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Johns Hopkins University generally does well on U.S. rankings of the top colleges. 

But how does it stack up against institutions of higher learning from around the world?  Not bad. It ranks No. 19 in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings of the top 100 universities from around the globe. The University of Maryland, College Park also comes up on the list, at 95.

The British publication put Harvard, MIT and England's University of Cambridge in the top three. 

The Times Higher Education says it determined its ranking through an "invitation-only survey of academic opinion." 

High property taxes and crime? Check. A population of at least 259,000? Check.

Bad weather? Hmm..maybe the recent mild winters is why Forbes' editors overlooked Baltimore in its list of America's Most Miserable Cities.

Detroit, Flint, Mich., and Rockford, Ill., were the top three. Also on the list was Chicago, home of the nation's best pizza. That's according to Travel & Leisure, which also put Baltimore on the list. Can a city with great pizza really be that miserable? Well, in any case we're relieved Baltimore isn't on the list. Heaven knows the city doesn't need any more bad PR.

We all know that D.C. is way more expensive than Baltimore.

But apartment rents for new leases actually grew at a faster clip last year in Baltimore versus our neighbor to the South, according to Property Management Insider.  

New apartment rents grew 2.7 percent in Baltimore compared with 1.4 percent in Washington, D.C. There's a lot more apartment construction happening in D.C., so prices there aren't growing as fast as Baltimore, where the supply is more limited.

You can see the entire report here. 

One of Baltimore's well-known slogans "The City that Reads" may not be that far off the mark.

A study by Central Connecticut State University ranks Charm City No. 19 on its list of most literate cities. Washington, D.C., snagged the top spot for the third year in a row, followed by Seattle, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Denver. You can see the complete list here. 

Researchers took into account the number of bookstores, educational attainment, Internet and library resources and newspaper circulation. The study also took into account the number of online book orders and hits to local newspaper websites, writes USA Today.

"Baltimore love is snow-balls covered with melted marshmallow."

So declares Baltimore native Caroline Weller in the Huffington Post, where she is a news editor. 

Her love letter to Baltimore talks about the city's myriad charms that make it special: Maryland Blue Crabs, Berger cookies and Natty Bohs, among them.

And of course, the Baltimore Ravens — even when they aren't the Super Bowl champions.

You can read the entire letter here. 

America's new hotbeds of technology innovation are not in the major cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, but smaller ones, according to Forbes. And ranking No. 4 on Forbes' list is the Greater Baltimore region, where jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grew nearly 18 percent between 2001 and 2012.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area got the top spot, followed by Riverside-San Bernadino, Calif., and San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas. 

New York, L.A. and Chicago, in contrast, all lost tech jobs in the past decade, according to the data crunched by Praxis Strategy Group. 

"As the social media industry matures and consolidates, employment is likely to continue shifting to less expensive, business-friendly areas," Forbes writes.

You can read the rest of the story here. 

For those of you who spend Friday nights carousing in Federal Hill bars, your efforts have not gone unnoticed. 

The Daily Beast has named Baltimore one of the top 25 Drunkest Cities of 2012. Alas it only came in at No. 13, beating out Philadelphia, but coming in behind Washington, D.C., which earned a respectable ninth place on the list.

Boston earned the top spot, followed by Norfolk, Va., and Milwaukee, Wisc.

The Daily Beast, with the help of a market research firm, examined data on the number of alcoholic drinks per month each adult consumes in each of the metro areas. It says it also pulled data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the number of folks who are classified as heavy drinkers and binge drinkers. You can see the entire list here. 

If you're in the market for a new home in Baltimore, negotiate hard. 

That's according to Zillow, which analyzed the best markets for home buyers and sellers and concluded that Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Baltimore were among the top buyers' markets. In its list of buyers' markets, Baltimore came in at No. 7, behind Cincinnati, New York and Pittsburgh. 

The study, featured on Forbes.com, was completed using Zillow's third quarter 2012 market data.

"In buyers’ markets, homes for sale stay on the market longer, price cuts occur more frequently and homes are sold for less relative to their listing price, giving buyers more negotiating power," Forbes writes. You can read the entire article here. 

