Commissioners

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

On a recent Friday night in the Baltimore Police Department's high-tech Watch Center, an urgent but vague tip came in — a murder witness was in danger. The tipster had overheard a conversation but knew only the nickname of the witness and had a hunch about the name of the street where the killing had taken place. Could police figure out the witness's identity and get to him before those who wanted to harm him? The Watch Center is a nerve center built on the ninth floor of police headquarters after the terrorist attacks of Sept.

At 10 a.m. on a recent weekday, roughly a half-dozen District Court commissioners were individually processing 120 arrestees at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center, and making big decisions about whether to set bail or release the accused with instructions to come to court when called. They work out of tiny concrete cells in the detention center, similar to those packed with waiting prisoners. For protection, they have a window partition between them and the defendant, who is locked in during the proceeding.

On Sunday, a Sun editorial unfairly criticized the Baltimore Police Department for losing its focus on targeting the city's most violent criminals. I can assure residents that since I was appointed commissioner some 180 days ago, the senior leadership team of the BPD has been implementing strategies to complement our already razor-sharp focus on violent crime. There's no question our strategy includes a stronger presence of police in violence-prone areas to allow people to feel safer in their neighborhoods.

Frederick County commissioners have rejected a proposal to consider seceding from Maryland. The panel voted 4-1 Tuesday against Republican Commissioner Lennie Thompson's resolution. Board President Jan Gardner called it outlandish and Commissioner Kai Hagen labeled it a public relations gimmick. But all the commissioners sympathized with Thompson's frustration at the increasing cost of state government. Thompson said a proposal recently floated by state lawmakers to shift some teacher pension costs to the counties illustrates the General Assembly's financial irresponsibility.

David Stern, NBA Still The Man, though the NBA has hit some potholes. Stern imposed the lockout to overhaul an economic system he says led 23 of 30 teams to lose money. Barring a quick agreement, the opening of training camps in early October will be jeopardized as will an on-time Nov. 1 season start. Robert Boland, professor of sports business at New York University's Tisch Center, said Stern is "the one who is held in the greatest awe" among commissioners for resuscitating the NBA and building global appeal through the Olympics.

Debate over the meaning of gold-colored sheets of paper passed among members of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners has pitted the elected officials against residents who allege they are thumbing their noses at state open meetings rules. Two residents complained to the commissioners and state officials Tuesday that the so-called "goldenrod" form — or as it's officially known, the "Board of County Commissioners Action Authorization Form" — violates the state's Open Meetings Act, which requires elected officials to meet publicly when conducting official government business.

HAMPSTEAD - The Tri-District Republican Club will conduct a salute to Commissioner President John L. Armacost for his years of conservative leadership in the Republican Party at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Hampstead Volunteer Fire Co.This event also will recognize and honor former Republican County Commissioners Scott S. Bair Jr., 1966-1970; Justus Denner, 1962; J. Norman Graham, 1970-1982; William V. Lauterbach Jr., 1982-1986; Robert McKinney, 1962-1970; John...

As Carroll County commissioners Richard Rothschild and Robin Frazier spoke recently during a slide presentation on their goals/visions in the 2010 Master Plan, I found myself thinking, "I've heard this tune before. " But I hadn't heard it on WTTR - no, it was at the public meetings where the commissioners tried to explain in January why the a land-use plan submitted by the Planning Commission in January was dead on arrival. Seven months passed before the commissioners got around to making recommendations they considered necessary to gain the board's approval.

My gripe with the current Carroll County commissioners is their rejection of "smart growth" policies ("Carroll commissioners break with past on growth, housing, transit," June 23). There has been important support for smart growth in the county. The commissioners should recognize their lack of wisdom and relent. Smart growth targets land use, which includes where housing and employment are located, their densities and types, transportation and overall development patterns. In Maryland in particular, smart growth can play a significant role in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Acknowledging the sparse turn-out of about a dozen residents at his March 18 Town Hall Community Meeting at the South Carroll Senior Center, in Eldersburg, County Commissioner Doug Howard jokingly confessed that he'd considered ways to drum up more excitement for the Monday evening session. "I asked Commissioner (Richard) Rothschild to come debate me on education, but that didn't work out," Howard said, referring to his fellow commissioner from District 4 who advocates for cuts to the county school budget that Howard opposes.

The Town of Sykesville and the Warfield development along Route 32 will be the key topics of a town hall meeting Monday night hosted by County Commissioner Doug Howard, at 7 p.m. at the South Carroll Senior Center, 5928 Mineral Hill Road, Eldersburg. The meeting is the fourth in a series of monthly sessions for District 5 residents. Guests Ivy Wells and Brad Rees from the Town of Sykesville will provide information on the Main Street and Warfield projects.

A female colleague of Johns Hopkins gynecologist Dr. Nikita Levy became suspicious about a pen the doctor wore around his neck and alerted officials at the medical institution, touching off an investigation into whether he secretly recorded patients. When confronted with the woman's concerns, the doctor handed over several recording devices, including a similar pen camera, to investigators, according to a letter to victim advocates from the institution's top medical official that provided new details about how the allegations came to light.

Carolyn Colvin, the former secretary of the state Department of Human Resources, became acting commissioner of the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration on Thursday. President Barack Obama has not yet nominated a successor for Michael J. Astrue, the appointee of former President George W. Bush whose six-year term ended last month. Obama's nominee must be confirmed by the Senate. Colvin was deputy commissioner under Astrue and has also served as special assistant to Maryland's secretary of transportation.

Education was the primary topic for the last in a series of Around the County in 80 Minutes — Keep Carroll Strong meetings hosted by County Commissioners Doug Howard and Haven Shoemaker. The Monday, Feb. 11, session at Liberty High School in Eldersburg could easily have been called Save Our Schools, resembling at times a pep rally, with most of the several hundred residents in attendance seeming to enthusiastically embrace what Howard and Shoemaker, both of whom are Republicans, had to say. Monday night's audience included a number of educators and Liberty High School students.

Top Baltimore police commanders, including the director of the agency's training academy, were unaware that training exercises were being conducted at an Owings Mills facility where a rookie University of Maryland officer was shot in the head and critically wounded, officials said Wednesday. Anthony Guglielmi, the city Police Department's chief spokesman, called the training at a former state psychiatric hospital a "communication breakdown in the chain of command," and said the department has identified multiple problems - including the fact that there were no supervisors on site.

Is there a special Carroll County edition of the Old Testament that has all 36 of the admonitions to treat immigrants kindly expurgated? It seems clear that the Carroll County commissioners aren't very familiar with the Scriptures, as they seem to be proud of their status as the chief immigrant baiters in this state which is apparently full of them. I'm far from reconciled from the ill treatment of immigrants' children in the recent referendum attempts to overturn the Maryland Dream Act. But at least no one so grossly flaunts the Good Book as an authority for their mean spirits.

Richmond, Va. police chief Bryan Norwood, who sources said was a finalist for Baltimore's police commissioner position last year, has stepped down amid a controversy over R&B singer Chris Brown's probation, according to reports.  Los Angeles prosecutors have been critical of the Richmond department's oversight of the community service work of Tappahannock, Va., native Chris Brown following the singer's conviction for assaulting his girlfriend, pop...

The press and public have understandably focused in recent weeks on high-profile appointments such as the secretaries of state, defense and treasury as President Barack Obama builds his second-term team. They also should pay close attention to the search for a man or woman to serve as commissioner of the Social Security Administration - a post central to the national welfare and, with a six-year term, an appointment that will continue into the next presidency. The Social Security Administration, headquartered just outside Baltimore in Woodlawn, touches the lives and pocketbooks of nearly every American.