Hot House: 11530 Falls Road, Sparks, MD.

Colonial style wood frame over brick farm house, circa 1853, wrapped with porches, set on a slight rise. 5,642 sq. ft. over three stories with finished basement.  6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, with swimming pool, veranda, three car garage, 9’ ceilings, mudroom, hardwood floors, fireplaces: $1,795,000 Read More →

Baltimore’s massive poverty problem is impossible to miss, whatever your income bracket. Vacant and condemned buildings speckle the city. And many others that ought to be condemned house families. But of course we no longer need the visual cues. Awareness of Baltimore’s blight is something the entire nation has internalized.

That’s why it’s so surprising to learn that in 2011 there were actually more poor living in Baltimore’s suburbs. That’s by raw numbers of residents living in poverty (around 150,000 in the city compared with 159,000 in the suburbs), not by percentage of population. But when you’ve got the majority of assistance programs focusing their attention on the city, that leaves an awful lot of people in the cold. Read More →

Baltimore water bills could rise by 15 percent - Baltimore Sun

Maryland Lottery looks to reduce price of Ravens-themed games - Baltimore Business Journal

Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors dies at age 74 - Baltimore Sun

Police break up large group of teens fighting downtown - Baltimore Sun

Truly Terrifying Footage Shows Oklahoma Tornado As It Approached - Business Insider

$619,000
2011 Greenberry Road, Mount Washington
5 bedroom(s), 3 bathroom(s)
2,780 square feet

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When you look at Baltimore’s outrageous prison scandal, you may see a poisoned system, a disastrous combination of corruption and negligence. Me, I see a simple failure to adequately keep track of cellphones.

Luckily, the Baltimore City Detention Center has plans to complement the efforts of their phone-sniffing dogs (the existence of which has really ignited my imagination — what else can we train dogs to smell?) with a high-tech cellphone jamming system. Read More →

Her last spring concert.  There she stands, on the stepped up bleachers, facing the darkened auditorium, so many spring concerts behind her.  She is beautiful.  Radiant.  With the light of possibility streaming from her.  Standing in heels she could not have balanced in a few short years ago.  Her heart sings in tune with the other young women in her a cappella group. Sweet harmony among friends made through the sometime painful years of growing up.  We stare at Grace, our own hearts so full of love, and hope, and the melancholy acceptance of the passage of time.

This is her season of lasts.  The last gym class, the last day of high school, the last AP test, the last spring concert.  The seniors are excited.  They all know where they are going in the fall, and their only thought now is to celebrate their friendships, and the accomplishments of their high school careers.  They are focused on being together, creating those final memories of this time of growth and learning, in the classroom and out, knowing that everything is about to change.  They are excited, but they are also a little nervous.  At least Grace is. Read More →

Courtesy Citybizlist – Phillips Seafood owners Steve and Maxine Phillips have cut the price of their Annapolis, Md., home (read our Hot House –  ”Most Expensive House in Maryland: Phillips Seafood House on the Severn”) by ten percent, to $28.8 million after it has remained unsold for over a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Read More →

Leland Shelton is the one who looks like he’s just been mentioned in a speech by the president of the United States.

Leland Shelton has an inspiring biographical abstract. The Baltimore native was taken away from his mother at age four to live with his grandparents before entering the foster care system at 14. And yet, here he is, graduating from the prestigious Morehouse College and headed to Harvard Law School, and all with an eye toward helping keep foster-care kids from “fall[ing] through the cracks.”

But I wouldn’t know any of that about Shelton had President Barack Obama not recounted it in the keynote address he delivered at Morehouse commencement on Sunday. Read More →

Well, look who’s hosting the world’s largest gathering of museum professionals. Oh you know, just Baltimore. This week, nearly 5,000 museum professionals from 64 countries will be descending on our fair city for the American Alliance of Museums’ (AAM) Annual Meeting & Museum Expo. But what does this have to do with you? With the average non-museum-professional Baltimorean? Well, these museum people don’t just keep the good stuff for themselves, of course. That’s their whole bag—sharing  knowledge, culture, and treasures with the rest of us. So as the city swells this week with these museum professional-types, local museums will likely swell with visitors—taking advantage of special deals, tours, and events all week. Read More →

Photo by Flickr user grant_j

I’ve always thought that Baltimore was the perfect distance from DC — close enough that I can just hop on the train to check out an exciting exhibit in the nation’s capital, but far enough away that I don’t run into politicians (or, worse, wannabe politicians) at the bar. The one fly in the ointment has been the lack of weekend MARC trains, which force weekend visitors between the cities to either drive (time-consuming and annoying) or take the Amtrak (more than twice as expensive). But not for long! Read More →