In Pictures: Derby Day devotees, Kenyan style
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/16
In Pictures: Dazzle like Beckham
In Pictures: Weather extremes 2013
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/15
In Pictures: Duchess Kate's royal baby bump
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/14
In Pictures: Keffiyeh is rebel chic
Three veterans – (l. to r.) Patrick Young, Earl Johnson, and Dave Landymore – survey buildings and chat with neighbors on a warm Friday night. The men are volunteers with Operation Oliver, a revitalization project that joins two nonprofits – Come Home Baltimore, a local developer, and the 6th Branch, a group of volunteer veterans who use their community rebuilding skills to address urban blight.
The three former soldiers walk down an alley in an impoverished section of East Baltimore that they are helping to revive as part of Operation Oliver. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Rich Blake (c.), founder of The 6th Branch, breaks apart a couch as he and other volunteers clean out a residence in Baltimore’s Oliver
Carolyn Lawson and her grandson, Jordan, watch as furniture and other old items are carried out of her home by Operation Oliver volunteers. The workers are helping her clean up the house so the city of Baltimore can weatherize the home. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
A memorial flag sits on the mantelpiece in the home of Carolyn Lawson. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
David Landymore (l.), executive director of the nonprofit group The 6th Branch, jokes with volunteer Eric 'Smitty' Smith who pulls his kindergarten yearbook from the trash on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Volunteer Ryan Stoup (c.), and other members of Operation Oliver, pick-up trash in an empty lot in the Baltimore neighborhood of Oliver on April 15, 2012. Operation Oliver founders hope the project will become a model for other vets who might want to help revive inner-city neighborhoods across the country. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
A boarded up building shows the state of disrepair of many structures in Oliver, a neighborhood in East Baltimore where some episodes of the gritty cable TV show 'The Wire' have been filmed. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Armed with his ever-present cup of tea, David Landymore, a volunteer veteran, looks for garbage in the Oliver neighborhood of Baltimore on April 13, 2012. He uses his cellphone to report to city officials what he finds. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
A ripped pillow hangs from a tree in a vacant lot in the blighted Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore on Friday evening, April 13, 2012. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Volunteers with the Veteran Artists' Program have painted lamp posts and colorful murals as part of murals as part of Operation Oliver's effort to spruce up an inner-city neighborhood of Baltimore. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
George Peters (l.) of Come Home Baltimore, a local group working to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods, takes photos of a former vacant lot that has recently been turned into a community garden. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
6th Branch executive director David Landymore shakes hands with William Jones, while Come Home Baltimore executive director Earl Johnson (white t-shirt) chats with April Cherry on the stoop of her home in East Baltimore on April 13, 2012. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Annie Morton, a 55-year resident of the Oliver section of East Baltimore, has watched the area decline over the years – from a bustling middle-class African-American neighborhood to a den of poverty and drugs. Now several groups are trying to turn the area around. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Oliver resident Kelvin Holiday greets 6th Branch executive director David Landymore on Friday evening, April 13, 2012. Holiday has lived in Oliver for 2 years and purchased his home through the local initiative Come Home Baltimore, a privately funded effort to revitalize the area. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Kelvin Holiday, and his partner, Marcus Baker, watch as Operation Oliver volunteers leave their home. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
George Peters of Come Home Baltimore, a revitalization firm, surveys the Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore with members of The 6th Branch on April 13, 2012. The two groups have teamed up to refurbish homes in the impoverished area. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
Come Home Baltimore, a development firm that has partnered with The 6th Branch to help rehab the area, advertises its newly renovated
Jevon Stevenson (l.), a veteran who volunteers with Operation Oliver, speaks with Wanda Brewer (c.) and Joseph Holland (r.) to see how they’re faring with changes in the neighborhood that former soldiers are helping to revive.
David Landymore (l.) oversees tree planting on a street in the Oliver neighborhood of Baltimore during an ecology event on April 14, 2012. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
This colorful mural is one of two produced by volunteers with the Veteran Artsists' Program, in partnership with The 6th Branch. Joanne Ciccarello/Staff
In Pictures: Derby Day devotees, Kenyan style
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/16
In Pictures: Dazzle like Beckham
In Pictures: Weather extremes 2013
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/15
In Pictures: Duchess Kate's royal baby bump
Photos of the Day: Photos of the day 05/14
In Pictures: Keffiyeh is rebel chic
To help reduce the deficit, President Barack Obama has suggested using a different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits, leading to a slower growth rate. Veterans groups worry such a change could apply to disability payments.
Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Derby-Day-devotees-Kenyan-style
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-05-16
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Dazzle-like-Beckham
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Weather-extremes-2013
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Covert-commerce-smugglers-tunnels-at-the-Egypt-and-Gaza-border
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-05-15
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Duchess-Kate-s-royal-baby-bump
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-05-14
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Keffiyeh-is-rebel-chic
/Photo-Galleries/CSM-Galleries/Election2012/Tea-Parties
/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Latin-America-s-fight-against-drugs-and-violence
/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-05-13