If you think a lot of cities are starting to look the same, you may be onto something.

The National Science Foundation is undertaking a massive, four-year study to examine the urban ecology of six cities: Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Baltimore. And researchers have found so far that the ecosystems in each are starting to resemble one another, the New York Times writes. 

"Scientists studying the function of urban ecosystems are developing theories of what they refer to as ecological homogenization," the Times writes. "Places like Baltimore, Minneapolis and Phoenix appear to be becoming more like one another ecologically than they are like the wild environments around them."

You can read the entire story here. 

The day after Maryland voters approved same-sex marriage, Baltimore's tourism bureau launched its website that helps gay couples who are planning a wedding.

"Celebrate your wedding day in Baltimore!" Visit Baltimore's site says. 

And USA Today took note of the quick response.

"Visit Baltimore is helping with venues, lodging, group rates and vendor suggestions," the paper writes. "It also has the fine print on how to wed there."

Same-sex couples can wed in Maryland starting Jan. 1. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

More Americans are setting up new households, which the Wall Street Journal says is an indication that worries about the recession may be on the decline.

"Rising household formation, which is tied to employment growth, means more students are finding jobs when they leave college, more adult children are leaving their parents' homes and more couples feel confident enough about the future to tie the knot," the Journal writes.

The paper identifies a Baltimore couple who just purchased a $250,000 condo.  "'We're both employed and we both feel secure with our jobs. We also feel like the housing market is on an upward swing. Prices are still depressed, but they're probably going up,'" new homebuyer Imran Akran tells the Journal. 

Getting a four-year degree at Johns Hopkins University will set you back $231,280. That makes it one of the top 10 most expensive colleges, according to CNNMoney.com. Room and board for the 2012-2013 school year is $57,820, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. 

Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., New York University and Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., rounded out the top 3.

It's the second time this year that the Baltimore school got on the most expensive college list. Business Insider ranked it No. 7 on its list of 20 most expensive colleges. 

Maryland voters will decide Nov. 6 whether the Free State will allow gay marriage and are now divided on the issue. 

CNN.com highlighted the debate in Maryland, as well as in Maine and Washington, which are also putting the issue before voters on Election Day. 

"From her Baltimore kitchen, Rebecca Murphy is lobbying legislators, crafting signs and making phone calls as she wages a battle to allow gays and lesbians to marry in her state," CNN.com writes. "As national polls show a shift in attitudes about same-sex marriage, Murphy's state of Maryland is one of three poised to put the issue to an up-or-down popular vote for the first time next month."

Currently, six states allow same-sex marriage and five allow civil unions for same-sex couples. 

You can read the entire story here. 

As if Hurricane Sandy wasn't scary enough news during Halloween week...

Now Forbes and home-buying site Trulia say that Baltimore ranks No. 3 on its list of top places to find a haunted home in the South. 

Another Maryland city, Hagerstown, took the very top spot while New Orleans was No. 2. Huntington, West Virginia and Louisville, Ky., were No. 4 and No. 5. 

So what makes these areas so spooky? Regions of the country that have a higher share of old, vacant homes are more likely to have haunted houses, writes Forbes, which takes its data from Trulia. Roughly 3 percent of all Baltimore homes are both old and vacant. 

"Regions of the country that were settled later and have had recent growth have a much lower share of old, vacant homes," Forbes writes. "That means most of the South and the West."

Baltimore is also one of the top haunted cities, according to SmarterTravel.com.

You can read about buying a haunted Maryland home here. 

Serving up lentil burgers and veggie deli "meats" has earned Towson University and the University of Maryland a spot on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) list of most vegan-friendly colleges.

PETA 2 —  the arm of the animal-rights group that targets the younger crowd — nominated both schools. Voting for Round 1 continues until 5 p.m. Oct. 16 and winners will be announced Nov. 15.

PETA 2 determines who makes it to the next round based on four factors: quality vegan food options, the total number of votes, the enthusiasm demonstrated by nominated schools and feedback from campus students on their vegan dining options.

The University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and Alabama's Troy University are among the other nominated vegan-friendly schools.