Appointed

Anne Arundel County Councilwoman Cathleen M. Vitale was appointed to the state Critical Area Commission yesterday. The Severna Park Republican will serve a four-year term on the panel, which helps set policy for environmentally protected areas along the Chesapeake Bay. "I am honored that the governor felt that my knowledge of and commitment to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries would be an asset to the commission," Vitale said in a statement....

Harford County Executive David R. Craig issued the following statement regarding the appointment by the Harford County Board of Education of Barbara P. Canavan as interim superintendent of Harford County Public Schools: "I was delighted to hear that the Board of Education of Harford County wisely chose a long-time teacher and administrator with Harford County Public Schools to serve as the interim superintendent of schools. I have the utmost respect for Barbara Canavan and had the honor and pleasure to work with her for 12 years during my career as an educator with Harford County Public Schools.

The first woman to be appointed a judge in Carroll County didn't expect to be chosen for the job.Jo Ann Ellinghaus-Jones, 34, a Hampstead attorney in Elwood E. Swam's Main Street office, was appointed Wednesday to the District Court bench to fill the vacancy created by the November elevation of Judge Francis A. Arnold to Circuit Court.Ellinghaus-Jones said she knew the appointment probably would be announced last week because the nominees were interviewed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer on Feb. 28."

Amy Michelle Gross has been appointed to replace Robert W. Schaefer as executive director of the France-Merrick Foundation, the Baltimore-based charity announced Tuesday. Schaefer is retiring after 17 years leading the area's fourth largest charitable organization with more than $200 million in assets. Established in 1959, the foundation is charged with improving Baltimore's quality of life. "It is a bittersweet time for our foundation," said Wally Pinkard, president of the France-Merrick Foundation, in a statement.

Buddy Roogow, the former Howard County administrator, has been appointed director of operations for Gov. William Donald Schaefer's office.Mr. Roogow, 42, was to begin yesterday, replacing Mary Ann Saar, who was appointed secretary of juvenile services. He will be paid $75,000 a year.

Kalman R. "Buzzy" Hettleman, a special-education advocate and former Baltimore school board member, was appointed yesterday to the city school board. Hettleman, 69, is taking the seat left vacant after David J. Stone resigned in October to pursue a job overseeing charter schools for the system. Hettleman was jointly appointed by Mayor Martin O'Malley and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Reached by phone yesterday, Hettleman said he will no longer be able to advocate for specific students in parent-teacher meetings, as he has done in the past.

The Carroll County Charter Board last night approved, by a 6-3 vote,a committee's recommendation to have an appointed county manager.The panel's executive committee submitted the recommendation to the nine-member board for action at the panel's weekly meeting at the Agricultural Center. Members Richard Yates, Joseph Getty and Lanny Harchenhorn -- all newly elected members -- voted against the recommendation.In its two-page recommendation, the committee's majority said an appointed manager would be less expensive than an elected executive.

Two Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judges are seeking voter approval for full 15-year terms on the bench. Gov. Parris N. Glendening appointed Nancy Davis-Loomis, 54, of Annapolis to the judgeship in 2000, and tapped Paul A. Hackner, 53, of Annapolis in June. Hackner was filing paperwork to keep his post at the same time he was being sworn in. The judges, who had been appointed by Glendening to the District Court, are unopposed on the ballot. They have held no fund-raisers, although they have attended meet-the-candidate events.

Until now, everyone expected that the two City Council members who had been appointed to their seats last year would be forced to get voter approval in November under a new law that allows the city to hold special elections.But council members Bernard C. "Jack" Young of East Baltimore and Rita R. Church of Northeast Baltimore might not have to face voters until the next citywide election next year because of a legal complication.The state attorney general's office has told the city's chief lawyer that the city needs the state's approval to hold a special election before next year.

A Republican activist who was the local party's choice to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates was appointed to the seat yesterday. Tanya Thornton Shewell, who had never held elected office, was appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to replace former Del. Carmen Amedori, who resigned June 30 after accepting an appointment to the Maryland Parole Commission. Shewell will serve out the remainder of the term, nearly 2 1/2 years. Shewell, 60, had been unanimously recommended last month for the District 5A seat by the county's Republican Central Committee, and party officials had expected Ehrlich to approve the recommendation.

