Baltimore And Maryland

Trump to Baltimore: You're hired! Celebrity entrepreneur Donald Trump, who gives employees the heave-ho on television's The Apprentice, is giving Charm City a gig: host of his Miss USA pageant. The 2005 contest will take place in April at the Hippodrome Theatre, officials will announce today, offering 51 women the chance to walk away with tiara and sash - and giving the city and state national television exposure that could translate into big tourism and economic development bucks. So, while the contestants hike up their cleavage with duct tape and smear Vaseline on their teeth to keep their smiles fresh, Baltimore and Maryland expect to be the ones sitting pretty.

Coppin finally gets the support school deserves We appreciate The Sun's editorial about Coppin State University ("To be a university," April 27). This institution has a very long and illustrious history, one that has not been adequately shared with the state of Maryland. And during my first year as president, it was extremely difficult to comprehend why this institution did not receive adequate financial support from the state. However, we are receiving support now from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan, the Board of Regents and a great legislature.

When the first tourists settle into their theater seats at the new Inner Harbor visitor center early next month, they'll be watching a film that promises to immerse them in the essence of Baltimore and Maryland, condensed from 50 hours of video and film footage. From the shining waters of the Chesapeake to the mystery-tinged burial site of Edgar Allan Poe, to the quirkiness of Hampden's rowhouse culture, to dozens of other scenes, it's all there. "My whole idea was, if I can get the visitor to walk out of there and ask a question, I've done my job," said Rita O'Brennan of Flite 3 Studios, the film's producer who, with a team of four others, has been working since January on crystallizing Charm City into a few minutes.

Baltimore's long-delayed visitor center has gone under cover - now cloaked in a floor-to-ceiling drape designed to heighten local excitement in the days leading up to its May 7 opening. Installation of the aqua-colored, vinyl "shroud of mystery" was completed yesterday to conceal displays being assembled within the $4.5 million center at the north end of the Inner Harbor, off Light Street. "This is the beginning of the countdown to the opening," said Leslie R. Doggett, president and chief executive of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.

Time is running out on Baltimore's last old-line Democratic clubs, relics of an era when powerful bosses dispensed jobs and favors from smoke-filled backrooms in exchange for votes and political control. Highlandtown's 81-year-old United Democratic Club is scheduled to meet Tuesday to decide its fate. In South Baltimore, the Stonewall Democratic Club, a fixture since the Civil War, is so dormant that it has not had a membership meeting for a year and a half, according to one of its leaders, state Sen. George W. Della Jr. A broken "Stonewall" sign over the once-mighty organization's locked door at 1212 S. Charles St. symbolizes its decline.

IN WASHINGTON last week, the causes of inter-city rail and mass transit - and the needs of Baltimore and Maryland - got hammered by an appropriations committee, further setting up a policy and funding fight in which the state's entire delegation must be fully engaged this fall. In voting on the 2004 federal transportation budget, the House committee cut Amtrak funding, gave no increase to mass transit projects and new starts, and opened the way for states to stop funding such alternatives as pedestrian and bike paths - while giving highway funding a sizable increase.

THOUSANDS of miles from Iraq, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley is thundering about the needs of the home front. On television, radio and the Internet, he is browbeating decision-makers in Washington. His aim: securing long-promised funding for local governments that already have spent millions on homeland security. He is right. The failure of Congress to provide an anticipated $3.5 billion in additional funding for local safety efforts is taxing the home front. Baltimore City alone has spent more than $12.5 million of its own money to combat the threat of terrorism since Sept.

To the friends and fans in the Baltimore community, throughout Maryland and across the country: We, the Unitas family, would like to thank everyone who has shown love and support to us over the last week. The countless phone calls, letters, prayers and other forms of support our family received have been overwhelmingly uplifting to us all. From experience, we understood that he was a beloved part of Baltimore and Maryland. What we have come to learn over the past week is that he was loved and respected all over the country as well.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The NCAA men's lacrosse championship isn't coming back to Baltimore and Maryland, but the final four is. Nine of the first 17 NCAA titles - seven for Johns Hopkins and two by Maryland - were won by state schools, but the local drought reached 15 seasons yesterday, when the Blue Jays were eliminated by Princeton in the semifinals. They were already talking about next year, when the game's biggest weekend begins a two-season run at Ravens Stadium. "There are going to be tremendous opportunities, and tremendous challenges," said Phil Buttafuoco, the chairman of the NCAA men's lacrosse committee.

Spencer Carter, co-owner of a downtown Baltimore insurance firm, died Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center of complications after surgery. The Roland Park resident was 78. Mr. Carter retired in 1990 as president of the family-owned insurance firm, Mason & Carter, on South Street. He had joined the firm in 1952. Born in Baltimore and raised on Calvert Street in Charles Village, he was a 1941 graduate of McDonogh School. After studying agriculture at Cornell University, he received a degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.