Comic-strip fans Tom Scocca and Vincent Williams team up to fill the feature hole with a story about two young syndicated cartoonists with Maryland roots: Aaron McGruder and Frank Cho. Mobtown Beat is Jill Yesko on a local rabbi who is using Kabala study to help treat urban ills. The Nose covers a brouhaha over the relocation of a Southeast Baltimore gay bar and a sudden downturn in crime in Pen Lucy. Charles Cohen profiles G. Krug & Son, the ornamental iron works on West Saratoga Street ... [MORE]

Simon Johnson's Economix blog on the New York Times' site has some notions to chew on regarding too-big-to-fail. His key idea: Banks' capital ratios need to be increased three or four fold from what's proposed (and being fought by bankers as too high). What would a 25-percent cap ratio requirement do to "the system?" ... [MORE]

Just in from Towson University: My Favorite Things: Song Cycles by Great Composers, the voice recital of local soprano Theresa Bickham, who was interviewed in this week's issue, has been rescheduled for Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. due to the upcoming snow forecast. ... [MORE]

Drs. Carol Paris, Eric Naumburg, and Margaret Flowers, and retired psychological counselor Charles Loubert, are Maryland-based health-care practitioners who feel so strongly about health-care reform--more specifically, they'd like to see some form of a single-payer system put in place in the United States--that they've each been arrested in an effort to spread the word about it. In this video, they each talk about their experiences trying to get the word out about single payer and why it is ... [MORE]

Michaelus Byrnicus

Until last week, the only thing particularly unique about the Hexagon's decision to ditch ASCAP and the other performing rights organizations (PROs), was the public nature of it. It's difficult to say how many venues, restaurants, and other businesses currently operate without PRO licenses, while playing or performing copyrighted music under license from one of said PROs. Indeed, a rumor is circulating right now that SESAC—a Canada-based PRO generally considered to be the more benevolent, ... [MORE]

A $13 million mixed-use development in Upper Fells Point would not be financially viable without 38 percent more apartments, the developer says. And it will have less parking than required by zoning regulations, a situation City Councilman James Kraft (D-1st) pledged to oppose. "We basically won the right to redo this property right at the beginning of the worst financial crisis in this nation's history," says Daniel Henson, the former Baltimore City Housing Commissioner, who with partners stru ... [MORE]

On Jan. 29, two of the doctors from our recent feature story on activism in the name of health-care reform, Margaret Flowers and Carol Paris, were arrested again in Baltimore. The two showed up in front of the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in the Inner Harbor that day, where President Barack Obama was scheduled to address a group of House Republicans. The women, both of whom are supporters of a Medicare-like system called single-payer health care, held a sign that read "Letting You Know: Medicar ... [MORE]

Jazzway 6004

Given that we're all going to die an icy death Friday night and into Saturday morning as an apparently sure-shot nor'easter pounds the Mid-Atlantic, Jazzway 6004 has moved up rather than postpone its very exciting collaborative performance between local jazz powder keg Lafayette Gilchrist and South African jazz drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. The new date is tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 4. Say the folks at Jazzway: If you have tickets to this event you can either call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838 ... [MORE]

On Feb. 3, David Scott, director of the city's Department of Public Works, announced that midyear budget cuts by the city's Department of Finance is forcing the Baltimore Public Works Museum to close its doors. The museum will be closed immediately, but the historic Eastern Avenue Pumping Station (the almost century-old wastewater pumping station still responsible for pumping Baltimore's waste to the Backwater Waste Water Treatment Plant, where the museum resides) will remain open and functional ... [MORE]

Funny Business Make your way to the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatree (817 St. Paul St., [410] 752-1225) on Feb. 7 for Drop Three Comedy & Improv's monthly show. The February edition features comic Will Carey. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Haitian Earthquake Relief.Move It The Baltimore Dance Project brings choreography that explores issues like personal space and virtual reality to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1000 Hilltop Circle, [410] 455- 2476) Feb. 4-6. ... [MORE]

Retired assistant State's Attorney Page Croyder has an interesting blog post about a prospective raise for state judges. It's nearly $40,000 each, and could happen, she says, if state legislators do nothing to stop it. Omitted from the piece: existing salaries for District court judges. They make $127,000 now. How can anyone live on that? ... [MORE]

Carly Ptak

Context: Twig Harper is Baltimore's resident out-of-body traveler, mystic, and noise celebrity. He's also at or near the nexus of a swirl of rumors and accusations surrounding Andrew WK—pop musician and cult figure formerly of Michigan's noise scene—some of which have Harper as being the "mastermind" behind the mythical construction of the pop figure. And some of which also have Harper as having something to do with a person who may or may not exist known as Steev Mike. You can find ... [MORE]