Access

Roberto Pagan-Franco didn't have a bank account for decades. His employer paid him in cash or with a check that the Baltimore resident took to a check-cashing store. A few years ago he lost his job after a severe illness and for a time was homeless. Not exactly the type of customer you'd expect a big bank to court. But Pagan-Franco enrolled in a PNC Bank program that targets consumers who otherwise might be shut out of the banking system. And today, the 54-year-old has checking and savings accounts at PNC and is in the process of getting a credit card.

Baltimore's historic park system ranks 15th among the nation's 40 largest cities in a new rating released Wednesday, which credits the city's foresight in carving out public spaces over the past two centuries but faults its more recent leadership for not maintaining that investment. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land gave Baltimore's 4,900 acres of parks three out of a possible five "park benches," or stars, in its ParkScore rating system. The city got high marks for the accessibility of its parks, with 85 percent of residents able to reach one within a 10-minute walk.

There's nothing unusual about House Speaker Michael E. Busch's efforts to solicit corporate sponsorships for the National Speakers Conference he's hosting in Annapolis this weekend, which will treat some of the most influential members of 30 state legislatures to a crab feast, Chesapeake cruise, golf and a fireworks display at Fort McHenry. And that's the problem. The Washington Post's John Wagner reported Wednesday that corporate sponsors, companies with business before Maryland's legislature and those of other states, are footing the tab to the tune of more than $500,000.

Sexual assault in the military threatens our national security. This has been a hard lesson for military leaders to learn, but thanks to significant pressure from Congress and victims' advocates, they're starting to get the picture. Last month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that sexual assault cases will now be handled by higher-ranking, more experienced officers and supervised by new Special Victims Units. These changes indicate that the Pentagon is finally interested in treating sexual assault as a serious crime rather than as lapse in professionalism or leadership.

Editor: It is with dismay that I read your June 15 editorial "Cutting Through," concerning the proposed emergency- only connection between Tollgate Village and Bel Air Acres Your statement "Such a link, no doubt, would turn into a shortcut, possibly an irritating one," completely misses the truth and focal point of the issue, namely that the Harford County government, the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, other emergency groups and the overwhelming...

Letter writer Anita L. Feith writes that it's hard to believe that in 2012 access to contraception is in the spotlight of a national debate ("Standing up for contraception," Feb. 23). One reason Ms. Feith probably finds this hard to believe is because it isn't true. There is no national debate about whether to restrict access to contraception. The debate is about whether contraception should be paid for in the form of handouts from insurance companies or the government, both of which would pass along the cost to all consumers.

I would like an opportunity to respond to a letter published in the July 13 edition of the Catonsville Times ("Neighbors dismayed to find access had been denied"), which blasted Mount de Sales Academy for purposely isolating itself from the neighborhood. As an Academy Heights resident with a strong relationship with Mount de Sales Academy, I take strong exception to the opinion regarding the entry gates being closed on July 4. The writer stated that "the school put a decisive end to the neighborhood tradition" of watching the fireworks from the grounds by locking newly erected security gates.

When we think of the technological advances of the past 20 years, one in particular will probably come to mind for most Americans: wireless technology, which now enables us to access the Internet from anywhere. But when most Americans think of the top uses for the wireless Internet, health care is probably not the first thing on that list. Perhaps, in the near future, it will be. The current revolution in medicine will use the full potential of technology to transform medical practice to save lives and improve health.

The National Commission on AIDS has suggested that addicts be given access to needles, a move the federal advisory group hopes would stop the spread of AIDS. In Baltimore, one of four addicts are infected with the HIV virus, which is transmitted by sharing dirty needles or through sexual contact.The Evening Sun would like your opinion on the recommendation. Should addicts be given access to sterile needles? Do you think it would prevent the spread of the disease? Do you think it would promote drug abuse?

A standing-room crowd of more than 300 Rivers Edge residents told state highway officials Monday night not to limit access to U.S. 29 via Rivers Edge Road, the only way in or out of their Howard County community. The meeting at Atholton High School focused on the most recent State Highway Administration plans to widen northbound U.S. 29 from the Patuxent River to Route 175 in Columbia. The four-mile section, two lanes each way, is the site of bumper-to-bumper traffic every afternoon at rush hour.

