United States

Michael Phelps is the second-most influential athlete in the United States, according to data from surveys conducted by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research and published by Forbes.com . Phelps ranks behind only Tim Tebow, a quarterback without a team, and ahead of sprinter Usain Bolt. While Tebow may be an example of marketing mattering more than on-field performance, Phelps and Bolt seem to be the product of Olympic greatness being paired with forward-thinking promotion. I caught up with Phelps' long-time agent, Peter Carlisle, last week to talk about his plans for jockey Rosie Napravnik, a new client he picked up on advice from people in Phelps' Baltimore orbit.

As a journalist, I'm a big believer in free speech, but also in the idea that bigotry and wrongdoing are fair game for scrutiny. Regardless of your political leanings, it's fair to say that publicly ridiculing others in a confrontational and unconstructive way deserves calling out. Today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, a campaign to confront bigotry as it exists across the globe. According to its 2012 annual report, the campaign launched in 2004 and chose May 17 "to commemorate the World Health Organization's decision in 1990 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.

Government leaders are asking us to out-innovate, out-export and out-work our competitors in order for the United States to turn this economy around. But what if our own government was instituting policies that proved to be some of the biggest obstacles in achieving those goals? For more than four decades, I have dedicated my life to developing novel medical technologies, such as implantable insulin pumps, rechargeable implantable pacemakers, heart stents and more. These therapies have improved the health and saved the lives of millions of patients in America and throughout the world, and spurred the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

As President Barack Obama continues to struggle with the economy, his annual budgets and his attempts to unravel the catastrophe of the terrorist attack in Banghazi, Libya where four Americans were killed, I thought examining Mr. Obama's political background before he took office could possibly provide some answers to these numerous conflicts which appear to be haunting him. On the basis of Mr. Obama's strong campaign oratory, he was elected as...

Finally it's spring. That means baseball, hay fever and the start of painting season. "May through September are the biggest months for paint sales," says Mark Sposito, vice president of marketing for Sherwin-Williams' Eastern Division. As temperatures rise, so do the number of home painting projects, he notes. The Sherwin-Williams paint factory on Hollins Ferry Road is operating 24 hours a day, five days a week. Soon the plant will be working around the clock on weekends as well, says plant manager Mike Levitsky.

In Annapolis, some conservative Republicans - having apparently not taken notice of the 2012 election and the conundrum facing their party over its hard-line immigration stance at the national level - are lambasting a proposal to expand and make permanent a two-tier driver's license system in Maryland. One even warned that Maryland could soon become a "Disneyland" for illegal immigrants. But it is opponents who are living in a Disney-like fantasy land if they can't see who the chief beneficiary would be of any system that seeks to ensure all Maryland drivers meet minimum standards of knowledge and competency and are eligible for insurance.

Your liberties and rights are being eroded by the state and the Obama Administration. We are so complacent and ignorant to the news that sits right in front of us. Many of the European Union states are literally burning as we speak because the entitlement mentality has clouded everyone's views of what the government should be and what it should provide. Save for your own retirement (like you should), pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and live like a proud American. We have the health-care law that was passed in the dark of night (that supporters didn't have time to read)

Jean-Pierre G. Meyer, former professor and chairman of the Johns Hopkins University mathematics department whose escape from Nazi-occupied France became the subject of a children's book, died April 24 of heart failure at his Guilford residence. He was 83. "He was conscientious and really very smart and kind, and that's not always a combination that goes together," said W. Stephen Wilson, a close friend and math department colleague. "He was department chairman for five years and no one has been chairman for five years since the 1980s to today," said Dr. Wilson.

Paris. -- It is a military axiom that moral domination of the enemy is more important than material superiority. ''There is a soul to an army as well as to the individual man,'' William Tecumseh Sherman wrote in his memoirs. The psychological impact made upon the enemy and his commander is crucial in battle, giving one side ascendance, minimizing losses.This is true in competitive international relations. Churchill's speeches, morally certain, impregnated with the imagery of justice and patriotism, were his most powerful wartime instrument.

VILDECANS, Spain -- The American basketball squad isn't the only Dream Team in these Olympics. Cuba's baseball team is nearly as invincible, an international powerhouse that merely toys with most opponents."

