Buzz

Glitzy Southern California and big oil states are largely absent from the list: 19 of the 25 richest counties in the country are on the East Coast. In part, that's because our list looks at the middle incomes, and counties in the East tend to be smaller, thereby allowing for less of a spread between the richest and poorest workers...The federal government generates a wealth of jobs, keeping unemployment in the D.C. metro area at a low 6.2% (the national average is still near 10%)...

Not far from D.C. lies another cluster of wealthy counties. Howard County, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, has a standout school system with standardized test scores that consistently beat out the national average, and median household incomes of $101,710. In nearby Montgomery County, where 59% of residents over 25 have an advanced degree, households bring in a median $93,999. Historic Calvert County, Md., has profited from its roots as a tobacco-rich farmland as well as its proximity to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and claims a median income of $89,049."

Read the entire article here. Or, cut to the chase and check out the stats on No. 13 Calvert County, No. 21 Charles County, No. 3 Howard County, and No. 10 Montgomery County.

The city of Baltimore replaced its flower beds in front of city hall with vegetables last year. The goal, says designer Angela Treadwell-Palmer, was to show that vegetable gardens could be attractive and to grow harvests to donate to a local soup kitchen. But the local charity reported that some crops—particularly beets, kohlrabi and eggplant—weren't appetizing to people.

So this year, Ms. Treadwell-Palmer is redesigning the garden to grow bigger yields of fewer crops like cabbage, kale and collard greens. The garden will also have a less-fussy, more minimalist look. And in the spring, at least, not all the beds will be vegetable plots, leaving room for some tulips—and more time for gardeners to breathe. "It was hard work," she says."

Read the entire article here.

Seafood and sports are still a draw, but today Baltimore hums with energy, boasting downtown towers, a burgeoning harbor, a vibrant cultural scene, and hip restaurants. Empty mills and factories, the run-down remnants of the city's industrial heritage, have been recast as commercial and residential spaces, often with stunning period details restored. A new generation of talented designers and artists, lured by the city's affordability and neighborliness, is beginning to convert ragged areas into artsy pockets with catchy names like Station North and Highlandtown. Even the iconic crab cake has been spiced up by chefs eager to experiment with Chesapeake traditions."

Read the entire article here. Check out the slideshow here.

The city has appointed a "Google Czar" — yes, that's the actual title — to lobby the company to put Baltimore on the list of cities in the initial trial. Tom Loveland, CEO of a local tech company, Mind Over Machines, has been appointed by Baltimore's mayor to take this exalted, but volunteer position."

Read the entire article here.

Baltimore's grassroots effort to be one of the lucky city's chosen as a test ground for Google's ultra-fast 1-gigabit per second broadband deployment is just one of several currently taking shape in city's across the country. See what the other cities competing for the prize doing...

Here's an excerpt:

"Broadband-starved cities and towns across the country are going to great lengths to grab the attention of Mountain View (Calif.)-based Google, which in February said it will set up a network that can deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second, about 20 times faster than the speediest ones sold by Verizon Communications (VZ). Google will spend "hundreds of millions" on the effort, Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News.

To set themselves apart, some municipal officials are naming cities after Google, owner of the world's largest Web search engine. The city of Greensboro, N.C., is preparing an "Operation Google" gift package for delivery to Google headquarters and has earmarked $50,000 for promoting a Google broadband effort."

Read the entire article here.

At Ignite Baltimore 5, Brian Sacawa, a saxophonist and Peabody graduate, suggested that perhaps it was time for Baltimore to let go of its proudly held titles as a "quirky" and "weird" city.


Here's an excerpt:

"In my Ignite talk last week, I mentioned that I thought it was high time we move on here in Baltimore from defining ourselves to the outside world simply by the quirky and irreverent parts of the city's cultural life. I think those aspects are an important part of Baltimore's artistic identity, but that defining the city's arts scene with a strong and overbearing emphasis on the weird sends a message that we're not to be taken all that seriously.

Then I read Deborah Patterson's post on Open Society Institute-Baltimore's Audacious Ideas blog, in which she expressed indignation at the fact that Austin, with its "Keep Austin WEIRD" slogan-campaign, topped the list of Best Cities for Artists and Designers with Baltimore not even cracking the top 25. Yeah, seriously, like WTF?"


Read the entire post here. And tell us what you think.

Break out the pink and blue balloons! The Aquarium is expecting a visit from the Stork! The lucky mom -- Jade, the dolphin who gave birth just two years ago to a calf named Foster.

Here's an excerpt:

"A baby dolphin is on the way at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Aquarium officials said an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Jade is expected to give birth by mid-March.

Aquarium staff and a group of 50 trained volunteers have begun around-the-clock observations for signs of labor so they can provide an ideal setting for Jade and the newborn calf following delivery. Careful preparation is important, they say, because in captivity and in the wild about one-third of all calves do not make it past their first year.

Aquarium officials said labor signs include reduced appetite, back flexing, side-to-side motions, speed swimming and excretion of milk."

Listen to the entire story here.

Canada and Vermont may have tapped into the motherload of sappy harvests, but did you know that Western Maryland boasts its own sweet harvest?

Here's an excerpt:

"In a few days to weeks, the trees in Western Maryland will start blooming . . . buckets.

As maple syrup season nears, producers in Garrett County are readying their tapping equipment for harvesting time, which runs from the end of this month through April. The sap starts to flow during the spring thaw, when the combination of mineral-rich soil and temperate weather yields exceptionally rich and sweet syrup. (Quick dendrology lesson: Sap is the sugary water that circulates in a tree after it wakes up from a cold winter.)"

Read the full article here.

Looking for local taps? Find it them here.