Baltimoreans might dump their problems in the alley City worker could use spring training

TJI reader Betty Schultz wrote to Maryland's senior Democratic senator, Paul Sarbanes, about the tripling of her BGE bill. "Sarbanes' office sent back a nice letter," Schultz says, "thanking me for expressing my concern about deforestation and logging [and] several pages documenting his voting record on the subject."

Speaking of senators ...

New chapter for business

Barbara Mikulski was among 83 senators who extended big business' hitting streak in Washington last week by voting for the industry-friendly overhaul of the bankruptcy laws, which will make it harder for people in a financial mess to erase credit card debt. Sarbanes voted in the minority.

Freudian soup

Left on the blackboard of a Hopkins classroom, by someone in a psychology class: "ID EGO SUPPER EGO."

TJI reader Shari Mayer, who discovered this last week, thinks it was an undergrad spelling error. But that was no mistake; that was the class schedule for the evening.

[e-mail] is the e-mail address for Dan Rodricks. He can also be reached at 410-332-6166. TJI appears Mondays and Fridays.