Cargo

James J. White returns today after a two-year absence to head one of the state's largest economic engines, the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore. He served as executive director of the Maryland Port Administration for six years but left for the private sector in 2005 after feuding with his bosses in the Republican Ehrlich administration. The Democratic O'Malley Administration asked him to come back. And the port commission gave its stamp of approval to him and his salary of $252,000 a year.

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a long-debated anti-terrorism bill as the Democratic majority in Congress scrambles to rack up accomplishments to boost job-approval ratings. The legislation to implement many of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks is among the raft of measures that Democrats hope to pass before leaving next week for a monthlong recess. One major provision would require screening of all cargo bound for U.S. ports within five years and steer more anti-terrorism funding to regions considered at the greatest risk of attack.

Make port security a funding priority I am very concerned about the priorities the Bush administration betrays by reducing Homeland Security Department funding to the port of Baltimore ("Port funds cut 60%," May 10). When my freshman class of the General Assembly took a tour of the port in 2003, we were informed that just under 2 percent of incoming international cargo was searched or checked. I was aghast - 2 percent. But we were assured by the former state administration that it was going to use increased homeland security funds to improve this statistic.

Federal customs agents seized $3 million worth of cocaine hidden in a cargo ship from Ecuador and docked at Baltimore's main port, officials announced yesterday. Agents discovered the cocaine during a random search Monday of the containerized cargo on the vessel Alianca Shanghai. Michael Hrinyak, the customs agency's security director at the port, said it was one of the largest cocaine seizures at the Baltimore port in recent years. A contraband enforcement team with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Anti-Terrorism found 310 pounds of cocaine on the ship after a drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities.

On April 12, 2007, HENRY CHARLES SMIT, beloved son of Glenn P. and Melba L. (nee Hoppers) Smit; special friend of Kaylee Oldewurtel and grandson of the late Henry W. and Lucille A. Smit and the late Charles W. and Sarah E. Hoppers. Friends may call on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. at Tarring-Cargo Funeral Home P.A., 333 S. Parke Street, Aberdeen, MD where services will be held on Tuesday at 10 A.M. Entombment at Harford Memorial Gardens.

A union-backed activist group called yesterday for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to drop opposition to the inspection of all cargo containers that come through U.S. ports for bomb-making materials. Wake Up Wal-Mart, which has long targeted the giant retailer's pay and benefit policies, held news conferences in 15 cities yesterday to unveil a new television ad and draw attention to one of the nation's largest importers. The group does not represent port or Wal-Mart workers, although the union backers have sought to organize the retailer's work force.

On December 18, 2006, VICTORIA ADAMS; mother of Penny Pearson, Ronald Adams, Sandy Lachance and Jeffery Adams. Also survived by eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Friends may call at the Tarring-Cargo Funeral Home, 333 S. Parke Street, Aberdeen, MD, on Wednesday from 6 to 8 P.M., where funeral services will be begin at 7:30 P.M. Contributions may be made to the Parkinson Foundation.

The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that it would begin screening for nuclear and radiological material in containerized cargo at six foreign ports before it leaves for U.S. gateways, including the port of Baltimore. The ports where screening will be conducted include Port Qasim in Pakistan, Puerto Cortes in Honduras, Southampton in the United Kingdom, Salalah in Oman, the port of Singapore and the Gamman Terminal at the port of Busan in South Korea. Though it will affect just 7 percent of the 11 million containers that enter U.S. ports annually, federal officials hope the $60 million program will be expanded to more foreign ports if global shippers, governments and others embrace it. The containers typically are filled with such items as electronics, furniture, toys and clothes.

Annapolis doesn't have the bragging rights of Boston when it comes to tea parties before the American Revolution. But the 1774 Peggy Stewart story lives on the state capital. On Oct. 19, 1774, local sea merchant Anthony Stewart caused an uproar when he arrived at City Dock with thousands of pounds of tea from England, certain to inflame the colonies, whose denizens were outraged by the high tax on tea. A mob of patriots marched to Stewart's home and gave him an ultimatum: a public lynching or burning the cargo of tea aboard the docked Peggy Stewart.

It's part of the frequent flier's bible: You don't put valuables in checked bags. Security personnel might rifle through them. They can get lost or stolen. The wear and tear of being tossed around can't be good for any breakables inside. But after this week's foiled terrorist attacks in Britain, airline passengers are being told - depending on their destination - to pack away laptops and BlackBerries, expensive perfumes, cosmetics and even some medications. The restrictions come as Department of Transportation statistics show that baggage handling has been getting worse, when Transportation Security Administration (TSA)