Bridgeport

Baltimore and Bridgeport have a lot more in common than the first letter of their names. They are troubled cities with more than their share of poverty, blight and crime. Like other urban centers they have been hurt by drastic cutbacks in federal assistance during the Reagan-Bush era and by the recession-spawned budget crunch that has suddenly beset state governments. They are surrounded by wealthy counties that have tax rates only half as high as those imposed on a dwindling number of city residents and businesses.

As mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., I considered it an honor and a privilege to have a man like Bishop William Lori in our city for the last 11 years. I considered Bishop Lori to be a partner in helping make Bridgeport a better city, a leader of our community and, most importantly, a friend who always had time to speak with me. He leaves behind a very proud legacy in Bridgeport. While I will certainly miss having him in Bridgeport working passionately on the education of our young people and the sheltering of our poor, I am very pleased to see him elevated to archbishop.

As mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., I considered it an honor and a privilege to have a man like Bishop William Lori in our city for the last 11 years. I considered Bishop Lori to be a partner in helping make Bridgeport a better city, a leader of our community and, most importantly, a friend who always had time to speak with me. He leaves behind a very proud legacy in Bridgeport. While I will certainly miss having him in Bridgeport working passionately on the education of our young people and the sheltering of our poor, I am very pleased to see him elevated to archbishop.

At a time when Roman Catholic bishops are waging political wars against contraception and same-sex marriage, one of the church's most hard-line generals was named Tuesday to head its historically important Baltimore archdiocese. The Vatican appointed Bishop William E. Lori, 60, of Bridgeport, Conn., the next archbishop of Baltimore, a move that observers say could thrust the city, where American Catholicism was born, into the center of two hot-button issues. "He's smart, he's articulate, he sticks to the party line," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior research fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

The University of Bridgeport certainly has seen better days.The private four-year school in Connecticut owes $22 million to creditors. For the past 19 months, its unionized faculty has been striking over wages and the decimation of the liberal arts program. Enrollment has dropped from 9,000 in 1970 to 3,000 today. The law school seceded and hooked up with a smaller state college. The school's board of trustees voted to end instruction this August.Is it any surprise the university lost its accreditation?

NEW YORK -- While a military victory abroad prompted a parade on Wall Street yesterday, the aftermath of the financial failure at home of Bridgeport, Conn., caused consternation in the trading rooms upstairs, raising the prospect of other troubled cities having to pay more for money in the future.Municipal borrowing in the credit markets is estimated by one Wall Street firm, Roosevelt & Cross, at $800 billion a year. The money funds bridges, schools, road construction and myriad other public facilities whose use extends beyond the current fiscal year.

SHENANDOAH, Pa. -- It's hard to kill a town like Shenandoah.So when the scrappy little Pennsylvania community declared municipal bankruptcy a few years back, it said it was broke, not dead."

When Bridgeport, Connecticut declared bankruptcy June 6, the gasps were heard around the world. It was the first time a major city -- Bridgeport is Connecticut's largest -- declared publicly that it could no longer pay its bills.The immediate effects were dramatic: Wall Street's bond-rating agencies took the city's bonds down a peg or two. Bill collectors came beating at city doors. The state declared the city's action illegal and went to court to stop it.The particulars of why Bridgeport chose bankruptcy as a solution to its fiscal crisis are peculiar to that city and its mayor.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Trapped in the poor southeastern corner of Fairfield County, the people of Bridgeport are pinning their hopes for economic salvation on an unlikely ally. The predominantly Democratic city is counting on the new Republican governor, John G. Rowland, to win approval for a law to bring what could be the world's most profitable casino to Bridgeport.To the west, the county's wealthy bedrock Republican towns are not at all pleased with the man they helped elect. Many prominent Republicans are fighting the casino proposal that Mr. Rowland, the state's first Republican governor in 20 years, has said is vital to Connecticut's prosperity.

Bayhawks coach Brian Voelker wanted a substitution, but midfielder Kip Fulks wanted a game-winning goal. Voelker was glad that Fulks won out. Moments after Fulks waved off Voelker's call to the sideline, the Maryland alumnus took a feed from Mark Millon and beat Bridgeport goalie Jim Mule with a 10-foot shot that gave the Bayhawks a 12-11 win in overtime last night at Homewood Field. Fulks' sudden-death goal at the 3:02 mark gave the league-leading Bayhawks (7-2) their sixth straight win, this time before 3,273 fans.

