Windows

Now that the San Francisco Giants have sealed their second World Series title in three years - officially ending the 2012 baseball season - the focus shifts to next season. And over the next week, we will begin seeing the Orioles' direction in constructing their 2013 roster The day after the end of the World Series begins a five-day window in which the Orioles can exclusively negotiate with their seven unrestricted free agents: Nate McLouth, Joe Saunders, Jim Thome, Randy Wolf, Endy Chavez, Nick Johnson and Bill Hall.

Today is a big day for Microsoft. The company is introducing its Windows 8 operating system, it's biggest makeover, some say, since Windows 95. Computers have changed dramatically since 1995, of course. Mobile devices, i.e. smartphones and tablets, have roared into common use over the past three to four years. People are doing a lot more computing tasks on such alternate devices. The influence of mobile has been seen in Apple's operating system updates, as it's integrated some iOS-like features into OSX. Now, we're going to see Microsoft's take.

The following is compiled from local police reports. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Wilkens Police Station at 410-887-0872. Hannah Avenue, 1900 block, between Oct. 13, 1 p.m., and Oct. 14, 2 p.m. Safe and cash stolen from residence after window was broken and air conditioner pushed out of window. Twin Circle Way, 3900 block, Oct. 12, between 8 p.m. and 10:52 p.m. Living room ransacked.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg about 7:12 p.m. Monday in or near a housing courtyard not far from Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, extending a string of violence that saw eight people shot in the city over the weekend. Many recent shootings in the city have involved teenagers. The boy is expected to recover from his injuries, police said. They had no motives in the shooting late Monday. At the scene in the 700 block of Wharton Court, which is lined by two-story homes, two separate areas were blocked off with police tape.

Twelve massive windows in the air traffic control tower at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport have been replaced after 30 years, an airport official said Thursday. Each of the new windows weighs about 850 pounds and measures more than eight feet wide and eight feet tall, according to a statement from Jonathan Dean, a spokesman for the airport. All of the windows are 1.5 inches thick, he said. The windows meet standards for strength, transparency, glare reduction and wind resistance, he said.

People passing through the intersection at Charles and Centre streets recently may have noticed an intriguing banner hanging from the wall above the entrance to the Walters Art Museum . The oversize image depicts a black woman dressed in the manner of a 16 t h century Italian lady-in-waiting, who returns our gaze with an expression of ironic, amused self-awareness. Who is she? Alas, we don't know. The picture is based on a painting attributed to the Italian master Annibale Carracci, probably from the 1580s and possibly completed in Venice, where the artist is known to have traveled during those years and where objects such as the richly ornamented gilt tower clock the woman holds in one hand were common in the homes of that city's wealthy elite.

I am faced with a new problem. Sunlight pours in through the windows of my new condo, and the heat makes the air conditioner run all day. Do you have any suggestions that won't cause me to lose the view? A great view and natural light is certainly a winning combination. However, I do understand about the heat as well as possible fading. My suggestion would be getting something that allows you to control the light. Screen shades come to mind as a perfect option. Hunter Douglas has several types, and they come in different openness options, allowing you to control the amount of light that comes through.

A man trying to escape police jumped from a sixth-story hospital window in Annapolis Friday afternoon, landing on a rooftop three stories below. The jump caused life-threatening injuries to Bradly L. Poure, 40, who was flown from Anne Arundel Medical Center to Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, officials said. As of 11 p.m. Saturday, he was in listed in critical condition, according to the hospital. "He did jump," AAMC spokesman Chad Dillard said, adding that Poure used a piece of hospital equipment to break the window around 4:30 p.m. — right before Poure was to be discharged.

The polio vaccine was not my idea. Nor was the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church. The first idea protected my physical health. The second idea continues to protect and preserve my Catholic faith. At the time the council was convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962, I was an elementary school pupil in the vast, all-encompassing American Catholic ecosystem known as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In summoning the world's bishops to Rome, the rotund, genial pontiff stated that it was time to open up the windows of the church and let in some fresh air. Even a fifth-grade Catholic schoolboy could understand why it was a good idea to open the stained glass windows, at least now and then.

A half-mile or so from the highest point on the Bay Bridge, heading east on U.S. 50 toward Kent Island, you can see a large green house at the water's edge, its 60-foot pier jutting into the bay. The waterfront home of Ells and Jeanne Snyder is on a street where no two houses look alike, but all are equally attractive. The couple's journey to this peaceful spot began with a search for the perfect home — but not on the Eastern Shore side of the...