Your Complete Guide to Inner Harbor Baltimore Restaurants, Hotels & Events.

Inner Harbor is the crown jewel of Baltimore, Maryland with our restaurants, hotels and THE historic seaport vacation destination that attracts millions each year.

Whatever brings you to Inner Harbor Baltimore, there is something for everyone. From hotels and restaurants, live music on the pier to a haunting ghost tour on Fells Point, you will not be disappointed at the array of activities offered.

Some of the more frequented attractions include The National Aquarium, Port Discovery, The Gallery, Little Italy, Maryland Science Center, USS Constellation and Harborplace. There truly is something for everyone!

News

Water being restored to residents after water main break in Belair-Edison; road closures still in effect, DPW says

June 7th, 2023|

Water is being restored to about 40 residences after a water main break occurred Tuesday morning in Baltimore’s Belair-Edison neighborhood, according to the Baltimore Department of Public Works.AdvertisementWhile DPW completed repairs to the 16-inch water main break at 3804 Sinclair Lane, roads will remain closed until the roadway is completely restored, DPW said Tuesday evening. Roads are closed at Sinclair Lane and Eastmont and Sinclair Lane and Chesterfield.AdvertisementThis story may be updated.

Founder of three schools for under-resourced students to retire as president of The Loyola School in Baltimore

June 7th, 2023|

The Rev. William J. Watters, who founded three Baltimore City schools for under-resourced students, announced May 31 he is ready to retire from the presidency of The Loyola School at the age of 89.He will remain president of the school that he founded most recently until the appointment of his successor, a decision that could take six months to a year to be made, he said.Advertisement“I need to pass the baton to people with greater energy, younger people with vision,” said Watters, a Jesuit priest.The three schools — The Loyola School, St. Ignatius Loyola Academy and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School — are scholarship-focused or tuition-free for students who are accepted into the programs. At The Loyola School, all students who meet eligibility requirements receive full scholarships, paid for by sponsors. Parents and guardians must only pay $20 per month, as well as volunteer.AdvertisementWatters founded Mount Vernon’s The Loyola School in 2017, starting out as a preschool and later adding kindergarten and first grade. The Jesuit school hopes to roll out second, third and fourth grades by 2025, according to Dennis O’Shea, a volunteer at the school.The school has been undergoing a $10 million capital campaign since 2020 with $2 million still needed, O’Shea shared in an email. Five rowhouses on East Madison Street are being renovated to provide students with a new learning center, complete with classrooms, a library, a computer center, a health care station and more. The new center’s kindergarten and first and second grade classrooms are expected to open in 2024.The Loyola School earned a three out of five rating last year under Maryland Excels, the state’s rating system for early childhood education. Students do not have to be Catholic to apply.Before The Loyola School, Watters founded St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, a boys school in the Riverside neighborhood, in 1993. The school serves grades five through eight on a tuition-free basis.Watters in 2007 founded the co-ed Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Upper Fells Point, catering to grades nine through 12. The school’s cost per student averages around $17,000, though no student has to pay more than $2,500 per year. All students pay part of their tuition by participating in a corporate internship program five days per month.The soon-to-be retired president will still remain a trustee for The Loyola School and assist in any way he is needed, he said. Watters is also still a trustee and trustee emeritus at Cristo Rey and St. Ignatius, respectively.The Rev. William J. Watters, 89, founder of three Baltimore schools for the disadvantaged, is to step down. (Handout)Wayne Gioso Jr., chairman of the board at Loyola Blakefield in Towson, has known Watters since 1975 as a spiritual advisor and friend. Gioso said Watters has the ability to take ideas about making a difference in the world and turning them into actions and concrete results.Advertisement“If he could clone himself, we’d solve the education problem in the whole country,” Gioso said. “Everything he really does is founded in justice and his Jesuit beliefs.”Gioso said it doesn’t surprise him that Watters said he will retire, but he wouldn’t be phased if Watters revealed he wanted to come out of retirement in the future.“I’ve seen him retire a few times only to not retire again,” Gioso said. “He’s a force of nature.”Watters became involved with education in 1989, when he joined the Jesuits and started working in Nigeria at the first Jesuit school in the country. He came back to the United States in 1991 due to medical issues and decided he wanted to do similar work but for low-income Baltimore families who don’t have the means for private education.The Evening SunDailyGet your evening news in your e-mail inbox. Get all the top news and sports from the baltimoresun.com.AdvertisementIn a letter announcing Watters’ retirement, Joseph Lombard, chair of the school’s board of trustees wrote that Watters has a history of creating the vision for a school and finding the philanthropists, building space and staff to make that vision come to fruition.“And then — once he is satisfied that the school is strong and solid, with the infrastructure and support it needs to thrive — he humbly steps aside and invites others to assume leadership,” Lombard wrote. “That moment has now arrived for The Loyola School.”

