Features (All)

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 2/2/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... A Terrific Year for...

In 2011, the terrier was king of the box office

If you want to stand out in movies, never work with dogs or children. This Oscar season, however, films featuring terriers are racking up the nominations. First popular in screwball films of the 1930s, such as The Thin Man and Bringing Up Baby, terriers dropped back to the relative obscurity of television shows such as Fraiser and Wishbone. Now, the breed seems to be making a comeback, appearing in three of the biggest award-season films of 2011. In...

Article - Places; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 2/2/12

Moving History

Antiques may yield arts center — someday

Dale Thomas, proprietor of Nice & Fleazy Antiques in North Beach for 42 years, is in the early stages of planning his exit from the densely packed store that’s a must-stop on every antiquer’s list. “I have made it quite public for a long time that I think this would make a perfect center for performing arts,” says Thomas. “But as for anything immediate, it is not.” Thomas gives two reasons that...

Article - People; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 2/2/12

Preserving History

Local author recognized for definitive Annapolis book

Jane McWilliams has won the Maryland Historical Trust’s 2012 Maryland Preservation Award for Excellence in Media and Publications for her 478-page book Annapolis, City on the Severn: A History. “It is the first comprehensive history of Annapolis from settlement in the mid-17th century to modern-day maturity and the only one to fully reference the sources used,” according to the Trust. McWilliams knows her subject by experience as well as...

Article - Features; by compiled and edited by Diana Beechener - 2/2/12

Bay Weekly’s Annual Groundhog’s Movie Guide

Enjoy the last six weeks of winter with these select Hollywood pairings

Everything old is new again. In a world that has come to appreciate recycling as a life essential, is it any wonder that the film industry has adopted the reduce, recycle, reuse philosophy? Sometimes the story needs an update, a modern lens. Other times, a movie made so much money originally that there may be more cash to come. Then again, some studios would rather remake a foreign film than chance subtitles at the box office. This year, to brighten your...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 1/19/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Will Elk Return to...

We’ll know by spring

Elk could once again roam the forests of western Maryland — unless citizens say no way in a survey beginning next month. Elk are big. Females reach 500 pounds; males, which grow the towering antlers, get up to 700 pounds. They’re herbivores, but it takes a large range to feed the appetites of creatures so big. Thus farmers worry about their crops. The giant deer cousins were here before us. But no more. Eastern elk are now extinct. They were...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 1/19/12

Where’s Anne Arundel’s Money Tree?

Find out with our multiple choice quiz

Where’s the money coming from? Anne Arundel County is counting on a nice windfall to help it pay its $1.2 billion in bills in the next fiscal year. Can you guess from what tree that money will fall? 1. Your property taxes? 2. The county’s share of income taxes? 3. Switching money from county pocket to pocket? 4. Investment income? 5. Local sales taxes? 6. Fees you pay for recording and transferring property? 7....

Article - People; by Angela Worland - 1/19/12

Local Lives ... Audubon Fellow Abby Ybarra

A long memory is this environmental teacher’s key

You probably don’t remember me, the 11th grader said, but I remember planting those trees at Mt. Harmony. Albert ‘Abby’ Ybarra, of Chesapeake Beach, tells this story with pride. It’s been nine years since Ybarra and a class of second graders planted those trees. Lasting memories like this is exactly what Ybarra hopes to achieve in his work with students and teachers to encourage environmental thinking in our next generation. In...

Article - Culture & History; by Margaret Tearman - 1/19/12

If Walls Could Talk

At historic Linden House, the buildings have a lot to say

Once upon a time, just about everything on the table was home-grown. To eat, you needed to keep chickens for meat and eggs. Cows for milk, butter and cheese. Livestock was raised, butchered and preserved. So old homesteads included not just a home but also chicken coops, animal stalls, meat houses, smoke houses. The outbuildings where food was raised and preserved are as much a part of the story as the old house. At Historic Linden House, home to Calvert...

Article - Things; by a Bay Weekly exclusive - 1/19/12

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

Before I could sleep tight, I had to learn more about these invading pests than I ever wanted to know

Editor’s note: This story is true. The author goes nameless to protect the innocent. I scooped the two yellow bugs into a glass jar and tightened the lid. What were these little critters crawling along the seam of my mattress? I’d found a yellow bug like this on my bed once before and didn’t think much about it. But now I had three. Something was going on. I feared the worst: bedbugs. But these creatures didn’t look at all like the...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 1/12/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Susquehanna Flats B...

Grass beds survived storm to welcome waterfowl, Bay babies

Housing stock is on the rise for the young fish and crabs who’ll be sheltering at the top of the Bay come spring. The vast grass-filled Susquehanna Flats, the circular area where the Susquehanna River meets the Bay, appeared unexpectedly healthy in aerial survey images made late last year. The valuable Bay habitats seem to have survived fall 2011’s deluge of runoff and sediment. That was a welcome surprise. During Hurricane Irene and Tropical...