Balto

A collision in Baltimore City and debris in the roadway in Howard County slowed Tuesday morning's commute, according to the state Department of Transportation. A collision in Baltimore City and debris in the roadway in Howard County slowed Tuesday morning's commute, according to the state Department of Transportation. A collision on Interstate 395 North at Martin Luther King Jr. Highway in Baltimore City was reported at 8:45 a.m., no additional information was given. In Howard County, debris in the roadway on MD 32 at West Linden Church Road closed the westbound right turn lane and shoulder at 8:39 a.m. The Maryland Transportation Administration reported minor delays on the light rail.

The operator of an animal rescue has been charged with neglecting nearly two dozen dogs, including three that had to be euthanized, according to the Baltimore County State's attorney's office. Baltimore County police arrested Anthony Joseph Geer, 29, in Dorchester County Thursday. The Cambridge resident faces twenty-three counts of animal cruelty, after police and animal control officers said they found 18 puppies and five dogs caged in poor conditions at residential home in the 8600 block of Quentin Avenue Jan. 24. The state's attorney's office says Geer operated and advertised the Baltimore Animal Rescue Network.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge sentenced Richard Charles to 65 years in prison Wednesday for a string of sexual assaults on his girlfriend's young daughter. The attacks started when the girl was seven years old and continued until she was nine, according to the State's Attorney's Office. The girl came forward in April 2011 and Charles, 45, was convicted of second degree rape and three counts of sexual abuse of a minor last December. "This was a depraved, unconscionable act of repeated violence and the basest kind of violation of a child's vulnerability," Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said in a statement.

Baltimore fire officials are investigating how a home in Northeast Baltimore burst into flames early Wednesday morning just hours after an earlier fire at the same address had been brought under control. Both fires rose to two alarms, the fire department said. The first fire caused significant damage to the basement and first and second floors of the home in the 4800 block of Greencrest Road, in the city's Frankford neighborhood, officials said. The fire was contained to the home, but smoke damage was sustained by an adjacent home, officials said.

Ignoring pleas from union leaders and the county's Annapolis delegation, the Baltimore County Council approved a bill Tuesday changing how county employees can appeal decisions about retirement benefits. The council voted 6-1 in favor of the bill, proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Councilwoman Vicki Almond, a Reisterstown Democrat, was the only member of the council to oppose it, saying it will put county employees "through unnecessary hardship, both economically and procedurally.

Paul Lang's piece on the selection of Mays Chapel for an elementary school was very much on the mark ("Mays Chapel Park wrong site for school" Feb 14). Instead of providing a comparative analysis of any substance, the Board of Education offers anecdotes, hyperbole and a "preliminary assessment" so cursory and flawed that it does not recognize the presence of public utilities at the other site it says it evaluated. It is an assessment so incomplete that it does not address costs to mitigate traffic issues, the costs of razing seven acres of mature trees or the comparative value to the local communities of the open space that will be lost.

The article "Woman was killed despite police watch" (Feb. 7) shows why firearms are necessary for individual protection. A woman and her unborn child were murdered by "a former boyfriend who had been threatening her for years. " She was "under police watch and had sought a court order for protection against her alleged killer. " "She was in the apartment with at least two children" when she was stabbed to death. Tragically, neither the police, the correctional system, nor the courts were able to protect this woman.

Baltimore County officials want to create a regional park on a piece of the Spring Grove Hospital Center campus in Catonsville, property that the University of Maryland, Baltimore County also has been eyeing to expand research facilities. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Thursday he is working with state officials to secure an 8.8-acre parcel that's no longer used by the state psychiatric facility. Spring Grove is a 425-bed hospital providing inpatient psychiatric services for adults and adolescents.

As Maryland lawmakers debate whether to ban capital punishment in the state, The Sun will host prominent advocates on both sides of the issue for its first Newsmaker Forum of 2013. National NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, who has helped marshal support for the repeal effort, and Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger, an opponent of repeal, will answer questions from Sun editors and members of the audience. The event will take place from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21 at The Sun building, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore.

In Friday night's pregame huddle, Milford Mill's girls basketball team let loose with their best impression of the Ravens' "Seven Nation Army" cheer and then emulated their football heroes by taking a big first-half lead and holding off a second-half run from Catonsville. The No. 6 Millers used their quickness and speed to fuel second- and fourth-quarter bursts to run by the Comets, 65-36, and clinch the Baltimore County Class 4A-3A division title. They will go after their second straight county championship on Feb. 19 against the 2A-1A division winner.