Bethlehem

The struggling Sparrows Point steel mill could be sold within the next six months, mill owner RG Steel said Monday. "We're not going to be specific at this time," said Bette Kovach, an RG Steel spokeswoman, as she confirmed comments by two company executives that potential buyers were eyeing the Baltimore County plant, as well as others owned by the firm. Speaking last week to the Baltimore chapter of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries, Jerry Nelson, RG Steel's chief commercial officer, said that "people have expressed interest" in acquiring some RG Steel plants and that "I think it's safe to say everything is on the table.

This casino and resort offers hotel accommodations with more than 300 rooms, event packages and discounts for special occasions, many dining options, venues to enjoy live music and drinks, new games and old favorites and the Shoppes of Sands. Casino hours: 24 hours a day. Games to play: Along with poker, blackjack, craps and roulette, Sands has many other table games, including mini and midi baccarat, sic bo and pai gow tiles. A 30-table poker room is also provided.

Costumed actors will bring the Christmas story to life from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 5 and 6 at 4701 New Cut Road. The free annual event is sponsored by Glen Mar United Methodist Church. Call 410-465-4995, ext. 204 for more information.

Carey Howell Taylor, a retired Bethlehem Steel Corp. manager, died Jan. 27 of pneumonia at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 84. The son of the superintendent of secondary education for city public schools and a homemaker, Mr. Taylor was born in Baltimore and raised in Mount Washington. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1944, he studied engineering at the University of North Carolina and Penn State University for two years, before enlisting in the Navy in 1947. He then completed his education, earning a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1950 from the Johns Hopkins University.

BETHLEHEM, Israeli-Occupied West Bank -- The flag went back up, Christmas was saved, and this town celebrated its first happy Christmas Eve in six years of glum holidays.A row over raising the Palestinian flag had threatened to scrub the Christmas festivities at the birthplace of Jesus, but Israeli authorities yielded yesterday, and the celebration was on.Thousands of Palestinians gathered here to watch marching bands and choirboys escort the Latin Catholic patriarch to church services, the first such public rejoicing since the Palestinian uprising began in 1987.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- I woke up in New York one day last week - a good thing, since I had gone to bed in New York the night before - and dressed and packed and hustled off to the subway. On the sidewalk on 86th Street and Central Park West, a newspaper vendor stood with big stacks of the Post, Daily News, Newsday, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Times. I walked up, he glanced at me, reached for the Journal, then the Times. A buck twenty-five for an instant reading of my character. What is it about me that says I'm not interested in news about the misdeeds of the rich and famous?

Bethlehem Steel Corp. said yesterday that it had signed an agreement that provides it with $500 million in revolving credit. The new line of credit replaces two others.The credit line is with a group of 19 U.S. and international banks, including Maryland National Bank and First National Bank of Maryland, according to Bethlehem spokesman Art Roth. Bethlehem did not specify the commitment of each bank.Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. is the agent for the line of credit, with Chemical Bank and Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Ltd., as co-lead managers.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. stock dropped more than 7 percent yesterday after the nation's No. 2 steelmaker reported lower-than-expected earnings.Bethlehem reported it made $26 million, or 14 cents a share, in the second quarter.The news sent its share price down $1.625 to $20.75."It is definitely disappointing in what should be the strongest steelmarket in 20 years," said Charles A. Bradford, a metal analyst for UBS Securities Inc., a New York investment banking firm.Yesterday's results were the company's fourth consecutive profitable quarter -- excluding a $290 million restructuring charge in the fourth quarter -- after suffering three years of losses.

A deal to sell a Bethlehem Steel division, which includes the closed rod mill at Sparrows Point, is close to becoming a reality, according to officials of Ispat Group of Calcutta, India.In a press release distributed this week, Ispat officials said they were "in an advanced stage of negotiations" with Bethlehem to buy its bar, rod and wire division. That division includes Bethlehem's rod mill in Baltimore County, which had a work force of 350 before it was shut down Aug. 14.In addition to the rod mill, negotiations involve steel mills in Johnstown, Pa., and a 13-inch bar mill in Lackawanna, N.Y. The largest operation in the division is the Johnstown operation, which employed 1,950.

The closed rod mill at Bethlehem Corp.'s Sparrows Point steel mill could reopen and begin operating as soon as February.T. N. Ramaswamy, director of finance for Ispat Mexicana S.A. de C.V., which has agreed to buy the closed mill, said his company hopes to complete the purchase as early as January and to reopen the operations a few weeks later.But, he cautioned, there could be intervening problems. "We have to look at a lot of details," he said.The number of people who would be employed at the rod mill has not been determined, but Ispat, part of the Ispat Group of Calcutta, India, plans to hire union workers and to negotiate a contract with the United Steelworkers of America, Mr. Ramaswamy said.

John James Lambros, a retired Bethlehem Steel shipbuilding executive and decorated World War II veteran, died of a hemorrhage Monday at the Maples of Towson. He was 95 and lived in Ruxton. "He was the No. 1 salesman for the Bethlehem Steel Key Highway Shipyard," said former U.S. Maritime Commissioner Helen Delich Bentley, who also served in Congress. "It was through his influence with many Greek shipowners that Baltimore received so much of the ship construction and repair work. " She recalled his friendship with Aristotle Onassis, who placed a 1948 order with Bethlehem for a 28,000-ton supertanker.

Thomas Frederick Rommel Sr., a retired Bethlehem Steel Corp. foreman and World War II veteran, died Dec. 14 of Alzheimer's disease at Coastal Hospice at the Lake in Salisbury. The former longtime Hamilton resident was 87. Mr. Rommel was born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton. He was a 1941 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and served aboard ships as a radar man. He served in the Atlantic Theater and participated in the D-Day invasion.

Jerome P. Bukovsky Jr., a retired Bethlehem Steel Corp. executive and volunteer, died Thursday of coronary artery disease at his Dundalk home. He was 73. Mr. Bukovsky, the son of a steelworker and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Chapel Street near Butchers Hill. He was a 1955 graduate of City College. Mr. Bukovsky went to work at Bethlehem Steel after high school and attended the Johns Hopkins University for eight years, earning a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in arts and sciences, and a second master's degree in business administration.

With 10 days of more than 400 performances from 325 artists, MusikFest 2010 is set to entertain more than a million music fans who travel each year to Bethlehem, Pa., for the event, which begins today. "The last two years we've had over 1.1 million and this year, again, we have a tremendous lineup," said Curt Mosel, director of marketing for ArtsQuest, which produces the festival. The numbers have grown since MusikFest began in 1984, when it drew 184,000 people. Jeff Parks, president of ArtsQuest, its parent company, created the Bethlehem MusikFest Association with one goal: to celebrate arts and culture.

John J. Hudak Jr., a retired mechanical engineer, died April 14, his 79th birthday, of lung disease at his Springfield, W.Va. Mr. Hudak was born in Baltimore and raised in Dundalk. He was a 1949 graduate of Dundalk High School, where he had been an outstanding athlete and played varsity lacrosse and soccer. He worked as a mechanical engineer at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant from 1949 until retiring in 1995. Before retiring, the longtime Rosedale resident had been a part-time mechanical engineering instructor at then-Dundalk Community College.