After years of planning, millions of dollars in street repairs and construction, and countless hours of delayed traffic, the final pieces of Baltimore’s upcoming Grand Prix are now being put in place.

As part of phase two of Grand Prix construction, grandstand seating and race barrier walls are now being assembled at the first of the race’s three viewing locations, the Inner Harbor amphitheater. Phase two is expected to take forty days to complete and will cost the city around $2.5 million, according to Grand Prix president Jay Davidson.

Looking to dispel rumors that the Grand Prix will shut down the entire downtown area, city transportation officials assure residents that although several major streets will be closed for the race Labor Day weekend, downtown Baltimore itself would be open and ready for business.

In total, the race is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors to Baltimore and have an...

Wow. That was fast. Yesterday, The Sun's David Zurawick first reported that veteran news anchor Marianne Banister is leaving WBAL-TV, the victim of budget cuts. Today is her final newscast.

"I am overwhelmed by the support and kindness of viewers and friends! Moving into a tough day. Last one at WBAL. Thanks to all!" Banister wrote today on her Twitter feed (@MBanister1).

Fans are reaching out to her through the social media site, with sentiments ranging from "You will be greatly missed. Just told my mother and grandmother, they are upset. Will be watching tomorrow. Best of Luck" to "Hopefully another station will pick you up soon."

Two years ago, Baltimore named Banister the best female TV anchor, noting that she "sounds like she knows what she's talking about."

According to a really detailed study by walkscore.com, Baltimore is the 14th most walkable big city in America, coming in near the top of the 50 cities in our category. The study was painstakingly completed by calculating the distance from various addresses around the city to conveniences like restaurants, banks, and libraries. Not surprisingly, New York finished number one, just edging out San Francisco.

The best thing about this study is the Baltimore page, which breaks down walkability among our 258 neighborhoods. Federal Hill finished on top, with Otterbein, Mount Vernon, Hampden, and Charles Village also in the top-10. The map, which is color coded to show the city's most walkable (green) and least walkable (red) areas is endlessly fascinating. Besides following how walkability increases around commercial strips like Charles St., York Rd., and Reisterstown Rd., this map is a great, interactive resource for delineating the boundaries and locations of various neighborhoods. OK, so I'm a bit of a map geek, but this thing is cool!

Walkability is a big factor for us. I lived in New...

Anyone who has happened to look at the city skyline over the past several days couldn’t miss the thick heavy smog which has clouded the city view. Caused in large part by the recent heat wave, the exposed air pollution unfortunately just seems to be a regular occurrence we must now face on the sauna inducing days such as today. However, the situation may in fact be a lot worse than initially thought.

A recently released analysis from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has declared that Maryland ranks 5^th in the nation for states with the most toxic air pollution from power plants.

The study reveals that Maryland has close to 30 million pounds of toxic air pollution created by the industrial sector (primarily manufacturing), in addition to over 27 million pounds of toxic air pollution created by the electrical sector (primarily power creation), with electricity generation accounting for 91 percent of the total toxic air pollution in the state.

 Pair this with today’s code red air quality alert, as well as the fact...