Clearing

Marylanders began digging out Sunday from the great blizzard of February 2010, but they face the prospect of limited mobility for at least the next day or two - and more snow on the horizon. With highways and most major thoroughfares cleared of snow, plows and salt trucks across the Baltimore area labored to open neighborhood streets, rural roads and cul-de-sacs. Local officials cautioned, though, that it might be late today or even Tuesday before they manage to reach those who are still snowbound.

When Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman first suggested withholding state tax refunds from people who have open warrants nearly three years ago, critics said it was a foolish pursuit. "One of the criticisms I got was, 'How many criminals have jobs where they are going to get a tax refund?'" he recalled. He couldn't say. Now he can. "There were 396," he told the County Council during a recent budget hearing. This past tax season — the first with the program fully in effect — that's the number of letters the state comptroller's office sent, telling people if they wanted their money, they'd have to clear their open Anne Arundel County warrants.

Question: We will be clearing a lot of ground this spring. Do you have information on that? Answer: Try to leave as many desirable native plants as you can. For help identifying what you have, send us digital photos through our website's "Send A Question" feature. When you create bare or disturbed soil on slopes, have a plan to prevent erosion on sloped area. You don't want to lose your topsoil. Volunteer plants will move in unless you fill cleared space quickly with mulch or desirable plants.

WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans quickly squared off Thursday over the confirmation of Labor Secretary nominee and Marylander Tom Perez -- preparing for a fight that is likely to intensify after a Senate committee voted along party lines to advance his nomination to the full Senate. House Democrats crafted a letter with 137 signatures to Senate leaders calling for a quick vote. "America's workers deserve a Labor Department operating at full capacity, especially as our economic recovery moves forward," Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Southern Maryland lawmaker and minority whip, said in a statement.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake struck a resonant chord when proclaiming "this city isn't clean until your street is clean," reassuring residents that she is sensitive to the need for thorough snow removal in all parts of the city. That said, the state, through the MTA, could have partnered with the city to take immediate steps to ensure that the city was open, well before it was able to be completely clean. By focusing first on mass transit, clearing both rail lines and bus routes, the dual goal of keeping emergency routes open and cars off the street could have been met. An important distinction between regions that can respond to snow emergencies and ones like Maryland lies in the responsiveness of their transit systems.

The National Weather Service is calling for Tuesday to be cloudy through mid-morning in the Baltimore area, becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 53 and west winds between 7 and 10 miles per hour. Tuesday night is expected to be mostly clear, with a low around 36 and northwest winds around 8 miles per hour. Wednesday is expected to be cloudy, with a high near 45 and west winds between 6 and 8 miles per hour. Wednesday night is expected to be cloudy, with a low around 38 and light north winds.

Last week, the weekly Baltimore Farmers Market & Bazaar put a no-smoking ban into effect. This market has been around for 34 years, selling locally produced goods at stalls set up under the Jones Falls Expressway. On a typical Sunday, the crowds are large, the aisles tightly packed with arugula eaters. Banning smoking there is a no-brainer. You wonder why it took so long. A market that sells cheese made from the milk of Garrett County goats, bacon from hormone-free Carroll County hogs, and heirloom apples from Western Maryland is not likely to be a gathering spot for people who want their lungs filled with tobacco smoke (whether or not the tobacco was locally grown)

I should like to offer one possibly controversial addition to Roy Whitely's "The snow: lessons learned" comments (Readers respond, Feb. 20) about dealing with large snowfalls. It was triggered by another item in The Sun about the towing of cars from shopping center parking lots. Rather than allowing cars to be towed from these lots, use the principle of eminent domain to seize these lots or portions thereof for the duration of the snow emergency as short-term parking havens for cars that need to be displaced for snow clearing operations, with, of course, adequate compensation to the lot owners.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - The first four confirmed civilian deaths since the start of U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan were employees of a United Nations mine-clearing project - men working for an agency dedicated to removing the deadly aftermath of earlier wars who became victims of the latest one. "We have lost 30 workers in the last decade on minefields, but this is the first time we have lost people in the office. This is the tragedy of war," said a sad and weary-looking Syed Ahmad Farid Elmi, acting director of Afghan Technical Consultants, or ATC. A twist making the deaths even more painful, friends said, is that the tower 200 yards away that is believed to have been the U.S. target was not a Taliban transmission facility but a defunct radio broadcasting station.

Darnerien McCants of Arundel waited nearly two years for his chance to win a state high jumping championship and he made sure he didn't let the opportunity slip away at yesterday's 49th annual Maryland State Track and Field Championships at Westminster High School.McCants, a senior who sat out last track season, not because he was ineligible but because he wanted to improve his grades, cleared the bar at 6 feet, 6 inches to win the Class 4A championship.Damion Moss of Meade set a Class 4A state record in the long jump.

