News Clips
June 13th, 2007
State News
Lawmakers look for budget fat in policy analysis
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20070612-104040-5989r.htm
The state government's budget crisis has lawmakers looking everywhere for cuts, including an unlikely scourge: reports from task forces, study groups and blue-ribbon commissions.
House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, Southern Maryland Republican, told his colleagues yesterday that the state should examine how much it spends on reports to the General Assembly.
"There are hundreds and hundreds of these things, and somebody has to do them," Mr. O'Donnell said.
Groups seek to halt work on ICC
Environmentalists say air pollution from highway could be harmful
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.icc13jun13,0,5077281.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Environmentalists called yesterday for the federal government to stop work on a disputed six-lane toll road across Montgomery and Prince George's counties, contending that there is new evidence that children and other residents living along the route could be harmed by pollutants from the traffic.
Two groups, Environmental Defense and the Sierra Club, said a study commissioned by one of them shows that construction of the 18-mile Inter-County Connector would violate tightened federal air-quality health standards on soot -- the fine particles emitted in vehicle exhaust and other forms of combustion.
Tom Moore: Enforce new gang laws - and hire more police to do it
http://www.examiner.com/a-777685~Tom_Moore__Enforce_new_gang_laws___and_hire_more_police_to_do_it.html
The Maryland General Assembly passed a new law designed to help the state better prosecute gang members who engage in violent crimes. But whether local law enforcement officials will be able to support the cause, or even have the manpower to do so, is unclear.
The Maryland Gang Prosecution Act of 2007 prohibits a person from participating in a criminal gang “knowing that the gang members engage in or have engaged in criminal activity,” according to state Sen. Roy Dyson, D-District 29.
Home loan relief sought
O'Malley lines up $111 million plan to aid refinancing in face of foreclosure
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-te.md.foreclosure13jun13,0,5284661.story?coll=bal-home-headlines
Seeking to reduce the risk of Marylanders losing their homes because of the state's quick foreclosure process, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to announce today $111 million in private-sector commitments for refinancing and to create a task force charged with studying reforms to protect homeowners.
O'Malley plans to announce the creation of the Maryland Homeownership Preservation Task Force, which will be charged with developing a comprehensive homeownership preservation plan and with finding ways to mitigate the negative outcomes of foreclosures, which state officials worry will rise with the proliferation of subprime lending.
Purses, races cut at ailing Md. tracks
Plunging revenues left them no other choice, officials say
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horseracing/bal-te.sp.racing13jun13,0,7543894.story?coll=bal-home-headlines
With revenues plummeting, the Maryland Jockey Club will cut $3 million from its budget this fall, reducing the purse $2,000 in every race for the rest of the year and trimming the number of races at Laurel Park through Dec. 31.
The Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said they had no choice.
"It's another nail in the coffin for Maryland racing," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said.
Plan aims to ease voting
Moyer proposes use of provisional ballots in Annapolis elections
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-ar.ballots13jun13,0,4800536.story?coll=bal-local-arundel
Aiming to avoid a repeat of the 2005 city election when some voters weren't listed on precinct rolls and had difficulty casting a vote, the Annapolis city council will take up a proposal to revise the election code and implement the use of provisional ballots.
The council also will consider loosening restrictions on absentee ballots.
Hey you, read this sign!
Moyer wants to limit city's sandwich boards
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/06_12-42/CAN
From City Dock up to Westgate Circle, the chalky handwritten signs call to visitors with everything from the daily special of a steak chalupa at Acme Bar & Grill to free parking at Cafe Matisse.
The free-standing signs line the sidewalks, assuring guests that yes, they are open, and even yell at them to get in the door.
But under city law, sandwich-board advertising is illegal. And Mayor Ellen O. Moyer wants the law enforced.
Study Says Baltimore Third-Worst In Graduation
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=59150
Almost two-thirds of high school students in city public schools do not earn diplomas, giving Baltimore the third-worst graduation rate in the nation, according to a study released by the publication Education Week.
The study, which analyzed 2004 data, found that only 34.6 percent of Baltimore high school students graduated four years after they began school. Detroit had the worst graduation rate at 24.9 percent, and Cleveland was next, at 34.1 percent.
City campaign season kicks into gear
Mitchell runs ad; Harris picks up endorsement
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.ci.campaign13jun13,0,975278.story
Standing in the shadow of the West Baltimore elementary school where she once taught kindergarten, Mayor Sheila Dixon formally announced yesterday her intention to seek a full four-year term as mayor in this year's election, pledging to bring the city's neighborhoods and police together to fight crime.
On the same day, City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. - one of Dixon's leading opponents in the Democratic primary - launched the first television commercial of the campaign, which focused on city schools and his vow to take control of a system that he said is failing city students.
Mitchell aims his first salvo at school system's problems
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.adwatch13jun13,0,2202047.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Just as the hangover from last fall's gubernatorial television commercial bonanza was starting to wear off, Baltimore City Councilman and mayoral candidate Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. aired the first television commercial of this year's mayoral race. The 30-second spot, which aired yesterday only, focuses entirely on schools.
What the ad says: Somber piano music plays in the background as the camera trains on a dark school hallway and an empty classroom. A female narrator says: "Friday is the last day of school. Too bad it isn't the last day of a broken school system. Too bad it isn't the last day of no accountability."
Dixon stresses youth in crime fight
Offering choices in recreation centers and in education is crucial, mayor says
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.violence13jun13,0,257904.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Amid Baltimore's surge in crime, Mayor Sheila Dixon yesterday continued her effort to reassure neighborhoods.
Speaking at a forum sponsored by the Greater Homewood Community Corp., she outlined her wide-ranging strategy to counter the increase in crime and emphasized efforts to better reach the city's youth.