President Barack Obama has named an Annapolis man to head the multibillion-dollar grant program through which the Federal Emergency Management Agency helps local governments prepare for disasters. Brian Kamoie, 41, will oversee a vast portfolio of federal grants used by states and cities to prevent and respond to terrorism and other disasters, the White House said. Kamoie was most recently senior director for preparedness policy on the White House national security staff. Kamoie takes control of the FEMA grant program as the Obama administration pursues a controversial consolidation of $2 billion in preparedness funding it says will streamline a system that grew unwieldy following the attacks of Sept.

Rutgers men's lacrosse players and parents expressed loyalty to suspended coach Brian Brecht at a meeting with university President Robert L. Barchi on Tuesday. A large group of players - dressed in khakis and suit jackets - and their parents met with Barchi on Tuesday. At the meeting, the group presented Barchi with a petition that contained between 800 and 1,000 signatures in support of Brecht, a former Loyola University assistant, a source at the meeting said. The source also said there were an estimated 50-plus people in attendance at Tuesday's meeting.

Nicholas P. Jones, dean of the Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering, has been named the new executive vice president and provost at Penn State University, the college announced Friday. Jones was selected from a nationwide search, according to a release from the university, and will start his post on July 1. His appointment is scheduled to be approved by Penn State's Board of Trustees on May 3. Penn State's president Rodney Erickson, who recently served in the position, said Jones "brings with him board experience in higher education" and "will be an important voice as we continue our trajectory of top-flight academic achievement and set priorities for the university's future.

The Baltimore Symphony is about to become one of the very few, if not the first, major classical orchestras in the United States to officially appoint a playwright in residence. This weekend, Didi Balle will preside over the third of her "symphonic plays" to be performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The form, which Balle invented, combines a live orchestra, a conductor who delivers a scripted narrative and professional actors. In a news release, conductor Marin Alsop said that the appointment formalizes a relationship between Balle and the symphony that began in 2008.

Dr. Christopher Dela Rosa has been appointed as chief information officer at Harford Community College. In this position, Dela Rosa will continue to provide leadership to staff and manage the day-to-day operations of Computing and Technology Services. Dela Rosa had been serving as interim vice president for information technology at Harford Community College since January. He served previously as associate vice president for information technology, director for information technology operations and manager of technology operations at Harford Community College.

The Anne Arundel County lawmakers have voted in favor of a bill that would change the makeup the of county's school board from all-appointed to a mix of elected and appointed, according to Del. Steve Schuh, the bill's co-sponsor. The county delegation in Annapolis voted unanimously Friday to support the measure, Schuh said. Under House bill 703, the hybrid school board would be composed of five elected seats and four appointed seats. Currently, board members are selected from a pool of nominees by a committee then appointed by the governor.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi officials and a United Nations envoy appointed the members of a new interim Iraqi government yesterday, including the head of one of the largest Sunni Muslim tribes for the ceremonial post of president and members of the Shiite and Kurdish communities as the country's two vice presidents. In a surprise move, the Iraqi Governing Council, hand-picked last year by the United States, then declared that it was disbanding to give the new leadership the leverage to negotiate immediately with U.S. diplomats, the United Nations and military commanders over efforts to stabilize the country.

Warschawski named Erin Bradin an associate at the Baltimore-based public relations and marketing agency. WebAdvantage.net, headquartered in Havre de Grace, appointed David Cease as director of agency operations for the online advertising agency. Banking and finance Butler Capital Corp. named Brett Butler vice president. The Clemson University graduate is responsible for customer service and collection operations for the Hunt Valley-based business lender. Syncom Venture Partners appointed Amiel C. Brent, Robert L. Greene and Stanley T. Smith as principals of the Silver Spring-based venture capital firm.

Editor: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Harford County would like to extend a tremendous thank you to all of the individuals and companies that helped to make our third annual bull and oyster roast on Feb. 23 such a huge success.  We would like to thank the business community here in Harford County for their generosity in choosing to sponsor our event. Thank you to our Guardian Angel Sponsor: Saxon's Diamond Centers; our Champion Sponsor: BB&T Bank; our Protector Sponsors: Bolton & Kearney, PA; Brinton Building Services, Harford Community College; Love, Fleming and Bearsh, LLC;  Rosedale Federal, and Wegmans and our Advocate Sponsors: Jeff and Mary Allan; Bel Air Orthodontics; Cohen & Forman, LLC; Mike and Mary Beth Denbow; Freedom Federal Credit Union; Harford Bank, Level Heating and Air Conditioning, Runey Construction and Walter G. Coale.