Washington

This week, hundreds of Chicago workers organized a major labor strike, demanding a wage floor of $15 an hour and the right to unionize. Their protests come on the heels of the largest strike in the fast food industry's history, which took place in December in New York City, and a nation-wide Walmart strike to protest what workers felt were unfair wages and treatment. Here in Baltimore, workers have also begun organizing around the idea of "fair development" - calling for higher wages and other benefits.

1st Mariner Arena will host the second Baltimore Hockey Classic next fall when the Washington Capitals play the Boston Bruins in an NHL preseason game on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. "The Bruins coming to town makes this a special event," said Frank Remesch, general manager of 1 s t Mariner Arena. "That same night, the Orioles play the Red Sox, which adds to the spice. People can root against Boston twice. " Two years ago, in the first Baltimore Hockey Classic, the Capitals lost, 2-0 to the Nashville Predators before an announced crowd of 11,082.

When reigning national champion Salisbury opens a semifinal contest of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament against Mary Washington this Saturday at Sea Gull Stadium, 10 days will have passed since the team's last game - a 7-6 setback to then-No. 12 Washington College on April 17. Coach Jim Berkman is hoping that the Sea Gulls (13-4), who slipped from No. 5 to No. 7 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll because of that loss to the Shoremen, will still be sharp when they take the field Saturday.

Wednesday night's road contest against Centennial Conference foe Swarthmore is no longer an ordinary game for Washington College, which needs the victory to clinch a berth in the conference tournament. A win over the Garnet would give the No. 10 Shoremen (11-3 overall and 4-3 in the league) at least the No. 4 seed in the Centennial Conference tournament. If No. 19 Gettysburg (8-5, 4-2) was to lose to Franklin & Marshall (9-4, 5-1) and McDaniel (5-10, 2-5), Washington would move up to the No. 3 seed.

Wednesday night's first-round meeting between No. 4 seed Frostburg State and No. 5 seed Mary Washington in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament is a re-match of a contest that the Bobcats won, 13-11, a week ago. That might be an advantage for Frostburg State, but coach Tommy Pearce said the advantage is more mutual than one-sided. “We get to see them on film against us, but they also get to watch film of us,” he said Tuesday. “So we're both learning from this film, and they're seeing some of the same stuff that we're seeing.

Washington College got an emotional lift from last Wednesday's 7-6 decision over then-No. 5 and reigning national champion Salisbury. Now coach Jeff Shirk acknowledged that the team may have been too high. The Shoremen stumbled their way to an 8-1 deficit in the first half of an eventual 14-6 loss to then-unranked and Centennial Conference foe Gettysburg last Saturday - an outcome that dropped the team to fourth place in the league and put it at risk of missing the conference tournament.

Frostburg State took all the guesswork out of its placement in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament, thrashing Wesley, 17-9, last Saturday to capture the No. 4 seed. Not only did the Bobcats improve to 11-5 overall and 3-3 in the league, but they earned the right to play host to Mary Washington (8-6, 2-4) in a first-round game in the conference tournament for the first time in school history. Had the team lost to the Wolverines Saturday, Frostburg State still would have earned the No. 4 seed thanks to its head-to-head tiebreaker over the Eagles.

A group representing Baltimore-area food trucks have signed a letter of support for the Food Truck Association of Metropolitan Washington, which is fighting a set of new regulations it fears will hamper and even cripple its business. Addressed to the Council of the District of Columbia, the letter was signed by eight regional food truck associations, including the Maryland Mobile Food Truck Association, whose members operate in the Baltimore area.  The letter says proposed regulations from Mayor Vincent C. Gray "represent some of the worst food truck laws in the country.

No. 12 Washington College's 7-6 come-from-behind win against No. 5 and reigning national champion Salisbury on Wednesday night may prove to be a psychological lift for a program that had dropped 12 straight contests to the Sea Gulls. Perhaps more immediately, the victory might propel to the Shoremen (11-2) to their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament regardless of how they fare in the Centennial Conference tournament. With a 4-2 record in the league, Washington is currently third behind conference leaders Dickinson (12-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial)

Reigning national champion Salisbury has won the past 11 meetings and 14 of the last 15 with Washington College. But as the two sides prepare for the latest installment of the “War on the Shore” series Wednesday night in Chestertown, Sea Gulls coach Jim Berkman said he and his players have no intention of overlooking the Shoremen. “They've got a win over a team that beat us,” Berkman pointed out Monday. “They beat [Washington and Lee], 8-4, and we lost to W&L, 7-6. So they have a couple good wins on their schedule.