Accepted

Tens of thousands of people in Baltimore who use food stamps to buy groceries can now do their shopping at the Baltimore Farmers' Market and Bazaar under the Jones Falls Expressway, thanks to a new token system launched Sunday. Customers who don't have cash at the fresh-produce market off East Saratoga Street can now swipe their debit cards to make purchases as well. At a public opening of the market's new welcome center, where debit and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

The Western Maryland Republican leading the effort to repeal the state's new Congressional map says he believes the signatures they collected will withstand Board of Elections. "This was a very thorough validation process," said Del. Neil Parrott, R-Washington, speaking at an Annapolis news conference. To make his point, the delegate held up a passel of signed petitions that he opted not to submit due to errors. Parrott and other Republicans have so far turned in 65,722 signatures in two batches - about 10,000 more than needed to put the question to voters on the November ballot.

The Orioles decided to kick the tires on 49-year-old lefthander Jamie Moyer, giving him a three-start trial run at Triple-A Norfolk to see if he could help the club. Moyer, who made that third start on Wednesday, can now opt out. Coming off an off-day Thursday and having another one Monday, the Orioles don't need a fifth starter until conceivably a week from tomorrow. So the Orioles offered Moyer one more start at Norfolk and are now waiting to hear whether the veteran left-hander will accept the offer or part ways with the organization.

For the first time, the Anne Arundel County Police Department is opening lieutenant jobs to applicants outside the agency, drawing fire from the parent organization for the lieutenants' union. The department pointed to a dearth of applicants internally for recent lieutenant openings — the sole eligible candidate for the latest one was promoted — as a reason to seek external candidates. There are two lieutenant vacancies, with more expected this fall. Law enforcement agencies elsewhere open positions to outside candidates, and applications for management-level openings for other government jobs, including civilian posts in the county's Police Department, are open to external candidates.

Your article on freebies from local merchants to police officers and firefighters reminded me of my late uncle, a career New York City policeman who worked his way up the ranks to retire as an inspector ( "Does free coffee come with a cost?" June 19). When he was a rookie patrolling the then mean streets of Brooklyn, my uncle gave me one of my earliest lessons in professional ethics. He said: "Everyone offers you something - an apple, a coffee, a doughnut, a sandwich - but I never take anything.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the stabbing of an 18-year-old man early Thursday in Glen Burnie. The man, who was found near the intersection of Warfield Drive and Flamingo Road, told police he was walking in the 5600 block of Ritchie Highway shortly after 1 a.m., when he accepted a ride from two acquaintances. A man was a passenger in the car and a woman was driving, police said. During the drive, the victim became involved in an altercation with the male passenger and was stabbed several times in the upper body, police said.

It was exciting to hear that Ryan Ripken received a full scholarship to attend the University of South Carolina ("O's draft one more Ripken - Cal's son," June 7). How proud parents Cal Ripken Jr. and Kelly Ripken must be. But, wouldn't it have been much nicer if we also heard was Cal has decided to forgo the scholarship money so another child could attend the college? They certainly can afford to pay for their child and should donate the money back to the school. Janet Silverman, Pikesville

Regina Friend will don her son's ceremonial cap Thursday morning and take footsteps that were supposed to be his. The mere idea of those steps gives her chills, but she will take them. Her only child worked 41/2 years to earn a diploma from Temple University, and she will collect it, proud as any other parent in the room. "He's not here to accept it," the Cockeysville resident said. "So as his mother, and I'm still his mother, I need to get it for him. " Last August, Roswell Friend — Dulaney High graduate, college athlete, selfless friend, soon-to-be Temple alum — went for a run over a Philadelphia bridge and never came back.

Baltimore County's dental clinics can now accept Medicaid, and patients will find better equipment when they visit. The county - which has clinics at the Eastern Family Resource Center in Rosedale and the Liberty Family Resource Center in Randallstown - can take Medicaid for children and pregnant women. Officials including County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Del. John Olszewski Jr. visited the Rosedale clinic this week to see the dental program's new digital X-ray equipment. The machines expose patients to a third of the radiation that a traditional X-ray machine does, health officials said.