Advisory Board

Atholton High senior Geoffrey Burgan hopes to find a job tomorrow. "I'm sick of scraping change together to pay for gas," he said. Instead of turning over more seat cushions, he plans to attend HC DrugFree's Teen Job and Volunteer Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wilde Lake High School. "It's like one-stop shopping. You can walk around to 65 different places and maybe something will interest you," said Laura Smit, HC DrugFree executive director. "The job fair is a good opportunity to make lots of contacts," Burgan said.

County staff and local law enforcement representatives presented to the Carroll commissioners a proposed code amendment to impose local regulations on pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers. The amendment would: define terms; set forth defined hours of operation and other operating requirements; prohibit transactions with minors; specify certain record keeping requirements; specify holding periods; order the release of stolen property to law enforcement; grant law enforcement the right to enter and inspect; and provide for notices of violations and penalties.

Carroll County Farm Museum officials agreed yesterday to explore a proposal that would change the fees that festival vendors must pay to sell their wares at the popular tourist attraction, saving many businesses money.Under the proposal, vendors would pay a flat fee to reserve a sales booth at farm museum events. Nonprofit organizations are required to give the Westminster museum 10 percent of the money they raise. All other vendors must give 15 percent."I've talked with several vendors, and I think they would favor a flat fee," said Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge, who suggested the change during yesterday's Farm Museum Advisory Board meeting.

Mission: To preserve the star-shaped fort, associated buildings, archaeology and landscapes as a perpetual national monument and as a shrine of the birthplace of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the nation's anthem, and to interpret the fort's military history in the defense of Baltimore during the War of 1812 for generations to come. The survival of the fort's giant 15-star flag in the "dawn's early light" of Sept. 14, 1814, after an unsuccessful British attack, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem.

The city is preparing to reap a $350,000 profit from the sale of a downtown office building it bought in a controversial deal during the summer, but the gain will be chewed up by a lease that will cost nearly six times that much over the next decade.The city's real estate department intends to seek permission from the City Council to sell 117 Water St., a building once slated to be razed for a garage, for $2.35 million on Monday."The mayor asked me to sell it, and I'm selling it," said Anthony J. Ambridge, the city's real estate officer.

Carroll County's commissioners on Friday reassured members of the Environmental Affairs Advisory Board, most of whom had submitted resignations, that their services are still needed.Six of the seven members of the board tried to resign this month after the commissioners eliminated the Bureau of Environmental Services -- the agency the board was designed to assist. Their letters of resignation were not opened or accepted.Kevin E. Dayhoff, the board's chairman, told the commissioners he wanted to work with them and leave the resignation debacle in the past.

A public hearing on a proposed 2,000-hog farm in Westminster is on hold while the advisory board that reviews such issues for Carroll County ponders its own fate.Members of the Environmental Affairs Advisory Board offered to resign in the wake of a decision by the county commissioners to eliminate the agency the panel was created to assist. As a result, several critical issues, including the proposed hog farm on Indian Valley Trail, will not be addressed until after the commissioners meet with the panel.

Because some members were often absent, the Maritime Advisory Board asked the Annapolis city council last year to increase the panel's membership as a way to boost attendance.That didn't sit well with Alderman Louise Hammond.The Ward 1 Democrat felt board members should regularly attend meetings.Last night, the council passed legislation, introduced in September by Hammond and two other aldermen, that more stringently regulates attendance of members of Annapolis' 24 boards and commissions.

A legislative committee gave new life yesterday to a bill that would create a civilian police review board in Baltimore, voting unanimously to send the measure to the Senate floor.Until yesterday's vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, the bill was idle in both houses of the General Assembly at a time when movement is crucial to secure passage.The bill, which would create a citizen panel to review allegations of police misconduct in Baltimore, has support from the city's mayor, council, police commissioner, police union and its state legislators.

Because some members were often absent, the Maritime Advisory Board asked the Annapolis city council last year to increase the panel's membership as a way to boost attendance.That didn't sit well with Alderman Louise Hammond.The Ward 1 Democrat felt board members should regularly attend meetings.Last night, the council passed legislation, introduced in September by Hammond and two other aldermen, that more stringently regulates attendance of members of Annapolis' 24 boards and commissions.

