Business Interests

Michael B. Mitchell, a former state senator and Baltimore councilman who works for the Maryland Transportation Authority, failed to report outside business interests in annual financial disclosure statements filed with the state. Mitchell, who stepped down Friday from his role managing the finances of his uncle, former Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, is required to file such statements with the state Ethics Commission because he holds a $40,575-a-year job with the MdTA in its Dundalk offices.

Common Cause Maryland questioned Friday whether the city's ethics board director is fit for the job after he acknowledged that he was performing legal work on behalf of developers with business interests in Baltimore. "This raises questions about his fitness for the job," said James Browning, regional director for Common Cause. "There are several serious problems here. " Avery Aisenstark is director of the city's department of legislative reference and its ethics board. He has come under fire from Common Cause for working on behalf of a group, called the Committee for Zoning Integrity, that is challenging some Baltimore County zoning decisions.

For the second straight day, the Maryland Senate approved legislation to help low-income workers while dealing a blow to business interests, sending Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a measure yesterday that would raise the minimum wage by about 15 percent to $6.15 an hour. The bill - opposed by the governor - was approved on a veto-proof 30-16 vote a day after the Senate adopted a plan to tax large companies that fail to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for workers. That measure would in effect apply to just one company: the retailing giant Wal-Mart.

In reference to the May 24 article about the Forest Diner ("Final order at the Forest Diner"), we would like to provide the following corrections. Firstly, the diner was purchased in 1957 by not only Carl Childress, but also Jim Rogers, who were brother-in-law and equal partners. Carl, Jim and his wife Mary, as well as Betty (Carl's wife, Jim's sister) worked together to grow the business until 1970, when Jim Rogers decided to pursue other business interests, at which time his share of the diner was purchased by Carl and Betty.

The bowling alley business dream of Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis lies half-built in a far corner of the Hunt Valley Town Centre. Cinder blocks and plywood cover the entrances and windows; rubble and metal vents sit piled inside a chain-link fence. Lewis announced MVP Lanes with great fanfare more than two years ago. It was supposed to include a posh sports-themed bowling alley, restaurant, sushi bar and live radio booth - and create more than 100 service and construction jobs on the site of a former Wal-Mart.

SHOULD THE chairman of the Carroll County Planning Commission be voting on issues that might help advance his private business interests? More specifically, should he be deciding on land-use reclassifications that would make more attractive an innovative sewage treatment technology his company sells?As chairman of the county's Planning Commission and as principal of Innova Ltd., a company that markets alternative sewage treatment systems, David Duree may find himself presiding over meetings that put him in an untenable position -- ++ choosing between his business interests and the general interests of the county.

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to defend U.S. business interests overseas, the Department of Justice amended its antitrust enforcement policy yesterday to enable it to challenge foreign businesses that boycott U.S. products, rig bids or otherwise block access to their markets.Although department officials said that the shift was "not aimed at particular foreign markets," the Japanese Foreign Ministry immediately objected to the move on grounds that it is "not permissible under international law."

I wrote a letter to Sen. Ben Cardin about Bono and U2 that The Sun recently published. The Sun then published a letter published from The Edge of U2 in response to my letter. I want to take this opportunity to correct and clarify the use of the phrase "tax evasion" in my letter, both for The Edge and your readers' benefit. My intention is not to accuse either U2 or individual band members of criminal tax evasion. My clarification and correction is that I am saying that they aligned their business interests with avoiding paying taxes, not criminal evasion.

This is the 52nd presidential election.The sixth was held in 1808. The Democratic-Republican caucus nominated Secretary of State James Madison, President Jefferson's choice, for the top of the ticket and re-nominated Vice President George Clinton.Leaders of the Federalist Party, still in decline but hoping to exploit one issue, met in secret session and renominated their losing ticket of 1804, Charles C. Pinckney and Rufus King.The one big issue of the campaign was Madison's support of Jefferson's embargo on American shipping.

In reference to the May 24 article about the Forest Diner ("Final order at the Forest Diner"), we would like to provide the following corrections. Firstly, the diner was purchased in 1957 by not only Carl Childress, but also Jim Rogers, who were brother-in-law and equal partners. Carl, Jim and his wife Mary, as well as Betty (Carl's wife, Jim's sister) worked together to grow the business until 1970, when Jim Rogers decided to pursue other business interests, at which time his share of the diner was purchased by Carl and Betty.

