Cablevision

Free speech and American democracy, or a new snow blower? That's the question of the moment and the future for Carroll Community Television -- public access Channel 19 -- whose offices are housed in a basement under a gymnasium, where basketballs and feet moving to disco aerobics pound over the studios, and where low ceilings and hot lights dictate shorts in the winter. Director Marion E. Ware has been lobbying the county commissioners and the towns for more money for the station -- as much as $190,000, revenue that would come from a change in Carroll's contract with Prestige Cablevision -- to fund projects and improvements.

Pledging to highlight the persistent epidemic of AIDS among African-Americans, the NAACP and several corporations will release a series of videos today on the disease's causes, preventions and treatments, NAACP officials said yesterday.The announcement of the release, which is expected at a news conference in Washington this morning, comes as the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People begins its regularly scheduled quarterly board meeting at a Baltimore County hotel.

DO YOU make money when a stock splits? Not necessarily. "Generally, you see gains of 3 to 5 percent short-term, but no sure thing after that," Kiplinger Washington Letter says."

New positionsAdams Express elects Rishel vice president for researchThe Adams Express Co. elected Barbara L. Rishel as vice president, research, for the Baltimore-based equity investment company.Formerly an equity analyst with Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Co., Rishel is an MBA graduate of the University of Baltimore. She is a native of Baltimore.Baptiste is a vice president for Comcast CablevisionComcast Cablevision appointed Michael A. Baptiste as mid-Atlantic region vice president for advertising.

New positionsLori Riordan vice president at Comcast CablevisionComcast Cablevision appointed Lori Riordan as vice president of government affairs for the cable company's mid-Atlantic division. She will monitor and oversee franchise renewals and act as liaison with state and federal officials.A law graduate of the University of Maryland, Riordan is a member of Women in Cable and Communications, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, and is on the board of the Columbia Arts Festival.

April showers brought not only flowers, but some 650 people to the Rites of Spring Garden Show preview party at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. They braved a spring storm outside to be greeted with more water inside, bubbling from fountains amid beautifully landscaped gardens created in the 4-H Building.The Rites of Spring event raised $75,000 for the Union Memorial Hospital Foundation and its patient-care programs, so it's was no surprise that many Union Memorial VIPs were among the guests at the preview party.

Federal regulators have declared recent Comcast Cablevision rate increases unreasonable and have ordered the company to pay refunds to customers in Baltimore and Howard counties.In separate orders released yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission found that Comcast's Nov. 1 rate increases exceeded the maximum rate set by the commission by up to 49 cents a month in Baltimore County and by 36 cents a month in Howard County.The FCC said Comcast must refund the overcharges to its customers in the two counties.

Almost 5,000 people crowded booths set up by 71 employers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards yesterday, as The Baltimore Sun Co. and the state held another of their twice-a-year career fairs.The joint venture was started in 1995 by The Sun and the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In addition to matching job seekers and Sun advertisers, the fair on the club level of Oriole Park generates revenue for the newspaper.Job seekers yesterday gave resumes to employers including T. Rowe Price, Comcast Cablevision and Caldor Corp.

As Keith Olbermann was plotting his departure from ESPN to MSNBC, a bigger threat to the all-sports network officially set sail yesterday as two broadcasting giants officially joined forces on a new venture.Fox/Liberty, which already controlled nine regional sports channels in an amalgam called Fox Sports Net, purchased a 40 percent equity stake in eight similar channels run by Cablevision a price of $850 million.The 17 channels give Fox Sports Net nearly nationwide coverage in 55 million homes, and will spread its programming into such key areas as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.

The Howard County Board of Appeals has approved an expansion to the Comcast Cablevision facility on Route 108 near Manor Lane.The decision, made Tuesday night, allows for a 2,000-square-foot expansion to the existing utility buildings.Comcast officials say they plan to build the addition this summer to provide space for more equipment that is needed to provide more cable channels and Internet hookups.In other matters, the board postponed a decision on a controversial Mobile Oil gas station on Montgomery Road, near Long Gate Parkway in Ellicott City.