Buzz

The Maryland Historical Society recently unveiled a new Civil War history exhibit, and the Sun's Jacques Kelly has the full story.

"An 89-year-old Arizona man worried that no one showed interest in a U.S. flag hand-stitched by his grandmother and her mother 150 years ago.

By chance, his concerns found their way to the Maryland Historical Society, where a curator said her eyes filled with tears as she gently unwrapped the rare, homemade 34-star flag that flew above a West Baltimore street during the Civil War.

"I had this feeling this was something special, extraordinary," said Alexandra Deutsch, the society's chief curator. "When I received it, I was overwhelmed. It was one of those amazing moments in every curator's life. It is a Baltimore story, an everyday story that is nevertheless totally remarkable."

Read the whole story here.

Baltimore is fortunate to have a thriving craft scene and a growing base of small-scale makers. Over at the Etsy blog, they're taking a look at whether or not independent artisans can make an impact on the economy.

"And though I'm no economist, I can recognize that one of the ongoing concerns about U.S. economic woes is the loss of manufacturing jobs like the ones at the sock mill. Twenty years ago there were about 400 similarly sized mills in the U.S. Today there are 100. America's desire for cheap goods, along with expanding markets in other countries, has driven a lot of manufacturing overseas. Some argue that the abundance of safety and environmental regulations and the high cost of health care and pensions make it impossible for America to compete on a global scale, and that manufacturing will never return to the U.S."

Read the full post here.

Among the many bits of lore surrounding Baltimore's history with the Orioles, one of the more interesting involves the Memorial Stadium tomato patch. Over at Ballpark Digest, they recall it fondly:

"One thing about Earl Weaver: he's one of the most competitive guys on the planet. And he decided that he could grow better tomatoes than Santarone. He did so at his home -- working on advice from Santarone on growing better tomatoes. The "feud" lasted until Weaver's retirement, and Santarone maintained the tomatoes until the Orioles moved to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, dealing with foul balls and stray beers damaging plants. Santarone retired to Montana, and that was the end to the tomato patch in an MLB ballpark."

Read the whole post at Ballpark Digest.

Baltimore native and former tennis star Pam Shriver goes "one on one" with Charleston, SC's Post and Courier. A sample:

"What would you do to improve the game if you were the commissioner of baseball?"

"The pace of play is very important whether I'm watching baseball, tennis or golf. Sometimes, I think the pace of play gets dragged down. I probably would make sure pitchers -- relief pitchers who came in with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth or ninth inning -- had to make a pitch in a certain amount of time. I think in this day and age, the pace is slow. I think the strategy and the overall core of the game is fabulous."

Read the full Q&A here.

The Washington Examiner takes a look at the dying profession of court reporter, a gig that's slowly being phased out in Baltimore County. A sample:

"Baltimore County is one of the exceptions to the rule when it comes to having court reporters, however. Montgomery County has been exclusively digital for almost a decade and was using reel-to-reel tape almost 30 years ago. And a profession losing jobs because of advances in technology is nothing new.

But the departure of familiar faces in Towson, the loss of court reporters anywhere, comes with a familiar concern voiced by judges, lawyers and court reporters themselves.

"The county is not getting the same record they would get with court reporters," said Randy Mackubin, the county's chief court reporter."

Read more.

The Baltimore Grand Prix -- to be held downtown on Labor Day weekend -- has announced additional sponsorship agreements.

"Maryland- based GEICO is one of the nation's leading auto insurers, insuring more than 16 million vehicles and employing 24,000 associates across the country.

Serving as the official airline of the race is Air Tran, a Fortune 1000 airline that has been ranked the No. 1 low cost carrier for the last three years in the Airline Quality Rating study.

Fans at the BGP will enjoy a wide variety of leading spirits, including, Tequila Patron, Bacardi Rums, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, Grey Goose Vodkas and Jagermeister.

Other event partners include: Transamerica/AEGON, Greenspring Energy, Enoch Office Products, HVM Racing, Baltimore's Marriott Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Sheraton Hotel, Harbor Court Hotel and Hyatt Hotel. "

Full story from PaddockTalk.

Baltimore put forth a hell of an effort to win high-speed Internet courtesy of Google Fiber, but last week the prize went instead to Kansas City, Kansas.

"The unlikely nature of Google's choice was perhaps most deeply appreciated across the state line in three-times-larger Kansas City, Mo., home of art museums, professional sports teams and high-tech companies. Until recently, "Kansas City, Kan., was disparaged as the armpit of the metro area�if not all of Kansas," said a Thursday column in the Kansas City Star, based in Kansas City, Mo.

Yet the Google decision represents the latest in a series of comebacks for a city that 15 years ago was on the brink of disaster. The closing of steel plants and meatpacking factories reduced KCK's population to below 150,000 from a 1970 high of 168,000. Its public finances, meanwhile, were so strained that residents voted in 1997 to merge the city and county governments, largely to cut costs."

Head to the Wall Street Journal for more.

Weather person, style icon, and one-time Regis Philbin co-host Sandra Shaw has left WBAL for a new life in Palm Beach.

"The former University of Mississippi track and cross country star found her way to Baltimore via stops on-the-air at Mobile/Pensacola, Ala., Columbus, Ga., and Raleigh, N.C. Listeners, viewers and co-workers here now know how those folks in those towns felt when Sandra packed her bags for WBAL in Baltimore.

