Attorneys General

A 58-year-old Baltimore woman has been convicted of one count of abuse of a vulnerable adult in the second degree, stemming from a 2010 incident at a Timonium nursing center. According to a press release from the Maryland Attorney General's Office, Circuit Court Judge Robert Cahill Jr. this week accepted the guilty plea of Shirleen Diane Sheppard, 58, and issued a three-year suspended prison sentence. Sheppard was placed on three years' probation and was ordered to perform 150 hours of community service within 12 months, and is prohibited from being employed as a geriatric nursing assistant during the full term of probation, according to the release.

More than two dozen Maryland home builders have agreed to pay penalties totaling $26,000 to settle allegations that they violated state building laws, Maryland's Attorney General said Tuesday. Ryan Homes, NV Homes, Rachuba Home Builders LLC and Pulte Home Corp. were among 27 builders that reached settlements with the state Consumer Protection Division's Home Builder Registration Unit. State officials said violations included companies operating without being registered and failing to disclose information to the registration unit in applications.

"Balanced. " "Fair-minded. " Showing "great personal integrity. " These are some of the terms a bipartisan group of 37 state attorneys general used to describe former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, President Barack Obama's nominee for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Add to that list "good public servant," the phrase Ohio Republican Sen. Robert Portman used to describe him just days ago. Sounds like a radical, doesn't he? If he's not, how else do we explain last week's move by 45 members of the U.S. Senate to block his appointment to that post?

The University of Maryland, Baltimore will host a hearing Tuesday on violence against children, led by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The hearing, the first of four scheduled around the country over the next several months, is part of an overall initiative, led by Holder, to gather information on the ways in which children are exposed to violence. The issue has been in the national spotlight recently because of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked Penn State University. At the end of his task force's yearlong examination of violence against children, Holder plans to issue a report outlining prevention strategies.

The famous maxim that "the more things change, the more they remain the same" is not always true. Sometimes, things get worse. Consider, for example, the recent efforts of Gov. Martin O'Malley to influence the resolution of an environmental lawsuit pending in federal court. In 2010, some legislators, mostly from the Eastern Shore, threatened to hold hostage hundreds of thousands of dollars from the University of Maryland budget in response to that lawsuit, brought by the law school's environmental law clinic on behalf of one of its clients against an Eastern Shore poultry farmer and its patron, Perdue Farms.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office has renewed its request to federal energy regulators for a hearing on Constellation Energy Group's plan to sell itself to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a brief filed Tuesday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the $7.9 billion deal would raise rates for customers of Exelon's ComEd utility, citing testimony by the company's executives during regulatory hearings before the Maryland Public Service Commission. The Illinois attorney general's office is among several groups that have objected to the deal on the grounds that the combined company would have two much control of electricity prices on the grid that serves much of the mid-Atlantic region.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler on Wednesday asked the interstate agency that manages the fishing of Atlantic menhaden to increase protection for the fish, which scientists say is an integral part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering updates to its management plan for the menhaden and Gansler submitted comments to the commission requesting that the threshold for overfishing be nearly doubled from the current rate. "The Commission's interstate fishery management plan … for the menhaden has so far failed to adequately protect the menhaden fishery, particularly from overfishing," Gansler said in his comments.

Maryland's attorney general alleged Wednesday that a Baltimore man had defrauded investors of nearly $500,000 and ordered him to stop selling securities and acting as an investment advisor, activities for which he was not registered. Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is seeking fines and a permanent ban from the securities industry for Casey Charles and his company, Infinite Equity Strategies LLC. In a cease-and-desist order, the state accused Charles of transferring retirement funds of investors to an out-of-state company, which later transferred the money to his own bank accounts.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, the Office of Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler is telling residents to be wary of home repair scams and other consumer fraud. On Aug. 29, Gansler's office said damaging storms are often followed by scam artists who promise to perform home improvement work and then don't. The office warned against people who use high-pressure sales tactics, demand up-front payment and demand an immediate decision on work. The attorney general advised homeowners and businesses that before signing on for work: • Check to see if a contractor is licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission by calling 410-230-6309 or going to http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/mhic.

The scandal revealed by news reports of "Operation Fast and Furious," during which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed more than 2,000 automatic weapons and other guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartel members, is a disgrace to the department and a gross violation of our border security. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should resign his post as head of theJustice Department. What needs to be investigated now is what did President Obama know about this operation and when did he know it?