Baltimore City

Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed to use a substantial portion of stormwater fee revenues - the "rain tax" - to lower the city's overwhelmingly high property tax ("Faceoff over city water fee plan," May 6). The mayor's relentless assaults on city residents in an attempt to generate ever more tax revenue to cover the major cause of its financial problems - namely its expenditure of 20 percent of revenues on retirees - are not even thinly veiled anymore. The city's large tax and fee increases, including speed cameras, trash fees and now the rain tax, have been enacted in an attempt to lower the property tax without a corresponding reduction in city expenditures and are nothing more than a shell game.

As I assessed the situation at the Baltimore City jail, and the subsequent indictments that came down because of the corruption of a few, I realized that while the rosy portrait painted by Gov. Martin O'Malley may not have been as bright as he would have liked the public to believe, it certainly was nowhere near as gloomy as your recent editorial portrayed it ("O'Malley can't spin his way out of the jail scandal," April 30). It's easy to point the finger after the hard work has been done; as they say, "hindsight is 20/20.

Education observers were split Tuesday on whether the city's school board should launch a nationwide search to replace schools CEO Andrés Alonso or give the job of taking on the district's daunting challenges to his hand-picked successor. Some, such as principals union president Jimmy Gittings, said they'll push for the board to name interim CEO Tisha Edwards as permanent superintendent. School officials said late Tuesday that Edwards, Alonso's chief of staff, would not have to obtain a state waiver despite lacking the teaching experience typically required by state law for the post.

The two flagship beers from Woodberry's Union Craft Brewing Company - Duckpin Pale Ale and Balt Altbier - will be sold in 12-ounce cans in Baltimore city retailers by Friday, according to co-founder Jon Zerivitz. The cans will be sold in other areas of Maryland and Washington in the next few weeks. The brewery recently acquired three new 60 barrel tanks, which increase its brewing capacity by 75 percent. The expansion explains why UCB can now sell its beer in cans, Zerivitz said.

Isaiah Dixon Jr., a jazz fan, world traveler and four-term state delegate from Baltimore City whose accomplishments included introducing a bill that made cross burnings a felony in Maryland, died of heart failure April 26 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 90. "He took his position very seriously," said Baltimore Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway, a longtime friend who served two terms alongside Mr. Dixon in the General Assembly. "He thought that he needed to make a difference, and he tried.

A city councilwoman is challenging Baltimore's plan to charge businesses some of the highest stormwater fees in the state - and divert some of the money that had gone to Chesapeake Bay cleanup to help fund property tax cuts. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke says the Rawlings-Blake administration's stormwater plan would create a financial hardship for many local businesses. And Clarke and environmental groups object to raising revenue intended for pollution abatement to help pay for property tax relief.

Tommy Fortman and his Digital Harbor teammates have been here before. Yesterday, Fortman made sure they were all there again. Digital Harbor won the Baltimore City Division I baseball championship by defeating Poly, 11-1, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon. The game was stopped in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule. Fortman allowed one run and five hits in five innings. "It feels great to win it again," Fortman said. "We have a great group of seniors, and our coaches make us work hard.

A lawyer for Baltimore City says a task force appointed by the mayor to study the city's speed camera program did not hold an illegal closed-door meeting during a March visit to a contractor's headquarters. But a prominent member of the task force called the city's version of events "not true. " Assistant City Solicitor Hilary Ruley told state officials this week that a presentation to the task force was stopped once members realized the public had been barred from attending by Brekford Corp., the city's new camera vendor.

As she struggled to unload groceries from the back of her car, Sherrie Schenning got an uncharacteristically queasy feeling. Her family's Essex neighborhood had always felt safe, but on this recent Saturday, she noticed two unfamiliar young men in a nearby schoolyard eyeing their home . "They looked like they wanted to steal something, but there was nothing valuable in the yard," she says - just her shopping bags and the family's beloved 12-year-old...

Four judges and one lawyer have applied for the Court of Appeals seat that will become vacant July 6 when Chief Judge Robert M. Bell reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. The applicants for the judgeship on the state's highest court are Judges Stuart Ross Berger, Albert Joseph Matricciani Jr. and Shirley Marie Watts, all sitting on the Court of Special Appeals; Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge W. Michel Pierson; and Baltimore attorney Mary...