We're all going through the same thing now as Sandra's bags are packed for the next stop on her broadcasting (and life) career.

Next stop for Sandra is WPBF-TV in Palm Beach. As cliched as it might sound, South Florida's gain is definitely Baltimore's loss."

Read more at Scott Wykoff's WBAL blog.

Legendary cult doc Heavy Metal Parking Lot will screen on Thursday, April 7 as part of the Found Footage Festival.

"This year marks the 25th-anniversary of Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a documentary hailed by rock and film cognoscenti as one of the greatest rock documentaries of all time. To honor the occasion, the film will serve as the "opening band" for the touring comedy showcase, the Found Footage Festival, in a one-night-only engagement at the Creative Alliance on Thursday, April 7th at 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 and are available at www.foundfootagefest.com.

Heavy Metal Parking Lot is a mid-1980s time capsule from the golden age of heavy metal. Directors Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, armed only with a camera and sound gear, braved the parking lot of a Judas Priest concert in 1986 and captured 16 dense minutes of raucous and unexpurgated interviews from teenage metal heads. For nearly twenty years, VHS copies of Heavy Metal Parking Lot were dubbed and passed around, slowly building a worldwide cult following. A bootleg copy allegedly became a band-viewing favorite on Nirvana's tour bus, and Cameron Crowe called it "one of the greatest rock movies ever." Since then, the film has garnered a new generation of fans with a special-edition DVD release and a reality-TV series, PARKING LOT. Always a crowd-pleaser, this 25th anniversary tour finally puts HMPL where it was meant to be seen: on the big screen with an audience."

More info at Broadway World.

Calling it a "win-win," State Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller is suggesting a merger between UMB and UMCP, a move which would create a top-10 research university.

"There has been talk about this for years," said Regent Francis X. Kelly, who was also an important voice on higher education during three terms in the state Senate. "No one disputes the fact that the campuses should be working more closely together. I think the timing is probably right for a good study."

The campuses actually shared a president, though not an identity, between 1920 and 1970. Kelly said he also remembered talking about a merger in 1988, when the General Assembly passed a sweeping reorganization of the university system and formally designated College Park as the system's flagship school. He said the regents have not formally discussed it in recent years.

Miller said he proposed the study this year because he felt the regents missed an opportunity to examine the issue in 2010, when the presidential jobs at both campuses were open."

Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore's iconic Hollywood Diner -- which came to fame in Barry Levinson's "Diner" -- has reopened, albeit in slightly altered form.

"Cheryl Townsend, the proprietor of the Red Springs Caf� and catering company, formerly on North Calvert Street, reopened the diner March 5. She kept its original name but added part of her own: "The Hollywood Diner presents: The Red Springs Caf�."

Townsend, 47, has worked in the food service industry for more than 20 years, and relocated her diner in hopes that business will improve. The odds, however, may not be in her favor. The economy is struggling to crawl out of the worst recession in decades, and about one in four new restaurants fail after their first year.

Townsend stares down those odds with bright eyes and an optimistic disposition � business has been great, she said."

Read more about the new Hollywood Diner here.

Forbes magazine has ranked Baltimore #2 on its list of best American cities for minority entrepreneurs.

"The Baltimore metro area � at No. 2 on our list � ranked third in the percentage of self-employed Asians (8.4 per 100)," Forbes wrote. HBO's "The Wire" set in urban Baltimore, featured less-than-legal entrepreneurship, but legitimate minority enterprise is thriving in the greater surrounding areas�crucial, given the city's 13.6 percent and 5.8 percent declines in its white and African American populations since 2000."

More from the BBJ.

David Donaldson, writing for the Huffington Post, is the latest national observer to take note of the good things happening with Baltimore City schools.

"There is a strong desire to know more about a district that has accomplished the following: increased enrollment for three consecutive years after four decades of decline, cut their dropout rate in half, engaged parents and community leaders, increased student achievement, closed achievement gaps, settled a long lasting special education lawsuit, increased choice and types of schools, and created a new teachers contract that passed on a second vote by a 2:1 margin.

Last week over 1,600 concerned students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community activists gathered in Annapolis to protest education budget cuts. Intense torrential downpour could not dampen the spirits of this determined crowd.

Meanwhile, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I currently attend, professors and classmates alike ask, "Have you heard what's going on in Baltimore?"

As a matter of fact, I have."

Read the rest here.

Could Dr. Andres Alonso be moving on from his position as head of Baltimore City schools? Maybe.

"Some say Emanuel's short list includes Andres Alonso, a friend of Duncan's who is credited with reversing the fortunes of the struggling Baltimore school system with some of the same reforms Emanuel has championed, such as closing failing schools and replacing ineffective principals. Alonso, who took over as schools chief in Baltimore in 2007, has a brash, confident style similar to Emanuel's, causing some to wonder if those two personalities can co-exist.

Others, though, say Alonso and Emanuel are a match, at least philosophically."

The Chicago Tribune has more.

Folks in the Baltimore region will soon have more cruise options courtesy of Royal Caribbean.

"The announcement adds a new set of six-night cruises to Bermuda as well as eight-night Bermuda and Northeast United States cruises that will sail out of Baltimore in the spring and summer of 2012.  Enchantment's new six-night itinerary will make 3-day calls to Kings Wharf, Bermuda."

More from Royal Caribbean themselves.