SAN FRANCISCO ? When the California Supreme Court struck down a same-sex marriage ban in 2008,? the majority ruling reflected a series of decisions the court had already reached in disputes involving gay parents.
Gay rights lawyers said this week that those cases were critical to the court?s historic marriage ruling ? later partly overturned by Proposition 8 ? and lamented the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has little experience in dealing with gay family litigation.
?The U.S. Supreme Court has never decided a lesbian or gay parenting case,? said Jon W. Davidson, legal director of Lambda Legal. ?And it?s really important for them to be understanding that same-sex couples have children ?.. and to be thinking about actual children, as opposed to hypothetical children.?
In one case, California?s? high court considered the parental rights of a woman who donated her eggs to her partner,? who was artificially inseminated and gave birth to twins. The gestational mother was infertile, and the genetic mother had a diseased uterus.
That case brought to the court?s attention the myriad ways gay couples were having children.
One same-sex male couple each donated sperm to a surrogate, who bore twins.? Later tests show that each man had fathered one of the twins.
Another male couple mixed their sperm and never tried to find out who was the actual genetic father.
The California Supreme Court also resolved a child support dispute between two women who had three children together. One woman bore one of the children, the other the other two. Both women nursed all three, and the children took the hyphenated last names of both partners.
?A number of state courts, including the California Supreme Court, have been dealing with LGBT family issues for over a decade,?? said Kate Kendell, executive director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. ?They feel much more comfortable with the issues and are farther along in their understanding of the interrelationship of the law to these families than the Supreme Court.?
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Harris Teeter Inc.?s decision to open a store in Ellicott City, at Greenberg Gibbons? Towne Square at Turf Valley shopping center drew praise from Howard County officials. The 48,000-square-foot upermarket, Harris Teeter?s third store in Howard County, opened to the public on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Harris Teeter is the first of several planned spring and summer openings for retailers and restaurants in the new 108,000 square-foot shopping center. ?Harris Teeter is known for its quality foods, exceptional customer service and its community commitment,? said County Executive Ken Ulman. ?I can?t think of a more perfect location for Harris Teeter. We welcome them to Ellicott City.?
Mullan Contracting awarded?renovation of auto dealership
The Mullan Contracting Co., of Lutherville, has won a contract to renovate a 22,000-square-foot building recently acquired by the Norris Automotive Group. Contained within a four-acre site at 8525 Baltimore National Pike, in the Ellicott City sub-market of Howard County, the project was acquired from the Miller Brothers family late last year, to reposition the cluster of buildings and acreage into a high-end automotive dealership. The location was closed in 2008 when the Ford Motor Co. consolidated its network of dealers. Mullan will oversee a comprehensive interior renovation of the building, including an automotive showroom, sales offices, receptionist area, multiple service bays, repair facilities, a parts room and storage space. The renovation also includes the modernization and improvement of the project?s HVAC systems, lighting and electrical packages and finish work including painting and carpeting. Penney Design Group is the architect and Comprehensive Structural Solutions is performing structural engineering work on the building.
Wilmot Modular Structures wins?awards from Modular Building Institute
The Modular Building Institute presented White Marsh-based Wilmot Modular Structures with two awards at its recent 30th Annual World of Modular Conference. Wilmot placed first with its entry of a 6,300-square-foot building installed at the top of Mount Storm in West Virginia. The building?s innovative design includes a steel canopy that protects the building and its occupants from ice shards that routinely form on the overhead electric lines. The second award was given to Wilmot for its website (www.wilmotmodular.com). The Modular Building Institute is an international nonprofit trade association representing the modular construction industry.
Fitness center coming?to Towson Commons
LA Fitness is opening a 52,700-square-foot, two-level health and fitness center at Towson Commons in downtown Towson in space that once housed out-of-date movie theatres. From the rotunda entrance at York Road and Pennsylvania Avenue, guests will see the LA Fitness space with views to an indoor lap pool and a new featured stair case with glass rails. Windows will be added to the multi-story building?s fa?ade facing York Road. The facility will feature basketball and racquet ball courts, a spin area with stadium levels, an indoor heated lap pool, whirlpool spa and saunas, personal trainers and Kids Klub babysitting. Group fitness classes will include yoga, cycling, mat pilates, kickbox cardio and aqua aerobics.
