Corporation

First-quarter net income at AlliedSignal Inc. rose 12 percent compared with the same portion of last year, the company said yesterday.Its $335 million in net income, or 59 cents per diluted share, was a first-quarter record for the New Jersey conglomerate and beat last year's mark of $300 million or 52 cents per share.The rise came despite several divestitures that took place in 1998, including the sale to Raytheon Co. of a military electronics plant in Towson. Total sales for the first quarter were $3.6 billion, down 1 percent from the year-ago period.

Volunteer board members of Anne Arundel County's economic development agency have paid themselves thousands of dollars over six years for supplying the nonprofit group with everything from legal advice and accounting work to stationery and computer software.The first independent audit of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp., released last week, as well as newly opened financial records and disclosures made in interviews, show that the agency has concealed apparent conflicts of interest while freely spending public money.

Seizing greater control over Anne Arundel County's Economic Development Corporation, County Executive Janet S. Owens replaced three outgoing board members yesterday with her own appointees.The shake-up gives her control of five of nine seats on the corporation's board of directors and comes as Owens has become increasingly vocal in objecting to the agency's repeated refusals to open its financial books for her review.By keeping a stranglehold on their records, Owens said, economic development officials have generated a cloud of suspicion around their agency, which is private but heavily funded with taxpayer money and headed by a county employee.

Closed meeting with developers raises concernsIn March, the mayor and council of Hampstead intentionally excluded the public from a meeting they held with developers.The mayor has since refused to disclose information about it. From even sketchy reports, it is obvious that it most likely dealt with a development proposal which may have significant water, traffic and air quality impact on town residents and those in the neighboring environs.I cannot understand the insistence of Mayor Chris Nevin and council members Lawrence H. Hentz, Stephen A. Holland and Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. to keep the contents of this meeting secret from their constituents.

Larry Storck and Joe Records combined for an 8-under-par 63, and took a five-stroke lead yesterday after the first round of the annual two-man team championship sponsored by the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation at Mount Pleasant Golf Course.The pace-setters, who have won the event four of the past five years, shot 3-under 33 on the front, then started eagle-birdie and went on to shoot 5-under 30 on the back nine.Results, Page 16CPub Date: 5/17/98

WASHINGTON -- December will usher in a quiet milestone in American life: Some 52 million homes -- half of all U.S. households -- will have at least one personal computer.Low prices and a desire to be linked to the Internet drove nearly 4 million buyers to purchase their first PCs in the first half of 1998, a newly released market survey by ZD Market Intelligence shows.That torrid pace has held up, even ahead of the Christmas buying season, industry analysts report. It's likely that 1998 will see more than 8 million new PC users -- nearly double the 4.9 million first-time buyers in 1997.

The Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. is offering loans to small businesses in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).The SBA just included the corporation as an approved lender in its 7(a) loan guarantee program. The corporation is the Baltimore area's first economic development organization to be included.Its new status allows the corporation to make SBA-guaranteed loans in addition to the direct loans it makes from the Arundel Business Loan Fund.The 7(a) program includes loans for $100,000 or less and loan programs for minorities and women.

CIENA CORP., the fast-growing Linthicum high-technology company, is another example that success can be a double-edged sword.The company was so good at making devices that increase the volume of information transmitted through telephone fiber-optic cables that it became a highly attractive target for acquisition. The downside is that Maryland loses the headquarters of a dynamic corporation.Tellabs Inc., an Illinois communication equipment manufacturer, has agreed to pay Ciena's stockholders $6.9 billion to acquire the fledging company.

Though a final deadline hasn't been set, the Baltimore Corp. for Housing Partnerships, once considered the pre-eminent nonprofit housing force in the city, is preparing to turn over its properties to other parties and close its doors for good.David F. Tufaro, chairman of the board of the housing corporation, said yesterday that plans have been made to "transfer our assets to appropriate parties.""We don't have an absolute close-down date, but we have a plan in place to work toward that as quickly as we can," he said.

Ravens marketing chief David Cope said the team is focusing its negotiations on four corporations interested in paying to put their name on the team's new stadium, which opens next month adjacent to Oriole Park.But, Cope said, the team may not reach agreement by the first preseason game, scheduled for Aug. 8, or even the first season."We're just not where we want to be with any of them yet," Cope said.The team is seeking a multimillion-dollar packaged sponsorship in which a corporation not only would get its name on the building, but potentially on the uniforms of cheerleaders and on the screen during game broadcasts.