The National Aquarium's eight dolphins are no longer a show unto themselves. After two decades of dramatic leaps and crowd-pleasing stunts, aquarium officials are eliminating the 20-minute dolphin shows in favor of a more open-ended exhibit. Beginning Friday, aquarium visitors will be able to visit the dolphin amphitheater throughout the day and interact with trainers. Instead of charging a separate admission price for the dolphin show, the aquarium is raising general admission ticket prices.

The developer of a casino scheduled to open next month at Arundel Mills will temporarily restrict southbound access to the mall beginning next week during road construction to prepare for an expected traffic increase. Work on the $5 million in traffic and road upgrades began Tuesday, officials from the Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. announced. The centerpiece of the plan is a new interchange at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Arundel Mills Boulevard in Hanover. The $500 million Maryland!

In a small, rural, rust-belt town there sits a nondescript office building not far from the town square. The building is an unassuming amalgam of storefronts, offices and vacancies. Near one of the offices, there hangs a shingle: "Psychiatrist's Office. " Patients arrive faithfully, dutifully awaiting the chance to receive comprehensive, compassionate care and the most appropriate medicine for their maladies. My mother runs this clinic, striving to provide the best and most cost-effective medicine possible.

A non-partisan, national group that plans to run a third-party presidential candidate nominated by an online convention will submit more than 18,000 signatures to the Maryland State Board of Elections on Wednesday with the hope of gaining a spot on the state's ballot in November. Americans Elect, a well-funded nonprofit that is working to gain ballot access in all 50 states, aims to change the way presidents are elected, bypassing the primaries and conventions used by Democrats and Republicans and instead allowing voters to pick a candidate via the Internet.

Don Backe and Karl Guerra share more than a love for sailing: After their lives were transformed by tragedy, both men used the sport and the organization they now run to regain their sense of purpose. Backe helped found Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating in 1991, four years after a horrific one-vehicle automobile accident in Crownsville left the former independent private school headmaster a paraplegic at age 51. Guerra is now executive director for the Annapolis-based nonprofit organization that helps those with physical, mental and emotional handicaps - along with others who can't afford financially to sail - gain entrance to a sport Guerra thought he had lost when he suffered a massive stroke in 2000 at age 52. But it could take the dream of a much younger man without any disabilities with the same love of being on the open waters to help keep CRAB afloat.

The following is compiled from police reports from the Cockeysville Precinct. Our policy is to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. Parkton Old York Road , 21100 block, between 6 p.m. March 17 and 6:05 a.m. March 19. Two chainsaws and two chipping hammers stolen from Vachino Masonry storage units after padlocks were cut after forklift blocking one unit was hot-wired and moved. Bond Road , 1600 block, between March 12 and March 18. Golf clubs and split firewood stolen from property.

Within a few years, buyers could shop for a house from their home computers.The National Association of Realtors plans to update and link Multiple Listing Service systems throughout the United States. One result could be access to the system by the public.But national and local industry executives stress that access could be years away and that only a small amount of the information now on the MLS system would be available. They say buyers would still need the help and expertise of a real estate agent.

A lot of downtown businesses are literally one step away from being accessible to a person in a wheelchair -- which is as frustrating as it is encouraging to two local advocates."

Maryland has taken great pride in the state's leadership in health care. Thus, it seems out of character that Maryland still has not joined the vast majority of states in allowing consumers to receive a wide range of Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended vaccines from their local qualified pharmacist. Maryland law limits the authority for pharmacists to administer only three vaccines. Maryland lags behind all our neighboring states, except West Virginia, in that respect.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland renewed calls Thursday for the Anne Arundel County Council to investigate embattled County Executive John R. Leopold after revelations that a police database containing criminal records may have been illegally accessed at his behest to research political opponents. Deborah A. Jeon, the ACLU's political director, wrote in a letter to council members that they are "positioned to broadly examine legal and ethical violations that may have occurred.