Government leaders are asking us to out-innovate, out-export and out-work our competitors in order for the United States to turn this economy around. But what if our own government was instituting policies that proved to be some of the biggest obstacles in achieving those goals? For more than four decades, I have dedicated my life to developing novel medical technologies, such as implantable insulin pumps, rechargeable implantable pacemakers, heart stents and more. These therapies have improved the health and saved the lives of millions of patients in America and throughout the world, and spurred the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Jean-Pierre G. Meyer, former professor and chairman of the Johns Hopkins University mathematics department whose escape from Nazi-occupied France became the subject of a children's book, died April 24 of heart failure at his Guilford residence. He was 83. "He was conscientious and really very smart and kind, and that's not always a combination that goes together," said W. Stephen Wilson, a close friend and math department colleague. "He was department chairman for five years and no one has been chairman for five years since the 1980s to today," said Dr. Wilson.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton signed the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibited state and local taxation of Internet access and Internet-only services, the purpose was to promote the commercial potential of the Internet, especially for start-ups and small businesses. Congress extended the bill three times, the latest until 2014. Now there's the Marketplace Fairness Act, which, writes The Washington Post, "would allow states and local governments to require large Internet retailers and other 'remote sellers' with sales over $1 million annually to collect sales taxes and send the revenue to the appropriate location.

The Social Security Administration has released the most popular baby names of 2012 and at the top of the list are Jacob and Sophia. Ten years ago it was (also) Jacob and Emily, 20 years ago it was Michael and Ashley, and 50 years ago it was Michael and Lisa. A century ago John and Mary topped the list. When my daughter was born, we brought the laptop to the hospital and entered our favorite names into the SSA website to make sure we weren't picking one that was over-the-top common.

As the Maryland National Guard prepares for what could be its final deployment to Afghanistan, its commander sees a "pivotal point" in the nation's history. More than a decade of deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and other battlegrounds since Sept. 11, 2001, has produced a highly skilled and deeply experienced generation of warriors. But with the United States out of Iraq and planning to leave Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. James Adkins sees a new challenge. "Many of the soldiers that are serving now have known only war," he said Thursday from Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where members of the 244 t h Engineer Co. are training for a deployment starting later this year.

Michael Phelps is the second-most influential athlete in the United States, according to data from surveys conducted by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research and published by Forbes.com . Phelps ranks behind only Tim Tebow, a quarterback without a team, and ahead of sprinter Usain Bolt. While Tebow may be an example of marketing mattering more than on-field performance, Phelps and Bolt seem to be the product of Olympic greatness being paired with forward-thinking promotion. I caught up with Phelps' long-time agent, Peter Carlisle, last week to talk about his plans for jockey Rosie Napravnik, a new client he picked up on advice from people in Phelps' Baltimore orbit.

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would allow a foreign country, Israel, to discriminate against select groups of American citizens - including Americans who have expressed criticism of its policies. Disappointingly, the bill, S.B. 462 (also known as the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013), is co-sponsored by Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin. Those who stand to be most affected by this piece of legislation are Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. However, it may also apply to individuals who wish to visit or work in Israel and/or the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied since 1967.

IN THESE days of global competitiveness, a nation that fails to move ahead falls behind. That is the first lesson that can be drawn from a recent report comparing graduation rates of the world's industrialized countries.Lesson two: The United States is falling behind on several important education indicators.The study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the United States is no longer No. 1 in high school completion rates. Of the 29 countries studied, the United States ranked next to last, beating out only Mexico, in the proportion of high school graduates.

There are millions of immigrants in our country who aspire to become citizens, but under our broken immigration laws, they have no way to earn citizenship. I personally know some of these hard-working immigrants, and I think it's hurting our country to keep them living in the shadows. That's why I'm calling on Congress to protect the path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States and vote in favor of reform this year. We need real solutions, and rounding up 11 million people or asking them to self-deport is not only inhumane but completely unrealistic.

It should've been the shot heard around the world. Chances are, you didn't hear it. An ominous sort of history was made last week near Austin, Texas, but it seems to have largely escaped notice. There was some media coverage, yes, but less than, say, Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab, certainly less than you'd think for something whose ramifications will likely shadow us for years. On May 2, you see, a group called Defense Distributed, led by law student and self-described anarchist Cody Wilson, accomplished what was apparently the first successful firing of a gun "printed" entirely by a 3-D printer.