20070821 News Clips

News Clips

August 21, 2007

STATE NEWS

Army prepares to march on Aberdeen
http://www.examiner.com/a-891558~Army_prepares_to_march_on_Aberdeen.html
The first wave of what will be tens of thousands of military workers and their families relocating to Maryland will begin moving here from Fort Monmouth, N.J., in the next two to three months, Army officials said. "Establishing an early presence at Aberdeen is part of our overarching strategy and is consistent with the BRAC decision to close Fort Monmouth," the Army said in a statement. "The early presence of a stable work force at Aberdeen Proving Ground ensures continuity of new science and technology programs."

Station's Cable Debut Delayed in 2 Counties
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001700.html
With great fanfare, Maryland Public Television yesterday launched the state's first public all-Spanish-language channel, featuring an array of educational and entertainment programming. But it could be a while before most Comcast subscribers in Montgomery and Prince George's counties are able to tune in. As the digital station made its debut in the Baltimore region, officials from Comcast, the Washington area's dominant cable provider, hadn't committed to a starting date in the two Maryland jurisdictions with by far the largest Hispanic populations.

Correction to This Article
A headline on an Aug. 16 Metro article inaccurately characterized the Maryland House Republicans' state budget plan. The plan would curtail planned spending on education and other programs, but i t would not cut funds.
GOP Budget Plan Would Cut Education Funds, Allow Slots
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502182.html
House Republicans put forward a plan yesterday 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 budget shortfall of nearly $1.5 billion in the state's $15 billion general fund budget next year.

Killings in city hit 200
Pace is key issue as mayoral primary nears
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/crime/bal-md.ci.murder21aug21,0,4655600.story
Two hundred people have been killed in Baltimore this year - a mark reached more than a month earlier than in 2006, police reported yesterday. At this pace, Baltimore could record 313 homicides by Dec. 31, exceeding 300 annual killings for the first time since the 1990s. The spike in homicides has become the most significant issue in this year's Sept. 11 Democratic primary election. Several candidates have offered proposals to deal with the problem, including hiring more police officers, offering salary increases and putting more officers on foot patrols.

Mayor's confidence in fire dept. 'very questionable' after report
Fire commanders violated safety standards at similar live burn, report notes
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-dixon0821,0,4261303.story
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said this morning that her "confidence level is very questionable" in regards to the fire chief and his command staff and in the decisions that were made by instructors during a live burn training exercise that killed a cadet in February.
It was the first time Dixon commented on the 121-page report that she commissioned about the deadly blaze on South Calverton Road. The details of that report were reported in The Sun today and showed that the fire department failed to prepare recruit Racheal M. Wilson for the conditions that she would face in a live fire, and failed to outfit her with proper gear.

EDITORIALS/OPEDS

Transparency always best policy< /FONT>
http://www.examiner.com/a-891537~Editorial__Transparency_always_best_policy.html
Government transparency must be a top priority for every level of government and for every elected and appointed official.
One of the main reasons it is so important is that we cannot assess the job of those who govern on our behalf if we do not have access to what they do. That's why every legislator in the state should sign the Harbor League's "Oath of Public Official Transparency." The Baltimore City-based Harbor League promotes limited government and free markets, but its oath is something everyone should support.

He talks; officials gulp
'Reds' Wolman preaches respect for water supply
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bay_environment/bal-te.md.wolman20aug20,0,2936828.story?page=1
has been a hot, dry month of Code Reds and cooling centers - just the weather that M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman loves.
The longtime Johns Hopkins University professor is not some sort of glutton for punishment. He just wants Marylanders to think about water - how much we have now and how much we will need later - and he knows the best time to ponder those questions is when the cornfields turn brown and the wells look as if they might run dry. On the surface, it's hard to fathom Maryland running out of water. But much of the state gets its water from underground aquifers, and they're beginning to show strain. Over the past five years, a half-dozen communities in Central and Western Maryland have halted growth plans because of uncertainties about their water supply.
The message is politically unpopular, but it is beginnin g to take hold. Last year, the General Assembly passed a law requiring local governments to file a water resources plan with the state as part of their land-use planning, legislation that Wolman sees as a small first step.

Turning back the tide
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.immigration20aug20,0,6295278.story
Congress' failure to overhaul immigration policy this year has given new impetus to state and local efforts to discourage or drive out undocumented workers. State legislatures have rushed into the vacuum, enacting 170 immigration-related measures this year dealing with employment, health care, schools and driver's licenses - many aimed at making life tougher for those in the country illegally, some offering protections and sanctuary. Anne Arundel County Executiv e John R. Leopold, who had earlier cut county funds to a nonprofit group that provides services to immigrants, some of them illegal, last week ordered county contractors to sign affidavits swearing that they do not hire undocumented workers, though the practice is already prohibited under federal law - and, thus, by county contracts. Mr. Leopold plans no new enforcement measures.
The criteria for granting residential entry into the United States may well need to be tightened, as it would have been in the Bush proposal. At the same time, temporary-worker visas ought to be expanded to make it easier for seasonal migrants to come and go. But making life so miserable for migrants that they will voluntarily "deport" themselves is a cruel goal unworthy of this nation's better nature. Mr. Bush and his allies in Congress should summon their energies to give humanity another try.

