Richard Irwin
Wider unemployment benefits approved
The General Assembly approved legislation Monday night that expands eligibility for unemployment benefits to part-time workers who have typically worked 20 or more hours a week. The vote in the House of Delegates was 92-41, over the objections of minority leader Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, who called the Gov. Martin O'Malley-backed initiative a "bad policy decision" that the state cannot afford. The Senate has approved the bill.
Gadi Dechter
Bleak outlook forcing school to shut down
The 125-year-old Catholic Community School in South Baltimore will close in June because of low enrollment and a bleak financial picture, the principal announced in a letter sent to parents Friday. The school enrolls 165 students and had projected fewer than 150 next fall, compared with 250 less than a decade ago. The principal, Sister Vicki Staub, wrote that the decision to close was made "after prayerful considerations and painstaking discussions." School officials will try to help place students at other Catholic schools, Staub wrote in the letter, which was provided by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The school has operated with a budget deficit for more than three years, Staub said. Last year, the school was forced to absorb $130,000 in unpaid tuition, and $250,000 in tuition is owed now. The school has remained afloat with financial support from the archdiocese and an anonymous benefactor.
Sara Neufeld
Havre de Grace man gets life term in killing
A 34-year-old Havre de Grace man was sentenced Monday in Harford County Circuit Court to life in prison for the killing last year of a man during a robbery attempt on Interstate 95. Damon M. Jackson was convicted in February of first-degree murder in the death of Alan Zurita, 29, of Havre de Grace, according to the Harford County state's attorney's office. Authorities said Jackson and another man tried to rob Zurita after offering him a ride to Baltimore. A struggle over a handgun ensued and the gun went off, hitting Zurita in the chest, police said. Jackson was wounded in the incident April 1, 2008, police said. State police found Zurita on the shoulder of southbound I-95 before the Route 24 exit, the state's attorney's office said, and he later died from his injuries at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. Another man, Demetrius D. Lovelace, 33, of Temple Hills, was also charged with first-degree murder in Zurita's death and is awaiting trial.
