Standing about 10 feet away from a wall of flames 80 feet high, Jason Spadaro suddenly felt very small.

He's been a volunteer firefighter since he was 17, but this was a different world.

Mr. Spadaro, who's now 23 and lives in Edgewater, was among 18 Maryland firefighters who returned Monday from two weeks of fighting wildfires in California.

They worked 13- to 15-hour days on the Whiskeytown fire, a 6,200-acre blaze ...

Published on 07/17/08

My family and I, accompanied by a few pirates, I mean college students, spent last week bobbing in the turquoise water of the Caribbean for summer vacation. It still amazes me that if you can scavenge the airfare, you can go almost anywhere in the world and stay for about as much as it costs to visit our very own Ocean City.

It was fortunate for me that prior to the trip I picked up a book, "The Republic of Pirates" by Colin W...

Published on 07/17/08

Just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday, as the unblinking eyes of Annapolis' new surveillance cameras kept watch over downtown, an 18-year-old man was shot in the city.

But like nearly every violent crime, this shooting happened far away from the Historic District and its pretty Colonial buildings.

The teen was shot on Bowman Court, so no cameras were watching.

That's because the four surveillance cameras city police have quie...

Published on 07/15/08

At his age, Taron Tolbert ought to be experiencing the milestones he says he's prepared for: a good job, marriage, his own house.

Instead, he's ticking off the sad benchmarks of a different kind of maturity. Last week, he got his first felony conviction and his longest jail sentence yet. And he was told by two judges this could be his last chance.

Tolbert, 23, had been in the county courthouse in Annapolis before, once to ...

Published on 07/13/08

Working for John Leopold these days doesn't sound like a lot of fun: Turn off the lights. Cut the air-conditioning and roll down the windows. Drive a smaller car.

But say this for the county executive: He seems to remember whose money he's spending, something you can't always say for government employees.

Appearances matter. And too often, the appearance of public officials is that when they're spending taxpayers&#...

Published on 07/10/08

Samantha dropped the soapy, slippery glass, and it crashed to the floor and shattered. Lou, who had been sitting with his newspaper in the next room, leapt up at the sound and ran into the kitchen. When he saw the broken glass on the floor and saw Samantha crouched down, he barked at her, "Are you hurt? Did you get cut?"

Samantha, uninjured and embarrassed at her clumsiness, dismissed his concern with, "I'm fine. It&#...

Published on 07/10/08