We’ll be posting a bit less frequently over the next few days, as you might imagine, and want to wish you a happy and safe holiday.

If you’re in a reflective mood – or haven’t had a chance to read some of our latest posts – check out our audio slideshow from earlier in the week or comment on who should be named Maryland’s Legal Newsmaker of the Year.

Talk with you all next week!

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Click here for a story about the alleged ultimate in witness intimidation (and an eleventh-hour entry for Legal Newsmaker of the Year), courtesy of the New York Times.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer 

The Greater Baltimore State of the Region Report (PDF), released yesterday, found general improvement in Baltimore’s economy. The good news about the expansion of high-tech jobs and academic research was tempered by nagging transportation and crime issues, but there was another shift that may be foreboding for things to come.

“The cost of living within the Greater Baltimore region has increased dramatically from 2003 to 2007,” the report reads. It notes that Baltimore has risen to 13th least expensive in a group of 20 peer cities, when it ranked as the cheapest four years ago.

The relatively low cost of living here was an important consideration for me in choosing to move here from Vermont in 2006, and I still find it affordable here. The report cites housing costs as one of the key drivers, but I see rises in other, smaller expenses — like, say, a  delicious sandwich or a glass of beer.

Have you noticed prices going up in the area? Do you think it is keeping pace with economic growth here?

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

The University of Maryland’s Capital News Service has a couple of interesting stories on what we here like to call “Lawyers Behaving Badly,” a.k.a. Attorney Grievance Commission actions. (Come on, you know you like this stuff. Attorney malfeasance stories are consistently among the most read on our Web site.)

Writer Anju Kaur looked at discipline records and found that the number of attorney reprimands issued since private sanctions were banned does not equal the number issued back when they could be kept private. Kaur also looked at what sorts of behavior can get you disbarred in Maryland. (Hint: microwaving your divorce client’s estranged wife’s cat won’t do it.)

Ever see an AGC case where you think the Court of Appeals made a mistake in determining the sanction? Do you think more lawyers ought to be disciplined? Or is the AGC already bringing charges against too many?

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Hotelier Stephen Marx says he likes to take some time at the start of each day to gaze at the trees swaying outside of his Greenwich, Conn. home, to take in the expansive blue sky, and to meditate.

“I get up in the morning, I go out on my deck and I sit for 15 minutes and I just try to clear my mind, try to put my troubles away, get myself squared away emotionally, mentally for the day,” he said.

He doesn’t follow any particular spiritual tradition, doesn’t have a mantra or a guru, but Marx says his meditation contributes to his overall happiness and sense of balance.

In addition, Marx works out four times a week, tries to eat healthy foods and is a member of a men’s group that meets periodically to discuss spiritual and emotional matters.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for men to communicate their feelings,” he explained.

All of this is part and parcel of the ideas about wellness and balance espoused by Marx’s brand-new boutique hotel brand, Lifestyle HG, which has announced that it will open its newest franchise at 301 N. Charles St. in Baltimore some time in the next 16-17 months.

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