Mickey's makeover

Maine and marriage

While polls characterize today's vote on whether to prohibit same-sex marriage in Maine as too close to call, recent experience in California and elsewhere should dampen expectations. Same-sex marriage laws have yet to be passed by voters in any state; either the...

Testing county's metal

Our view: By requiring greater accounting and inspection at local scrap yards, Baltimore County council can finally apply the brakes to theft of valuable metal

Fighting foreclosure

With the number of home foreclosures on the rise again in Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to require mediation before banks can begin proceedings to seize the houses of delinquent borrowers is a good idea, but it doesn't go far enough to help struggling...

Cohen for mayor

Our endorsement: Annapolis voters have good options, but the Democratic candidate's background, stands on the budget and governance give him a slight edge

Truth in advertising

The legislation proposed by Baltimore City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake to require crisis pregnancy centers that do not provide abortion or birth control services (or referrals for those services) to post a sign saying so has turned into a...

Lipscomb could save a bundle

Part of the sentence handed down Thursday for developer Ronald Lipscomb after his guilty plea in the City Hall corruption investigation was that he'll stop donating to any city political candidates during the next three years. Fortunately for Maryland politicians, he's already donated thousands of...

The true price of war

The cavernous hangar at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware is an austere and imposing building, and it was altogether fitting that President Barack Obama should have gone there late Wednesday night to view the coffins of 18 soldiers and Drug Enforcement...

Police barricade

Stonewalling is something reporters confront all too often with government at every level. Few public agencies reveal their inner workings without a fight, and bureaucrats have a formidable arsenal of legalese and excuses that put the high school standard "the...

Losing by a thread

Our view: When a pinstripe decides a championship, participants are at a loss

A blow against bias

It's been more than a decade since the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was kidnapped, pistol-whipped and left to die tied to a fence in freezing weather on a Wyoming ranch in 1998. In the years since, Congress has made several attempts to...

Obama v. Fox News

Our view: No matter what office they hold, elected leaders can't ban the press

Out on the town

Name a city that doesn't boast a vibrant and varied night life, and we'll show you a place that is probably very dull indeed. When work is done and people flock to their favorite restaurants and bars to meet and greet, they want a range of entertainment to...

Close the slush fund

Our view: The Baltimore City Foundation has a noble purpose, but lax oversight has allowed it to serve as a conduit between special interests and the mayor

Power selling

The conflict between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Constellation Energy Group over the $4.5 billion sale of half its nuclear assets to Electricité de France ratcheted up a notch this week with the filing of a legal brief calling on the Maryland Public Service...

Lock out drunken driving

Our view: Requiring offenders to install ignition interlock could save lives

Deterring gang violence

Our view: Gangs are a growing threat in Maryland, but confusion over privacy rights and weak state laws have tied the hands of school officials, police and prosecutors

No sacred cows

Our view: Mayor Dixon and Gov. O'Malley have tried to avoid budget cuts to police, firefighters and schools, but it is no longer possible to hold them out of the equation

Walking in their footsteps

Last weekend, I made a kid cry.

A flamingo takes flight

The decision by Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting to take down a sculpture of a pink flamingo that had been on the side of her building rather than pay a fee to the city for a minor use permit sparked varied, and passionate, reactions from readers of The Sun editorial board's blog,...

A little off the top

Shed no tears for those pillars of Wall Street who will soon be forced to get by on an annual salaries as low as - gasp - $500,000. The nation deserves something for ponying up billions of dollars in bailout money; a little less conspicuous consumption is the...

The Net is colorblind

Morgan State University may have won a Pyrrhic victory in its dispute with the University of Maryland University College over a graduate program to train doctoral candidates in community college administration.

Cut the golden parachute

Say what you will about Baltimore County Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, he's a survivor. The Perry Hall Democrat was elected in a year when Republicans swept the county. Legislative map changes put him in the same district as a fellow incumbent, but he was re-...

Payment overdue

It doesn't take a world-class bargain-hunter to recognize that the price of anything, from groceries to electronics, is impossible to assess without considering hidden costs. Like that big-screen TV? Better ask about the added cost of cables and digital sound. A...

Your move, Mr. Karzai

It seems clear now that President Barack Obama wasn't just dithering all those weeks when it appeared he couldn't make up his mind about whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

Up in smoke

Having Drug Enforcement Administration agents bust the sick who smoke marijuana for such nefarious purposes as relieving the nausea of chemotherapy was one of the more ridiculous boondoggles of the Bush administration. Rarely have federal drug enforcement resources...