Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett spoke at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum on Saturday, October 8, at 1 p.m.

Corbett’s talk commemorated the 150th anniversary of the end of the Pony Express. Corbett is the author of “Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth & Lasting Legend of the Pony Express.”

A video of Corbett’s talk can be seen here.

In his latest Baltimore Sun column, UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller explores the meteoric rise of Herman Cain as a GOP presidential candidate. Schaller argues, “his surprising showing actually tells us a lot more about the state of the national Republican Party” than about Cain himself. He suggests, “key segments of the Republican primary electorate desperately want an alternative to Mr. Romney,” who “presents himself as the candidate to fall in line behind, not fall in love with.” Read the full commentary to learn about Schaller’s take on Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and identification as a novice in government.

The Baltimore Sun reports that following a strong win in last month’s Democratic primary, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is meeting with each of her 40 Cabinet members “with an eye toward a possible shake-up of city leadership.” Such a move is not unusual, says Donald Norris, chair of public policy at UMBC, in the article.

“This is a reasonable time to expect those kinds of things to begin happening,” Norris remarked, continuing, “She now has been elected on her own. She’s clearly going to be setting her own agenda and putting her own people in power.”

The economic impact of the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix was “vastly smaller than the projections by the events promoter,” UMBC economics professor Dennis Coates asserts in a newly released study (pdf), coauthoed with Michael Friedman of the University of Maryland. They estimate attendee spending as closer to $25 million than the anticipated $70 million and argue, “The bottom line is that the Baltimore Grand Prix was not a game changing event.”

After appearing on the front page of the Baltimore Sun and in the Baltimore Business Journal, the story was picked up by AP and printed in the Washington Post. Additional coverage included interviews with Dennis Coates on ABC2, Fox45 and WBAL Channel 11.

Baltimore’s version of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Occupy Baltimore, is settled into a site at the Inner Harbor for what its website calls an “indefinitely long peaceful demonstration.”

One visitor to the protest site was Jason Loviglio, director of the media and communication studies program, who was impressed by the movement’s growth and what appeared to be a sincere effort to discuss the nation’s problems across partisan lines.

“I don’t think we can predict the power this is going to have,” Loviglio said. “It’s just beginning to kindle.”

The full story, “Occupy Baltimore: an open-ended conclusion,” appeared in the Baltimore Sun on October 18.