Base

Three Republican state senators are demanding that any decisions about the impact of the impending expansion at Aberdeen Proving Ground on the county be made in a public forum. The senators representing Harford County wrote to Democratic Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, who is leading the administration's base-realignment planning effort, complaining of closed-door meetings, including the most recent one July 13 in Aberdeen. Republican Sens. Nancy Jacobs, J. Robert Hooper and Andrew P. Harris called the sessions "troubling and undemocratic" in a letter to Brown dated Thursday.

Capt. Harold J. Flammang Jr., who toughened security at Naval Station Annapolis while also making it a nicer place to live, steps down today after three years as the base's commander. Flammang is retiring after 28 years in the Navy, turning over command of the pint-size base to Capt. Brian J. McCormack. McCormack, a helicopter pilot and 1978 Annapolis graduate, takes over at a change of command ceremony this morning. The 276-acre base is the support wing of the Naval Academy, the elite military college across the Severn River.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- How many Charlestonians does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Two dozen. One to replace the bulb, and 23 to talk about how great the old bulb was.That joke pretty much sums up the way change is viewed in this 300-year-old port city, which places a high premium on preserving its past. And it helps explain the uproar here when word came from Washington, five years ago, that Charleston might be about to lose its Navy base -- the third-largest home port in the country.

If the Annapolis Naval Station were ever in the market for a motto, it might want to consider, "Hiya, sailor." Survey results released yesterday by Navy Times, an independent newspaper, ranked the small station on the banks of Severn River as tops in the world for singles. The base earned higher marks for the unattached life than did more than 100 other surveyed naval stations across the globe, a Navy Times spokesman said. "If you're a sailor at Annapolis, you're doing pretty well," said David B. Smith, a Navy Times vice president.

JUPITER, Fla. -- Jay Gibbons took ground balls at first base for much of the offseason, looking forward to the chance to get in some game action at the position. When it finally arrived yesterday in the Orioles' exhibition opener, Gibbons felt much the same. No ground or fly balls were hit in his direction during the Orioles' 8-6 loss to the Florida Marlins. In four innings at first base, Gibbons received some throws and a couple of cutoffs, but got nothing that even remotely resembled a test.

The long-delayed sale of the former Fort Ritchie Army base closed yesterday, paving the way for a Columbia-based commercial developer to build a mixed-use development that could bring in 4,500 jobs to Western Maryland in 10 to 15 years. Corporate Office Properties Trust, which has had the 591-acre base under contract for more than two years, said it acquired the property for $5 million from PenMar Development Corp., the state agency created to redevelop the closed base in the mountains of Washington County.

State officials identified yesterday nearly $800 million in transportation, school and water and sewer projects that need to be funded next year alone to accommodate an expected influx of military base workers and their families. After nearly six months of huddling with local officials, the governor's base-realignment "subcabinet" identified almost 125 highway, transit, water and sewer, public school and college projects, most of them in the Baltimore area, to handle the new base workers and their families.

Like a teen-ager after a growth spurt, Howard County officials are looking in wonder at their reflection in state assessment figures showing the county's taxable base is now worth more than much larger Baltimore City's. Howard's total value - covering residential and commercial/industrial property - outpaced Baltimore's for the first time in 2001, though Howard's residential base passed the city's in 1998. Baltimore's concentration of businesses and industry kept the city's total tax base larger for three more years, said state assessment officials.

The Orioles are going for the series win this afternoon against the Athletics here at Camden Yards. A Baltimore win would complete a 5-1 homestand and put the Orioles six games above .500 for the first time since 2005. Mark Reynolds, who has struggled at third base, will make the start at first base for the first time this season. Reynolds said he's fine with playing there - he met with manager Buck Showalter two weeks ago and told him he's willing to play anywhere. Showalter is taking him up on it this afternoon.

Visitors to Fort Meade may have noticed that parts of the Odenton base look less like the munitions training ground of yesteryear and more like leafy subdivisions. A $2 billion overhaul of out-of-date military housing is bringing 3,000 new homes to the post that will look similar to neighborhoods in nearby Columbia. The new homes will include carpeting, master bedrooms and multiple bathrooms. They will replace homes built in the 1940s that lacked such amenities and were rife with problems, among them lead and asbestos.