20070817 News Clips

News Clips

August 17, 2007

STATE NEWS

County officials hope for word on budgets
http://www.examiner.com/a-885767~County_officials_hope_for_word_on_budgets.html
All the top state and county officials have moved the capital and county seats temporarily to this resort town for the annual convention of the Maryland Association of Counties, hoping to get a handle on next year's budgets. Several county leaders were hoping to hear how Gov. Martin O'Malley would resolve the $1.4 billion budget deficit. "They're not going to tell us anything," said Harford County Executive David Craig, a Republican and MACO board member, but he hopes O'Malley and legislative leaders make their decisions early. The governor talked about a combinati on of budget cuts and tax code changes. But he also asked county officials to support their delegates and senators. "In order to close this budget gap, a lot of delegates and senators are going to have to cast difficult votes," he said.

House Republicans unveil alternate budget
Doesn't reveal specific cuts, but calls for slots
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_16-72/GOV
The House Republican Caucus unveiled an alternative budget proposal yesterday that members said would erase Maryland's $1.5 billion deficit with modest spending growth and no tax increases. The plan - in the works since May - would fill the fiscal hole by capping budget growth at 3.5 percent and relying on slot machines for revenue from an up-front auction and their eventual use. "The work behind this . is very substantial," said Del. Stev e Schuh, R-Gibson Island, who presented the proposal. "Those adjustments were reasonable, responsible and absolutely consistent with maintaining the social safety net." "

House GOP Announces Budget Proposal
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2007/08/house_gop_announces_budget_pro.html?nav=rss_blog
House Republicans put forward a plan today to solve Maryland's fiscal problems without raising taxes, proposing instead to curtail planned spending on education and other programs and to legalize slot-machine gambling. House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) called the plan "a very credible, and in my opinion, very well thought-out alternative" to proposals from leading Democrats to raise taxes to help close a bu dget shortfall next year of nearly $1.5 billion in the state's $15 billion general fund budget.
But the Republican plan drew immediate criticism for Democrats for its lack of details. The plan provides targets for spending reductions in nine broad areas but does not spell out the implications on specific programs.

Notes from MACo O'Malley expecting drought assistance
Slots, taxes and special sessions on the lips of lawmakers
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23603_32357.shtml
Maryland expects to receive federal disaster relief from the drought that has crippled agriculture, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday.O'Malley said he expected official notification from the feds ''very, very shortly."
If O'Malley calls a special session to resolve the budget gap it will likely be before November, he said .
''If we get to a point where we have enough consensus and feel that we can, in a very focused way, get this done before the next session comes up, then we will," he said. ''If we're not able to arrive at that consensus before November, December, what's the point of spending money on a special session when the regular session's right around the corner?"

O'Malley asked to subsidize southern Prince George's hospitals
Operators fear deluge of patients if Dimensions hospitals close, worry about shortage of nurses
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23620_32366.shtml
Two hospitals in southern Prince George's County could see added pressure if Dimensions hospitals in Prince George's County and Washington's Greater Southeast Hospital close, warned Del. James E. Proctor Jr.. Proctor has met with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to discuss subsidizing Fort Washington Medical Center and Southern Maryland Hospital Center so that they would be ready to handle more patients.
''I wanted to raise the problem and let him know how deep it will go," said Proctor (D-Dist. 27A) of Brandywine. ''I wanted him to see the potential bigger problem."

Frederick le gal status bill is 'dead on arrival,' sponsor says he is warned
Commissioner wants county agencies to check to see if resident getting help is in country legally
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23623_32368.shtml
Frederick County Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins' proposal that would target illegal immigrants has no chance of getting past the Democratic majority in the Maryland General Assembly, predicted one state lawmaker.
''He basically said, 'It's dead on arrival,'" Jenkins (R) said of Del. Richard B. Weldon's warning.
Immigration advocacy groups will use their influence to defeat the bill before it has any chance of being signed into law, said Weldon (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick, chairman of the county's delegation.''At least it would get a fair hearing with the Frederick delegation," he said.Jenkins' proposal would require all county-funded agencies to verify that the people they help are in the country legally.

State removes woman from Talbot school board
http://www.examiner.com/a-884085~State_removes_woman_from_Talbot_school_board.html
A Talbot County school board member says politics are to blame for her removal from the board by state education officials.
Maryann Judy, appointed to the board in 2003, was removed from the board after she allegedly tried to submit a negative review of the county's superintendent after a deadline.Judy clashed with superintendent Karen Salmon over remarks made by an assistant superintendent in 2005.That official, John Masone, made comments about "the inadvisability of having right-wing evangelical Christians on the board," according to a ruling made by State Superinte ndent Nancy Grasmick.
Grasmick wrote in her decision that Judy was "a dedicated worker" but that the evaluation attempt was "willful misconduct which disqualifies her from being a board member."

Naval Academy given high ranking
Report notes its selectiveness, places it in top 20 of liberal arts schools
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.rankings17aug17,0,731566.story
And you thought it was hard to get into Amherst? Try the U.S. Naval Academy. U.S. News and World Report released today its annual rankings of universities and colleges in America, and it says that the Annapolis institution is tougher to get into than the top colleges. The Naval Academy was ranked 20th among liberal arts colleges in the country, and the U.S. Military Academy in New York came in 22nd. Williams, Amherst an d Swarthmore were the top three. However, according to the report, the Naval Academy's acceptance rate, 14 percent, is lower than Amherst's, which is 19 percent.


EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Fairness for charter schools
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.charters17aug17,0,3323113.story
Maryland's highest court sent a shock wave through the public-education establishment last month by ruling that charter schools are entitled to receive as much funding per pupil as regular public schools.
What a concept - the judges said bureaucrats cannot routinely shortchange public schools of choice just because they offer out-of-the-ordinary curricula and families flock to them. In many urban districts with woefully underperforming public schools, charter schools ar e the most viable alternative for families. A recent survey by scholars from Harvard University and Stanford's Hoover Institution indicated a majority of Americans understand this. Three-fourths of the respondents said charter schools should receive at least as much public funding per child as conventional public schools.
It's simple: The money should follow the child.

Beware aggressive marketing of student loans
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.financialaid17aug17,0,6298648.story
Recently, lawmakers and the media have focused on potentially improper relationships between student financial aid administrators and certain lenders, even going so far as to propose eliminating the position in college student aid offices. These proposed measures could have harmful, unintended consequences for students and paren ts attempting to finance higher learning. Without an objective third party, consumers would be more prone to manipulation by direct-to-consumer marketing by unscrupulous lenders.
To avoid confusion, headaches and compromising their financial futures, student borrowers and their families need unbiased assistance when choosing their loan products.

Study: Marylanders vote 'with their feet' on slots
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172608&format=html
Marylanders who want to play slot machines haven't been waiting for the General Assembly to legalize them, according to a new state report. Those residents are going to Delaware and West Virginia, where their play last year accounted for $150 million in tax revenue for those two states - or about 10 percent of Maryland's projected budget d eficit.
It's time for state officials, particularly House Speaker Michael Busch, to get off the dime and legalize slots. As the Pennsylvania experience shows, even if passed tomorrow, slots money would come into state coffers for at least a year.In 2003, Busch told The Washington Post that his caution on the issue was prompted in part by his own father's addictive gambling. At the time, he said there should be a year-long study of the issue. Four years later, action on this issue is long overdue.

Are slots back on the table?
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070817/OPINION01/708170348
Only selected racetracks should be offered opportunityOnce again Maryland's top leaders are talking slots. Faced with a projected deficit of $1.5 billion by 2009, discussion on both sides of the aisle include some incarnation of legalized slots to bolster the state's cash flow. Slots were first mentioned by gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich; in fact, slots were his grand scheme to close the budget deficit. He was elected on that platform, but never managed to get approval for slots in the legislature. Partisan politics are believed by many to have played a major role in that failure. Today we have a Democrat back in the governor's mansion. Gov. Martin O'Malley supports a limited number of slots at some of the state tracks, much like the original proposal called for. While Maryland should not strive to become another Las Vegas or Atlantic City, if slots are ever going to be legalized --on a strictly limited and closely regulated basis, of course -- waiting will not help. Now is the time.

Shake up needed in spending
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2007/08/17/news/opinion/editorial/editorial922.txt
Republican lawmakers who have unveiled a state budget proposal calling for less government spending might want to consider putting a halt to unfunded mandates and reviewing expansive, and expensive programs that no longer serve their intended purpose, two things they were unable to do under Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Republicans are right that we don't need additional taxes. They are also right in their desire to cut government spending. Democrats should model themselves on that philosophy. Some of the spending decisions will be difficult, but before anyone starts talking about cutting the highly visible programs such as education or Medicare - which the Republicans did this week - they should take a deeper look into the budget and weed out high cost programs that are no longer needed or are not producing the desired results.

Report signals that O'Malley will push for slots
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_16-21/OPN
The new report on racetrack slot machines, issued by state Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Thomas Perez, doesn't present any new arguments. It won't change any minds - and probably wasn't intended to.
What's significant is that this report is coming from the O'Malley administration at this time.By having Mr. Perez give the administration's blessing to the customary pro-slots arguments, Mr. O'Malley has signaled that slots will be part of his next budget package as he tries to close an estimated $1.5 billion revenue shortfall. The package is also likely to include higher taxes and cuts in state spending.Given that Senate President Mike Miller is an enthusiastic slots advocate, a nd that some Republicans now talk about an "auction" to ensure that the state gets as much as it can from slots, prospects for a return of the one-armed bandits are excellent.


NATIONAL NEWS

More federal money snared for Port of Baltimore security
http://washington.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2007/08/13/daily37.html
The Port of Baltimore will receive an extra $1.8 million from the federal government for security improvements, Maryland's two U.S. senators said Thursday.
The money comes from an emergency supplemental spending bill Congress passed earlier this year, Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said in an interview. Mikulski and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) fought for it after the port's security budge t was cut by 60 percent this year, Schwartz said.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski: Senate bills aim to make college more affordable
http://www.examiner.com/a-885785~Sen__Barbara_Mikulski__Senate_bills_aim_to_make_college_more_affordable.html
College is part of the American Dream, it shouldn't be part of the American financial nightmare. But college tuition has been skyrocketing in Maryland and around the nation. Our students are graduating with so much debt it's like their first mortgage. American families are stressed and stretched, and students are looking for help.
That's why I'm so proud the Senate passed two important pieces of legislation this July that I have been fighting for to make it easier for all students to have access to higher education - the Higher Education Reconciliation Act and the Higher Education Amendments of 2007.