Early vote
http://www.times-news.com/editorials/local_story_231012153.html
We're sure hoping it doesn't snow next Feb. 12.
What's the big deal, you ask? Well, that's the date for Maryland's primary election. And, as tough as it is to get voters to turn out even in fair weather, a snowstorm would be disastrous for Election Day.It's too late to change the February primary election this time around. But when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, a bill should be introduced moving the primary back to a more reasonable time - like May.

Don't look now, but GOP might be embracing moderation
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.shelly21aug21,0,7412729.story
Goodbye, Karl Rove. Hello, Rudy Giuliani.
Freeze this moment. The national Republ ican Party is suddenly looking good to me.These are developments that give faint hope to a Midwesterner who has watched what happens when the grip of the Republican "base" becomes a vise. It squeezes moderate politicians out of the party and turns state legislative sessions into bizarre exercises in which every bill must be scrubbed of the possibility that it might somehow permit abortion or embryonic stem-cell research. If the national party embraces a standard-bearer who occupies the center (albeit the rightward part of it), might the states follow suit?
Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center show an increasing number of voters, especially younger ones, who think government should provide more services. And the number of people who identify as intensely religious has dropped sharply in the last four years.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thanks to Bartlett for rejecting new energy taxes
http://www.times-news.com/opinion/local_story_232102945.html
want to thank our congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, for his vote against new energy taxes that were contained in legislation passed by the House of Representatives on Aug. 4. Congressman Bartlett understands that these taxes on America's energy producers are simply a "pass through" to consumers who fill their tank with gasoline and heat their homes in the winter. We do a lot of driving in Western Maryland and the increase in gasoline prices has already pinched family budgets.


NATIONAL NEWS

Chicken farmers to protest DHS rules
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8R5DUVG0.htm
Are chicken houses the next battleg round in the war on terror?
Poultry growers are squawking mad over proposed regulations from the Department of Homeland Security that anybody with 7,500 pounds or more of propane gas register with the agency. The threshold is low enough that poultry farmers who use propane to heat chicken houses in the winter may be affected.Maryland's two senators, Democrats Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, along with Democratic Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff requesting the rule not be adopted. The three senators said the propane registry for poultry producers may be a waste of money.
"Given the serious threats that are currently facing our country and the limited resources of the Department of Homeland Security, please explain why this initiative is a good use of federal dollars," the senators wrote earlier this month.
We think it's unnecessary," said Julie DeY oung, a spokeswoman for Salisbury-based Perdue Farms Inc., the nation's third-largest poultry producer. Like other large meat companies, Perdue contracts with chicken farmers and won't be directly affected, but Perdue opposes the propane rule on behalf of the chicken farmers, DeYoung said. on the"It really would be a burden on them to comply with, and it's something that's not that big a threat to homeland security," DeYoung said.

Daniel Baugh Brewster; Served in U.S. House, Senate From Maryland
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001813.html
Daniel Baugh Brewster, 83, a decorated Marine Corps veteran and former Democratic U.S. senator from Maryland whose career was shadowed by alcoholism and a charge of accepting an illegal gratu ity, died Aug. 19 of liver cancer at his home in Owings Mills, Md. U.S. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) worked in Mr. Brewster's Senate office from 1962 to 1966, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Hoyer called Mr. Brewster "a true gentleman" and a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and its principles.He lost his bid for reelection in 1968 to Charles McC. Mathias, an old friend who portrayed Mr. Brewster as a mouthpiece for the Johnson administration on Vietnam and accused him of vacillating on issues, including the war, to reflect public opinion.

Dem Freshmen Get Fundraising Burst
Newly elected House Dems pulled in nearly double what GOP freshman raised in '07
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3504284&page=1
Democrats who captured control of the House last year af ter a 12-year hiatus are dominating the first clash of the 2008 elections: the money race. "Our goal is to put our members in the strongest position as possible, as quickly as possible," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We are right on target."
"Democrats are energized and organized, and that's leading to big fundraising," said Nathan Gonzales of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report.
Ken Spain of the National Republican Congressional Committee downplayed the Democrats' dollars. "If their goal is to scare off Republican challengers, then they have failed miserably," he said.