Sports

The PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger: What you need to know

June 7th, 2023|

The announcement was so shocking that not even PGA Tour players knew what was coming. The tour was fighting the threat of Saudi-backed LIV Golf for more than a year. On Tuesday, they decided to start working together.The PGA Tour, European tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund say they will combine their commercial businesses into a new company with hopes of unifying golf.AdvertisementThat means all lawsuits are being dropped immediately. The other details create as many questions as answers. That starts with whether top stars such as Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka — suspended for taking massive Saudi money to leave the PGA Tour for LIV — will have a way back. They would rejoin players who stayed loyal to the tour.The PGA Tour was in federal court trying to require Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund, to give testimony in an antitrust case. And now Al-Rumayyan is on the PGA Tour board of directors. He also will be chairman of the new business venture involving the three tours.AdvertisementSome players felt they were betrayed. Top players have not commented because they know so little about what this means.Missing from all the announcements was Greg Norman, the commissioner of LIV Golf.LIV Golf is a rival league funded by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund that has tried to reinvent the structure of professional golf with 48-man fields, no mid-tournament cuts and up to $25 million in prize money. There also is a team component. The league is run by Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star who tried nearly 30 years ago to create a world tour. LIV Golf lured away 13 former major champions, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who then were suspended by the PGA Tour.The kingdom has been investing in sports and entertainment in recent years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative called “Vision 2030″ to diversify and reduce its dependence on oil. Golf was a natural fit.It has led to accusations of “sportswashing,” an attempt to use sports investments to gloss over human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA says occurred on the orders of bin Salman.LIV Golf was trying to get all the top players in the world ranking. A majority of them turned down bonuses estimated at $100 million or more to stay loyal to the PGA Tour.Rory McIlroy accused LIV defectors of “taking the easy way out” and Tiger Woods said they “turned their backs” on the tour that made them famous. It also caused a great divide in golf because LIV players were not allowed to play on the PGA Tour. Now they are angry over the notion LIV players might return without consequences.The PGA Tour looks nothing like it did when LIV Golf started. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says he couldn’t match Saudi money, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort. This year the PGA Tour has 13 “elevated events” with $20 million purses. For 2024, it has returned its schedule to start in January and end in August. There will be about 15 tournaments with $20 million purses — nearly twice as much as they were — for the top 50 in the season points race on the PGA Tour.AdvertisementMonahan refused to meet with the Saudi Golf group for two years. But a few months ago, PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne arranged a meeting. Monahan, European tour CEO Keith Pelley and Al-Rumayyan began working out an agreement. Monahan realized LIV Golf had a deep well of funds and wasn’t going anywhere. He says golf was too divided and had too much tension and it was best for everyone to come together.The PGA Tour policy board will add Al-Rumayyan and will either add another player or remove one of the spots that belong to the corporate world. The new commercial company — it doesn’t have a name — will have Al-Rumayyan as the chairman and Monahan as the CEO. The PGA Tour will have a majority stake in the new company. However, PIF at first will be the exclusive investor alongside the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to invest further.The PGA Tour will keep tax-exempt status as a 501-c-6 organization that is charity-driven. As far as fans are concerned, it will be the same logo and the same tour. Ditto for the European tour, whose commercial name is DP World Tour.LIV Golf will finish its second season this year as scheduled. After that is anyone’s guess. Monahan says officials will conduct a thorough evaluation of how to integrate team golf into the PGA Tour. LIV Golf was trying to turn its 12 teams into franchises. No one had sponsored a team.It’s unlikely that if LIV Golf still exists, players can play both sides. That’s what led to this in the first place. Curiously missing from all the announcements was Norman’s name. Al-Rumayyan said on CNBC that he told Norman about the merging tours only a few minutes before the announcement.

