WBAL.com

He has been an attorney for over 23 years, and has been involved with Habitat for Humanity and the Jarretsville Lions Club.

James Rutledge, III has never run for elected office, and admits his first campaign will be difficult.

The 47-year-old Republican and married father of two has become the first GOP candidate to announce plans to run against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski next year.
[...]

Rutledge grew up on a cattle farm in Harford County and said he has similar “working class roots” to Mikulski, who grew up in Baltimore City.

He believe Mikulski has lost touch with those roots.

“After a person spends too much time in Washington DC, I believe that putting an American citizen first and putting a Maryland citizen first becomes a much more difficult process for people,” Rutledge said.

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

Mayor Dixon to Greet Volunteers on First Day of Playground Rebuild
Community Volunteers Launch Six-Day Build

Media Advisory For:? May 5, 2009
Media Contact: Sara Milstein: 443-831-3939

(Baltimore, MD) – At the site of the former Memorial Stadium at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Center Y, thousands of city-wide volunteers will come together to rebuild after a devastating fire destroyed the Stadium Playground. ?Mayor Sheila Dixon and John K. Hoey, President and CEO of the Y of Central Maryland will address the first crew of volunteers in a project launch celebration and will join in the work, together with City Hall and Y staff along with area youth.

The playground will be rebuilt by approximately 2,300 volunteers May 5th through 10th.

WHAT: Playground rebuild launch

WHEN: Tuesday, May 5, 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: 900 E. 33rd Street, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Center Y

BACKGROUND: The community playground at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Center Y at Stadium Place burned to the ground September 9, 2008, but is about to come back to life through a community led volunteer effort starting May 5th with completion on Mother?s Day. The Y of Central Maryland?s insurance will cover most of the replacement costs for the playground equipment but funds and volunteers are still needed.

In 2005, the original playground was built over 9 days with more than 3,000 dedicated volunteers who came from all over Maryland and as far as North Carolina and New York to build the 1,700 square foot playground. ?The night after the fire, more than 200 people came together outside the playground to mourn and commit to rebuilding.

Volunteers will fill a large array of jobs including builders (skilled and unskilled), food servers, people to take care of children of the builders, and greeters to sign in other volunteers. Nearly 2,000 workers are already signed up but skilled workers are still needed.

Those interested in volunteering can visit www.stadiumplayground.org to sign up or call 443-756-6198 for more information.

The Y of Central Maryland and Friends of Our Playground at Stadium Place are mutually focused on improving the lives of the children and youth by providing safe and enriching opportunities for play and recreation. These organizations have joined together to rebuild Our Playground at Stadium Place after the tragic fire in September of 2008. We invite, and thank you for, your participation and support.

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The Daily Record’s Andy Rosen reports on state DOT officials and their plan to change how truck traffic gets to/from Canton from I-95.

The plan would extend Boston Street northward to connect with O’Donnell Street, a plan that the city believes would encourage drivers to avoid Boston Street’s road-level railroad crossing. Drivers of heavy trucks would be encouraged to use Boston Street.

The article includes a mention of opposition to the plan in the neighborhood along with an alternate plan proposed. A public meeting will be held this Wednesday from 4:30-7:00 p.m. at the Southeast Anchor Library of the Enoch Pratt Library on Eastern Avenue.

Crystal Palace opened their season this past Friday evening at UMBC Stadium in Catonsville. A crowd of just over 2,000 people saw the home team fight to a scoreless draw against the visiting Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

From the team website:

Pittsburgh’s only real chance of the first half came on 25 minutes when Justin Evans headed goalwards but Brian Rowland in the Palace net pulled off an excellent save to keep his side in the game. On 35 minutes, Dan Lader had the ball in the back of the Pittsburgh net, but was adjudged to have been in an offside position from Zack Flores’ pinpoint cross.

The second half saw Palace take more of the initiative, but scoring opportunities were still few and far between. After quarter of an hour, Brian Rowland looked to have come to Palace’s rescue once again with a point blank stop on Sean Cameron’s effort on the six yard line, but the play was ruled offside by the officials. Palace began to look more dangerous over the final twenty minutes of the match, with second half substitute Pat Healey behind most of the newfound attacking creativity. But neither side was able to break the deadlock

The next game for Crystal Palace is this Friday night against Bermuda. More information can be found here.

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Baltimore Sun

Hasenei, who has filed a complaint with county police, says he plans to testify Tuesday at a state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing. He is in favor of a bill that would require a standard report for police agencies that would include how often SWAT teams are deployed, for what purpose and the results of those raids.

Requests for data from several police agencies throughout the Baltimore region produced varying amounts of information about tactical unit deployment last year, including how many warrants led to arrests in Baltimore County and the number of hostage situations handled in Howard County. But none could readily provide comprehensive information about their units’ activities last year.

In pushing for the bill, Hasenei joins Cheye Calvo, the mayor of a suburban Washington town, whose dogs were killed by a SWAT team last year in a raid that made international news.