Confirmation

The Baltimore City Council's executive nominations committee will hold a confirmation hearing tonight for Anthony W. Batts, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's pick to be the city's next police commissioner. Tonight's hearing begins at 5 p.m. and will air on the city's public access cable channel, TV 25.  Batts' contract has been signed, and he's been on the job for a few weeks. He spent 27 years with the Long Beach Police Department, before leading the Oakland Police Department for two years.

An attorney for the family of an Anne Arundel County 7-year-old suspended from school after being accused of nibbling a pastry into the shape of a gun says he met with school officials Wednesday in an attempt have the student's suspension expunged, but no resolution was reached. Park Elementary School student Josh Welch was suspended in March for two days after school officials accused him of shaping the pastry into the form of a gun and waving it around. School officials sent a letter home to parents saying the student had been removed from the classroom for making "inappropriate gestures that disrupted the class.

WASHINGTON -- She's about to go before the Senate for confirmation hearings that could prove rocky, particularly over the emotional issue of abortion. The White House staunchly praises her work on behalf of President Bush. Critics call her unqualified and claim that Bush nominated her to reward a loyal, longtime supporter. Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers? No. Ellen R. Sauerbrey, who was tapped last month for a high-level State Department job. In almost three decades in public life, Sauerbrey has been: Republican leader of the Maryland House of Delegates, twice candidate for governor, state chairwoman of Bush's 2000 campaign, and the U.S. envoy on women's issues to the United Nations.

No new leases have been announced for Town Centre Laurel — the development that is planned for the site where Laurel Mall once stood — but agreements with tenants already announced have been officially finalized, and the project is said to be on track. The developers of the $130 million project gave City Council members an update at the meeting on Monday night, May 13. Officials with Greenberg Gibbons Commercial, the project's lead developer, said asbestos removal and the demolition work of the existing structure went as planned.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans will have their firs crack at President-elect Bill Clinton's Cabinet today when the Commerce Committee holds a confirmation hearing certain to focus on Commerce Secretary-designate Ronald H. Brown's controversial foreign lobbying and business dealings."

In contrast to last year's battles over top appointments in the Baltimore County government, the executive's pick for county attorney sailed through a confirmation hearing with the County Council yesterday with a few easy questions and some friendly advice. The only questions came from Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville-Ruxton Democrat who asked the nominee, Pikesville attorney Jay L. Liner, about his plans to wrap up his private practice and about a loan he and his law partner received from the county to renovate their offices.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. doesn't have the preternatural poise of the judge who preceded him on the path toward Senate confirmation, John G. Roberts Jr. Unlike Roberts, now the chief justice, Alito has a 15-year record as a federal appeals court judge that is giving supporters and opponents alike plenty to pick over. What Alito does share with Roberts, however, is a potentially decisive advantage in the confirmation game: Republicans control both the Senate Judiciary Committee - which begins considering Alito's nomination tomorrow - and the full Senate.

WASHINGTON -- The 64-member board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which will meet here tomorrow, is likely to decide to oppose Senate confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, according to sources familiar with board members' opinions.Although it was expected that the board would go on record as opposing Judge Thomas' confirmation, there was uncertainty about how strongly its opposition would be stated and about the extent to which it would be able to achieve unanimity in reaching a decision.

In the aftermath of the Arnick hearings, leaders of the state Senate introduced a constitutional amendment yesterday to prevent would-be judges from taking office before their confirmation.If passed by the legislature and approved by Maryland voters, future appointees would not be put in the position of quitting their jobs and becoming a judge -- as former Del. John S. Arnick did -- before finding out if they would be approved by the Senate.Judges now can be sworn in and hear cases before being confirmed.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee signaled yesterday that it planned to proceed with a confirmation hearing for Attorney General-designate Michael B. Mukasey without documents from the White House that it once deemed critical to investigating suspected abuses under Alberto R. Gonzales. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Mukasey yesterday that he intended to hold the nominee to a higher standard in light of the administration's refusal to turn over subpoenaed materials about the politically charged firing last year of nine U.S. attorneys and other matters.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee vote on Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez was postponed hours before it was set to take place Wednesday, highlighting what appears to be a growing partisan fight over the confirmation of the former Maryland official.  Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee accused Republicans of relying on an obscure rule to delay the committee vote, which had been moved back once before. Republicans said Perez has failed to answer questions they say are critical to understanding his record.