Hunt Valley Inn will?become a Wyndham
Ethika Investments LLC, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company, said an affiliate has purchased the Hunt Valley Inn, located at 245 Shawan Road in Hunt Valley. The purchase price of the property was not disclosed. The affiliate, Laurus Corp., plans to spend $9.5 million to renovate the venerable hotel, which was built in the early 1970s by McCormick & Co., as the spice company moved its offices and plant from the Inner Harbor. Since then it has gone through various ownerships and renovations, and was last branded as a Marriott. Laurus will rebrand the 393-room hotel as part of the Wyndham Grand Collection.
Pierce?s Park designers?win ASLA award
Mahan Rykiel Associates, a Baltimore-based landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm, has won an Honor Award from the Maryland and Potomac chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects for its work in designing Pierce?s Park, a waterfront park at Baltimore?s Inner Harbor. The 1-acre park, located between the Columbus Center and Eastern Avenue, is dedicated to the memory of Baltimore contractor and civic leader Pierce J. Flanigan III. Pierce?s Park was built as a sustainable space that includes indigenous trees and native plantings, sculptures by local artist David Hess, and landscape features that promote play and imagination.
SkyTouch launched?by Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels International Inc., of Silver Spring, one of the world?s largest hotel franchise chains, has launched a new division, SkyTouch Technology, to develop and market cloud-based products to help hoteliers improve their efficiency and profitability. The launch coincides with the company?s market introduction of SkyTouch Hotel OS, a new property and rate management system that draws on Choice?s choiceADVANTAGE property management system for handling reservations, guest stays and rates on any device with an Internet connection. Ric Leutwyler, an executive with experience in the hospitality and technology industries, has been named president of the new division.
Dominion seeks?to export LNG
Dominion Resources Inc., of Richmond, Va., said it was submitting on Monday a more-then-12,000 page application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at its existing Cove Point LNG plant in Lusby. The energy company also said it has secured deals with energy customers in Japan and India to buy the LNG that would be produced at the plant in Calvert County. The $3.4 billion facility would take advantage of the natural gas boom associated with the Marcellus shale formation in the mid-Atlantic area. Environmentalists who lost an attempt in court to stop the LNG export terminal are appealing the ruling.
DiamondRock completes?dual borrowings
DiamondRock Hospitality Co., of Bethesda, a real estate investment trust that owns premium hotel properties, said it raised $102 million through two lenders. The company obtained a $31 million mortgage loan secured by The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa, with a term of 10 years and a fixed interest rate of 3.96 percent. Also, it obtained a $71 million mortgage loan secured by the Westin San Diego, with a term of 10 years and a fixed interest rate of 3.94 percent. DiamondRock said it will use the proceeds to repay $45 million currently outstanding on its credit facility and fund a portion of its 2013-14 capital expenditures.
Ascend Collection?adds Baltimore hotels
Choice Hotels International Inc., of Silver Spring, a hotel franchise chain, said three Baltimore boutique hotels have joined its Ascend Hotel Collection: the 38-room Inn at Henderson?s Wharf, the 66-room Pier 5, and the 80-room Admiral Fell Inn. The trio, all owned and managed by Meyer Jabara Hotels, of Danbury, Conn., are well-established hotels with waterfront locations at the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. The Ascend portfolio consists of 80 hotels in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean. Hotels maintain their independent ownerships while gaining access to Choice?s global distribution, sales, marketing and technology network.
Blame spirals over?transit center woes
(AP) The Rockville-based contractor that has overseen construction of the troubled Silver Spring Transit Center is blaming Montgomery County officials for problems that have plagued the project. Bryant Foulger, a principal of the Foulger-Pratt Cos., said the county provided incomplete designs and inadequate oversight for building the $112 million bus-and-rail hub, now two years behind schedule. An engineering report found problems with the transit center, including concrete and steel reinforcement that?s insufficiently strong. Three levels must bear the weight of large buses. A county lawyer said Foulger-Pratt is trying to shift blame for defective construction onto the county.
Creig Northrop Team?to open fifth office
The Creig Northrop Team of Long & Foster Real Estate, the top-producing real estate team in Long & Foster, will open a new office 1407 York Road in Timonium in mid-April. This is the team?s fifth office in the Baltimore-Washington region, and will serve Baltimore city and county, and Harford and Cecil counties. The Creig Northrop Team has been named the nation?s top producer of residential real estate transactions for 2010 and 2011 by the Wall Street Journal and Real Trends Inc., based on closed transaction volume. Chantilly, Va.-based Long & Foster is the largest independent residential real estate company in the United States.
