Agencies

Gambrills residents may see unusual traffic Friday morning around Arundel Senior High School while county agencies practice setting up an emergency shelter. The county's Emergency Management Agency and Fire Department, a local chapter of the American Red Cross and others will take part, said Fire Department Division Chief Michael Cox. The exercise is designed to practice putting together a shelter in the event of an emergency evacuation because of severe storms or other crises.

The vision is this: At a six-acre wooded campus in Pasadena, Hospice of the Chesapeake has its headquarters, counseling program, a conference center and hospice facility. But the setting includes services, including tutoring and transportation, offered by others. The organization is about to start making that a reality. Ailing trees are being removed in preparation for a $2 million renovation of the offices of a defunct engineering company on a site tucked off Ritchie Highway.

A judge has ordered two companies to stop action on nearly 4,000 debt collection cases in Maryland, according to a statement Wednesday by the Maryland Judiciary. The companies, LVNV Funding and Resurgent Capital Services, cannot pursue the collection of consumer debts they acquired until further notice, said District Court of Maryland Chief Judge Ben C. Clyburn. Last week, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said it "found grounds to allege" that both companies violated several debt-collection laws.

The report from the State Department was brief: Thomas M. Jennings Jr., a federal worker from Burtonsville on a temporary assignment with NATO peacekeepers, had died in a car crash in Southern Bosnia. Fifteen years later, it turns out that was only part of the story. Unknown to neighbors and friends, Jennings was working for the CIA, the agency acknowledged last week. A veteran covert officer — he told acquaintances he worked for the State Department — he volunteered to go to Sarajevo after the Bosnian war as a U.S.-led force worked to maintain peace.

Now that it's official and public knowledge that Maryland is last in job creation and only 6th from last (44th) in having a business-friendly environment according to the Tax Foundation, some response is required. Let's get rid of the Baltimore Development Corporation, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and any public or quasi-public group in this state that has business development in its charter. Think of all the millions of dollars we could save to put to better use, like lowering the personal and corporate tax rates here.

WASHINGTON -- The federal government ordered all federal law-enforcement agencies yesterday to destroy their surplus and outmoded firearms rather then sell them to gun dealers for resale to the public.In the past 10 years, more than 60,000 semiautomatic pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns have been sold by federal agencies to dealers for resale to the general public, with the proceeds from the dealers going to offset the operating costs of the agencies.But the General Services Administration, the government's business manager and landlord, told federal agencies yesterday that in the future any firearms they no longer needed, as well as DTC any firearms they seized, must be made inoperable and then sold to be melted down.

Several government agencies gave their blessing yesterday to Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church's planned 3,000-seat church in Granite, as a hearing resumed on the project. The hearing, which could last several days, was delayed last week when the church introduced new access road designs that had not been reviewed by community leaders or the State Highway Administration. Yesterday, state highway engineer Larry Gredlein testified that "we've approved the traffic impact study." He also said the state had approved the design of the entrance on Old Court Road.

Six federal government agencies at the port of Baltimore will receive Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award for reforms that have eased the movement of cargo here.The Hammer Award was created by the vice president's office to recognize agencies that cut red tape and eliminate government waste. Its name is a takeoff on the $600 hammer of Pentagon fame symbolizing wasteful government spending.Since the award was established in 1993, more than 600 agencies and organizations have been honored.

A Hunt Valley environmental service company has signed agreements with two Chinese environmental agencies that could lead to nationwide projects in China.Officials of EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., who are part of a Maryland delegation in China this week, signed an agreement on Tuesday with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, a division of the National Environmental Protection Agency.Today, EA is scheduled to sign an agreement with Anhui Institute of Environmental Science, a research and regulatory agency in Anhui Province.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland agency heads have a new set of marching orders: Get wired.Gov. Parris N. Glendening told department heads at a July 13 Cabinet meeting that they have until December to create "home pages" -- chock-full of useful information -- on the Internet's World Wide Web.Those home pages, on-screen directories that guide computer users to other information, would in turn be posted on the state's new home page, which went on line about two weeks...

