West Baltimore

In a pair of working gloves with the Ravens logo emblazoned on the front, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee painted broad brush strokes at a West Baltimore police station Friday to make good on a bet. Had the Ravens lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake would have traveled to the West Coast to complete a day of service, which was the wager she and Lee made on the February game. "I think San Francisco is a lovely city, but I am glad I did not have to go there in payment of a debt," said Rawlings-Blake, who traded in her signature high heels for a pair of wedge booties for the day of activities.

Firefighters battling a blaze in a small rowhome in West Baltimore on Thursday evening discovered the body of a man in a second-floor bedroom, said Roman Clark, spokesman for the city Fire Department. The man has not yet been identified, and a neighbor said she had never seen anyone go in or out of the home at 615 Claymont Avenue. The homes flanking it were vacant and no other injuries were reported, Clark said. It has not yet been determined whether the man was a resident, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

One man was killed and two were injured in a shootout that involved police in West Baltimore on Monday night, though details on what led to the shooting were still being determined Tuesday morning. Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts spoke near the scene of the shooting, which happened about 10 p.m. in the 2700 block of Edmondson Avenue, a busy commercial corridor. He said police on foot patrol came upon multiple men who were inside a car firing weapons in a "particular direction" and police then opened fire on them.

Police on Tuesday worked to find out more about the backgrounds of the two men wounded and one man killed in an overnight shootout with officers in West Baltimore. The incident took place about 10 p.m. Monday after two officers on foot patrol in the 2700 block of Edmondson Ave. saw gunfire coming out of a bronze sedan, police said. The officers fired on the car, police said. All three men shot were in the vehicle, police said. Police did not know the dead man's identity Tuesday and were running his fingerprints through databases.

As Maryland Historical Society librarian Francis O'Neill described the winding route to reconstructing the history of Baltimore's homes, a small but eager crowd paid close attention. No one made for the exits, even as he laid new twists on old turns. "We're not Google," said his colleague, Eben Dennis. "There's not one place you can plug in a keyword and get a photo. " But for those willing to put in some effort, the society has almost a million pictures of buildings from the city and beyond.

As many times as I have stood on the MARC station platform in West Baltimore, I never considered there was a fantastic, Jules Verne-like interior just across Franklin Street. I assumed the fire-damaged brick building alongside the rail tracks was just another derelict structure. After a visit there this week, I learned that one of Baltimore's fascinating industrial archaeological sites endures in the Midtown Edmondson neighborhood. The story of this dusty old West Baltimore ice-making and storage plant has been making the rounds of planners and architects.

In the article titled "Fire squad might relocate" (April 13), Baltimore City Fire Department Chief James S. Clack states, "When the mayor was able to find the money to keep Truck 10, that changed the equation. " The article goes on to state that the current citywide arrangement of companies is based on choices made when Truck 10 was lost. With Truck 10 still in service, he said, the deployment of companies needs to be tweaked. Am I now to understand that if Truck 10, which is located in West Baltimore, had closed then, the figures noted in the article such as Truck 5 which has seen an increase in calls of nearly 65 percent and Engine 6 and Truck 1 who have seen an increase in calls of 41 percent and 43 percent respectively, would not have occurred, considering those three companies are situated in East Baltimore?

For years, the vacant Columbus School on a busy corner of East North Avenue appeared to be nothing more than a giant planter. Leafy tree branches stuck out over the top of the historic red-brick walls, making it seem like the school's only future inhabitants would be squirrels and birds. But Kevin Bell and Michael Barland saw more. They are investing about $14 million into the run-down 120-year-old building, also known as Public School 99, to make it livable for dozens of families.

Fire Chief James S. Clack is considering moving a West Baltimore fire company across town this summer to alleviate the strain on East Baltimore units after two fire companies closed there last year. Clack said the plan, which has not been finalized and must be reviewed by the City Council, is an attempt to respond to a spike in calls to east-side companies — some have seen jumps of more than 50 percent — since East Baltimore's Truck 15 and Southeast Baltimore's Squad 11 were closed last summer.

A woman was killed and a man wounded Friday evening in a shooting in the Shipley Hill neighborhood of West Baltimore, police said. Officers called to the 2700 block of Kinsey Avenue at about 7:45 p.m. found the victims inside a home, police Det. Jeremy Silbert said. The woman died with a gunshot wound, Silbert said. The man was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Homicide detectives are investigating, Silbert said. Earlier Friday, a man was shot in the Penn North-Reservoir Hill area of the city, Silbert said.