McDaniel to honor?developer Leroy Merritt
McDaniel College will rename a building on its Westminster campus in memory of the late Leroy M. Merritt, a Baltimore real estate developer and McDaniel alumnus who died in January 2010. Academic Hall, which houses the departments of education and psychology, as well as graduate and professional studies and student academic support services, will be renamed Merritt Hall at a ceremony on May 4. Merritt founded Merritt Properties, the largest privately held commercial real estate portfolio in the Baltimore-Washington region, as well as Merritt Athletic Clubs. He gave millions of dollars to the college, and helped fund construction of the Merritt Fitness Center, which was dedicated in 2007.
BGE extends?gas pipeline replacements
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced it will start five new natural gas main upgrade projects in 2013 through Operation Pipeline, a multi-year program to replace hundreds of miles of cast iron and bare steel gas pipes with modern pipes. The new projects will be located in Arbutus, Graceland Park and Howard Park. BGE will also begin new phases of projects in the Catonsville and Glen Burnie communities where related Operation Pipeline projects have previously been initiated. According to BGE, nearly 40 miles of cast iron or bare steel pipelines have been retired since Operation Pipeline began in 2010.
MoCo OKs more funds?for troubled transit center
(AP) The Montgomery County Council has approved an additional $7.5 million for construction of the troubled Silver Spring Transit Center, but officials say it will take much more to repair the facility?s structural problems. The new funds approved Tuesday bring the price tag for the rail-and-bus hub to more than $119 million. It was originally estimated to cost $35 million. An engineering report last month found problems with the transit center?s construction. The deficiencies include weak concrete and steel reinforcements that aren?t strong enough. The report said the three-level facility can be repaired.
Choice Hotels opens?new headquarters
Choice Hotels International Inc., one of the world?s largest hotel companies, is completing its move from Silver Spring to its new global headquarters in Rockville. The company?s 400-plus headquarter employees will begin work there on Monday. Choice opted for a floor plan that emphasizes open work areas, high technology and connectivity. Several non-conventional meeting spaces are based on the belief that great ideas come from everywhere, not just behind a desk or around a table. Choice Hotels? office space was designed by Chicago-based VOA Associates. The building at Rockville Town Square was developed by Rockville-based Foulger-Pratt Cos. and designed by WDG Architecture of Washington.
Bechtel to build power plant in Texas
Bechtel Power, of Frederick, the largest power contractor in the United States, said that it has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Panda Temple II Generating Station, a 758-megawatt, natural gas-fueled, combined-cycle power plant in Temple, Texas, south of Dallas. This is the third power facility to be built by Bechtel and consortium partner Siemens for Panda Power Funds. Bechtel will be responsible for project management, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Panda Temple II facility. Siemens will provide the power package, including the natural gas and steam turbines and waste heat recovery boilers. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.
FRIT acquires?shopping center in Conn.
Federal Realty Investment Trust, of Rockville, a real estate investment trust focused on high-quality retail assets, said it has acquired a shopping center on nine acres of land in Darien, Conn. FRIT paid $47.3 million for the property, which sits across from a railroad station where more than 300,000 train riders annually commute to Grand Central Station in Manhattan and other employment hubs. The shopping center, which sits at Exit 10 on Interstate 95, is anchored by a Stop & Shop grocer, a Walgreens drug store and an Equinox health club, and serves one of the most affluent commuter towns in the nation.
Pebblebrook joint venture?executes $50 million loan
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, of Bethesda, a lodging real estate investment trust, announced that its joint venture with New York-based Denihan Hospitality Group, which owns six upscale boutique hotels in Manhattan, executed a new, $50 million non-recourse, secured loan with PNC Bank N.A., at a fixed annual interest rate of 3.14 percent. The interest-only loan has a term of five years and is secured by a first mortgage on the 242-room Affinia Dumont, one of the half-dozen hotels included in the joint venture?s package. Pebblebrook entered into the joint venture with Denihan in June 2011, paying $152 million for a 49 percent stake.
PERSONNEL
MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services announced that Justin T. Mullen has been promoted from real estate advisor to senior real estate advisor. Mullen specializes in the sale and leasing of commercial real estate in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor, as well as the Annapolis and Bowie markets. In 2012, Mullen completed approximately $13,400,000 in leasing transactions and closed seven property sales. An Annapolis native, Mullen graduated from St. Mary?s High School and holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia.
