With 3-D printing poised to go mainstream, will we soon all be able to print a gun?

I don’t particularly care for guns. The first and last one I fired was a .22 rifle when I was 12 years old, at Camp Friendship summer camp in Virginia. I happen to be the sort that believes the world would be safer with fewer guns, not more.

The 2013 Baker Artist Award winners were announced this week, and Jenny O’Grady, Director of Alumni and Development Communications, is one of nine b-grant recipients.

The b-grant Prize is awarded annually to up to nine artists, and recognizes emerging artists and established artists exploring new directions in their work. Read more about the prize and view O’Grady’s work at the Baker Artist Awards website, or view the coverage of the awards’ announcement in the Baltimore Sun.

Congratulations to Julie Rosenthal, Program Management Specialist for the Asian Studies Program, who has been named the Association of Community Services Volunteer of the Year for her role in creating and directing the not-for-profit Food on the 15th Program. Hers is one of the 38th Annual Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Award given by the association. The award ceremony will be held on Friday, May 3, in Clarksville, MD.  Food on the 15th delivers groceries and toiletries to disadvantaged senior citizens in Jessup and Ellicott City.

The Association of Community Services (ACS) is a network of organizations and individuals serving Howard County residents across the spectrum of health, human services, the arts and the environment.  For more information, please go to: http://www.acshoco.org/.

News on the award was also reported in the Columbia Patch.

Starting this year, Food on the 15th also has a presence at UMBC, in cooperation with the Asian Studies Program.

“The worst kept secret in Maryland is that Martin O’Malley is running for president,” says Donald F. Norris, professor and chair of public policy at UMBC, in a Washington Jewish Week article on O’Malley’s recent visit to Israel and Jordan. He suggests, “One of the important bases that has to be touched is showing you have foreign policy experience. Another is going to Israel. He’s doing a twofer.”

Formally, the 8-day visit was a trade mission; the O’Malley administration notes that in 2012 Israel was Maryland’s 43rd largest trading partner. Twenty Israeli companies already have offices in Maryland and three additional tech will open offices in the state soon.

Norris also this week commented in a Gazette story on a change to Maryland’s GOP leadership with the election of Dels. Nicholaus Kipke (R-Dist. 31) of Pasadena and Kathy Szeliga (R-Dist. 7) of Perry Hall to the positions of minority leader and minority whip. Norris suggests the selection of Kipke, a member of the House Tea Party Caucus, might indicate the Maryland GOP is moving further to the right. This could make GOP candidates less electable in the Democratic-leaning state and, Norris argues, “guarantees the party’s total irrelevance in Maryland.”