For the first time in 35 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and Baltimorean Anne Tyler sat down for an in-person interview that aired this morning, to discuss the upcoming release of her newest novel, The Beginner's Goodbye.

The novel, which Baltimore previewed with an excerpt in our March issue, chronicles the experiences of one handicapped man after the death of his wife. Tyler wrote the book almost 12 years after the passing of her own husband, having had a chance to reflect and learn for herself how this affects someone.

In the interview with NPR Tyler discusses her affection for Baltimore (the setting of may of her books, and her place of residence) and dances around with the idea of death, not just in her writing but her own life as well. (Tyler is writing her next novel from end to beginning so that it could still be published in the event she dies before its completion.) To listen to the interview click...

In case you haven't been paying attention, Vulture, the excellent on-line counterpart to New York magazine, has been engaging in a little March Madness of its own, having 16 candidates face off in an elimination bracket to be named "The Greatest TV Drama of the Past 25 Years."

For each match-up—say, the opening round showdown between The X-Files and West Wing—a different TV critic judged the merits of the shows and declared a winner that would move on to the next round (in that case, The X-Files).

Well, today the contest got down to the final: A face-off between critical favorites The Sopranos and The Wire. New York television critic Matt Zoller Seitz extensively labored over the merits of each show, before ultimately naming The Wire the greatest drama of the past 25 years!

Baltimore, of course, has a...

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed just now when this headline popped up: A photography series captures the diversity of character on the Mid-Atlantic commuter rail. 

I clicked, and wouldn't ya know it, the photographer in question—Eddie Winter—is from Baltimore and compiled his portraits of snoozing commuters while traveling back and forth to D.C. for work. 

The images are a hoot—and do check out more of Winter's work at his own website here. His bio says he splits his time between freelance photography, curatorial work at downtown's Gallery Four, and art installation work at The BMA. He also, apparently, loves Brussel sprouts. 

I am never sleeping on the train again. 

Image: Edward Winter via Good

The results of the State Integrity Investigation—a project of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, and Public Radio International—were recently released, and Maryland got a D- overall, ranking 40 out of 50 states. The investigation noted that "in Maryland’s 'clubby' Capitol, there’s little transparency, procurement policies are byzantine, and audit results are often ignored."

And an accompanying report made special mention of the fact that Maryland "is the only state in the country that requires an in-person visit to the state capitol to request and view financial disclosure information."

Here's how we fared in each of the 12 categories: Public Access to Information (F), Political Financing (C), Executive Accountability (F), Legislative Accountability (F), Judicial Accountability (D+), State Budget Process (C-), State Civil Service Management (D-), Procurement (D-), Internal Auditing (C+), Lobbying Disclosure (D-), State Pension Fund Management (F), Ethics Enforcement Management (D), State Insurance Commissions (F), and Redistricting (D-).

Ouch.