Wings

Julian Assange, the peripatetic and elusive founder of the whistleblower web site Wikileaks, put himself at the center of a fine bit of political theater over the weekend when he used his fugitive status at the Ecuadorean embassy in London to demand the U.S. cease persecuting those who seek to hold governments accountable. Having stage managed a diplomatic crisis between Britain and Ecuador that threatens to rupture relations between the two countries, Mr. Assange is milking the incident for all it's worth, but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to get him out of the jam he's in. Mr. Assange had been living in London for the last two years after fleeing Sweden to avoid being questioned about two women who claim he raped them.

City grad and Maryland sophomore guard Nick Faust has been selected to play for the East Coast All Stars that will compete in the Four Nations Cup in Estonia this week. Calvert Hall coach John Bauersfeld will serve as an assistant coach under Lycoming College head coach Guy Rancourt. The East Coast All Stars (ECA) were founded in the summer of 2006 and is comprised of some of the best college talent in the country. In addition to the host country's Estonia National Team, ECA will go up against the Czech Republic and Georgia National Teams.

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s increasingly irrational rhetoric in his criticism of President Barack Obama bears closer scrutiny ("No, Mr. President, nobody else 'made that happen,'" July 22). Mr. Ehrlich is not content to challenge Mr. Obama's policies on their merits. Rather, he paints a president with a "far-left mindset," cultivated by left-wing radicals who imprinted his young mind with a "worldview" that now "seeks to transform our market economy and culture" by expanding federal power into "every nook and cranny of the U.S. economy.

The former CEO of Severna Park-based Wings to Go pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud for embezzling more than $885,000 from the franchise company to pay for prostitutes and phone sex, the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore announced. Mark Chandler Goodnow, 55, of Pasadena, former president and CEO of the Buffalo wings franchise company, spent about $885,071 of the company's money to hire prostitutes in Maryland and to pay three women in Texas for phone sex and personal expenses, according to his plea agreement.

The Food Market is the restaurant that everyone wanted. The new Hampden hot spot from Chad Gauss, formerly of the City Cafe, has been open only for five weeks, but it established itself as a favorite in no time flat. As executive chef at City Cafe, Gauss performed the neat trick of satisfying a conservative customer base while raising their expectations. It was a brilliant balancing act, but with a place of his own - his partner is Elan Kotz, a front-of-house veteran of Aldo's in Little Italy - Gauss gets to be Gauss.

If Dan Deacon's recent input hasn't moved you - previous single "Lots" felt familiar while his novelty remix of "Call Me Maybe" was just that - then his latest single, "True Thrush," might change your mind. The nearly five-minute jam patiently bubbles under the surface, with Deacon's subdued-but-still-warped vocals pushing the track forward.  "Spread those wings wide and take me along / Now show me the sky and tell me I'm on," he sings (I think - transcribing Deacon lyrics is futile, frustrating, sometimes unnecessary)

John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, has announced he will retire in August after leading the politically powerful union for the past nine years. The Baltimore resident, who is 66, has battled with Congress and the White House over recent cuts to the federal workforce. A Pittsburgh native, Gage was a minor-league catcher in the Orioles organization in the late 1960s. He worked for the Social Security Administration in the 1970s as a disability claims examiner.

In May, I reported on Baltimore-area homes receiving mysterious robocalls voiced by WBFF anchorman Jeff Barnd asking residents a series of questions about Lyme disease, same-sex marriage and the alleged agenda of Gov. Martin O'Malley. Read that here . At the time, WBFF acknowledged commissioning the calls, but WBFF General Manager Bill Fanshawe declined to name the company that executed the robocall campaign. I have since been able to confirm that the name of the company is ccAdvertising, of Centreville, Va. And from its website, the firm appears to be heavily engaged in right-wing politics, including push polling in at least one state against same-sex ballot initiatives like the one Maryland is expected to have in the fall.

The luxury wing of Towson Town Center will get its biggest influx of new or relocated stores since the upscale addition opened nearly four years ago, with cooking shop Sur La Table and resort-wear retailer Lilly Pulitzer among those planning to open by late August. Other tenants unveiled by mall managers on Wednesday include Marbles: The Brain Store —specializing in games, puzzles and books — and L'Occitane —offering fragrances and personal-care products. Both will open in August.

A 55-year-old Pasadena man was indicted and charged with wire fraud Tuesday for allegedly embezzling more than $885,000 from the fast food franchise for which he served as president and chief executive officer in order to pay for phone sex and prostitutes, according to prosecutors. Mark Chandler Goodnow, who until recently was CEO of Severna Park-based Wings To Go, allegedly diverted funds from the company to pay three Texas women for phone sex, pay the personal expenses of one of those women, and to pay prostitutes in Maryland, according to the indictment.