Artificial Grass Tacoma, Washington. Synthetic Turf.

February 19, 2019 12:25 PM - Orioles fans can now flock to spring training in Sarasota quicker, thanks to new nonstop service being offered by Allegiant airlines. Beginning Feb. 22, the Las Vegas-based airline will offer flights on Fridays and Mondays from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Sarasota...

February 19, 2019 3:30 AM - Today Venezuela is at an impasse, a term allegedly coined by Voltaire to refer to a situation devoid of exits. It has infinite inflation, four immobilized branches of government, two presidents, and the worst humanitarian crisis to hit the Americas in decades. There is sporadic violence on the streets and in improvised prisons hidden away from YouTube. What today resembles a civil war without weapons could easily escalate into bloodshed. Yet it is foreign powers and not domestic actors that will determine the country’s fate.The Bolivarian divide runs so deep that the republic now has two presidents: Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó. Maduro, elevated to power by the late Hugo Chavéz, insists that he has begun his second constitutional term, sworn in by the Supreme Court, backed by the courts and, crucially, the country’s armed forces. Guaidó is recognized by the National Assembly, the unicameral legislature that Chávez himself created when he wanted to do away with a Senate keen on opposing his accumulation of power. Hundreds of thousands of exiled Venezuelans, including former Chavista officers and representatives, support him, too.The international media have paid scant attention to Venezuela. With rare exceptions, the crisis has seemed far away, complex, and entirely domestic to the outside world. Yet that perception is misguided: Venezuela’s crisis is no longer a mere constitutional battle; it is a power struggle among international powers.When Guaidó invoked articles 233 and 333 of the Venezuelan constitution to declare himself president, he did so with plenty of support. The United States had already refused to recognize Maduro after last year’s presidential “election,” in which he was effectively the only candidate allowed to run. Same with the so-called Lima Group, a gathering of Latin American nations led by Brazil and Argentina. Such support allowed Guaidó to unify an opposition whose internal divisions had previously enabled Chávez and then Maduro to accumulate power. A few days later, the European Union joined the anti-Maduro forces, in a move ironically led by the socialist government of Spain, but not by Italy, where the populists of the Right (the Northern League) could not get the populists of the Left (the 5 Star Movement, old friends of Chavismo) to abandon Maduro.Recognizing a president, however, does not topple a government. The most damaging hits against Maduro were economic. The United States blocked PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-run oil giant and its only true source of funds, from accessing its refineries in the U.S. (Venezuelan oil has always been too heavy, leading the country’s oil industry to rely on American refineries.) The Trump administration also imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s primary debt issuance, as necessary for revolutionaries as it is for capitalists, as well as on the trading of existing securities. Guaidó will now control the country’s official accounts and will get to appoint a board for Venezuela’s crown jewel in the U.S.: the Citgo refinery.When it became clear that the petrodollars would stop flowing, defections from Maduro’s camp ticked up. And yet the regime did not fall. To outsiders, Maduro’s days in charge might appear numbered, but in Caracas he hangs on. That is because Chavismo’s traditional allies - Cuba, Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Syria - have stood by him. In particular, the support of Russia and China, for whom Venezuela remains a bulwark against the pro-market governments ascendant elsewhere on the continent, has proved crucial.Despite its natural wealth, Venezuela’s debts to China are far larger than is commonly understood. And in Russia, oligarchs close to the Kremlin have too much to lose if the Maduro regime falls apart. That is why RT is keen on broadcasting every single “historic” military exercise by Maduro’s generals. (As my colleague Daniel Lansberg has pointed out, Venezuela now has more generals than all of NATO.) Paradoxically, the socialist revolution that Chávez created is now sustained by the capitalist interests of its main international sponsors.This dynamic is far from unprecedented. Decades ago, when there were two Spains rather than two Venezuelas, the diplomatic support of Western democracies mattered very little on the ground. In 1936, a failed military coup against the legitimate Spanish republic kicked off the century’s paradigmatic civil war. Madrid quickly received the support of international actors, including France, the United States, Mexico, and even the Soviet Union. But the generals under Francisco Franco had sponsors willing to fight. Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy invested blood and treasure in Franco - and drove him to victory. His legitimacy was built on the battleground.Intervention matters. And so does the lack of it. When Rwanda’s ethnic conflicts escalated into an unspeakable genocide in 1994, U.N. troops stood by, eventually inspiring Samantha Power’s doctrine of moral intervention. When, later, Power was U.N. ambassador under President Obama, Obama refused to intervene in Syria even after the Assad regime mounted chemical-weapons attacks on its own citizens, thereby crossing the “red line” Obama had laid out. In both cases, the results were gruesome and the victims numerous.Ultimately only force can break an impasse. In Venezuela’s case, as in Spain’s before, legitimacy is not about constitutions but the balance of forces. Economic sanctions can debilitate a regime, but only those willing to use force can truly tilt the balance. As long as Venezuela’s traditional allies areeconomically and financially motivated to keep Chavistas in power, the current regime will endure, with or without Maduro. If Washington is not willing to intervene with force, then it must convince Moscow and Beijing that a political transition is in their interests. Guarantees for their investments are a good place to start. More important, Venezuela’s sorry destiny reminds us that in a world devoid of absolute hegemonies, there are worse things than American global leadership.