Cassidy Turley, a national commercial real estate services provider, announced that Luke Allen has joined the firm as vice president, based in the Columbia office. Allen will focus on corporate accounts, serving occupiers of space throughout the immediate region and beyond. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Allen worked for five years for Manekin Corp., where he participated in the development and implementation of $162 million in lease transactions.
ALMA detects signs of star formation surprisingly close to galaxy's supermassive black hole
Friday, April 5, 2013
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have discovered signs of star formation perilously close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. If confirmed, this would be the first time that star formation was observed so close to the galactic center.
The center of our galaxy, 27,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, is home to a monstrous black hole with a mass of four million suns. Extending outward from this gravitational behemoth for many light-years is a turbulent region of space that is thought to be wracked by such extreme tidal forces that any star-forming clouds of dust and gas would be stretched thin and shredded long before infant stars could emerge.
Yet against these extreme odds, ALMA spotted telltale jets of material bursting out of what appear to be dense cocoons of gas and dust. These jets, if they were observed in more placid surroundings, would indicate the formation of a young star. The results were accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"People think it is very hard to form stars near a supermassive black hole," said Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University. "This is because the gravity of the black hole produces extreme tidal forces that would stretch and elongate molecular clouds, preventing them from ever accumulating enough mass to trigger star formation. But what we seem to have found are patches of dust and gas that have become so dense that they are able to overcome their inhospitable surroundings."
Yusef-Zadeh and his colleagues speculate that these molecular clouds have become so massive and dense, possibly by colliding together, that they cross the all-important threshold that allows internal gravity to take over, starting a chain of events that inexorably leads to the birth of a new star. As this process evolves, material in these clouds clumps together and collapses into an ever denser mass that begins to rotate faster and faster. This rapid rotation, possibly coupled with the star's magnetic field, accelerates some of the material and shoots it out into space along the nascent star's axis of rotation. The astronomers were able to detect these characteristic jets of material by tracing the presence of the molecule silicon monoxide (SiO), which is relatively abundant in molecular clouds. When excited during star formation, SiO emits a very specific set of wavelengths of light in the microwave, or millimeter range. This is precisely the window of light that ALMA was designed to study.
"SiO is an excellent tracer of molecular outflows," said Yusef-Zadeh. "What we see in these images from ALMA are outflows that appear very much like what we see in star-forming regions elsewhere in galaxy. So the environments may be very different, but once you get the right conditions, collapse takes place and you're able to create what we would observe to be run-of-the-mill massive or intermediate mass stars."
For more than a decade, astronomers have puzzled over the origin of stars seen whipping around the black hole that lurks at the center of our galaxy. These massive, young stars (less than 10 million years old) are rocketing through an area of space where it was thought they had no business being. Astronomers believe that they either formed elsewhere under more placid conditions and migrated inward or they somehow overcame their turbulent childhoods to emerge as relatively normal and well-adjusted stellar objects. "Though this question of stars near the galactic center is still open ended, ALMA will definitely have the power and sensitivity to shed more light on the mystery," said Al Wootten, the North America ALMA Project Scientist with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia. "These latest studies do suggest that the conditions necessary for star formation could extend much closer to the galactic center than we previously believed."
These results were part of the ALMA Science Verification program. The data were taken with only 12 of ALMA's eventual full complement of 66 antennas. Earlier data from CARMA, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, contributed to this research.
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National Radio Astronomy Observatory: http://www.nrao.edu
Thanks to National Radio Astronomy Observatory for this article.
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BEIRUT -- Syria's vital oil industry is breaking down as rebels capture many of the country's oil fields, with wells aflame and looters scooping up crude, depriving the government of much needed cash and fuel for its war machine against the uprising.
Exports have ground practically to a standstill, and the regime of President Bashar Assad has been forced to import refined fuel supplies to keep up with demand amid shortages and rising prices. In a sign of the increasing desperation, the oil minister met last week with Chinese and Russian officials to discuss exploring for gas and oil in the Mediterranean off Syria's coast.
Before the uprising against Assad's regime began in early 2011, the oil sector was a pillar of Syria's economy, with the country producing about 380,000 barrels a day and exports - mostly to Europe - bringing in more than $3 billion in 2010. Oil revenues provided around a quarter of the funds for the government budget.
But production now is likely about half that, estimates Syrian economist Samir Seifan, given the rebels' gains. The government has not released recent production figures.
