Tuesdays

You take your good news where you get it and here's mine: the Preakness sent Kegasus packing. You remember Kegasus. Sleaze-ball centaur with the biker haircut and beer gut? Budweiser-swilling centerpiece of the Infield Fest ad campaign the past two years? Gone. Got the proverbial pink-slip. You won't see him Saturday for the 138th Preakness Stakes. "He went back to the islands and I haven't seen him since," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas joked the other day. Good thing.

Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez was encouraged by his three-inning simulated game on Tuesday afternoon at Camden Yards and said he hopes to be able to return to the mound in a major league game Tuesday against the New York Yankees. Gonzalez, who has been dealing with a slow-healing blister on the inside of his right thumb, threw 25 pitches in the bullpen and then 50 to 55 in the simulated game, throwing all of his pitches - including breaking balls - to teammates Alexi Casilla, Chris Dickerson and Chris Snyder.

If you're looking for something to do tonight, how about a movie at the Rotunda ? All seats are only $5 on Tuesdays and right now they are showing The King's Speech, Rango, and The Adjustment Bureau. Rango in particular looks good, check out the trailer below and our review here :  

Wispy, icy clouds caused what is known as a solar halo to appear over Maryland and other parts of the Northeast on Tuesday afternoon. The phenomenon appears as a sort of rainbow forming a ring around the sun. They occur in the lowest layer of the atmosphere when cirrus clouds are present, explains EarthSky.org . EarthSky shares photos of the halo as spotted in New York City and other areas like New Jersey, pictured above. Local meteorologist Justin Berk collected a photo gallery of solar halo sightings around Maryland . A group of fourth and fifth graders saw it in Columbia while attending a Howard County schools leadership conference, said Lisa Schnosslagle, a county resident who shared a photo of it via Twitter . Twitter user @timbutz70, who frequently shares local weather photos online, posted photos of the halo from Ocean City on Tuesday afternoon.

An interview with Kelli Shimabukuro of ECO Encounter Book Club What book are members reading this month? "Tuesdays With Morrie," by Mitch Albom. Additional books for this and other library book clubs can be found at www.howa.lib.md.us/books. Which books have members liked? "East of the Mountains," by David Guterson; "Into Thin Air," by Jon Krakauer. How often does the club meet? Once a month -- at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the east Columbia library. The club is open to the public.

Ruby Tuesday -- in case anyone in Baltimore hasn't heard of it -- is the granddaddy of full-service restaurant chains. (The first one opened in 1972.) Mostly around here you find Ruby Tuesdays in malls, but now one has opened next to Borders Books & Music in Towson, where L & N Seafood used to be. (The two chains are owned by the same company.)As far as I could tell, converting L & N to a Ruby Tuesday involved not a lot more than putting up enormous numbers of Tiffany-style lamps, various sports memorabilia and lots of TV screens tuned to ESPN.

Clubs/Organizations American Association of University Women — meets at Grace United Methodist Church, N Charles St. and Northern Parkway, March 15, 7 p.m. Refreshments at 6:30 p.m. in the parlor. Hear Jeanne Allert, Executive Director of Samaritan Women, open our eyes to the extent of human trafficking. susan.wierman@verizon.net . Dulaney Valley Woman's Club — meets at St. Paul's Lutheran, 1609 Kurtz Ave., Spangler Hall, second Tuesdays at noon. Meetings include lunch and speakers, presentations.

Activity Pals For single seniors. Get together with others to attend events, shop, go sightseeing, dine out and more. 301-596-6385. The Bain Center 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia. 410-313-7213. •Acting Up! Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. A theater club at the center. Free. •African American Month Celebration. Feb. 21, 10 a.m. Lyric Opera presents "Marian Anderson a Legacy of Hope. " Free. •American Indian Experience. Second Mondays, 1 p.m. Call center to register.

Around town Blood pressure screenings Stop in from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays at the Ellicott City Senior Center for free blood pressure readings by a registered nurse. Information: 410-313-1425. English conversation The Miller branch of the Howard County Public Library, 9421 Frederick Road, Ellicott City, offers "Let's Get Together: English Conversation Club," a chance for those for whom English is a second language to practice speaking and understanding English in a group setting.