A tornado touched down in the Largo area of Prince George's County during storms that passed through the region Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed Monday. Meteorologists had previously confirmed another tornado in Northern Virginia. The Largo tornado touched down at 7:26 p.m. in the Marlboro Ridge neighborhood, uprooting trees, blowing out windows and garage doors and walls. The tornado traveled about half a mile, lasting less than a minute, according to the weather service.

Ryan McGrath and other Baltimore-area runners were relaxing after the Boston Marathon, refueling with some burritos, when they heard the blasts. "I thought maybe it's one of those boat-type things that just shoots off a cannon every day," said McGrath, a Highlandtown resident who organizes a running group through Falls Road Running Store in Mount Washington. "One of my friends was like, 'Man, that didn't sound like a cannon.'" Police and emergency vehicles quickly flooded the area, and marathoners and spectators ran by crying, McGrath said.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate will hold a confirmation hearing on Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over her decades of public service, Ms. McCarthy has demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting public health with pragmatic solutions to our pollution challenges. In short, she has proved that she is a true public health champion. While Ms. McCarthy's most high-profile accomplishments came from her work strengthening and modernizing historic clean air standards to ensure that Americans will be able to breathe easier over the long term, she has dedicated her entire career to keeping kids safe from chemicals, ensuring we have clean and safe drinking water, and tackling the environmental health issues that really matter.

Senate Republicans criticized the nomination Monday of former state labor secretary Thomas E. Perez to lead the U.S. Department of Labor, signaling the longtime civil rights lawyer will face a contentious confirmation over his approach to the law and his record on immigration. Perez, the top civil rights attorney in the Justice Department, was nominated by President Barack Obama at a White House event that drew a host of supporters, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The Dogwood Restaurant in Hampden has closed, according to owner Galen Sampson, who co-owned the restaurant with his wife, Bridget. Its last day of service was Saturday. "This weekend we were forced to make the decision to close The Dogwood Restaurant," Sampson wrote Sunday evening in a statement released to Baltimore Diner. "We had hoped we could keep it going, but after three very poor weeks of revenue there is no option but to close the restaurant. " He wrote that the restaurant would be able to pay employees the wages they are due. "We did our best to try and restructure our business model in order to keep our employees employed," Sampson continued.

Baltimore lawmakers grilled Col. Edward T. Norris yesterday during his confirmation hearing for state police superintendent, questioning his position on such issues as racial profiling, bringing troopers into the city to fight crime and a citizen's right to bear arms. Discussion of Norris' confirmation before the Senate Executive Nominations Committee was the longest and most heated of the dozen hearings yesterday. Although it is widely expected that he will be confirmed as Maryland's next top police officer, the battery of questions from city senators signaled their displeasure with his decision to leave his post as Baltimore's police commissioner.

Despite his stormy confirmation hearing two weeks ago, Daisy resident Theodore Mariani has been unanimously and unceremoniously confirmed as a member of the Planning Board.The council grouped Mr. Mariani with eight other nominees to various boards and commissions, and it approved all nine simultaneously Monday night.The unanimous yeses, uttered in dull monotones, contrasted sharply with the shouts exchanged between council members and Highland activist John W. Taylor on Sept. 21, when Mr. Taylor urged the council to reject Mr. Mariani.

Former Baltimore prep basketball star Aquille Carr plans to pursue a professional career overseas instead of playing at Seton Hall next season, he announced Saturday evening after he scored 52 points in his final high school game. Carr, who played his senior season at Princeton Day Academy in Laurel, had strongly hinted at his intentions in an interview last month and again in a series of tweets last week. He verbally committed to Seton Hall early last year and maintained all along that if he played in college, that would be his destination.

The Baltimore Bombers' promising inaugural season has come to a premature end. The team, one of four in the North American Lacrosse League, issued a statement Friday confirming reports that it will not play its final two scheduled games because of financial problems. The Bombers had been scheduled to face the Kentucky Stickhorses on Sunday afternoon at Du Burns Arena before visiting the Boston Rockhoppers next Saturday night. The Bombers had a 4-3 record and trailed Boston by two games in the standings.