Since late 2012, rebels have been seizing fields in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, one of two main centers of oil production. Most recently, they captured the Jbeysa oil field, one of the country's largest, after three days of fighting in February.
At the same time, overburdened government troops have had to withdraw from parts of the other main oil center - the northeastern Kurdish-majority region of Hassakeh, where they have handed control of the oil fields to the pro-government militia of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD. Production from some of those fields still goes to the Syrian government, but the fields are more vulnerable to theft and smuggling.
Syrian activists, including Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, say it is not clear how much of the fields are controlled by the rebels. Still activists and state media state say most of Syria's fields are no longer under direct government control. In November, rebels made one of the biggest gains when they briefly captured the large al-Omar field in Deir el-Zour only to lose it to government troops days later. They still control many other fields, the Observatory says.
So far, the rebels have largely been unable to benefit from the oil fields, particularly since the country's two refineries in the central city of Homs and the coastal city of Banias are in the hands of Assad's troops. Regime warplanes' control of the air makes it difficult for rebels to exploit the fields, as do the divisions among rival rebel factions.
"A number of challenges exist. In view of their lack of cohesion, the various strands of the armed opposition are unlikely to be able to mobilize in a unitary fashion to produce and export," said Anthony Skinner, Middle East-North Africa chief at the British risk analysis firm Maplecroft.
"Rebels also clearly lack the engineers and qualified workers to ensure uninterrupted production from the oil fields," Skinner added. "Even if they were to do so, the regime would seek to bomb identifiable vehicle tankers to prevent the armed opposition from earning revenue to buy heavy weaponry."
But looting is rife. A Syrian activist in the province of Hassakeh said some people in the area are using primitive ways to refine oil. Thieves put crude into tankers, then set fires around it until the fuel begins to turn to vapor that passes through a metal hose. The hose is cooled with water to condense the vapor, and gasoline, kerosene or diesel is produced, said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.
When the Supreme Court takes on a politically heated case, as it recently did with two cases involving gay marriage, the justices are more likely to listen to their heads over their hearts.
So say Tim O?Brien and Martin Clancy, veteran journalists and authors of the new book ?Murder at the Supreme Court.?
?The justices often vote the law as opposed to their own feelings,? former ABC News producer Martin Clancy tells Top Line.?I mean time and time again, we've discovered in notes of Supreme Court conferences where justices are really conflicted.?
Clancy and O?Brien?s book looks specifically at how the Supreme Court has wrangled with the death penalty historically, but the book also sheds light into how the justices avoid getting personal opinions involved in their rulings.
?Sometimes justices will vote to uphold capital punishment even though they personally oppose it,? says retired ABC News Law Correspondent Tim O?Brien. ?No justice now thinks it's unconstitutional, per se, but a majority have doubts. We know that, about how it works.?
Clancy tells a story about Justice Felix Frankfurter voting to uphold the death penalty in a 1946 case despite his personal objections. The case involved a 17-year-old Louisiana boy Willie Francis, who was facing the electric chair for a second time after he was unsuccessfully executed the first time when the chair malfunctioned.
?Frankfurter, who voted yes?went behind his justices backs, as it were, to Louisiana to try and get the verdict overturned,? Clancy recounts. ?It never happened. The boy was executed.?
To hear more of O?Brien and Clancy?s analysis of the Supreme Court?s decision-making process, and to hear about how public opinion and state actions influence the Court, check out this episode of Top Line.
ABC's Eric Wray, Betsy Klein, Hank Brown, and Gary Rosenberg contributed to this episode.
Apr. 5, 2013 ? The Hubble Space Telescope has taken an image of a small, sparkling hook in the dark sky -- a beautiful object is known as J082354.96+280621.6, or J082354.96 for short. It is a starburst galaxy, so named because of the incredibly (and unusually) high rate of star formation occurring within it.
One way in which astronomers probe the nature and structure of galaxies like this is by observing the behavior of their dust and gas components; in particular, the Lyman-alpha emission. This occurs when electrons within a hydrogen atom fall from a higher energy level to a lower one, emitting light as they do so. This emission is interesting because this light leaves its host galaxy only after extensive scattering in the nearby gas -- meaning that this light can be used as a pretty direct probe of what a galaxy is made up of.
