Credits

An occasional feature in which Sun writers and critics sound off about the movies. It used to be that saving the credits for last was a sure sign the film you were about to watch was something special, something of epic scale, maybe even something entirely new. The Star Wars films saved their credits for the end. So did Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, the three Lord of the Ringsmovies. It was the cinematic equivalent of taking a proud bow after the last act, of calling the director up onstage for the final curtain call.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers will get a one-time break from rising electricity bills in September, when the utility begins distributing $170 credits as part of a plan approved by state utility regulators yesterday. The bill credits were contained in a $2 billion settlement that state lawmakers approved last month to resolve a dispute with BGE's corporate parent, Constellation Energy Group Inc. Lawmakers passed the deal in the final hours of the legislative session, ending a long-simmering feud over terms of the 1999 deal to move the state to a deregulated power market.

Robert Looney is just one of the poster boys for the need to toughen Maryland's system of good time credits for prison inmates. He was among the cases cited last year as city and state officials sought to restrict the credits given to prisoners for good behavior and participation in education and work programs that can lead to early release of prisoners, despite the sentences they received. The system is under attack again this year in the state legislature, and it's easy to see why: Maryland prisoners, on average, serve only about 74 percent of their sentences.

Students in the University System of Maryland will face new pressure to graduate within four years under policies approved yesterday by the Board of Regents. Starting with next fall's freshman class, the system's 11 campuses will be required to limit to 120 the number of credits needed to complete most majors. Students who take more than 120 credits - the number a full-time student would typically take in four years - could face possible penalties. The regents are expected to decide later what penalties might be imposed.

Anne Arundel school officials are considering whether to require four more credits for a high school diploma under a proposal aimed at helping students make the most of the four-period day that high schools began last year. Under a plan that goes before the school board for a first look Wednesday, students would have to complete an additional period of math every other day, as well as a freshman seminar and a personal finance course that would be worth half a credit each. Students also would have to take an additional 1.5 credits of electives and half a credit of physical education, bringing the total needed for graduation to 26 credits.

B ills in Congress, some state agencies and some environmental advocates are promoting a program of buying and selling pollution credits as a way to have regulated polluters pay unregulated farmers hundreds of millions of dollars every year to install practices that reduce nutrient runoff from their farms - the main source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. Advocates for this idea believe it would cost regulated polluters (such as wastewater treatment...

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her husband collected homestead tax credits on two separate properties before she became mayor of Baltimore, in violation of a state rule that prohibits married couples from claiming the break on more than one residence, according to property records, tax bills and state regulations. Shortly before Rawlings-Blake was sworn in as mayor last year, her husband fixed the problem, repaying seven years' worth of the credits on the Columbia house he has owned since before they were married in 2000.

Biodiesel producers told a congressional panel Wednesday that they're struggling to stay afloat in the aftermath of fraud cases uncovered in Baltimore and Texas, and a spokesman for petroleum refiners faulted the Environmental Protection Agency for slow response to a crisis he said has cost the industry $200 million so far. Members of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee pressed Environmental Protection Agency officials to work...

Most of the 27 Navy seniors who will honored before Saturday's final home game against Texas State have contributed to the team's success on the field the past four years. But those who have made limited appearances - or even none at all - seem to share in that experience as much as those who have had starring roles. Matt Shibata, who came to Annapolis from Honolulu, has been in for a "handful of plays" at wide receiver. Offensive linemen Evan Campbell and Beau Haworth , who came from nearby high schools with the same football dreams as their fellow plebes, have not played a single down.