Benefit

The O'Malley administration has notified state employees in same-sex relationships that they won't be able to include domestic partners in their health insurance anymore. If they want coverage, they'll have to get married. The policy change is the result of the new Maryland law allowing same-sex marriage, which took effect Jan. 1. The thinking is that offering health coverage to an unmarried same-sex partner doesn't make sense anymore, officials said, particularly since an unmarried heterosexual partner doesn't have the same right.

Six military veterans from Maryland pleaded guilty to fraud charges this week in a scheme to obtain federal military benefits and state tax breaks with faked documentation claiming they were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. The veterans allegedly paid thousands of dollars in cash to David Clark, the former deputy chief of veterans claims in the state Department of Veterans Affairs Office, in exchange for $1.4 million in fraudulent benefits and tax breaks, prosecutors said.

Former MLB player Bill Ripken will headline a new charitable gala in Columbia May 9. The Grand Slam Gala also will include live and silent auctions, and athletic challenges. The Baseball Factory, a Columbia-based player recruitment and development operation, launched the gala event to support its Factory Foundation, a nonprofit designed to assist underprivileged student athletes. Dress is casual, and attendees are encouraged to wear their favorite jersey or hat. Food will be provided by Clyde's, with desserts from Elkridge Furnace Inn, Georgetown Cupcakes and Milk 'N Cookies.

Tickets are now available for the Catonsville Historical Society's 16th Heritage Homes Tour to be held on May 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Owners of eight local residences will showcase a variety of interesting architectures, modernizations, decors and furnishings, as well as springtime gardens and landscape treatments at the 19th and 20th century homes on the tour. Tickets for the tour will be informational brochures and cost $25. Send check payable to the Catonsville Historical Society to: Catonsville Historical Society, c/o The Wilderness B&B, 2 Thistle Road, Catonsville, Md. 21228.

Dangerously Delicious Pies in Canton will host a benefit concert on Sunday to aid the One Fund Boston organization, which formed in the wake of the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon. The event will be held 3 to 8 p.m., and will feature bands including Carrie and The Dirty Pillows, The Highballers, Danny Kay, Robert Fireball Mitchell, Mark Whiskey and The Sours and others. Donations and a portion of sales will go to the victims' charity, The One Fund Boston . This week Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Menino announced the formation of The One Fund Boston, with purpose of raising money to help the families affected by the events of Monday's Boston Marathon.

Charles Curlett paid $2,000 Saturday night for a Cartier watch worth $5,600. "And for a good cause," said the attorney from Oakenshawe. But Curlett won't have the unisex watch all to himself. "We're going to share it," said his wife, Christina. Curlett was among more than 200 people who packed Gutierrez Studios in Woodberry for the third annual "Hats Off to Hampden Family Center," a gala fundraiser featuring silent and live auctions and live music. The Hampden Family Center provides everything from after-school enrichment and tutoring for area schoolchildren to lunches for senior citizens and assistance to families in applying for food stamps and other social services.

The proposed partnership announced earlier this month between the University of Maryland College Park and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington is one of the more unusual ideas floated in recent years, not least because it would involve Maryland's flagship university investing in a privately owned institution located outside the state. Yet from what is known of the plan so far the potential benefits for both UM and the Corcoran could far outweigh the risks involved in such an arrangement, and for that reason it's worth exploring further.

Labor unions representing federal employees reacted angrily to the $3.8 trillion budget unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama, who proposed trimming $20 billion from federal retirement benefits - reopening a debate many Democrats felt had been resolved last year. The 2014 spending plan - which arrived months late - would reduce annual budget deficits by an additional $1 trillion over a decade, according to the administration's estimates; raise the federal minimum wage to $9; curb Social Security spending; increase the federal cigarette tax and close tax loopholes the Obama administration has pursued for years without success.

People say dogs look like their owners. That may not be true, but they certainly look and act like we want them to, as breeds are a construct of generations of culling for certain aesthetic and other traits, including hunting ability, intelligence and, in some cases, viciousness. Which brings us to pit bulls, considered "inherently dangerous" under Maryland law since a 2012 Court of Appeals ruling. Some of the dogs that fall into that general description are ferocious, because humans designed them to be. But so are a lot of other dogs that, for whatever nature or nurture reason, like to bite people - which is why many urged lawmakers to overturn the decision.