Baltimore Office

A bipartisan group of lawmakers pressed the Obama administration Wednesday to reduce the backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs by improving cooperation between the several agencies that have a role in the process. Senators emerged from a closed-door meeting with VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and said the agencies would work to improve communication, provide more regular updates to Congress and identify high-level staff who will ultimately be responsible for addressing the delays.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough visited the Baltimore regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday to discuss efforts to address the agency's persistent backlog of veterans disability claims. The Baltimore office, which serves half a million veterans in Maryland, is among the nation's worst performers in processing claims, The Baltimore Sun has shown in a series of stories. McDonough's visit was not announced and was not open to reporters. McDonough met with managers in the office as well as employees who handle the claims processing.

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers pressed the Obama administration Wednesday to reduce the backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs by improving cooperation between the several agencies that have a role in the process. Senators emerged from a closed-door meeting with VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and said the agencies would work to improve communication, provide more regular updates to Congress and identify high-level staff who will ultimately be responsible for addressing the delays.

Benjamin Lipsitz, whose commitment to the spirit and letter of the law led him to defend a would-be assassin, a Nazi sympathizer and a craven murderer during a career that spanned more than a half-century, died May 10. He was 94. "He was so fundamentally devoted to justice. He was Atticus Finch all over again," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader II. "To me, he was what lawyering and what representation are all about. " Lipsitz was chosen to defend Arthur Bremer, accused of shooting Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace and three others, including a Secret Service agent, at a Laurel shopping center in 1972.

Cortly "C.D. " Witherspoon, a Baltimore minister and activist, has been scoping out convenience stores that sell products such as "Scooby Snax. " The glossy package features a picture of a dazed-looking cartoon character, Scooby Doo. A sticker advises that the contents have a blueberry flavor, though the package contains dried herbs, not candy. The minister's mission has been to get such products out of the hands of Baltimore's youth, who are smoking the stuff in hopes of getting high.

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore - roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland - are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout. The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year. The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

A Virginia-based electrical engineering firm is opening a 43-employee office in Baltimore with plans to expand in the next few years. M.C. Dean Inc. said it will have a grand-opening event next week at its new facility, a former warehouse on Ostend Street in the city's Sharp-Leadenhall neighborhood. The company expects to increase its employment there to as many as 75 jobs in the next two years. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/realestatewonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

TravelCLICK, an electronic commerce company that helps hotels with their Web sites, said it is opening an office in Baltimore and plans to hire about 50 people. The firm, which has been serving the hospitality industry since 1999, is looking to hire Web designers, developers and programmers to staff its new Baltimore office at 1410 Key Highway. TravelCLICK is based in Schaumburg, Ill., and has offices in Phoenix and Houston, as well as locations in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Asia.

The Baltimore office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is the slowest in the country in processing disability claims for servicemen and servicewomen - averaging about a year - and makes more mistakes than any other office. The failures locally are a symptom of a national breakdown: Across the country, more than 900,000 veterans wait an average of nine months for the agency to determine whether they qualify for disability benefits, according to the VA. Even as the VA says it is working to fix problems in Baltimore and nationwide, Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, calls the situation "shameful.

Benjamin Lipsitz, whose commitment to the spirit and letter of the law led him to defend a would-be assassin, a Nazi sympathizer and a craven murderer during a career that spanned more than a half-century, died May 10. He was 94. "He was so fundamentally devoted to justice. He was Atticus Finch all over again," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader II. "To me, he was what lawyering and what representation are all about. " Lipsitz was chosen to defend Arthur Bremer, accused of shooting Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace and three others, including a Secret Service agent, at a Laurel shopping center in 1972.

Tracy Balazs, the president and CEO of an Annapolis-based staffing firm, was named Entrepreneurial Success of the Year last month by the Baltimore district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. She founded the company, Federal Staffing Resources LLC, in 2004. It now employs more than 300 people, has eight offices across the country and generates more than $30 million in revenue annually. The company mainly provides health professionals to government outfits, including the Army, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Aviation Administration, though FSR recently expanded its operations to the staffing of private companies.

Baltimore police officer Robert W. Mitchell faces a second-degree assault charge after police and prosecutors accused him of overstepping his powers and beating a young man more than a year ago. The Baltimore state's attorney's office also charged Mitchell on Friday with two counts of misconduct in office. Prosecutors allege that Mitchell beat Baltimore resident Tiyon Williams in the 1000 block of N. Mount St. on May 19, 2012. "The allegations against Mr. Mitchell are reprehensible," Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said in a statement, "and I promise we will continue to aggressively target those who sacrilege the good men and women of this department and the sacred privilege of serving our community.

Barbara Shapiro's love affair with Druid Hill Park dates to her childhood, when she passed through it daily on the way from her Ashburton home to old School 49 on Cathedral Street. And even when construction of Druid Park Lake Drive in the 1940s and the Jones Falls Expressway in the 1960s removed many of its grand entrances, Shapiro never lost her affection for the park. "I do think construction of the Jones Falls did separate the city from the park," Shapiro, 78, said the other day. She also recalled attending the city's annual one-day Baltimore Outdoor Art Festival during the 1950s until its demise in the 1970s, held on the periphery of the Druid Hill Park Reservoir.

The Annapolis-based law firm Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC has acquired and is merging with the Law Offices of Arnold M. Weiner, located in Baltimore. The merger will go into effect on July 1, according to a statement from the firms released Wednesday. After the merger, the firm will be called Rifkin, Weiner, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC. Alan M. Rifkin, managing partner of the firm, said that Rifkin, Livingston has been looking to re-establish a Baltimore office and this merger offered the right opportunity.

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore - roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland - are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout. The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year. The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

With the ongoing development east of the Inner Harbor, the expanding suburbs in Baltimore and Howard counties and the tried-and-true appeal of downtown, the Baltimore metro region has corporate real estate for every tenant's taste and need. All of those options can be overwhelming, says Daniel J. Shapiro, who aims to become a vital member of Baltimore's business community by helping companies figure out what they want and require from commercial space. "Real estate should not be an afterthought.

Maryland's U.S. House delegation met Wednesday with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to keep pressure on the agency to fix problems at the troubled Baltimore office and follow up on promises for improvement. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, a Southern Maryland Democrat who is House minority whip, said Maryland veterans should call their congressmen to report troubles with the regional office, which has one of the nation's highest error rates and largest percentages of backlogged cases.

A Baltimore County police officer pleaded guilty to misconduct and agreed to resign after admitting to filming himself numerous times engaging in sex acts and neglecting to respond to calls while on duty. Aaron Z. Pross, 29, who had been assigned to the Pikesville Precinct, took more than 120 images and 20 videos engaging in sexual acts with himself, including one where he masturbated inside his patrol car while reports of "possible guns involved," can be heard over a police radio, prosecutors said.

Baltimore County police say they shot a woman in Pikesville early Saturday after she pulled a handgun on an officer. The woman was in serious condition at a local hospital Saturday evening but expected to survive, police said. According to a news release, the officer was called to the 3100 block of North Brook Road before 2 a.m. to investigate a report of a suspicious person. He saw a woman throw a large rock at a house, officials said, breaking a window. The woman allegedly drew a handgun, and police said the officer repeatedly ordered her to drop, then shot her multiple times in the upper body.