Local Dining Week, Cross Keys’ problems, 50 healthier foods and more
Cross Keys’ owner problems
At theentrance to the shopping area at the Village of CrossKeys, a sign lists 26 shops and galleries. But the sign ismisleading. The number includes precisely a dozen storefronts that are dark andabandoned. Just beyond that sign, in the middle of a corridor leading to thevillage’s commercial square, there’s another notice, much bigger, that’s moreindicative of conditions at Cross Keys. It lists the real estate people to callif you want to lease space. There’s a lot of it available, writes MichaelOlesker. On March 31, in a lengthy front-page lead story, The Sun detailedwhat was once “a premier retail center’s lost luster.” The story referred toboth Cross Keys and Harborplace. Both are owned by Ashkenazy AcquisitionsCorp., a privately-held New York company with a $12 billion global portfolio.Both locations are faded images of their former glittery selves.
Read more: As Cross Keys Goes, So Goes a Chunk of North Baltimore
Sheila Dixon for mayor (again)?
With Catherine Pugh embroiled in scandal and Bernard C. “Jack” Young serving as mayor in an acting capacity, and saying he will not seek to retain the office, the race for the 2020 election, in the words of the Baltimore Sun editorial board, starts now, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. Former Mayor Sheila Dixon, who herself left office amid scandal, appeared on WBAL News Radio April 3 to discuss Pugh’s deal to sell 100,000 children’s books to the University of Maryland Medical System for $500,000 while she sat on the organization’s board of directors. “At this point in time, I believe there’s a process that has to take place,” she told host Bryan Nehman.
Read more: Sheila Dixon dips a toe in the 2020 waters—and so does #TeamDixon
Also see: Mayor Catherine Pugh Needs to Answer a Few Grown-Up Questions
Local Dining Week
Community Wealth Builders, a project of Strong City Baltimore, is hosting Local Dining Week through April 7. The event spotlights more than 50 independently owned restaurants across Baltimore City, including Ekiben, Wicked Sisters, Miss Shirley’s, Johnny’s, Abbey Burger Bistro, Red Star, Bmore Licks and more. Customers can enjoy specials during the week and 100 diners at each participating restaurant will also receive a voucher for a free Orioles ticket. The event’s goal is to celebrate and support the city’s local restaurants in order to ensure Baltimore’s economic health.
Go to facebook.com/LocalDiningWeekBaltimore for more information.
50 foods for a healthier planet
The World Wide Fund for Nature and Knorr foods recently teamed up to launch their campaign and report, titled “Future 50 Foods: 50 Foods for Healthier People and a Healthier Planet,” according to NPR. According to the report, 75 percent of the food we consume comes from just 12 plant sources and five animal sources. And just three crops — wheat, corn and rice — make up nearly 60 percent of the plant-based calories in most diets. The campaign’s 50 foods were selected for their high nutritional value, low environmental impact, flavor, accessibility and affordability. Besides grains like fonio, they include various mushrooms, beans and pulses, nuts, tubers, algae and cactuses.
Read more: For A Healthier Planet, Eat These 50 Foods, Campaign Urges
Yeshiva won’t ordain gay student
Signaling ared line on how far Modern Orthodoxy is prepared to bend to adjust to societalchanges, a liberal New York City seminary will not ordain an openly gay studentwho is engaged to be married and completing his fourth year of rabbinicalstudies this spring, The Jewish Week has learned. In a statement to The JewishWeek, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah student Daniel Atwood, 27, wrote: “Four years agoI came out as gay during my first year at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah RabbinicalSchool, and it was decided that I would receive semicha [ordination] as theirfirst openly gay student. After four years of study and my completing almostall of the program’s requirements, YCT decided not to give me semicha, newsdelivered to me only a few weeks ago, three months before my graduation,without any prior conversation on the matter.” Atwood became engaged in thefall and is living with his partner. The decision marks a turning point for therabbinical school, which has served for nearly 20 years as the flagshipinstitution for a subgroup of Modern Orthodoxy often dubbed “Open Orthodoxy.”Founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss as an alternative to the more right-leaning YeshivaUniversity, the school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx ordained its firstclass in 2004 and has since ordained more than 100 rabbis.
Read more: Liberal Orthodox Yeshiva Says it Will Not Ordain Gay Student
An El Al flight attendant has a serious case of measles
An El Al flight attendant was hospitalized after contracting a serious case of measles on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York last week. The flight attendant is unconscious and on a respirator, according to reports. She reportedly had been vaccinated. A passenger boarded the flight while sick with the virus, the Jerusalem Post reported. Israel has seen a serious outbreak of measles in recent months, mostly due to low vaccination rates in the haredi Orthodox community. Two Israelis — an 18-month-old baby and an 82-year-old woman, have died from the disease. Haredi communities in New York also have experienced measles outbreaks, and have low vaccination rates.–JTA
See photos and video from Jmore’s Live Local Shop Local March 31 event.
Don’t miss the best of Jmore each week. Go to jmoreliving.com/newsletters to sign up for our weekly Jmore Newsletter and This Week in Baltimore Eating newsletter.
In Italy, the Jewish Brigade's flag has unfairly become a flashpoint in today’s battles over Zionism and anti-fascism, writes Dr. Ginaluca Fantoni.
At its annual meeting this year, the Baltimore Jewish Council will honor the late Harford County educator and longtime Holocaust education champion.
The former Colt, who passed away on May 25 at age 93, achieved immortality during a cold December day in 1958, writes Michael Olesker.
A new biography on the creator of "Doonesbury" misses the mark, writes Michael Olesker.