Six things we learned from the Orioles’ first 60 games

June 7th, 2023|

MILWAUKEE — In the major leagues, 60 games is still a relatively unreliable sample size.Great players have had unspectacular 60-game stretches, and bad ones have put up stellar stats across that sample. Just a few years ago, however, 60 games was all there was.AdvertisementBecause of the COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Baseball held a 60-game season, in which the rebuilding Orioles went 25-35 before losing 110 games in 2021. For the Orioles in 2020, José Iglesias hit .373, Renato Núñez was on a full-season pace to hit 32 home runs and Chance Sisco had a better OPS than Austin Hays.Given those examples, it’s safe to assume the numbers the Orioles have put up thus far — whether good or bad — are far from set in stone. Through 60 games this year, Baltimore is 37-23 — 12 games better than its start in 2022 and its first time above .500 at this point since 2017.AdvertisementThat doesn’t mean, of course, that nothing can be gleaned from the first two-plus months of the season. Here’s a look at some of what we learned about the Orioles through 60 games.The Orioles' Anthony Santander, left, gets a hugs from Kyle Gibson after hitting a grand slam against the Braves on May 5 in Atlanta. Gibson isn’t the ace fans wanted, but he’s the No. 1 pitcher the Orioles sought this offseason. (John Bazemore/AP)Gibson isn’t the ace fans wanted, but he’s the No. 1 pitcher the Orioles sought this offseason.With a young rotation, Baltimore signed the 35-year-old veteran to a $10 million contract to stabilize its pitching staff. He’s done just that.His 76 2/3 innings lead the team and puts him on pace for 189 this season — a number that would be the most by an Orioles starter since Wei-Yin Chen in 2015 (191 1/3). Gibson has pitched five or more innings in all but one of his 13 starts, including seven innings a team-high three times.His underlying numbers aren’t sparkling, but that was to be expected for a pitch-to-contact innings-eater. Entering Tuesday, his 15.9% strikeout rate was more than six percentage points worse than league average and ranked 65th out of 69 qualified starting pitchers.But Gibson has either earned the win or allowed three or fewer runs in 10 of his 13 starts, and he’s induced more than twice as many double plays (14) as he’s surrendered home runs (six).Orioles starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez is pulled by manager Brandon Hyde, right, against the Angels on May 15. Rodriguez showed glimpses of the stuff that garnered him praise throughout his minor league career, but he wasn’t able to string together positive outings. (Nick Wass/AP)The start to the season is chock-full of positives. Grayson Rodriguez’s overall performance isn’t one of them.The top pitching prospect in baseball struggled in his 10 starts with the Orioles before he was optioned to Triple-A in late May. He showed glimpses of the stuff that garnered him praise throughout his minor league career, but he wasn’t able to string together positive outings. He posted a 7.35 ERA and 1.74 WHIP with the Orioles before the demotion.AdvertisementBut the fact that Rodriguez struggled in his first stint in the big leagues isn’t a surprise. Many star pitchers had similar stumbles out the gate, and most of the Orioles’ rotation did, too. Other top prospects who made their debuts this season also didn’t have it easy; New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is hitting .191, and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker was demoted in late April before just recently being recalled.After struggling early in the season, Orioles rookie Gunnar Henderson is hitting .254 with eight extra-base hits and an .810 OPS over his past 19 games. (Nick Wass/AP)Sometimes, though, patience is rewarded when dealing with a struggling young player, and it seems as if that’s been the case with the Orioles’ strategy with Henderson.The 21-year-old rookie has spent most of the season hitting below .200, but he’s rewarded the organization for sticking with him as he dealt with difficulties through the first six weeks of the year.Henderson, who entered the season as the consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport and the favorite for American League Rookie of the Year, was hitting .170 with a .651 OPS through May 12. But in his 19 games since, Henderson has hit .254 with eight extra-base hits and an .810 OPS, including one of his biggest hits as a big leaguer, a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning of Baltimore’s 