On July 10, 2006, JENNIE L. MILLER (nee Pohorence) (formerly Sister Ruzena, SSND), age 89, of Clarksburg, WVA, went to be with her Lord and Savior on July 10, 2006 following an extended illness. She was born in Bridgeport, CT on October 13, 1916. She was preceded in death by husbands Charles Perks and John Miller. Jennie was a gradute of Notre Dame HIgh School in Bridgeport, CT and the college of Notre Dame of Maryland, where she became a Nun and served as such for 27 years. She was also a teacher for 34 years.

Semifinals Tomorrow At Cleveland Rutgers (27-4) vs. Tennessee (30-4), noon North Carolina (31-1) vs. Purdue (26-6), 2:30 p.m. Final Tuesday Semifinal winners Albuquerque Regional Semifinals Today At Albuquerque, N.M. Baylor (26-6) vs. Maryland (30-4), 9 p.m. Utah (26-6) vs. Boston College (22-11), 11:30 p.m. Final Monday Semifinal winners Bridgeport Regional Semifinals Tomorrow At Bridgeport, Conn. Michigan State (24-9) vs. Duke (28-3), 7 p.m. Georgia (23-8) vs. Connecticut (31-4)

On September 15, 2004, MARY UDZINSKI, 89, of Stewartstown, PA, formerly of Bridgeport, CT. Wife of the late Leon J. "Leo" Udzinski; sister in-law of Veronica Udzinski and Wanda Comers; aunt of Stephen Udzinski and his wife Laura, Debra Barcikowski and her husband Michael, Charles Udzinski and his wife Regina, Lawrence Udzinski and his wife Judy, Mary Katherine Thomas and her husband Michael, and Carol Ann Sessions and her husband Theodore; and survived by...

Peter M. Zawadzki, a Baltimore artist and former gallery owner, died of heart failure Tuesday at his Waverly home. He was 63. Mr. Zawadzki was born and raised in Bridgeport, Conn., where his interest in art began in his youth. After serving in the Army in the early 1960s, Mr. Zawadzki studied at the New York Art Students League and then moved to Baltimore. He studied art at the old Community College of Baltimore and Morgan State University. Mr. Zawadzki, who worked in oils, produced abstract paintings, portraits and landscapes.

ANDY McNab, yacht construction manager for Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Conn., says he hasn't paid much attention to the Tyco trial a few nautical miles down Long Island Sound. Sure, it's a great trial, what with the alleged $600 million larceny, the "batty blueblood" juror, the $15,000 umbrella stand and the ice statue at a toga party emitting Stolichnaya vodka from its naughty parts. But time is short and the yard is busy, making ferryboats, for instance, but also trying to unload a silvery hulk that takes second place to no umbrella stand or glaciated, anatomically enhanced beverage dispenser as a symbol of 1990s wildness.

Debra Rene Turner, a kindergarten teacher and former Randallstown resident, died of sickle cell anemia March 5 at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn. She was 45. She was born Debra Rene Williams in Baltimore, and reared in Cherry Hill and Randallstown. She was a 1976 graduate of Milford Mill High School and earned a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Morgan State University in 1980. Mrs. Turner took additional courses in computer technology and worked as a computer programmer for Maxima Corp.

Hockey Islanders: Assigned C Jason Podollan to AHL Bridgeport.

When a court slapped a $3 million liability judgment against South Tucson, Ariz., the desert community of 6,000 offered a few court papers in return: It filed for municipal bankruptcy.A policeman had been shot in the back while working for South Tucson and, according to Town Manager Bill Ponder, won a liability judgment that was about the same size as the town budget."Basically, it was the only way out," said Mr. Ponder. "But it's something you have to live down, and you've got to build up people's trust in you again."

The wake-up call was supposed to have come last week when the Bayhawks lost to the Boston Cannons for the first time in franchise history. But apparently, the setback, which ended the Bayhawks' five-game winning streak, didn't give the reigning Major League Lacrosse champions enough of a jolt. Playing host to a winless opponent last night, the Bayhawks got plenty of offense but not nearly enough defense as they lost, 22-17, to the Bridgeport Barrage in a wild game before 3,265 at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field.

David Stanley Peterson, a retired General Motors Corp. foreman and former Essex resident, died of an apparent heart attack Saturday at his home in Fayetteville, N.C. He was 63. Born and raised in Rawlings, Va., Mr. Peterson worked as a steelworker in Bridgeport, Conn., before moving to Baltimore in the early 1970s. He was an assembly-line worker and later foreman at GM's Broening Highway plant in Southeast Baltimore for 30 years. He retired last year and moved to Fayetteville. Mr. Peterson was an avid fisherman and reader.