's impact on consumers: It had a few singles but no home runs. "We made a lot of progress on some really critical issues," says Marceline White, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition. "But there is a lot of work left to do and in some places we had some setbacks. " Last year's legislative session was strong on consumer protections, with Marylanders still reeling from the foreclosure crisis and weak economy, White says.

In the dead of winter last year, Gary Ricktor walked the streets of Fells Point for 45 minutes, pushing through crowds of fellow bar-goers and lost tourists in search of a taxicab.After calling one taxi when the bars closed at 2 a.m., Ricktor, 44, of Baltimore gave up waiting and walked seven blocks until he found one. It's an experience all too familiar for Ricktor and others who frequent the bar scene in Fells Point."It's really hard to get a taxi around here," Ricktor said. "My friends from New York City hate it when they visit.

DEEP CREEK LAKE -- The best laid plans of deer hunters, as well as mice and men, often go astray. But that doesn't necessarily mean the hunt is ruined.Ask Hagerstown deer stalker Mickey O'Brien, who in pre-dawn of Saturday's opener found another hunter occupying the family's usual stand in Garrett County's Big Run State Park. Disappointed, he moved to the other end of the long dense laurel patch, and by 9:30 scored on one of the best racks checked in Western Maryland.He dropped with one shot the 12-pointer of 137 pounds.

Mr. Robert Monroe, Schuykill, afflicted with the above distressing malady.  Symptoms-- Great languor, flatulency, disturbed rest, nervous, head ache, difficulty of breathing, tightness and stricture across the breast, dizziness, nervous irritability and restlessness, could not lie in a horizontal position without the sensation of impending suffocation, palpitation of the heart, distressing cough, costiveness, pain in the stomach, drowsiness and...

The Easter Sunday suicide of a Glenelg High School teen has raised long-standing concerns about cyber-bullying, as parents and teachers call on Howard County schools to do more to boost awareness and prevention. Chaun Hightower, president of the Howard County Council of PTAs, said she doesn't know enough about the circumstances surrounding 15-year-old Grace McComas' death to discuss it. But she believes that cyber-bullying is a pervasive issue and that the district's policy could be strengthened.