The St. Patrick's Day brawl

The GOP's spendthrift ways

There's a tendency among some to shorthand the ongoing federal budget debate as between Republicans who want to reduce government spending and Democrats who don't. This isn't really the case, as recent actions in the House have demonstrated.

Wegmans vs. the liquor lobby

If local pharmacists could write the regulations, Marylanders probably wouldn't ever have been allowed to get their prescriptions filled at chain stores like Walgreens and Rite-Aid. Independent video stores probably would have liked to outlaw Blockbuster, just as small bookstore owners probably...

Dick Lugar's warning for America

The hit men of the tea party can carve another notch in their collective gun belts this week with the ouster of Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Senate. Whatever mojo the conservative firebrands had in the 2010 GOP primaries, when they ousted party moderates right and...

A balanced solution

Gov. Martin O'Malley, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller are making the best of the embarrassing situation caused by their failure to pass a balanced budget when the legislature adjourned in April. The special legislative session due to begin on Monday will...

Europe's lesson for the GOP

The economic and political tumult in Europe has continued this week with anti-incumbent votes in France and Greece as well as signs of disaffection in Italy, Great Britain and Germany. The electorate is angry, and the election results have raised renewed concerns about whether Europe's most debt-...

Another arts district?

Any effort that promises to attract new residents and businesses to a historic Baltimore neighborhood could do a lot worse than make the arts a magnet for bringing people together. That's why we can't see any down side to a city proposal to create a third arts and entertainment district for...

Gay marriage: Biden being Biden?

The surprise endorsement of same-sex marriage on Sunday by Vice President Joe Biden is leading to some predictable election-year cynicism. Was this the Obama White House trying to have it both ways — sending a signal to gay supporters that the president will be with them in a second term while...

How about them O's?

One of the more remarkable traits of the Baltimore Oriole is its ability to make a home out of an odd collection of cast-offs and under-valued items — grass, bark, horsehair, wool, even cellophane and fishing line. And that's not the end of their cleverness. They are also acrobatic feeders who...

Baltimore's tax diet

Those who wish to lose weight — and with summer swim season around the corner that's probably most of us — know that there are two easy ways to sabotage one's diet and exercise program. The first is to try to do too much all at once and fail, and the other is to say it's all futile and...

Obama, bin Laden and the big picture

Methadone and misdemeanors

For many years, some Baltimore area neighborhood groups have fought strenuously against the addition of methadone clinics to their communities on the grounds that such facilities inevitably bring loiterers and traffic, depress property values and increase crime. Yet it may be time to take at least...

Sanctuary for Chen Guangcheng

American embassy officials in Beijing didn't exactly throw out the welcome mat when one of China's leading human rights activists showed up on their doorstep last week seeking refuge. But having allowed him inside and sheltered him for several days while they negotiated his fate with Chinese...

Bealefeld's legacy

Frederick H. Bealefeld IIImade Baltimore safer. He ascended to the top job in the city's police department at a time when Baltimore was reeling from violence that threatened a return to the dark days of 300-plus murders a year. He immediately brought stability, focus and a no-nonsense attitude...

The lesson of the Werdesheim case

The guilty verdict against one of two brothers accused of beating a Northwest Baltimore teen cuts through the conflicting accounts of what happened on Fallstaff Road nearly 18 months ago and arrives at an essential truth: When Eliyahu Werdesheim stepped out of his car and confronted Corey Ausby,...

Mission redefined

Addressing the nation from Kabul on Tuesday, President Barack Obama offered what may be his clearest statement yet about what he sees as the American role in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO combat troops in 2014 — along with a healthy dose of realism about what the U.S. can...

One loophole down, 24 to go

This afternoon, Gov.Martin O'Malleyplans to sign what may be the most significant step toward increasing transparency in Maryland's system of campaign finance in years: a requirement that those who contribute more than $500 to a single candidate during an election cycle list their occupation and...

Al-Qaida after bin Laden

One year after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs at his safe house in Pakistan, a substantially weakened al-Qaida and its affiliates continue to pose a threat to the West. The Pakistan-based group's leadership has been decimated by drone strikes and is no longer believed capable of...

Henson grabs the spotlight

Political consultant Julius Henson, facing charges stemming from the infamous 2010 "relax" robocall that has already resulted in one criminal conviction, wants to put the entire state Democratic Party on trial. It's an odd defense strategy — he seems not to be focused on either the question of...

The money that slipped away

Baltimore's property tax rate is high (that's one thing that everyone that owns a home or business in the city can agree on) so nothing makes the blood boil quite like news that someone has successfully avoided paying their fair share — except, perhaps, finding out it wasn't a case of...

When elephants fight

The last thing you'd think Maryland's Republican party needs would be a nasty internecine fight, but that's what it got at its annual convention over the weekend. Rather than unity in the effort to overcome a massive voter registration disadvantage, chronic fundraising problems and a frequent lack...

Maryland's top priority

The State Board of Education was right to reject Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold's attempt to evade the spirit of a law that prevents local jurisdictions from slacking off in their support for public schools. Protest though he might that he had done nothing wrong, Mr. Leopold's budget for...

The suite life on North Ave.

In at least one Baltimore elementary school, the staff is engaged in an all-out war on rats because the rodents have such easy access through holes in the walls. In other city schools, classrooms are literally caving in from water damage. White dust falls from the decaying ceiling tiles, and in many...

Franchot's September song

Data-stream around Grandpa, youngsters 2.1 and 3.1, while he tells you about the time long, long ago when a certain elected official grew so nostalgic about a time even longer ago when Labor Day marked the beginning of the school year.

Superblock: Making the math work

Baltimore MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakeis asking the City Council to grant generous property tax breaks for the developers of the long-stalled Superblock project on the west side of downtown, calling it a linchpin of her long-term strategy to grow the city's revenue base and increase its...

Phylicia Barnes: An arrest, and questions

The arrest late Wednesday of a suspect in the killing of North Carolina teen Phylicia Barnes is a vindication of the tremendous effort and resources the Baltimore Police Department poured into the case after the 16-year-old disappeared from her older sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment in late...