Public testimony on ZRA 113, the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, will continue before the Howard County Planning Board at 7 p.m. March 5 in Tyson Room II in the county's offices at 8930 Stanford Blvd., Columbia. The public is invited to present their concerns and suggestions to the advisory board on the future of downtown Columbia. Those wishing to testify at the hearing can sign up beginning at 5 p.m. Information: 410-313-4303.

A showdown could be brewing between the Anne Arundel County Council and County Executive John R. Leopold over which branch of government can exercise more control over expenditures and a key board that reviews county building projects and growth plans. Five charter amendments proposed by a pair of Democratic council members last week could chip away at the power of the county executive if they pass through the council and are approved by voters in November. The most drastic change would give the council the power to appoint four of the seven members on the county's Planning Advisory Board - a committee that is currently hand-picked by the executive and helps determine which building projects are funded - as well as review the county development plan.

Two months after WYPR fired him, Marc Steiner won a Peabody Award yesterday - just as the public radio station kicked off a fund drive that it had postponed in the wake of the intense outcry that followed the host's dismissal. The Peabody recognized Steiner's 2007 series titled Just Words, a documentary that featured the voices of addicts, ex-felons and the homeless. Steiner, who nominated his work for the prize, called it "an amazing honor." "The idea was that nobody heard the words and stories of the working poor of America and what they have to say about their own lives," Steiner said.

Sgt. David Betz, who has been with the Harford County Sheriff's Office for the last 20 years, has been named the department's new spokesman, authorities announced. Since 2000, Betz has been the coordinator at the Harford County Child Advocacy Center, which investigates allegations of child molestation or abuse. Betz was scheduled to begin his duties yesterday. Lt. Christina Presberry, the previous spokeswoman, was promoted from sergeant and assigned new duties at the Southern Precinct.

WASHINGTON -- Howard J. "Cookie" Krongard, the embattled State Department inspector general who is accused of hindering federal investigations of the Blackwater security firm in Iraq and who has engaged in a bitter public feud with his brother, Alvin B. "Buzzy" Krongard, resigned yesterday. Dubbed by some in Washington as the "bickering brothers from Baltimore," "Cookie" Krongard, 66, a former international lawyer, and "Buzzy" Krongard, a former investment banker and senior CIA official, traded accusations last month over whether the State Department inspector general knew that "Buzzy" was serving on an advisory board of Blackwater USA, currently under investigation by the State and Justice departments.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman said yesterday that he is moving forward with plans to call Baltimore's Krongard brothers before his committee next month - despite attempts by Howard "Cookie" Krongard during the weekend to cancel the hearing. "There is no legitimate legislative purpose to be gained by publicly pitting two brothers against each other," Cookie Krongard's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, wrote to Waxman, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Van Gelder wrote, "I would ask that this committee not hold any additional hearings into this matter."

They are graduates of City College and Princeton, members of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and high-powered professionals who have held top positions at the State Department and CIA. They are also brothers, and apparently they can't stand each other. That animosity between the brothers Krongard - "Buzzy" and "Cookie," by the nicknames that have followed them through life - became more than a family matter this week. It burst into public view at a Capitol Hill hearing and now intersects with issues of national security, the war in Iraq and possible perjury before Congress.

WASHINGTON -- Howard Krongard, the embattled State Department inspector general who is accused of blocking investigations into security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, abruptly recused himself from all Blackwater inquiries yesterday after a congressional panel confronted him with evidence that his brother is serving on a company advisory board. The spreading Blackwater scandal involves allegations that its armed security guards, under contract to the State Department to guard diplomats in Iraq, killed at least 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in September.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is set to announce this morning members of a new Life Sciences Advisory Board, which was created to further his professed mission of making "Maryland the bioscience capital of the world." Fifteen people from the industry, academia and government are to serve on the panel, including Chairman H. Thomas Watkins, chief executive of Rockville's Human Genome Sciences. The life sciences industry - which encompasses biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, food science and medical devices and technologies - has repeatedly been tagged by state politicians and officials as key to economic growth.

County staff and local law enforcement representatives presented to the Carroll commissioners a proposed code amendment to impose local regulations on pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers. The amendment would: define terms; set forth defined hours of operation and other operating requirements; prohibit transactions with minors; specify certain record keeping requirements; specify holding periods; order the release of stolen property to law enforcement; grant law enforcement the right to enter and inspect; and provide for notices of violations and penalties.