Around The Region

Associated Press

Mayor names Stosur to head planning agency

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Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon named Thomas J. Stosur director of the Department of Planning, a $3.8 million agency, yesterday. He will start in an acting capacity Feb. 9 and is subject to confirmation by the City Council. The planning agency oversees all the physical development in the city, including Baltimore's $400 million capital improvement budget. Stosur said yesterday that he hopes to use the position to push the mayor's environmental agenda. Dixon initially hired Stosur, 46, in March 2007 as assistant deputy mayor for neighborhood and economic development, where he was responsible for the Department of Recreation and Parks, Department of Public Works and school facilities. He replaces acting planning department director Gary W. Cole, who will remain as a deputy with the department.

Annie Linskey

Two-alarm blaze injures firefighter, another man

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A two-alarm fire in the 1800 block of N. Wolfe St. last night caused minor injuries to a firefighter and sent another man to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with burns to his head, said Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the city Fire Department. The fire was reported about 7:30 p.m., and flames were seen coming out of a second-floor apartment when engines arrived, Cartwright said. The first floor is a corner store, although, the spokesman said, it was unclear whether the store is operating. The firefighter was cut on the head when charred debris fell on his neck and back. He was treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Neither the firefighter nor the other man was identified. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Liz Bowie

New EPA rules might cut Carroll mercury pollution

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Airborne mercury pollution from a Carroll County cement plant could be reduced under promised new regulations, an environmental group announced yesterday. The Environmental Protection Agency has pledged to propose new limits on emissions of mercury and other hazardous pollutants from 150 cement kilns nationwide, including the Lehigh plant at Union Bridge, according to Earthjustice, which had sued the agency. Under a settlement agreement signed this week, EPA said it would propose regulations by the end of March and make them final within the next year, after weighing public comments. The Lehigh plant reported releasing 376 pounds of mercury into the air in 2007, according to federal data, a 10-fold increase from the emissions it reported the year before. Exposure to mercury can damage the human nervous system, and young children are particularly vulnerable, even to low doses. Methylmercury, a form of the toxic metal, is found in a wide variety of freshwater and ocean-going fish. Because of contamination found in several species of Maryland fish, pregnant women and young children are warned to limit consumption of them.

Timothy B. Wheeler