February 19, 2019 1:17 AM - Dutt said some people had posted and circulated her phone number on Twitter, enabling the harassment, which she said included threats of rape and images of genitalia being sent to her phone. Dutt tweeted some of the threats and images on Monday, and she included phone numbers and names of the men who allegedly threatened her, after which her account was suspended. "I would like to place on record my absolute horror and disgust at Twitter's encouragement of sexual abuse and gender inequality," said Dutt, a former managing editor at news channel NDTV and a regular columnist with the Washington Post.

February 17, 2019 4:45 PM - Dr. Theodore Bayless, a Johns Hopkins professor and physician whose research of lactose intolerance led to innovations in the treatment of that disorder, died of cancer Feb. 10 in Towson. The Mount Washington resident was 87. Dr. Bayless, originally from Atlantic City, N.J., was the son of David...

February 14, 2019 10:04 AM - A federal judge has ruled that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to the FBI, a federal grand jury and the special counsel. "[T]he Office of Special Counsel is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement," Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a ruling after a hearing in Washington on Wednesday.

February 14, 2019 7:35 AM - Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell accepted the National Press Foundation’s Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year award at a Wednesday night event in Washington, D.C. “It is a difficult thing to stand here and accept an honor that, no matter how much I appreciate it, I would rather not have,”...

February 12, 2019 9:48 PM - Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan made an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued US troop presence after Washington withdraws from neighbouring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to maintain some troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran.

February 12, 2019 1:11 PM - Most Americans think that special counsel Robert Mueller is far more credible than Donald Trump, according to the latest poll released, as the Russia investigation reportedly nears its conclusion. A poll by The Washington Post-Schar School on Tuesday found that 56 per cent of Americans say they trust Mr Mueller’s version of the facts surrounding the Russia investigation more than Mr Trump’s. That is compared to just 33 per cent who say they trust the president's version.

February 12, 2019 12:42 PM - The United States is ready to help countries repatriate Islamic State jihadists detained in Syria but time is of the essence and Washington insists that ultimately it is up to their home governments to come up with solutions. The window to organize the fighters' return with US support "is quickly closing," a US State Department official told AFP, on condition of anonymity. US President Donald Trump's sudden announcement in December that US troops would be withdrawing from Syria set off a countdown for governments whose citizens, having joined IS, were captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

February 11, 2019 8:21 PM - The Trump administration's new policy of returning asylum-seekers to Mexico while they await court hearings has renewed questions about safety and legal representation. In the meantime, discussions over border security are breaking down in Washington D.C.

