AAA Mid-Atlantic is predicting a 9 percent increase in travel this Labor Day holiday weekend … and most of those travelers will hit the road.

The company says approximately 637,200 Marylanders will take a trip at least 50 miles round-trip away from home. That’s a 9.1 percent increase from 2009.

But for those of you groaning over the inescapable traffic jam you’re sure to hit in your travels, there’s hope. Well, sort of.

The auto club issued it’s travel predictions with one caveat: The current path of Hurricane Earl could drive some travelers to stay home.

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If you’re a “Sex and the City” fan — or if you’ve just ever set foot in Manhattan — you’ve probably heard of Tasti-D-Lite, the frozen yogurt shop.

Now the New York-based company is opening its first Maryland location as part of its plans to expand to 500 locations in the next five years.

According to a news release, mid-Atlantic franchise owner Ben Pascal wants to open 12 to 15 shops in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia in the next five years and has selected the Park Plaza shopping center in Severna Park for the region’s first Tasti-D. The location will also serve as the local headquarters and operations center.

So far so good, right?

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My heart goes out to Washington Nationals fans. It really does. But more so, it goes out to the Nationals front office — they’re the ones with the $15.1 million contract for a stud rookie pitcher for whom they’ll have to wait until the 2012 season to see returns.

And at this point, those returns are no longer guaranteed.

When the news came crashing down on Nationals Nation last week that phenom Stephen Strasburg would undergo Tommy John surgery for his elbow — a procedure that takes 12 to 18 months from which to recover — the collective groan from D.C. could be heard all the way up here in Baltimore.

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The new owners of Pimlico Race Course are upping the ante in a big way for next year’s Preakness Stakes. Actually it’s not just big. It’s humongous. Like multimillion dollar humongous.

MI Developments Inc. announced Friday that it will award a $5.5 million bonus to the winner of the 2011 Preakness Stakes to be split $5 million for the owner and $500,000 to the jockey — if the horse wins two earlier races at MID tracks.

Dubbed “Preakness 5.5,” horses qualify for the prize by winning in one of the preliminary races at MID-owned Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields. It’s a pretty smart move by the Ontario-based company to generate better competition and larger fields — which lead to more wagering and more money for MID — at its tracks next spring.

Here’s the breakdown on how horses/owners will qualify:

At Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields:
The winner of the Grade III El Camino Real (at Golden Gate) and the winner of Santa Anita’s Grade II Bob Lewis or the Grade II San Felipe, will qualify for the Preakness 5.5 if the horse goes on to win the Santa Anita Derby.

At Gulfstream Park:
A horse must win either the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes or the Grade II Fountain of Youth, and then go on to win the Grade I Florida Derby.

$5.5 million may sound like a hefty price to pay (especially when you consider this is the parent company of Magna Entertainment Corp., which didn’t want to pay the $28.5 million license fee for its Laurel Park slots bid last year). But MID is getting more than paid back by the better competition it’ll generate at its other tracks. And of course, there’s always the chance that no horse will qualify. (And if I were MID I’d be praying to all kinds of gods for that to happen. I’m just saying.)

But this is horse racing after all. And everything’s a gamble.

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The team’s value may have slipped a little, but the Baltimore Ravens’ overall rank rose in 2009 to the 8th-most valuable NFL franchise according to Forbes.com.

Steve Bisciotti’s Ravens’ total worth fell 1 percent in the past year to $1.07 billion — about two-thirds of Bisciotti’s estimated net worth of $1.5 billion — but the team climbed three places in Forbes’ annual team valuation rankings.

The Dallas Cowboys came in at No. 1 with a $1.8 billion value, followed by the Ravens’ Beltway rival, the Washington Redskins, valued at $1.55 billion. (On a related note, the Ravens pounded the Skins in their preseason game, 23-3 … I guess money isn’t everything. )

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A musical and economic juggernaut will be touching down in Baltimore in November.

I’m referring, of course, to The Wiggles.

The Australian quartet is The Beatles of the preschool set. Characters such as Dorothy the Dinosaur and songs like “Fruit Salad” (yummy, yummy) have entertained toddlers around the world for almost two decades now.

And in the process, The Wiggles have become a $50 million-per-year enterprise.

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With today’s drab news about U.S. housing sales falling to their lowest levels in 15 years, analysts are looking at all angles of the crisis to try and figure out where to go from here.

Enter psychology. Let’s take a trip to the couch.

Tony Sanders, a professor of real estate and finance at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.,  said this morning that wary homeowners seem to be holding on to what they’ve got as the recession continues to whipsaw  their confidence.

“They are terrified,” Sanders said. “They are fearful of the market, of pending tax increases, the perpetuation of the recession, not being able to get a job. This is the big moving season for most people and there is not much movement. It’s really out of the ordinary.”

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With 15 home games left in the season, the Baltimore Orioles are staring down an abysmal attendance hole they won’t remedy before the end of the year.

Just 1.37 million people have gone to Camden Yards this year through 65 games — a 13.5 percent drop in attendance from this point last year. I doubt it will end that low with the Red Sox and Yankees each due for one more weekend visit here before the end of the season. But a 10 percent drop in overall attendance and a total of just over 1.7 million total fans isn’t out of the question either.

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You may have already seen the well-produced ads by the coalition trying to halt developer David Cordish’s casino project at the Arundel Mills mall.

The first ad (watch it below this post) describes the mall as “a family friendly environment — and a slots parlor just doesn’t belong there.”

In his interview with The Daily Record last week, Cordish said he was definitely getting ready to strike back at his opponents — the Maryland Jockey Club, Stop Slots at the Mall and other citizens groups that are against his casino. The jockey club in particular wants to see slots built at its race track, Laurel Park, which is just down the road from the mall.

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After dropping MASN, the Ravens have ended the mystery after two weeks of who will carry the team’s television shows that include Purple Passion and the John Harbaugh Show.

The team on Friday announced that WBAL Plus and Comcast SportsNet will be airing all Ravens television programming, a move that gives the team a broader reach and a foot in the door in the Washington market.

Last year in an exclusive interview with The Daily Record, Ravens President Dick Cass said he’d like to see the team get more exposure in Maryland counties that were arguably split between Ravens and Redskins fans. Namely, Prince George’s and Frederick counties and even parts of Montgomery County.

Looks like this is one way to make that happen and then some (considering Comcast’s reach is broader than just the Washington Metro Area).

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