Cabinet

Keith Myers Brown, a retired Carroll County builder and big-game hunter, died Saturday of a cardiac arrest at Carroll Hospice Dove House in Westminster. The longtime Taneytown resident was 86. The son of a schoolteacher and a homemaker, Mr. Brown was born and raised in Union Mills. He was a graduate of Charles Carroll High School. A lifelong trumpet player, during his teenage years he played with the Westminster Municipal Band, William F. Myers Band, and the Lyric Concert Band of Hanover, Pa. During the 1940s and 1950s, he was a member of several Carroll County dance bands.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has chosen a former prosecutor and juvenile justice official from Virginia to take over Maryland's troubled Department of Juvenile Services, reeling from the slaying of a teacher last year and revelations of more than $170 million in unsanctioned contracts. O'Malley is expected to name Sam Abed, 35, today to succeed former Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore. Abed, who began working last week, is scheduled to tour the crowded Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center later in the day. "I am grateful that Sam chose to step forward and use his many talents to help us continue to make progress for Maryland's most vulnerable youth and their families," O'Malley said in a statement.

Second of two parts; read the first part For much of his adult life he'd been a slave to cocaine, marijuana, prescription pills and alcohol. Twice he had gone through weeks of intensive psychiatric and drug treatment at Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc., only to go back to using drugs on the streets. By summer 2008, Stephen Brown was three months into his third stint at BBH. That's when the private treatment center in Southwest Baltimore deemed him ready for a new challenge: to manage a rented rowhouse where he would live with seven other patients.

After seeing that former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s tax return reported his earnings at about $2.5 million and with Gov. Martin O'Malley's probably in the same range, I suggest that the post of governor and the cabinet should be volunteer positions, with no pay and no benefits, especially retirement. I estimate that state would be able to remove the furlough policy on state employees. It would strength the idea that the governor and his cabinet are truly public servants . Barbara Kupec-Brown

There are many reasons why a vibrant middle-aged couple would want to go from 4,600 square feet of living space to a 1,520-square-foot condominium, but for Brian and Laura Gunter there was one overriding motive. "We wanted our life to be more about fun activities and relationships than about taking care of stuff," Brian Gunter said. "For now, living at Highview makes it easier to pick up and leave town. " With each of their five children grown and out of the nest, it was a good time to sell their end-of-group cluster home in Havre de Grace's Bulle Rock community.

A member of a well-known Howard County Republican family announced Monday she is running for county executive. Trent Kittleman, widow of state Sen. Robert Kittleman and former head of the Maryland Transportation Authority in the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., indicated she will focus her campaign for the county's top elected position on government spending. "What politicians have forgotten is that the money government spends comes from the labor of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people," she said.

Lawmakers in Annapolis are being asked to ban products containing two chemicals that have triggered serious concerns about toxicity. On Tuesday afternoon, the House Health and Government Operations Committee aired HB33, which would ban the sale, manufacture or distribution of children's toys or child-care articles such as baby bottles made with bisphenol-A, or BPA. The bill, sponsored by Del. Jim Hubbard, a Prince George's County Democrat, would...

George W. Owings III, a former Maryland veterans affairs secretary, launched his long-shot Democratic primary challenge Wednesday to Gov. Martin O'Malley, whom Owings criticized for raising taxes, making "devastating" budget cuts and seeking to repeal the death penalty. "The time to return to a day of good government is upon us," Owings, 64, told more than 100 supporters on a courthouse lawn in Prince Frederick. Owings compiled a conservative record on issues including abortion, gun rights and tobacco during 16 years as a state delegate from Calvert County.

George W. Owings III, a former Maryland veterans affairs secretary, launched his long-shot Democratic primary challenge Wednesday to Gov. Martin O'Malley, whom Owings criticized for raising taxes, making "devastating" budget cuts and seeking to repeal the death penalty. "The time to return to a day of good government is upon us," Owings, 64, told more than 100 supporters on a courthouse lawn in Prince Frederick. Owings compiled a conservative record on issues including abortion, gun rights and tobacco during 16 years as a state delegate from Calvert County.

It's been four months since city cops stopped running Police Athletic League Centers and locked the doors to the building that once served the children of Rosemont. Residents of this West Baltimore neighborhood have been protesting that their kids have nowhere to play and hundreds signed petitions to reopen the building and its basketball courts. This month, an ally appeared out of nowhere - Gary D. Maynard, who runs the state's prisons, wants to partner with the people of Rosemont to keep the center open.