The study of this Lyman-alpha emission is common in very distant galaxies, but now a study named LARS (Lyman Alpha Reference Sample) is investigating the same effect in galaxies that are closer by. Astronomers chose fourteen galaxies, including this one, and used spectroscopy and imaging to see what was happening within them. They found that these Lyman-alpha photons can travel much further if a galaxy has less dust -- meaning that we can use this emission to infer how dusty the source galaxy is.
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Roger Ebert may have started out as a film critic. But before his death Thursday he had become much more: Television host (his shows ran on and off in various iterations from 1975-2011), pioneer of a 15-year-old film festival, "Ebertfest," popularizer of the "thumbs up/thumbs down" manner of fast reviews, author of 15 books, screenwriter ("Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") and hearty cultural critic (his online journal covered everything from climate change to religion?to everything good (and bad) about Chicago ... and beyond).
He was a big man, bigger than life -- but never in pursuit of his own stardom. The films were everything, and in the end, he was clearly never happier than when he was in the presence of the art of the movie.
"Film criticism is important because films are important," he said in a 2005 interview. "Films are important because they are the art form of the 20th Century ... They can be both a good influence on society and a negative influence."
That was the sort of approach that earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the first film critic to do so, in 1975. As he saw it, Ebert's mission was not just to separate the wheat from the chaff when it came to movies; he wasn't focused on merely elevating highbrow work and finding new ways to denigrate big-budget blockbusters. He also acknowledged that his perception of what a "good" film might be would change over the years, just as he as a person would change. He stood by his critical decisions, even when he himself?was criticized himself for a lack of consistency.
"I am uninterested in being 'consistent,'" he wrote.?
But he was consistent in several areas: He routinely opposed the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings system, angered that a film like "Whale Rider" was rated PG-13 and "The Passion of the Christ" wasn't given an X rating for its violence. He also regularly debated with video game creators and players over whether games could be art.?
The reason anyone wanted to debate him in the first place, however, is that Roger Ebert found a way to make movie criticism interesting and relevant, an art form of its own. His arguments on "At the Movies" with Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel (who died in 1999) made them both household names, taking their debates on to other TV arenas like "The Tonight Show." They made it possible for the average viewer to understand that two very opposing takes on the same film could be right at the same time. The pair, and later Ebert by himself, influenced generations of up-and-coming critics.
"For those of us practicing criticism on a regular basis, Ebert was both a figurative and literal mentor who was graceful in his ability to spend time responding to the requests of hundreds of aspiring critics over the years, including this one," wrote Indiewire's Eric Kohn, noting that Ebert moved with the times -- he Tweeted and moved onto the Internet to interact with those next-generation critics.
Meanwhile, Ebert's books ranged from summations of the best of the best to best-of compilations to fun titles like "I Hated, Hated, Hated this Movie" (2000). He even co-authored (with Daniel Curley) a book on small walks in London in 1986, and in 2011 finally won a New Yorker cartoon caption contest, a long-time goal. That expansive, Renaissance Man-level polymath approach to films and the greater world beyond also elevated him from being "just" a newspaper's film critic.?
Ebert's illness, then, in its own way, was just another area to explore and understand through writing and engagement. His disinterest in hiding out -- even when the cancer operations severely altered his appearance -- was undoubtedly courageous, but it literally put a new face on his career: Yes, he was still writing reviews, but his writing now included discussing his illness and the greater world beyond. When he announced Tuesday that he would be taking a step back from his regular writing duties, calling it a "leave of presence," he clearly had every intention of continuing to write, but the topics would be on his own terms.
In the end, Ebert may not have been a "critic's critic" the way legend Pauline Kael was -- but he was the popular man's film lover: Never just a critic, never just a fan, always a blend of both. His last published words (from his "leave of presence" post) say it all: "Thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."
The Mullan Contracting Co., of Lutherville, has won a contract to renovate a 22,000-square-foot building recently acquired by the Norris Automotive Group. Contained within a four-acre site at 8525 Baltimore National Pike, in the Ellicott City sub-market of Howard County, the project was acquired from the Miller Brothers family late last year, to reposition the cluster of buildings and acreage into a high-end automotive dealership. The location was closed in 2008 when the Ford Motor Co. consolidated its network of dealers. Mullan will oversee a comprehensive interior renovation of the building, including an automotive showroom, sales offices, receptionist area, multiple service bays, repair facilities, a parts room and storage space. The renovation also includes the modernization and improvement of the project?s HVAC systems, lighting and electrical packages and finish work including painting and carpeting. Penney Design Group is the architect and Comprehensive Structural Solutions is performing structural engineering work on the building.