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Friday.Orioles relief pitcher Yennier Cano (78) and catcher Adley Rutschman celebrate a win over the Rays on May 10. Cano burst onto the scene in mid-April and has been one of the best relievers in the major leagues. (Nick Wass/AP)Few contenders have used their relievers more than the Orioles, and for good reason.Baltimore’s bullpen ERA ranks fifth in the majors at 3.38. The only team with a better mark and more relief innings than the Orioles’ 229 1/3 are the Yankees, who own the sport’s best bullpen ERA at 2.82 in 236 innings.AdvertisementLast season, Baltimore’s relievers played a vital part in its turnaround, finishing ninth in bullpen ERA. With most of the club’s relievers being outcasts or inexperienced arms, the unit was expected by some to regress in 2023. For the most part, that hasn’t been the case.Closer Félix Bautista has been even better with a sparkling 1.24 ERA and a whopping 50.4% strikeout rate. Bryan Baker has struggled lately, but his 3.81 ERA is only narrowly higher than his 2022 average and his 30.3% strikeout rate is up about four percentage points. Newcomer Danny Coulombe has been a pleasant surprise after an under-the-radar trade at the end of spring training, as the left-hander has posted a 2.01 ERA and career-high 34.7% strikeout rate. And who could forget about Yennier Cano, who burst onto the scene in mid-April and has been one of the best relievers in the major leagues.The one reliever who has struggled for the majority of the season is the one whom regression was most expected. Cionel Pérez has allowed 32 hits in 21 innings with a 4.71 ERA after being one of the most effective left-handers in the majors last season with a 1.40 ERA and 7.2 hits-per-nine-innings.With a rotation that ranks in the bottom 10 in innings, steady performance from the Orioles’ bullpen is required if they’re going to make a playoff push.Tyler Wells has been Baltimore’s best starting pitcher this year with a staff-best 3.29 ERA as well as the most effective starter in the majors at preventing batters from reaching base. (Jess Rapfogel/AP)Entering spring training, it was assumed that Rodriguez would make the opening day rotation, leaving Wells as the odd-man out and pushing him back into the bullpen.Baltimore Orioles InsiderWeeklyWant to be an Orioles Insider? The Sun has you covered. Don't miss any Orioles news, notes and info all baseball season and beyond.But after Rodriguez struggled and was sent to Triple-A (before shortly being promoted because of an injury to Kyle Bradish), Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Wells earned the job. He’s proved so far that he deserved his spot in this rotation all along.AdvertisementWells has been Baltimore’s best starting pitcher this year with a staff-best 3.29 ERA as well as the most effective starter in the majors at preventing batters from reaching base. His 0.849 WHIP leads all qualified starting pitchers and is significantly lower than his 1.138 WHIP last season. He’s gone five or more innings in all of his 11 starts and surrendered more than four runs just once.Recently, the most impressive part of Wells’ performance are his strikeout numbers. After striking out just 18% of batters last year, Wells has improved that to an above-average 26.6%. On Sunday, he struck out nine batters for his fifth straight start with seven or more punchouts, joining Erik Bedard as the only Orioles pitchers to achieve the feat since 1957.The Orioles' Jorge Mateo, left, celebrates with Austin Hays after a win over the Giants on Sunday. (Jeff Chiu/AP)Making the playoffs is the team’s stated goal.Whether that happens remains to be seen, although owning the third-best record in the major leagues certainly has the arrow pointing in the right direction. But at 14 games over .500 and in second place in the AL East, it’s hard to imagine this team not, at the very least, contending for a playoff spot in September.Despite the success, the season has been hardly perfect. The starters rarely go deep into games, the offense simmered significantly after a torrid April and players such as Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías are in the middle of slumps. And the run differential — plus-29 — has an expected record of four games worse than the Orioles’ current mark, suggesting perhaps Baltimore has been fortunate thus far.But, if the season ended after 60 games like it did three years ago, the Orioles would be in the playoffs. Whether that’s the case after 162 remains to be seen.

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