Sugar

Domino Sugar is donating 30,200 pounds of its products to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey to help victims of the massive storm called Sandy, the company announced Monday. Trucks carrying the Domino products - including brown, powdered and granulated sugars, coffee service canisters and powdered drink mixes - left Baltimore's Inner Harbor refinery Monday for storm-ravaged New Jersey. "For our company, Hurricane Sandy hit home," said Stu FitzGibbon, the Baltimore refinery's manager, in a statement.

I watched the TV news in astonishment as people were loading their cars in Glen Burnie with Hostess Twinkies upon word that the company is folding. Truth be told, it appears some of those people really didn't need to enhance their diets with the sugar-infused gut bombs. I had my last Twinkie about 30 years ago. After ingesting one, my brain told my body that there was something wrong: How can something so tasty be so terribly bad for me? I felt like I had just had an IV of pure unadulterated cane sugar.

A 66-year-old man was seriously injured at the Domino Sugar factory in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon when his right arm was caught in a large piece of machinery, according to the city Fire Department. Emergency personnel responded to the refinery in the 1100 block of Key Highway in Riverside at 2:54 p.m., and began providing medical treatment to the man as workers labored to disassemble the machine and free the man's arm, said Captain Roman Clark, a fire spokesman. "He was stuck there for an hour and 45 minutes," Clark said.

100 Years Ago Pegasus wannabe A couple of items from the news briefs: "Too much of the news going to the Baltimore papers from Howard county relates only to crimes and misdemeanors, creating a bad reputation for this law abiding county. "At Ferry Bar last Sunday, a horse who toppled over a high bank landed in the top of a tree and had to be raised clear out of the tree and lowered to the ground by a block and tackle. " If the Ferry Bar was open, that incident could have ultimately been bad for business.

"And now you hear the music, but the words don't sound too clear …" "Inner City Blues" by Sixto Rodriguez Former Baltimorean Craig Strydom has spent more than two decades searching for Sugar Man. And even though the music journalist tracked his elusive subject to a Detroit tenement in 1997, in many ways, he's still looking. Sugar Man is the nickname for Sixto Rodriguez, a Mexican-American singer-songwriter who was living in dire poverty in the U.S. without ever knowing that his music was being used to fight apartheid halfway around the world.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth). This week, Mindy Athas weighs in on sugar. The term sugar is used for a variety of caloric sweeteners from multiple plant sources, including sugar beet, sugar cane, corn, agave, rice, nuts, fruit, vegetables, tree sap and grains. It is also found in all milks. Sugar is readily used in a multitude of foods, drinks, condiments and even medications.

A combination of diesel fuel and sugar from an overturned tractor trailer closed the I-95 north ramp onto Route 100 west in Laurel early Thursday. Crews from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services responded to the accident just after midnight. The truck was carrying 40,000 pounds of sugar and was leaking 60 gallons of diesel fuel. The services' special operations unit, which conducts hazardous materials mitigation, worked with Maryland Department of Environment and State Highway Administration to clear the scene and minimize the impact of the spill.

Regarding the June 14, letter commenting on New York's proposed ban on sodas ("New York Mayor Bloomberg's ban on sodas should be backed") my interest soon changed to destain when the author listed "public subsidies" a culprit to the obesity epidemic, jumping from sugary drinks to tobacco, meat and dairy and corn. More than 90 percent of agriculture subsidies go to five crops - wheat corn, soybeans, rice and cotton. Another source says the U.S. government heavily subsidizes grains, oilseeds, cotton, sugar and dairy products.

I can't imagine how a cupcake could be the least bit healthy. Especially if it actually tastes good. But television talk show host Dr. Oz seems to think so. He likes this recipe for vanilla cupcakes with a raspberry filling and rich chocoloate topping. He borrowed it from Vincent Buzzetta, The Cake Artist INC. The cupcakes are made with coconut palm sugar, a sweetener that doesn't cause the same blood sugar spikes as regular sugar, Dr. Oz says on his website.  Coconut palm is the same amount of calories, but  itprovides a slow energy release - which can curb your appetite and help you lose weight.

Karl Beetz, a retired machinist and maintenance mechanic, died May 25 of heart failure at his Timonium home. He was 90. The son of a mason and a homemaker, Karl Beetz was born and raised in Kronach, Germany. After he graduated in 1938 from a technical high school in his hometown, he was inducted into the German Navy. Mr. Beetz served for four years aboard a minesweeper, attaining the rank of sergeant. Shortly after the war, Mr. Beetz immigrated to Baltimore where his brother Henry Beetz was living.