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When ex-University of Maryland pharmacologist Clinton McCracken began ordering narcotics from a Web site in the Philippines, he joined a booming marketplace that has exploded with the Internet's rise. But federal officials say consumers face real risks as they increasingly go online to buy pharmaceuticals of all kinds. "You don't know where these are made, or how they're made or under what conditions," said Ilisa Bernstein, the Food and Drug Administration's director of pharmacy affairs.

Some of us have a hard time looking beyond today. But when it comes to thinking about growth and development - perennial hot topics virtually everywhere - what if we took a longer view? What do we want our communities to look like? Not next year, or 10 or even 20 years from now. A century from now. That's what nearly 100 businesses, civic and environmental groups, government agencies and hundreds of citizens have done in the region bordering Washington's Puget Sound. Starting four years ago, the participants hammered out the "Cascade Agenda," a call to conserve working forests, farmlands, shorelines, parks and natural areas while also making cities and towns attractive places to live, work and raise families.

The Maryland Transportation Authority has unveiled a toll plan for the Intercounty Connector under which passenger vehicles would pay as much as 35 cents a mile for travel on the highway when its first phase opens next year. The authority also announced a series of public hearings next month to gather comments on the plan. Since the ICC's revival under the administration of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the state has planned to set tolls for the highway at levels that would keep it free of congestion by setting prices that would detour a certain amount of the east-west traffic onto free local roads.

A rare combination of persistent winds and a slowed Florida ocean current were the cause of unusually high tides in Maryland and all along the East Coast earlier this summer, scientists say. The two phenomena added several inches to as much as two feet to predicted high and low tides along the mid-Atlantic coast, and drew notice from coastal residents and scientists alike, according to a preliminary study released Monday by the National Oceanic and...

Baltimore officials are investigating a fake City Hall Web page that duped news media on both sides of the Atlantic into reporting that Mayor Sheila Dixon had chastised a high-ranking British official for comparing crime there to that in Baltimore. British blogger and liberal political activist Alex Hilton, 33, took credit for the hoax, saying it was meant as a joke among friends as a debate raged there over comments from Conservative politician Chris Grayling that the Baltimore-based HBO drama "The Wire" had crossed over from a "work of fiction for British viewers" to a "part of real life in this country."

Sellers have dropped their asking prices on one out of every three homes on the market in Baltimore, according to real estate site Trulia. The average drop in price was 11 percent. That adds up to $41 million in cuts, Trulia said. Only 10 other large U.S. cities have a greater percentage of homes with reduced asking prices, the company said. It looked at listings on its site at the beginning of the month to see how many were priced lower than they had been within the previous 12 months.

It was standing room only Tuesday night at the town hall meeting in Annapolis, and feelings ran high. This forum wasn't about health insurance reform, but about restoring the Chesapeake Bay. People were concerned, worried, even upset. Voices were raised, but no one got shouted down, not even the representative of the Obama administration who spoke - not even when he suggested that more regulations might be needed to bring the bay back to vitality. "We have to look at game-changing solutions," said J. Charles Fox, special adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency administrator for the bay. Fox drew applause.

Close to 500 commercial crabbers bit on the state's offer to pay them to surrender their right to catch crabs for sale, according to Lynn Fegley, assistant fisheries director of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. DNR had mailed buyback offers last month to 3,676 Marylanders holding "limited crab catcher" licenses, and they had until July 31 to respond. The licenses allow holders to deploy up to 50 wire-mesh "pots" or an unlimited amount of baited line to catch crabs for sale.

This week, 33 elementary and middle school math and science teachers from the Baltimore area are in Huntsville, Ala., to participate in the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy program. They will be blogging about their experiences all week at baltimoresun.com/InsideEd. Here is an excerpt about the first day from Sabourah Abdunafi of ConneXions Community Leadership Academy in Baltimore: I met so many people from Maryland. ... We always hear ... of Maryland's educational system being so low and we have over 30 teachers here.

With most schools closed or closing this week, the summer vacation season moves into full swing for many families. This year, job uncertainty and economic woes seem to have put a lot of travel plans in flux. Some destinations report that visitors are waiting until the last minute to make reservations and when they do, they're bargaining for - and often receiving - lower prices. Good for them. It may be too far a stretch to say the annual rite of summer travel is in danger, but HomeAway.