Druid Hill

Not so routine

It's a Monday evening at True Balance Studio in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood, and a handful of students are hanging out in the loft-style exercise facility. Literally.

City officials warn of road closures

Baltimore transportation officials are warning motorists of road closures planned for today that could affect traffic. Madison Street is to be closed between Bond Street and Broadway from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accommodate a crane operation. The 2nd Annual Recovery Walk is planned for 9 a.m. to noon, going south on Park Heights Avenue to Auchentoroly Terrace and ending at the entrance to Druid Hill Park. Southbound lanes on Park Heights from Garrison Avenue to Druid Hill Park will be closed during the event. Officials also warn that traffic patterns will be altered in Mount Washington from 6:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. today for the Mount Washington Wine & Jazz Fesitval. Though no roads will be closed for the event, heavy traffic should be expected.

A mother-and-child reunion

Brittany Banks says she's tired of missing out on a normal adolescence. She never went to a prom, never had a first date. Ever since seven boys allegedly attacked and sexually assaulted her at a Baltimore middle school six years ago, she's been through dozens of psychiatric wards and residential facilities for troubled youths.

Lion put to sleep

Veterinarians with the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore euthanized a 16-year-old lion Friday, leaving the zoo with just one lion, officials announced yesterday.

Target gives city $300,000

Target, the big-box retailer that recently opened a new store at Mondawmin Mall, announced a $300,000 donation to the Baltimore Police Department yesterday that will help police and the store's security officials coordinate crime-fighting efforts in West Baltimore.

Maryland Zoo wins accreditation

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore won national accreditation yesterday after a yearlong delay that forced the 132-year-old facility to repair neglected infrastructure, increase its lowest salaries, and secure a line of credit to avoid layoffs and defaulting on vendors.

Police Blotter

Southern Baltimore

Labor Day: What's open

labor day schedule

Watchdog

MVA message lost in translation

THE PROBLEM The Spanish translation of "no trespassing" signs at the Maryland MVA offices in Baltimore and Glen Burnie are so riddled with errors that even non-Spanish speakers can detect mistakes.

Labor Day: What's open?

This schedule will be in effect Monday:

Labor Day schedule in area counties

This schedule will be in effect Monday.

Bringing up Samson

You give your rambunctious toddler a nice soapy bath, and what's the first thing he does? He goes out and stomps in the mud, of course.

A Phelps frenzy

Parents and children have been staying up way past their bedtimes to watch the live broadcasts of his races. Working professionals who don't normally obsess over swimming have found themselves ducking away from their desks to catch even the preliminary heats during the day. And swim clubs and swimsuit retailers across the area say their pools and shops are abuzz with talk of Michael Phelps and his history-making performance this week in Beijing.

Back in the game

Late yesterday morning in Druid Hill Park, Wayne Collier handed his son tennis gear.

Currie contacted Cabinet members

State Sen. Ulysses Currie, the subject of a federal investigation into alleged influence-peddling, acted as a liaison between top-ranking Cabinet members of the past two administrations and Shoppers Food Warehouse, newly released documents show.

Easing way for foot traffic

Hoping to clear a waiting list for sidewalk repairs that stretches back four years, Baltimore officials said today they will focus more attention - and an additional $2 million - on smoothing the way for foot traffic.

Laura Vozzella: It's just a damyankee rodent

Maybe Sheila Dixon's "Cleaner, Greener" thing is working a little too well. In need of a rodent for that municipal ad campaign, Baltimore sent away to New York for a freeze-dried rat.

Laura Vozzella: A couple of irresistible targets

Baltimore's retail renaissance and beleaguered mayor converged this week, two Targets, together, at Mondawmin Mall.

Currie probe looks at possible influence deals

The federal investigation into state Sen. Ulysses Currie's work for Shoppers Food Warehouse is centered on whether the grocery chain paid the lawmaker to use the prestige of his office to secure favorable legislation and actions by state agencies, according to newly released documents that detail electronic phone records and surveillance of the prominent lawmaker's home.

Target opens at mall in city

Target - the big-box store with the bull's eye logo and funky TV ads - has arrived in Baltimore.

MTA to embrace hybrids

The Maryland Transit Administration will put up to 500 fuel-saving hybrid-electric buses on the street by 2014 in an effort to reduce harmful emissions and noise, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday.

Watchdog

Accidental river floods city park path

THE PROBLEM // A broken pipe in Robert E. Lee Park caused water to pour down a path for more than a week.

Currie can get papers

State Sen. Ulysses Currie is entitled to have copies of materials seized from his home during an FBI raid in May, as well as the search warrant affidavit filed by the U.S. attorney's office, federal Magistrate Judge Paul W. Grimm ruled yesterday.

Currie linked to mall plan

State Sen. Ulysses Currie, whose ties to Shoppers Food and Pharmacy are under federal investigation, intervened several times in recent years on behalf of the grocery store chain when it was seeking public financing and other concessions as part of the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Mondawmin Mall in West Baltimore, according to interviews and records obtained by The Sun.

Animal views at Maryland Zoo

The African exhibit at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore gives visitors a chance to glance at animals they wouldn't see in their backyard - giraffes are rarely seen traipsing down North Avenue - but also offers an opportunity to get to know them.

Man, 45, fatally stabbed

A male resident of Lakeview Tower Apartments in the 700 block of Druid Park Lake Drive died yesterday after being stabbed outside the building, police spokesman Agent Donny Moses said. Dalion Stanley, 45, was arguing with someone about 2:50 a.m. when he was stabbed in the chest, Moses said, and was pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center at 3:40 a.m.

Watchdog

Leaning light pole signals a hazard

THE PROBLEM // A pole supporting a traffic signal and street light at Greenspring Avenue and Druid Park Drive had been leaning since it was hit by a car about a year ago.

Sun Profile

He talks; officials gulp

It has been a hot, dry month of Code Reds and cooling centers - just the weather that M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman loves.