Common

Watching presidents go into free fall near the end of their tenure makes me quite nervous. Not so much for their sake, but for ours. Several presidents ago, while still early in my years as a Treasury Department public servant, I underwent such a change in bosses at the top. We were called on once again to write memos as a primer to one in a long string of novices - as treasury secretaries almost always are - on the department's role, the issues that...

Psychiatrists, skinheads, underground radicals and horse rustling. It's hard to find a pattern in the subjects of award-winning playwright Willy Holtzman's works. As he put it, he's attracted to dramatic stories that draw on "factual, historical material." But if Holtzman's plays before Hearts, which opens tonight at Center Stage, had anything in common - it's that they had nothing to do with him. Self-conscious about his "cookie-cutter background" as a baby boomer growing up in Missouri, Holtzman has, as a rule, shied away from anything autobiographical.

The bicentennial of Rachel Carson's birth is barely a month past and her shocking fantasy of a world without birds seems to be coming true. It's not pesticides that are at fault; Ms. Carson was very effective in banning their use. In this case, what's killing some of the most common birds in the state and the nation is thoughtless development that robs these homebodies of the meadows, pastures and forests they need to thrive. If there is any doubt about the critical need to carefully manage growth in a way that protects wildlife habitat, promotes agricultural conservation, preserves wetlands and diminishes the impact of global warming, it should quickly be resolved by the prospect of songbirds going silent.

Below are insider transactions of 1,000 shares or more for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Medimmune Inc.Bogdan Dziurzynski, vice president, exercised an option for 157,880 shares of common at between $7.38 and $32.19 each Jan. 29 and sold 40,400 shares for between $49.37 and $50.76 each Jan. 29.David P. Wright, divisional officer, exercised an option for 13,500 shares of common at $6.25 each Jan. 29 and sold them for $49.76 each Jan. 29. He no longer holds shares in the company.

Below are insider transactions for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.EA EngineeringEdward M. Greco,vice president, purchased 2,288 shares of common stock at $0.97 each Aug. 31 and now directly holds 6,385 common.Barbara L. Posner,vice president, purchased 4,032 shares of common at $0.97 each Aug. 31 and now directly holds 11,320 common.Procter & Gamble Co.Gordon F. Brunner,director, indirectly sold 67,988 shares of common at $100.

Below are insider transactions for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.AlliedSignal Inc.Larry E. Kittelberger, vice president, exercised an option for 49,000 shares of common at between $35.79 and $36.47 each Aug. 13 and sold them for $63.28 each Aug. 13. He now directly and indirectly holds 364 common.CSX Corp.Paul R. Goodwin,vice president, exercised an option for 13,428 shares at $19.91 each from Aug. 4 to Aug. 9 and sold 21,577 shares for $48.51 each from Aug. 4 to Aug. 9.Guilford Pharm.

Below are insider transactions of 1,000 shares or more for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Bell Atlantic Corp.Lawrence T. Babbio, president, exercised an option for 68,245 shares of common at between $25.03 and $27.84 each Jan. 20. To cover expenses of the transaction, Babbio turned in 32,459 of them for $57.25 each Jan. 20 and sold 9,742 shares in the open market for $57.25 each Jan. 20. He now directly and indirectly holds 111,002 common.

Below are insider transactions of 1,000 shares or more for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Black & Decker Corp.Donald B. Cooper, no longer required to file as an insider, exercised an option for 32,500 shares of common at between $30.50 and $39.88 each March 22. To cover expenses of the transaction, Cooper turned in 26,593 of them for $53.30 each March 22 and now directly and indirectly holds 6,233 common.

Below are insider transactions of 1,000 shares or more for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Becton, Dickinson & Co.Richard O. Brajer,divisional officer, purchased 2,613 shares of common stock at between $26.69 and $26.81 each Aug. 4 and now directly and indirectly holds 5,793 common.Gary Cohen,officer, exercised an option for 4,988 shares of common at $20.03 each Aug. 27 and now directly and indirectly holds 27,407 common.

Below are insider transactions for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Guilford Pharma. Inc.Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., director, disposed of, by gift, 84,000 shares of common at an unreported price from July 13 to July 26 and now directly holds 498,217 common.Harbor Fed. Bancorp Inc.Norbert J. Luken, officer and trustee, disposed of, by gift, 1,200 shares of common at an unreported price July 28 and now directly and indirectly holds 47,534 common.

