State's attorneys from across Maryland have filed an amicus brief opposing an appellate court's decision to grant "Serial" podcast subject Adnan Syed a new trial, arguing the outsized attention on the case led to an improper ruling.

The brief calls Syed's successful post-conviction appeal "meritless," and says "sensationalized attention" surrounding the case was "fueled by supporters of a convicted murderer." That attention "should not bear on the just and proper resolution of this appeal," it says.

The future USS Zumwalt immediately stands out from the older vessels docked here: It looks as if someone has taken a hedge-trimmer to every surface on the destroyer and cut back guns, masts and even the ship's bridge.

What's left is a gray slab jutting out of the water — a striking design aimed at making the huge ship difficult for enemies to find.

The Navy's newest and largest destroyer is scheduled to slide into Baltimore on Friday evening — a few days earlier than planned so it can avoid Hurricane Matthew charging up the East Coast.

The aerial surveillance plane used in recent months by the Baltimore Police Department was likely flying above the city when at least nine homicides and 21 shootings occurred on the streets below, according to an analysis of flight and crime data by The Baltimore Sun.

With the latest round of federal indictments against Maryland corrections officers, top law enforcement officials are again touting their efforts to root out corruption while facing questions over why such misconduct continues.

This week's indictment of 80 people, including 18 corrections officers, at the state prison on the Eastern Shore outlined exchanges of hundreds of dollars at a time between inmates and officers. The inmates wanted heroin and cocaine to deal inside. The officers were smuggling the drugs in.

The most definitive thing that came out of the Orioles’ end-of-the-season news conference  Thursday probably wasn’t what the club’s fan base wanted to hear after the team’s one-and-done postseason.

Baseball operations chief Dan Duquette, who was joined by manager Buck Showalter for the nearly hour-long Q&A session with reporters, made it clear that last winter’s record offseason shopping spree was not a sign of things to come.

Little Italy, nestled at the foot of the Jones Falls Expressway close to the Inner Harbor, has been a low-slung quarter of rowhomes, family restaurants and ravioli church suppers for as long as most Baltimoreans can remember.

While the neighborhood's narrow streets and formstone facades have endured, its denizens watched warily as nearby warehouses and lumber yards morphed into condos, offices and some of the most luxe dining in the city.

It's the border war that ain't, the blood feud that never was.

When the Ravens and Washington Redskins meet on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, they'll do so for just the sixth time since the Ravens began play in 1996.

That's not enough for any real animosity to brew, players said, even if prickly feelings have persisted for generations between Washington and Baltimore.

"Personally, I don't really feel like there's a rivalry-type situation," Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith said. "They're not in our conference.