Tai Sophia open house Tai Sophia Institute will offer a graduate school open house featuring all of the institute's programs from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at 7750 Montpelier Road in Laurel. Prospective students will be able to discuss the programs with faculty, students and alumni, meet with admissions and financial aid counselors, and tour the facility's healing arts library, wellness clinic and the campus. Registration and information: 410-488-9048 or go to tai.edu.

High pressure is forecast to bring sunny skies and highs in the upper 60s Tuesday in the Baltimore area, according to the National Weather Service. The morning got off to to a nearly record-setting cold start. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport dropped to 34 degrees about 6 a.m. Tuesday, tying a mark set in 1996. Carroll, Harford, Howard and northern Baltimore counties were under a frost advisory through 8 a.m., with temperatures expected in the mid-30s.

A freeze watch is in effect for Carroll County overnight Monday into Tuesday, something known to happen this late in May only once in more than every 10 years. Temperatures are expected to drop to the lower 30s there early Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. That could pose a risk of killing crops or gardens. Further south and east in Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties, temperatures could reach the mid-30s overnight. Lows in Baltimore are expected in the upper 30s. According to the University of Maryland Extension, the last spring temperature of 32 degrees or below occurs on or after May 4 in 10 percent of years in Westminster.

Tuesday is already Baltimore's rainiest day since at least April 19, and with heavier showers possibly to come, forecasters cautioned of possible localized flooding in the evening hours. More than half an inch of rain had fallen at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. Another half an inch is possible in the afternoon and evening hours, according to the National Weather Service. Showers are expected to continue into the early hours of Wednesday morning for Central Maryland, according to the weather service.

Rain showers are likely in the Baltimore area Tuesday, with gusty winds and highs in the lower 70s in the forecast, according to the National Weather Service. An 80 percent chance of rain is expected. Showers are expected to be light, with less than a quarter of an inch of rain during the day. Storms are possible in the evening hours, bringing heavier rain, with more than half an inch possible. Winds of 10-15 mph are expected, with gusts up to 25 mph. A low-pressure system continues to move slowly through the Southeast, bringing a southerly flow of warm, moist air to Maryland.

Talk about a great story just falling into your lap. Baltimore filmmaker Ramona Diaz can't help but chuckle while recounting how she first heard about Arnel Pineda, the unlikely successor to Steve Perry as lead singer for Journey and the subject of her latest documentary, "Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey," which is showing Tuesday at the Charles Theatre. "I heard about Arnel getting the gig through an unsolicited email," she says, "that connected me with a link that was sort of going viral among the Filipino community.

Klein's Family Markets will start construction Tuesday on a long-awaited supermarket in Howard Park in northwest Baltimore. A 10 a.m. groundbreaking will mark the start of work on a full-service, 68,000-square-foot ShopRite of Howard Park at 4601 Liberty Heights Avenue. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other city officials are expected to attend. The neighborhood has been without a grocery store since 1999 when Super Pride closed. The Sun's Steve Kilar reported last month that Rite Aid of Maryland Inc., which held a legal restriction on part of the six-acre development site, had agreed to allow construction to move forward.

Baltimore police are investigating the shooting death of a man in East Baltimore early Thursday. Responding to a shooting in the 600 block of Cokesbury Ave. in the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood at 12:39 a.m., police said they found a man with gunshot wounds. Paramedics took him to an area hospital but he was pronounced dead Thursday morning, police said. Police have no suspects or motives and did not release the victim's identity. The murder was Baltimore's 71 s t homicide this year, following the shooting death of Dominic Hicks, 19, whose identity police released on Thursday.

SEATTLE -- The Orioles snapped their brief, two-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the Mariners on Tuesday night . Here are some quotes from the clubhouse after the game: Jason Hammel on his start: “Pleased but not pleased. I'm still throwing way too many pitches in the innings. 100 pitches through five innings is way too many. The walks, the walks are bothersome to me. I made really good pitches before that early in the game. I was spotted to a nice lead again and that is always helpful.