Chair

A media mogul, a surfboard industry pioneer, a coach of disabled athletes and the first man to sail solo around the world are among the inaugural inductees to the National Sailing Hall of Fame, a Maryland institution working to build a permanent home on the Annapolis waterfront. Next weekend's induction ceremony, to be held at the San Diego Yacht Club in California, comes six years after the National Sailing Center and Hall of Fame was formed to promote sailing and recognize men and women who have made "outstanding contributions" to the sport.

Howard County school board chair Janet Siddiqui told the county delegation Tuesday night that a proposed bill to change the makeup of the board would jeopardize the search for a superintendent and hamper the progress of the state's only school system to make academic yearly progress this year. Siddiqui testified during the public hearing on behalf of a school board that could see its current makeup of seven at-large, elected members changed by a bill sponsored by Del. Frank Turner.

Howard County school board members have agreed that they need to voice stronger opposition to a bill that would retool the seven-member, at-large, elected body to one with five members elected by district and two appointees. The bill, which requires legislative approval, will be discussed Tuesday at a public hearing. If passed during a special session this month, the legislation would take effect before the Jan. 11 school board primary filing deadline. Board Chairman Janet Siddiqui plans to testify at the hearing, and she asked board members this week for suggestions on rewording her previous testimony.

Anne Arundel Community College student Susan Wasilewski crafted a design for a chair that a New York furniture company turned into a finished product. Someday, Wasilewski hopes to design more pieces for an entire set of furniture that might show up in showrooms worldwide. Wasilewski, a resident of St. Michaels, saw the design claim the top prize this year at the Made: In America Washington, D.C., Furniture Design Competition. Her concept was called the PHI chair, named for an architectural-geometric term denoting balance.

Catonsville's Fourth of July parade is bound to be an impressive event Monday afternoon, with 17 marching bands, Lone Ranger look-alikes, wailing firetrucks, color guards, 25 floats and a renowned local waitress drifting by in a long red gown. But before that, unfolding as you read this, goes the spectacle of the chairs. To be more precise, the chairs, blankets, tarps, ropes, twine, steel cable, yellow "Caution" tape, bricks, stones and, at last count, two seated mannequins — one torso only, one whole figure — intended to reserve parade viewing spots.

Melvin R. Kenney Jr., a retired food broker who served one term in the Maryland House of Delegates during the 1950s, died June 4 of multiple organ failure at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Cockeysville resident was 93. The son of a stevedore and a homemaker, Mr. Kenney was raised on 27th Street in Baltimore. After graduating from City College in 1935, he went to work as an office clerk for the old C.D. Kenny Co., a wholesale coffee and tea company. "He was promoted to salesman after a man had a heart attack and didn't return to work, because my father had a car," said his son, Melvin R. Kenney Jr. of Cockeysville.

Gov. Martin O'Malley made his first major address as the head of the Democratic Governors Association on Saturday night, using an annual fundraising dinner for Virginia Democrats to urge elected leaders to invest in education and infrastructure. The themes echoed his inaugural address and campaign stump speeches: Democrats should not run away from traditional priorities even in difficult economic times. Keeping schools and transportation projects funded will help states "move forward, not backward," he said, according to prepared remarks.

Maryland's tea party movement has welcomed a recent Republican congressional candidate and a Baltimore Democrat to its leadership ranks. Del. Curt Anderson, the Democrat who leads the Baltimore delegation, was the surprise pick for vice chairman of the otherwise solidly Republican new House tea party caucus. "Their constituency may be conservative," Anderson said, "but just as mine in Northeast Baltimore, they feel that taxes are already too high. " Charles Lollar, meanwhile, has been named director of the Maryland chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Under pressure from fellow Democrats, Del. Curt Anderson quit the otherwise solidly Republican tea party caucus Wednesday, a day after he had been named the new group's vice chairman. Members of the city delegation told the Baltimore Democrat at a hastily called delegation meeting that he had "embarrassed" and "hurt" them by joining a group that one called "a subset of the Republican Party. " They demanded that Anderson quit the caucus or step down as leader of the delegation.