Many long-term unemployed have discovered an ugly truth: You need a job to get one. Jobless workers across the country have recounted tales of being written off by a prospective employer if they have been out of work for six months or more. And some job ads have explicitly stated that a candidate must be currently employed. Now Maryland has joined a growing number of states considering legislation to prevent employers from discriminating against the unemployed. "It's about changing minds or changing attitudes, and then changing behaviors of the employers and the people who represent the employers," says Jackie Gray, a Baltimore resident who co-founded an advocacy group, Unemployed Rising, and supports the legislation.

The bowling alley business dream of Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis lies half-built in a far corner of the Hunt Valley Town Centre. Cinder blocks and plywood cover the entrances and windows; rubble and metal vents sit piled inside a chain-link fence. Lewis announced MVP Lanes with great fanfare more than two years ago. It was supposed to include a posh sports-themed bowling alley, restaurant, sushi bar and live radio booth - and create more than 100 service and construction jobs on the site of a former Wal-Mart.

I wrote a letter to Sen. Ben Cardin about Bono and U2 that The Sun recently published. The Sun then published a letter published from The Edge of U2 in response to my letter. I want to take this opportunity to correct and clarify the use of the phrase "tax evasion" in my letter, both for The Edge and your readers' benefit. My intention is not to accuse either U2 or individual band members of criminal tax evasion. My clarification and correction is that I am saying that they aligned their business interests with avoiding paying taxes, not criminal evasion.

Annika Sorenstam followed the legacies of LPGA legends Mickey Wright and Nancy Lopez in being proclaimed by some as the greatest female player in the history of golf. Now Sorenstam is following Wright and Lopez in another way - early retirement. Sorenstam, 37, announced yesterday that her Hall of Fame career will end after this season. The stunning news came two days after Sorenstam got her 72nd tour victory, winning by seven strokes. Saying that she was going to be "stepping away" from competitive golf, Sorenstam has decided to pursue her outside interests while making her private life a priority.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. William J. Jefferson of Louisiana was indicted yesterday for allegedly using his congressional office to enrich himself and his family through a pattern of fraud, bribery and corruption that spanned five years and two continents. The charges - the first against a Democratic member of Congress in the wake of the Justice Department's recent crackdown on public corruption - follow a two-year investigation that gained public notoriety when FBI agents raided Jefferson's home and found $90,000 in cash in his freezer.

Gov. Martin O'Malley could name a replacement for Public Service Commission Chairman Kenneth D. Schisler by the end of the week as part of his effort to install more consumer-friendly regulators, but lawmakers warned yesterday that he should be careful not to make the commission anti-business in the process. Schisler's abrupt resignation Monday came as a surprise to many in the legislature and the administration, but O'Malley had already been vetting candidates for another empty seat on the commission, which regulates electric utilities, phone companies, taxicabs and other public services.

Maryland's top lawmakers announced yesterday they have launched an ethics probe into state Sen. Larry Young and his outside business interests, and law enforcement sources said that the State Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation into the senator's conduct.The probes come in response to a two-month investigation published by The Sun yesterday that reported the powerful politician has been capitalizing on his public position to generate consulting and other fees from institutions and health care firms with millions at stake in the General Assembly.

MADISON, Wis. -- Politicians trying to balance the federal budget needn't look too far. Eliminating large tax breaks and subsidies for corporations would go a long way in cutting federal spending.About $150 billion could be saved annually by making corporations pay their fair share of taxes and eliminating their subsidies. That would wipe out the yearly federal deficit of $130 billion -- with a $20 billion surplus.Almost 60 percent of U.S. corporations and 74 percent of foreign firms doing business in the United States paid no federal taxes in 1991, according to the Boston Globe.

ATLANTA -- If they really wanted to, your representatives in Washington could dry up illegal immigration almost before you could say, "Tom Tancredo is a tiresome demagogue." All they would have to do is require U.S. employers to check the legal status of all employees and impose stiff sanctions - including multimillion-dollar fines and prison time - on employers who flout the law. After a few executives had done the perp walk, others would get the message. Illegal hiring would drop precipitously.

For the second straight day, the Maryland Senate approved legislation to help low-income workers while dealing a blow to business interests, sending Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a measure yesterday that would raise the minimum wage by about 15 percent to $6.15 an hour. The bill - opposed by the governor - was approved on a veto-proof 30-16 vote a day after the Senate adopted a plan to tax large companies that fail to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for workers. That measure would in effect apply to just one company: the retailing giant Wal-Mart.