The sun sets a few minutes after 8:00 this week, revealing a triumvirate of bright planets in its wake. Venus, Mars and Saturn continue their weeks-long dance above the western horizon. Over the next week, watch as Mars and Saturn jockey for position just above brilliant Venus. The three planets are their tightest on Saturday, all within five degrees of one another. As these three planets set in the west around 10pm, Jupiter rises in the east. With Venus gone and the waning crescent moon not...

Where are all the talk show hosts, conservative pundits, and global warming naysayers who were crowing incessantly this past winter when it was snowing like no tomorrow? Back in February, as we shoveled out from underneath one snowstorm after another, we heard all about how climate change was a left-wing lie. Ron Smith, the WBAL talk show host, poked fun at the ongoing weather crisis every day for months — ignoring the fact that when all was said and done, the winter of 2010 was one of...

It’s about that time of year when Maryland’s black bears go from being predators to prey. On August 2, Maryland Department of Natural Resources began accepting applications from hunters who hope to shoot a bear in the season opening October 25. Two-hundred and sixty hunters will be picked by lottery from an expected 3,600 applicants (based on last year’s figures). Garrett and Allegany counties will have 65 to 90 fewer bears when the season ends October 30 — or earlier,...

Something good has come out from under the World Trade Center. Near the site of so many grim finds, excavators working on the new trade center unearthed a treasure — an ancient wooden ship buried beneath modern lower Manhattan. Its remains were discovered about 20 feet under street level, in an area that had not been dug out for the original World Trade Center. This old ship has tales to tell. But before it can give up any of its secrets, it must be preserved. And fast, because when wood...