February 11, 2019 2:51 PM - "America is not covering up for a murder," Pompeo said during a visit to Hungary, adding that the United States would take more action to hold accountable all those responsible for the U.S.-based journalist's death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. After initially denying his death, Saudi Arabia has confirmed that its agents killed Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government. U.S. lawmakers, Democrats and some of Trump's fellow Republicans, have sought a strong response by Washington to Khashoggi's murder and to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

February 8, 2019 2:39 PM - With pressure mounting in Washington and Riyadh, the US president theoretically had until the end of the day to designate those responsible for the murder of the Washington Post columnist, who was strangled and dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2. "Consistent with the previous administration's position and the constitutional separation of powers, the president maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate," a senior administration official said.

February 8, 2019 2:14 PM - The Trump administration expects further military defections from Maduro's side, the official told Reuters in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president last month, earning the recognition of the United States and dozens of other countries. "We're still having conversations with members of the former Maduro regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited." The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the Venezuelan socialist leader's support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power. With the Venezuelan military still apparently loyal to Maduro, a source in Washington close to the opposition expressed doubts whether the Trump administration has laid enough groundwork to spur a wider mutiny in the ranks where many officers are suspected of benefiting from corruption and drug trafficking.

February 8, 2019 12:12 PM - The United States is hoping Afghanistan can strike a peace agreement including the Taliban before elections scheduled for July, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on Friday. "It will be better for Afghanistan if we could get a peace agreement before the election, which is scheduled in July," the negotiator said, adding that there remained "a lot of work" to do. Khalilzad, who is leading talks with the Taliban, was at the US Institute of Peace in Washington to discuss an ongoing push for a political settlement to the 17-year-old Afghanistan conflict.

February 8, 2019 2:00 AM - Herbert S. W. Basler: Memorial gathering, 9:30 a.m. until time of memorial service, 11 a.m. Saturday, Eckhardt Funeral Chapel, 3296 Charmil Drive, Manchester. Kenneth “Ken” E. Bish: Visitation, 1 p.m. until time of service, 2 p.m. today, Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel, 412 Washington Road, Westminster....

February 6, 2019 9:55 AM - Unless you work for the government, you might have forgotten Monday is Presidents’ Day. The holiday originally celebrated George Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22. But today it is an opportunity to honor the contributions of all our presidents and their impact on our lives. For the 18 million Americans...

February 5, 2019 4:30 PM - A private school in Washington, D.C., has launched an investigation into “alleged adult misconduct” by teachers after one former member of the faculty was identified in a probe of sexual abuse at Key School. St. Albans School said in a statement sent to families Monday that the late Vaughan Keith...

February 5, 2019 6:35 AM - Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. will be in Washington Tuesday evening to attend the State of the Union address delivered by President Donald Trump. A spokeswoman for Olszewski, a Democrat who won election in Novermber, confirmed that he will attend as the guest of U.S. Sen. Ben...

February 3, 2019 11:16 PM - U.S. troops in Iraq are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating terrorism, Salih said, and that they should stick to that. Trump said it was important to keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq so that Washington can keep a close eye on Iran "because Iran is a real problem," according to a CBS interview broadcast on Sunday. "Don't overburden Iraq with your own issues," Salih said.

February 3, 2019 12:42 PM - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the United States of maintaining a "silence" on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who killed by a Saudi hit team in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. "I cannot understand America's silence... We want everything to be clarified because there is an atrocity, there is a murder," Erdogan told an interview with state-run TRT television. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and Saudi regime critic, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

February 3, 2019 10:01 AM - U.S. President Donald Trump said it was important to keep a U.S. military presence in Iraq so that Washington can keep a close eye on Iran "because Iran is a real problem," according to a CBS interview to be broadcast on Sunday. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

February 3, 2019 2:00 AM - With Democrats in control of the governor’s office for the first time in 20 years, and with majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate, the state certainly won’t be afflicted with the the partisan dysfunction that has fractured Washington. But that doesn’t mean …

January 31, 2019 6:40 AM - A man is dead and six other people are injured after a house fire Wednesday night in Glen Burnie. The Anne Arundel County Fire Department said George Christopher Kouimanis, 37, died at Baltimore Washington Medical Center after being severely injured in the fire. The department wrote in a release...