The state's juvenile services secretary says he is considering expanding the size of privately run residential facilities for young offenders as his agency grapples with a shortage of beds. Sam Abed, who took the job in March, said youths in need of rehabilitation are languishing in detention centers as they await openings. "There is more need than there are beds," Abed said. "We're exploring ways we can increase the capacity across the state. " The comment was greeted with concern from a leading legislator on juvenile justice issues, who said the General Assembly has made clear its desire that programs be no larger than 48 beds.

The owner of an Anne Arundel County trucking company put out of business late last year by federal safety officials has filed for bankruptcy protection again, listing more than $3.3 million in debt. Mark David Gunther Sr., owner of Harmans-based Gunthers Transport LLC, filed under Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore on May 15. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration called Gunthers Transport an "imminent hazard" to the public when it ordered the company's trucks off the road on Nov. 16. When the company tried to reconstitute itself weeks later as Clock Transport LLC, it, too, was ordered closed.

Maryland's deputy secretary of labor stepped up Thursday as interim secretary, filling a job emptied when Alexander M. Sanchez left this week to become chief of staff to Baltimore's mayor. Scott R. Jensen worked two stints at the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. From 2007 to 2009, he was a special assistant to the secretary, focusing on expanding unemployment insurance benefits to part-time workers and aligning adult education — including in correctional facilities — with the state's workforce development system.

The Anne Arundel Community Action Agency studied a long list of nominees as it prepared to induct the first members into its Hall of Fame. In its nearly 50-year history battling poverty, many staff members and volunteers have kept the agency going, and a few made sure it survived. The final decision fell to the History Committee, which nominated five for the initial honor. "Oh, we have great stories and many great nominees who made significant contributions," said Kinaya Sokoya, chief executive officer of the Annapolis-based agency.

Joseph "Jerry" Hankoff, a retired insurance agency owner and a decorated World War II bombardier-navigator, died April 24 of complications from dementia at the Edgewater Pointe Estates nursing facility in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 91 and had lived in Pikesville. Born in Baltimore and raised on Linden Avenue, he was a 1938 City College graduate. He attended the University of Baltimore and studied law and accounting. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943 and trained as a navigator-bombardier.

The White House, Department of Labor and others have announced an update on a program to get companies, cities and federal agencies to commit to youths for the summer. Employers have agreed to hire tens of thousands of young people. To find internships and job postings near you, visit the Summer Jobs+Bank . Among the companies hiring in the Baltimore area: BGE, AOL, DAP, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, The Business of Life, Ripken Baseball, Northrop Grumman, Johns Hopkins Health System Corp., and the American Red Cross.

Fewer than two-thirds of federal agencies are complying with new diversity guidelines that require them to file annual reports on barriers to minority hiring and promotions, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday. EEOC spokesman David B. Grinberg said about 60 percent of federal agencies have filed the first report, which was due in January. He declined to provide a list of the agencies that failed to do so. Grinberg said the EEOC plans to publish the list in its annual report, scheduled for release by the end of May. "These are new rules, and it may take longer for some agencies to meet our deadlines," he said.

Agencies that offer the bare necessities of food and warm shelter -- or help people keep them -- can get federal money allocated to Carroll County.But the agencies must apply for it by Dec. 31.Only Carroll County Food Sunday, a food bank, has applied for part of the $22,372 in Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for Carroll County.The federal government has provided the grant to the county for the past four years, and this year's grant came with a 9 percent increase, said Kelly Parrish, assistant director for Human Services Programs of Carroll County Inc."

A Baltimore jury on Wednesday awarded $1.3 million in damages to a 17-year-old girl, finding that negligence by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City was a substantial factor in lead-paint poisoning she suffered as a young girl. Amafica Woodland lived in a now-demolished house in the Flag House Courts housing project in East Baltimore until she was nearly 3. Her attorney, Scott Nevin, said he expected the award to be reduced to $690,000 because of a state cap on non-economic damages.

Nearly 20 percent of arrests made by Baltimore police for low-level, "quality-of-life" crimes haven't been properly documented, according to a new audit that a civil liberties group says understates the agency's shortcomings in meeting terms of a legal settlement. Independent auditor Charles Wellford, a University of Maryland criminologist, sampled about 1,100 arrests from April to December 2011 and found that 17 percent of reports written by officers did not support a finding of probable cause.