In the wake of rising unemployment and a sagging economy, the county is encouraging unemployed Anne Arundel County residents to use the Workforce Development Corp., a career counseling, job search assistance and training service. The corporation has six centers in the county to help residents looking for work. The centers are in Annapolis, Hanover, Glen Burnie, Fort Meade, BWI Airport and Pasadena. Those looking for jobs can attend orientation sessions to find out about resources, access employment databases with government and private sector openings, and attend seminars on resume writing and interviewing.

Days after the city offered to save the Senator Theatre by turning it into a nonprofit business, owner Tom Kiefaber said he is working with the mayor's office to finalize the deal "as soon as possible." But gaining nonprofit status would likely mean big changes at the historic theater. As a nonprofit, it would not just show movies; it would need to provide educational and cultural programming as well. The new status would also mean a new role for Kiefaber, who would give up day-to-day control of the movie house, which has been run by his family for decades.

Put action on GGP plan for Columbia on hold As I read the newspapers about the General Growth Properties plan for downtown Columbia development and the reactions of Howard County government officials and Columbia Association officials to that plan, I feel like I must be living in a parallel universe. Hasn't anyone noticed that the entire world financial picture has changed? We are now in a recession that is worse than anything that has happened since the Great Depression. Stock markets and banks around the world are in a critical situation, and GGP's stock has fallen from $51 to less than $1 a share within the last year.

KERMIT R. "DICK" BROWNING, 83, of Stewartstown, Pa., formerly of Essex and Hampstead, Md., died April 12, 2008 at his home. He was the husband of the late Lois Jean (Langham) Browning; the father of Glen R. Browning and his wife Jackie of Lorain, Oh., Sandra S. Jersild of Cacapon, W. Va., and Mark A. Browning and his wife Darlene of Stewartstown, Pa.; and the brother of Caudy Browning of Essex, Md., and Shirley Byrne of Federalsburg, Md. Dick is also survived by 11 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Further chilling already frosty relations, the largest franchisee of Wendy's International Inc. has filed suit against the Ohio corporation once known for its steady management and effective, folksy ad campaigns under founder Dave Thomas. In its suit, DavCo Acquisition Holding Inc., the Crofton-based owner of 158 Wendy's outlets in Maryland, Washington and Virginia, alleges that the corporation improperly inflated soda syrup prices to divert funds to a national campaign that many franchise owners despise.

Just in time for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you can purchase a variety of chick flicks in a DVD sleeve with a pink border, and 50 cents of the purchase price will go to breast-cancer research. The movies include An Affair to Remember, A Walk in the Clouds, Ever After, In Her Shoes, Legally Blonde, Mermaids, Moulin Rouge, Never Been Kissed, Say Anything and Thelma & Louise. 20th Century Fox and MGM Home Entertainment have promised to donate a minimum of $250,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure from the sale of these DVDs.

Strange but true: It took Annapolis until 1936 to commission a map of the city in Colonial times. In January of that year, as the Great Depression was beginning to lift, a group of history buffs decided to take a closer look at the past. And so the Corporation for the Restoration of Colonial Annapolis announced its first commission. It was the preparation of an accurate map of pre-Revolutionary Annapolis, showing all the 18th-century landmarks. But the future was not neglected. The officers made a policy decision that Annapolis should not be frozen in time, like Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg.

On June 18, 2006, JERROLD KELLEY COOK, (LT. CMDR. U.S.N.R.), a resident of Broadmead Retirement Community, Cockeysville, MD. Mr. Cook was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1916, lived in New York City and settled in Baltimore, MD. He graduated from Harvard College in 1938. He was the son of the late Thomas M. Cook, Jr, and Nathalie J. Kelley Cook. He worked for State Street Trust Company and Bethlehem Shipbuilding. Mr. Cook served during WWII aboard the USS Monterey, the USS Hoggart Bay and the USS Tarawa, holding the rank of Ensign to Lieutenant and was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.

NEW YORK -- In every detail, down to their coordinated dark suits with red ties, the chief executives at Constellation Energy Group Inc. and FPL Group Inc. wanted to drive home the message yesterday that they're merging - merging - as complementary equals. The scene at the companies' meeting with investment analysts at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, three hours after the deal was announced, provided the visual exclamation point. On the podium sat two top executives from each corporation, their logos - both blue and gray, coincidentally - forming the backdrop.

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, improperly used "political tests" in recruiting top officials, an internal investigation revealed yesterday. The report by the corporation's inspector general, Kenneth A. Konz, suggested that Tomlinson, a Republican who resigned from the CPB chairmanship in September, sought to place like-minded colleagues in the corporation as part of his effort to tilt it toward the right. His actions were in direct contravention of the CPB's mandate to shield public broadcasting from political influence.