January 30, 2019 5:55 AM - A former Washington D.C. police officer pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of a minor as he admitted to paying two teenagers for sex in the Annapolis area for several months. Chukwuemeka Ekwonna, 29, of Glenn Dale, faces up to 20 years in prison on the two charges and will be required...

January 23, 2019 12:30 PM - County executives from across the region joined Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Wednesday in Annapolis to call for an end to the federal government shutdown, saying they’re having to address services lost as a result of the month-long stalemate in Washington. In a news conference inside the state...

January 22, 2019 10:00 AM - Security Checkpoint A at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport reopened Tuesday following its closure over the weekend due to “excessive call-outs” by Transportation Security Administration agents, who have been unpaid because of the federal government shutdown, an airport...

December 9, 2018 6:36 AM - In 1985 a top-secret Cold War search for two missing Navy submarines in the Atlantic would lead to discovering the final resting place of RMS Titanic, the luxury liner that sunk on April 15, 1912, with more than 1,500 souls aboard. Chip Reid visits an exhibition at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., about the search for the fated Titanic, and talks with Robert Ballard, the man whose classified hunt for the USS Scorpion and USS Thresher – nuclear submarines lost in the 1960s – would bring him to the most famous shipwreck in history.

December 5, 2018 2:40 PM - Maria Hiaasen, whose husband Rob Hiaasen was killed in the June 28 shooting at Capital Gazette newsroom, will speak Wednesday night at an event in Washington, D.C., commemorating victims of gun violence. Hiaasen said in an interview prior to the event that she’d be speaking at the National Vigil...

December 5, 2018 2:00 PM - A Bel Air family recently attended the Christmas tree lighting at the vice president’s residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in Washington. Baltimore County Police Cpl. Eric Brennan and his family - wife Katie and children Gracey, 8 and Tommy, 5 - were invited to attend the Nov. 29...

December 5, 2018 2:58 AM - The possibility of bringing in Colin Kaepernick for a tryout was “discussed” by quarterback-needy Washington, according to head coach Jay Gruden, who said Tuesday the team made a “strictly football” decision to look elsewhere. “Isn’t it obvious what the real reason is?” Kaepernick’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, wrote in an email to the Associated Press. Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance, hasn’t played since 2016, when he began kneeling during the national anthem as a way to protest police brutality and social and racial injustice. He filed a grievance last year, saying team owners colluded to keep him off rosters.

December 3, 2018 1:10 PM - SEATTLE - Cornerback Richard Sherman wasn’t the only 49er who made his return to Seattle on Sunday. He was joined by rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis, who played at the University of Washington, and was able to channel his college brilliance in the 49ers’ 43-16 loss to the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Pettis, a second-round pick, had five catches for 129 yards and had touchdown catches of 75 and 17 yards in the best performance of what had been a relatively quiet, injury-marred season.

November 30, 2018 2:00 AM - Many middle school language arts classes follow a pattern: Read a book, write an essay, rinse and repeat. But this year, Dumbarton Middle School language arts teacher Justin DePrima’s eighth-grade classes broke the mold, raising thousands of dollars to support girls’ education through the Washington-based...

November 27, 2018 2:00 AM - A new restaurant is opening in an old bank. The Mindful Restaurant Group, a Washington, D.C.-based collection of diverse eateries, will add its ninth property in the former location of the PNC Bank on Church Circle. The new restaurant’s culinary offerings are to be determined - the project got...

November 26, 2018 10:05 AM - The Newseum in Washington D.C. has a new installation about the attack that killed five staff members at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis in June. “Behind the News: A Deadly Attack on a Community Newspaper,” looks at the risks journalists face in an increasingly hostile climate for the press. The...

November 15, 2018 7:05 PM - The Havre de Grace man who was shot Sunday morning in downtown Havre de Grace died Wednesday of his injuries, police said. Mark Jeffrey Coudon, 61, was found in the 200 block of North Washington Street at around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a news release from Havre de Grace Police Department....