In Maryland
Judiciary committee discusses plan to limit court records access
ANNAPOLIS - A committee of the Maryland judiciary met behind closed doors yesterday to consider its draft proposal to limit access to computerized criminal court records. The committee chairwoman declined afterward to provide specifics of the deliberations.
The meeting of the six-member Committee on Public Access to Court Information came five days after a public hearing at which the proposal was roundly criticized by private investigators, media representatives and business leaders, who said it would hamper background checks of public officials and prospective employees.
Sally W. Rankin, chairwoman of the committee and the information officer for the Maryland judiciary, said she could not discuss what went on at the meeting until she had an opportunity to brief Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, who oversees the state's judicial system.
Comcast Cable donating 100 computers to groups
Comcast Cable is donating more than 100 refurbished computers to charities and religious groups around Maryland.
The computers, to be formally donated at an event this morning at the Maryland Food Bank, have been upgraded to be useful to the charities as part of a program to recycle computers that are being replaced, said Sandy Steeves, a Comcast spokesman.
Organizations that will receive the computers include the food bank, Siloam Freewill Baptist Church in Harlem Park and Knox Presbyterian Church in East Baltimore.
