Credit Card

Aberdeen Aberdeen police report: Someone broke into a garage and stole a dirt bike, then broke into the home in the 300 block of South Drive last Friday. Two people were in custody on suspicion of stealing at Walmart on Saturday. A car was vandalized and tires missing in the 100 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard on Saturday. A vehicle had expired license plates at Economy Inn, in the 600 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard, on Saturday. Threatening text messages were reported Saturday in the first block of Moyer Drive.

Every few years, Baltimore City residents are called upon to vote on any number of bond initiatives, wherein the city uses its credit card to fund any number of projects. The city then repays the money with interest at some future date. This is common practice across the country and any number of fantastic and needed projects are funded with money the city doesn't have on hand, allowing us to improve now, and repay later (albeit at a higher rate). What's irksome is that the city continues to ask for approval for projects like the Maryland Science Center and the National Aquarium, public attractions that expect city taxpayers to foot their bills while continuing to charge those taxpayers the same admission fee that they charge any out-of-city resident.

"The Nutcracker" will grace the stage of the Amoss Center in Bel Air as Harford Dance Theatre presents the holiday production Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and 2. There will be a full-length performance on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. In addition, there will be matinees for youth ages 5 to 12 with post-show events on Dec. 1 and 2 at 1 and 4 p.m., where audience members can meet Clara and her Nutcracker Prince, Mother Ginger and the Sugar Plum Fairy. All of their favorite ballerinas will be signing autographs, so be sure to bring a pen. Tickets cost $8 to $15 and are available online at tickets.harford.edu or in person at the HCC Ticket Office in the Chesapeake Center.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a change to the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act so that stay-at-home spouses and partners can get a credit card. The 2009 requires banks to determine whether applicants have the ability to pay bills before issuing them plastic under their name. This was created so that banks wouldn't allow people without means of repaying from opening up credit card accounts and getting in over their heads. But some critics complained that it could prevent stay-at-home spouses, often women, from getting credit in their name.

Open a credit card account and you might walk away with more than just plastic. Banks and their vendors heavily hawk card-related services, such as credit monitoring, that can add up to hundreds of dollars of year in fees. But often consumers don't need these add-ons. In fact, they can take a few simple steps for little or no money and enjoy protections and access to information similar to what's promised by the services. Federal regulators have taken note — and action.

Regarding your story about Baltimore City school administrators' credit card expenses, I propose that schools CEO Andrés Alonso be sent to the principal's office - in another state ("City school officials play loose with credit," Aug. 26). The reports of ongoing financial irregularities should outrage all taxpayers. Mr. Alonso has chosen to minimize the seriousness of the problem but he simply doesn't get it. He came to Baltimore with sterling credentials and a vision for improving a seriously distressed school system.

Regarding your story on questionable credit card expenses by Baltimore City school administrators, the various explanations offered by school officials are unconvincing despite their incredible rhetoric ("City school officials play loose with credit," Aug. 26). A prime example is the description of a $13,000 catering bill for a central office meeting as "fellowshipping around food that has existed in city schools for decades. " First, saying something has been done for decades doesn't mean it is right.

On Aug. 8, flanked by hundreds of pages of documents sought since April, a Baltimore Sun reporter sat across from four city school officials at North Avenue headquarters to discuss a series of credit card expenditures incurred by central administration employees. For every charge raised, there was an explanation: The trip to Hooter's was spurred by a time crunch and a craving for chicken wings, and the setting was a separate dining area, where students were served by a fully clothed manager.

In the last year, as Baltimore city schools' budgetary decisions -- $14 million in overtime, generous leave payouts, a renovated IT Department -- have faced heightened scrutiny, officials have defended much of their spending as "the cost of doing business. " In April, The Baltimore Sun sought to get a better picture of what exactly some of that business was -- and several sources informed us that credit card and procurement card statements, which outlined day-to-day activities at the system's central headquarters would do so. We began a four-month task by requesting credit and procurement card statements showing activity by central office staff from 2009 through 2011, through a Maryland Public Information Act Request in April.

Baltimore's top leadership called on the school system Monday to tighten oversight of its expenditures after a Baltimore Sun investigation found central office staff spent roughly $500,000 during the past year and a half on items such as a $7,300 office retreat at a downtown hotel and a $1,000 dinner at an exclusive members-only club. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she believed the school board should review credit and procurement card expenditures incurred by administrators at city schools headquarters after a Sun review of statements and receipts found administrators charged about $300,000 on procurement cards.