If former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hoped she could segue quietly into private life as she pondered a presidential bid in 2016, that fantasy has been abruptly harpooned in the resurrection of the political squabble over the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearing into the failure of the Clinton-led State Department to respond in a timely fashion has made clear that the issue will haunt her and any political aspirations she may have between now and the next presidential election.

Right-hander Zach Clark had a crazy week -- he went from being promoted to the majors, to pitching in his first big league game, to being designated for assignment and then finally to clearing waivers on Monday. The 29-year-old UMBC graduate has been sent to Double-A Bowie, where he'll work on throwing a knuckleball. After parts of eight seasons in the minors, Clark made his debut with the Orioles on Wednesday in Seattle and allowed three runs in 1 2/3 innings. He was taken off the 40-man roster to make room for Freddy Garcia.

Mostly sunny skies are expected Friday after some morning clouds clear, with highs reaching 70 degrees in the Baltimore area, according to the National Weather Service. Overnight lows were expected in the lower- to mid-50s, with some clouds passing through in the morning hours. Blustery winds are expected during the day, with 10-20 mph breezes and gusts. Clouds are forecast to return overnight Friday, with lows around 50 degrees. Skies are expected to gradually clear Saturday, with highs in the upper 60s. Partly cloudy skies are forecast Sunday with highs around 70 degrees and lows in the upper 40s. Rain chances could arrive late Monday and through Tuesday of next week.

Workers were ordered out of the Baltimore building that hosts the national headquarters of the NAACP , after authorities received reports of a "suspicious letter," but the letter was later determined to be harmless. The FBI confirmed that agents had joined city fire and police officials in the 4800 block of Mt. Hope Dr. after receiving a report of a suspicious letter. "It's not uncommon for us to respond to something like that,"  said FBI spokesman Richard Wolf. " At about 1:45 p.m., Wolf said authorities had determined that the letter was "a non-hazard, non-suspicious letter.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Manny Machado was as surprised as anyone. He figured he would open the 2013 season in pretty much the same place he was when the Orioles ended their unlikely playoff run last October. Playing third base every day. Batting deep in the order. Learning on the job. So, what was a 20-year-old semi-rookie supposed to think when manager Buck Showalter announced Monday that he will bat second against 2012 Cy Young Award winner David Price when the Orioles open the regular season Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field?

A bill to give health regulators more oversight of facilities like the now-closed Monarch Medspa in Timonium is making a late surge in the General Assembly after weeks of discussions among state and industry officials. The House of Delegates unanimously passed the legislation Monday afternoon. It needs to clear the Senate, including an extra procedural step, within the next week. The legislative session draws to a close April 8. If passed, the law would close a regulatory gap that does not allow state health officials to proactively inspect and oversee plastic surgery centers.

Road crews worked through the weekend to clear the 14 inches of snowfall in Howard County. Plowed roads were salted and cindered yesterday, and crews turned their attention to clearing school parking lots and other facilities.The work was hampered over the weekend by parked vehicles, drifting snow and ice in the west and central portions of Howard County, and by hard-packed snow in the east, said Alan Ferragamo, chief of highways.In eastern Howard County, sleet and rain caused problems when they froze and were buried beneath more snow.

The trail had been heavily used at both sides of the small clearing above the river. The freshest tracks led downhill from a sparse stand of pine, across the glade into mixed hardwoods, where a few squirrels noisily hunted acorns among the damp leaves.Farther downhill, a small stream of dark water ran toward the Patuxent, its slow passage thinly audible above the wind in the treetops.On the floor of the wood, deer droppings were clustered at the edge of the clearing, where a whitetail had stopped to survey the scene, and spread in a rough line farther down the trail, left behind casually as the deer moved through the brush.

A phase-out of renewable energy subsidies for paper mills has cleared the Maryland Senate, though with a provision that guarantees the state's only paper plant in Allegany County would continue to receive payments underwritten by taxpayers. Environmentalists hailed the 33-13 vote Thursday for SB684 , which they said would close what they considered a major loophole in Maryland's renewable energy law. Currently, mostly out-of-state paper mills receive millions of dollars annually for powering their operations by burning "black liquor," a tarry byproduct of the pulping process, and other wood waste.

In a long-sought victory for Baltimore, the Maryland Senate approved a $1 billion financing plan Friday for an unprecedented systemwide drive to rebuild and renovate the city's crumbling school buildings. The measure passed easily on a bipartisan vote of 40-7. It now goes back to the House of Delegates for approval of a minor amendment and then will move to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk. Takirra Winfield, a spokeswoman for O'Malley, said the governor will sign the bill. "He's always been a supporter of Baltimore City and Baltimore City public schools, and he is very pleased that a deal has been reached," she said.