Bond

NAACP leadership continued to denounce an Internal Revenue Service audit of the Baltimore-based civil rights group yesterday, while three members of Congress challenged the IRS to drop the investigation. A letter sent yesterday to IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson by three House Democrats - Charles B. Rangel of New York, Pete Stark of California and John Conyers Jr. of Michigan - demanded that Everson "publicly, specifically and immediately repudiate the recent actions of the IRS taken against the NAACP."

Frank Bond Sr., a retired Maryland Transit Administration bus driver and neighborhood activist who believed in the value of education, died Monday of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. "Frank was a wonderful man who treasured education even though he was not an educated man," said W. Byron Forbush II, who retired in 1998 after 38 years as headmaster of Friends School. "His three children went to Friends as well as two grandchildren," said Mr. Forbush. "He was so devoted and proud that his family was part of that institution.

The Charles Theatre's three-film James Bond retrospective ends this weekend with 1963's From Russia With Love, in which the evil S.P.E.C.T.R.E. seeks revenge on Bond (the great Sean Connery) for killing their star agent, Dr. No. With Daniela Bianchi as the beautiful Russian defector and Lotte Lenya as a former KGB agent with a lethal pair of shoes. Showtime is noon tomorrow, with encores set for 7 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $6 tomorrow, $8 other times. Information: 410-727-3456 or thecharles.

A city prosecutor in Decatur, Ala., has decided not to file a motion to have bonds revoked from Rolando McClain's arrest, which will allow the troubled linebacker to come to Baltimore and start the Ravens' conditioning program if he so chooses. After signing a one-year deal with the Ravens on April 12, McClain was arrested Sunday night in Decatur after police responded to a disturbance at a local park. It was his third arrest in 16 months. McClain, who allegedly incited the crowd by saying '[Expletive]

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - A judge has ordered a 19-year-old Bowie State University student accused of fatally stabbing a roommate last week held without bond. Alexis Simpson was ordered held without bond Monday. Her attorney, Michael Worthy, said in court that the stabbing was a "tragic accident" and that his client acted in self-defense. A prosecutor disagreed, saying Simpson had made a choice to end Dominique Frazier's life. Court documents say Simpson fatally stabbed Frazier inside their dormitory style apartment after the two women argued about music playing from aniPod.

Maryland will share in a $75 million settlement that state attorneys general across the country negotiated with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to resolve allegations of bond derivative bid-rigging that defrauded states, counties and nonprofits, the state said Thursday. The Maryland attorney general's office said it was not yet clear how much would go to each of the 25 states involved in the settlement. But about 10 agencies and nonprofits in Maryland are expected to receive money, including the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical System.

A Howard County judge denied bail Friday for the teen suspect in the death of another youth, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office said. Xavier Trevon Bates, 18, is still being held at the Howard County Detention Center after a morning bail review hearing before Howard County District Judge Pamila J. Brown, said T. Wayne Kirwan, of the Howard County State's Attorney's Office. Prosecutor Tricia Cecil argued that no bail should be set for Bates, who is accused of fatally stabbing Christian Lendell Hall on Wednesday, Kirwan said.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Municipal bond issuers did not announce any early redemptions yesterday.zTC

The Sun will publish the January redemption tables for U.S. Savings Bonds in Tuesday's editions.

On November 20, 2006, GARNETTA BOND of Baltimore, loving mother of Robert E. Bond, Ronald L. Bond, Sr., and the late Earl L., Leonard W., William D. Bond and Denise S. Bellou, cherished grandmother of eleven and great-grandmother of many. Dear sister of Phyllis Sheckles. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the GARY L. KAUFMAN FUNERAL HOME AT MEADOWRIDGE MEMORIAL PARK, INC., 7250 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, MD, 21075 (exit 6 off Route 100) on Wednesday, November 22, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where funeral services will be held in Vermillion Chapel on Friday, November 24 at 10 A.M. Interment Meadowridge Memorial Park.

Local government is truly where the rubber meets the road. As Baltimore County executive, I proudly oversaw capital projects ranging from the restoration of the Randallstown Library after a fire to the expansion of Cromwell Valley Park. We rebuilt Essex Elementary School and constructed a new interchange at I-795 and Dolfield Road in Owings Mills. We were able to pay for these and dozens of other projects - which improved the everyday lives of thousands of people - with the help of tax-exempt municipal bonds.

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday it has issued a AA- rating on two series of bonds worth $299 million to be issued to The Johns Hopkins Health System for refinancing and capital improvements. One series of revenue bonds from the Maryland Health & Higher Educational Facilities Authority valued at $152 million will be used to refinance four series of outstanding bonds. Another series of taxable bonds will fund the implementation of new clinical systems and other capital projects. Both series are expected to sell in early May. Fitch also affirmed its AA- rating on Hopkins outstanding debt.

Work on a $4.7 million museum at Naval Air Station Patuxent River that is mostly paid for with state and federal grants has been suspended, and a prominent construction firm was recently pulled from the project, St. Mary's County officials said Friday. Broughton Construction, a Washington-based contracting firm with offices in Baltimore, was removed from the project after county officials learned that it had purchased fraudulent construction bonds. An attorney for Broughton said the firm purchased the bad bonds unknowingly.

When it comes to generating income from investments, Americans' expectations for returns are significantly higher than what they are actually earning, according to a survey released this morning by Legg Mason Inc. “Our survey is telling us that income-oriented investors in the U.S. are coming up well short of their goals - almost 3 percent short - and that number could be significant especially for retired investors who need to live on the income their...

A 25-year-old man arrested for trespassing in North County High School this month - and who was found to have a number of legal, high-powered weapons in his home - has been ordered held without bond. Justin Matthew Beaumont, of Glen Burnie, was held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center after a bond review hearing Wednesday, according to Kristin Fleckenstein, spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office. Beaumont was arrested at North County High School on Feb. 4, according to police accounts.

Maryland could lose one of its prized AAA bond ratings if the U.S. government fails to find a way out of its debt and budget problems in the coming months, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp has warned. Kopp told a Senate committee in Annapolis this week that Moody's — one of the nation's three leading rating houses — has informed state officials that if it decides to downgrade U.S. Treasury bonds, it will also lower the scores of Maryland and three other AAA states. Standard & Poor's and Fitch, the other two, have not given any such warning, she said.

After every game, Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith returns to his phone and finds a text message from his former University of Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen . Some texts, like the one Friedgen sent last Saturday following the Ravens' 38-35 victory over the Denver Broncos, are congratulatory. Others offer support or encouragement. Almost all of them include Friedgen telling Smith how much his success means to him. "I try to tell him every time we talk how proud I am of him,” Friedgen said.

Baltimore police have charged a man in the Christmas Day beating of Kenni Shaw, though it was not announced for several days as the city's gay community remained on edge amid fears of violence. Shaw says he was attacked because he is gay, though police have not suggested a motive in the case. The beating, illustrated by images taken in the hospital of his badly swollen face, helped spur a rally Saturday in East Baltimore that included Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts. Records show Marcus Evans, 26, was picked up two days before the rally on a warrant filed Dec. 29. When asked about the case the day of the rally, police said it remained under investigation.