Top prosecutor backs Harris for council
http://www.examiner.com/a-777706~Top_prosecutor_backs_Harris_for_council.html
Baltimore City States Attorney Patricia Jessamy, who has not made an endorsement in any citywide race since her election in 1995, threw her support behind City Councilman Kenneth Harris Tuesday for the councils top job.
“Ken Harris has been one of the members of the council who has been responsive to our efforts - and he has done so in a nonhostile and non-aggrandizing way,” Jessamy said in a written statement.
Harris also received an endorsement from state Sen. Joan Carter Conaway, D-District 43.
“Based on [what] has happened to the city government, we need Ken Harris as City Council president,” she said.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin also attended to support the endorsements.
“He has the vision we need, and more importantly, the integrity; he’s not afraid to stand on his own,” Cardin said.
Candidates look to add to police force
http://www.examiner.com/a-777719~Candidates_look_to_add_to_police_force.html
With the number of murders in Baltimore City threatening to hit 300 this year, the solution on the table by nearly every political candidate is to add more police to serve the population.
What no one appears to have asked is one question: Will it work?
Statistics suggest it’s not the answer, and criminologists say it might have the opposite impact.
Sex-ed proposal OK'd for schools
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20070612-104035-2415r.htm
The Montgomery County Board of Education yesterday approved Superintendent Jerry D. Weast's proposal to expand lessons on sexual orientation and condom use to all middle schools and high schools beginning this fall.
The curriculum, five years in the making, was approved in a 6-1 vote, despite a last-minute addition allowing teachers to tell students who ask that homosexuality is not a mental illness.
Board member Stephen Abrams cast the dissenting vote, saying that he was "extraordinarily upset and offended" that Mr. Weast did not notify the board about the one-sentence addition until Monday night.
Sex-Ed Lessons Revised For Vote
Teachers Could Answer Questions On Homosexuality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102218.html
Montgomery County sex education teachers would be allowed to tell students who ask that homosexuality is not a mental illness under a last-minute change to new lessons that go to the school board today for a politically charged vote.
Superintendent Jerry D. Weast informed school board members in a memo yesterday of a one-sentence addition to the lessons, which are proposed for all eighth- and 10th-grade health classes in the fall. The lessons were field-tested at six schools this spring.
Final sex-ed revisions OK’d
http://www.gazette.net/stories/061307/bethnew213928_32366.shtml
With a 6-1 vote, the county school board adopted final revisions to a controversial sex-education curriculum on Tuesday, even as the embattled lesson plans are being contested at the state level. And for the first time in county classrooms, teachers will be allowed to answer students questions about homosexuality.
Permitting teachers to answer the questions was a change Superintendent Jerry D. Weast forwarded to the board on Monday.
National News
Mikulski urges more action against sexual assaults in the military
Letter to defense chief prompted by report of attacks on 500 servicewomen since 2002
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.mikulski13jun13,0,4776211.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is pressing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for details on what, if anything, the Pentagon is doing to reduce the number of sexual assaults against female members of the military.
In a letter released by her office yesterday, the Maryland Democrat asked Gates how he planned to create "an environment of zero tolerance for sexual misconduct of any kind." The senator said she wanted to know what steps the Pentagon is taking to address "the unique stress and mental health needs" of women in uniform - "especially those who have suffered sexual assault."
Immigrants still give us their best by Michael Olesker
http://www.examiner.com/a-777721~Immigrants_still_give_us_their_best.html
The first time Sen. Barbara Mikulski ran for political office, she marched through the Broadway Market shaking everybody’s hands. In those days, you still heard six different languages hollered across the aisles. It made Mikulski, the granddaughter of Polish immigrants, feel right at home.
She was running for Baltimore City Council. One of the people at the market that day was John Prevas, who was just out of law school. He was helping out at his family’s luncheonette. The next time he saw her, at Miss Irene’s Pub around the corner, Mikulski was shooting pool.
The visitors wanted to talk about Americas ongoing angst over immigration. First they went to Mikulskis office, and then they walked a mile to Sen. Ben Cardins office while handing out cards supporting immigration reform.
Bush honors victims of communism
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20070612-104043-4985r.htm
President Bush yesterday told hundreds of people whose countries had emerged from the grip of communism that their sacrifices would not be forgotten as he dedicated the Victims of Communism Memorial to the millions oppressed and killed by totalitarian regimes.
"We'll never know the names of all who perished, but at this sacred place, communism's unknown victims will be consecrated to history and remembered forever," he said to more than 500 people just blocks from the Capitol. "We dedicate this memorial because we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge their lives and honor their memory."
Gilchrest cosponsors emergency room bill
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS01/706130367/1002
U.S. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, R-Md.-1st, has cosponsored legislation in Congress that will help keep emergency rooms open across the country and available when they are needed the most.
H.R. 882, the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act, addresses some of the problems facing emergency rooms today.
Security budget nears House approval
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070612-102254-1511r.htm
The House began debate yesterday on the first of 12 appropriations bills, under a threat from President Bush to veto any spending bill that exceeds his budget requests.
The 2008 Homeland Security Department spending bill, which was headed for approval late yesterday, would provide more than $36 billion for fiscal 2008 -- about $2.5 billion more than last year and $2 billion more than the president's request.
Democrats said the increase is necessary because Republicans have neglected spending on domestic issues for years.
"Over the last six years, President Bush and the rubber-stamp Republican Congress shortchanged America's priorities and neglected our country's most pressing needs," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.
Members squabble over Cuba travel ban
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4469.html
A proposal to lift the travel ban to Cuba has prompted a spat between two cardinals on the House Appropriations Committee, pitting sophomore Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) against veteran Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.).
"It's an emotional issue for both sides. Everyone just has to calm down," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who serves on the financial services subcommittee with the other two and tried to mediate the dispute.
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