Maryland and 45 other states have agreed to develop a common set of academic standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, a national shift away from local control over schools that seemed unlikely even a few years ago. The agreement signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick was led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. It would only commit Maryland and the other states to craft a common core vision for what every student should know in math and reading, but it is a step that is expected to eventually lead to the adoption of national standards and tests.

Speaking to Congress recently, President Barack Obama praised "the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their jobs." His sentiments need to be echoed and acted upon by community leaders everywhere. Some have already heeded the call. In early February, Montgomery County teachers accepted school administrators' proposal that they forgo raises they were expecting in order to avert layoffs. Last year, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank voluntarily cut his salary from $500,000 to $26,000, saying he should be paid according to his Baltimore-based company's performance.

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one, with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. - the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dec. 11, 1961 Tom Watson, memorialized with a statue on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol, is remembered for a virulent racism that denigrated Catholics, demonized Jews and lauded a Ku Klux Klan that would terrorize former slaves. But Mr. Watson didn't start his political career as a hatemonger.

The Lyric Opera House will host Ladies Night Out featuring Common on Sunday night. The hip-hop artist, a member of the loose collective Soulquarians, worked with artists Kanye West, will.i.am., D'Angelo and Lily Allen for his latest album, Finding Forever, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and received multiple Grammy nominations. Common also branched out into film, having acted in Smokin' Aces and American Gangster. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $47.50-$97.50. The Lyric is at 140 W. Mount Royal Ave. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.

Psychiatrists, skinheads, underground radicals and horse rustling. It's hard to find a pattern in the subjects of award-winning playwright Willy Holtzman's works. As he put it, he's attracted to dramatic stories that draw on "factual, historical material." But if Holtzman's plays before Hearts, which opens tonight at Center Stage, had anything in common - it's that they had nothing to do with him. Self-conscious about his "cookie-cutter background" as a baby boomer growing up in Missouri, Holtzman has, as a rule, shied away from anything autobiographical.

Rap it up Go hear the sounds of cool rap by Common and Q-Tip 8 p.m. tonight at Sonar Lounge, 407 E. Saratoga St. Tickets are $34 and are available through ticketmaster, ticket master.com or 410-547- SEAT. FYI Glenn McNatt's art column does not appear today.

Yara Cheikh expected her pediatrician to diagnose the sickly rattle in her infant son's chest as a bacterial infection. "I went in looking for antibiotics," said the Towson mother of four. The pediatrician made a different call: Nine-month-old Hugh DeBrabander's illness was viral, an infection antibiotics are powerless against. Cheikh accepted the explanation and was happy to spare her son an unnecessary dose of medication. Not all young children are so fortunate. Many receive ineffective or even dangerous drugs for common illnesses such as colds, flu, sore throats and earaches.

HAZLETON, Pa. -- Salvadore DeFazio, the poet laureate of Hazleton, is on deadline. In the days leading to the Fourth of July, his hometown is celebrating its 150th birthday. The centerpiece of the commemoration is a history pageant that DeFazio is furiously working to finish. He is searching for an ending, though he has settled on a musical theme in Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." It's a perfect fit, DeFazio says: "Hazleton is a fanfare for the common man." Not everyone is thrilled with the choice of music.

The bicentennial of Rachel Carson's birth is barely a month past and her shocking fantasy of a world without birds seems to be coming true. It's not pesticides that are at fault; Ms. Carson was very effective in banning their use. In this case, what's killing some of the most common birds in the state and the nation is thoughtless development that robs these homebodies of the meadows, pastures and forests they need to thrive. If there is any doubt about the critical need to carefully manage growth in a way that protects wildlife habitat, promotes agricultural conservation, preserves wetlands and diminishes the impact of global warming, it should quickly be resolved by the prospect of songbirds going silent.

Merry menopause The lowdown -- Take a girls' night out and laugh alongside women of all ages at Menopause the Musical, a play that takes a humorous look at "the change" that middle-aged women go through. Focusing on four women who meet at a lingerie sale and discover they share something in common -- menopause and all its dreaded symptoms -- this play also includes 25 baby-boomer hit songs with rewritten lyrics, including "I Heard It Thru the Grapevine; You No Longer See 39." If you go -- Menopause the Musical runs Wednesday-Aug.