Baltimore Region

Democratic committee apologizes to Steele The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee apologized yesterday to Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele for gaining access to his personal credit report while researching Steele's background last summer. Committee spokesman Phil Singer said two employees who have since resigned used publicly available data to access Steele's credit report in July. The committee reported the incident to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Singer said, adding that the credit report was not disseminated.

The leaders of Baltimore City and its suburbs just accomplished something that, on a global scale, the United States and Mexico, with a vanishing NAFTA, probably won't: A consensus that neighboring political entities can succeed more by working together against their joint competitors than by wrestling against one another.The city and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Carroll and Howard counties this week formed the Greater BaltimoreDevelopment Alliance. Its purpose is to market the entire region to the outside world.

Hiring will likely continue at a slow pace through the end of the year, the job placement firm Manpower reported in its latest quarterly survey. Of the 18,000 employers who participated in the study, only 7 percent plan to expand their workforces. But in the Baltimore region, Manpower says, the outlook is brighter. Andrew Francis, branch manager of Manpower's new Baltimore office, talked recently with The Baltimore Sun about hiring expectations locally and what sets the region apart from much of the nation.

What happens to the suburbs if the central city withers? What happens to the viability and vitality of a region when its heart stops beating?These are the questions Baltimore-area leaders ought to be pondering -- and aren't. For in a very real sense, this region is nearing a time when those questions won't be hypothetical. Its ++ central core is wilting, slowly but surely. Yet those in command are looking the other way.While the counties are prospering, the city continues to see businesses pull up stakes.

Brace yourself, Baltimore. The storm that was coming — then wasn't — is back to full strength, heading our way with a major coating of snow predicted for Sunday and blizzard-like conditions in the Northeast. Meteorologists anticipate between six and 10 inches of snow falling across the region before the system passes, and the storm could curtail shopping for the day after Christmas if families hunker in their homes and delay gift returns and new purchases until skies clear.

Police say gunshots killed 2 Two men found dead early Sunday in an Owings Mills apartment died of gunshot wounds, police said yesterday. Howard Thacker, Jr., 35, and his nephew Dante Rodney Thacker, 17, were found dead about 4:15 a.m. in their apartment in the 100 block of Village Mill Court, police said. Detectives think robbery might have been the motive, county police said. Police have no suspects, said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Vickie Warehime. Anyone with information can call the Baltimore County police at 410- 307-2020.

Baltimore City: Leakin Park Man found fatally shot An unidentified man was found dead early yesterday in a parking lot at Leakin Park in West Baltimore from an apparent gunshot wound to the head, city police said. Police responded to a call about 7:30 a.m. and found the man lying near the park's restrooms off Franklintown Road, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Moses said. Justin Fenton Baltimore County: Towson Fire damages university lab A chemical reaction among materials in a storage closet was suspected as the cause of a fire yesterday morning that damaged a Towson University chemistry laboratory, authorities said.

Baltimore County: Pikesville High Gay-Straight Alliance prompts a protest About 20 people gathered outside Pikesville High School yesterday morning to protest activities planned by the school's Gay-Straight Alliance for National Coming Out Week. Duane Johnson, a youth pastor for Greater Bethlehem Temple in Randallstown, said he called for the demonstration to bring parents' attention to a gay film festival and discussion and sale of rainbow bracelets.