TRAVEL
By Michelle Deal-Zimmerman, The Baltimore Sun | April 10, 2013
A Baltimore-bound United Airlines flight was diverted and a local family removed from the plane after the parents complained about the content of an in-flight movie. The February incident resulted in the passengers being escorted off the flight by police at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the family said, relaying the experience anonymously in a response to an article about air rage posted on The Atlantic Monthly's website . In a statement released to The Sun, United Airlines said Flight 683 from Denver to Baltimore was diverted to Chicago after the crew reported a disturbance involving a passenger.
NEWS
By Leonard Pitts Jr | March 29, 2013
Dear Whomever is in Charge of Customer Service for DirecTV: All I wanted was to watch the game. I was back in my hotel room after a long day, and I figured, what better way to unwind? Now, the game wasn't available on the hotel channels, but I've got that League Pass service you offer and one of its perks -- supposedly -- is that you can watch the game right on the ol' iPad. So I got out the ol' iPad and I fired up the app and I retrieved the password and I tried to sign in and nothing happened, so I called you guys and the robot lady answered and told me to OPRIMA NUMERO DOS if I wanted to conduct my business in Spanish, which I didn't, so I didn't and I said yes when the robot lady asked if I was a subscriber and I gave her my phone number when she asked for it and then she asked me to tell her what I wanted, and I tried to explain twice but she didn't get it, so I told her I had a question about League Pass and she gave me this long spiel about how I could buy League Pass, which I didn't need to do, since I already had it, so I asked the robot lady to connect me with technical support and she said she would and that's about when she hung up on me, so I called again and I went through the whole thing again and this time I got to a human being who listened to my problem and what I had done to solve it, expressed remorse, then told me to do the same things I had done, which had not worked the first time, and when I did and it didn't work again, this person...
EXPLORE
March 6, 2013
The staff at the Aberdeen Post Office flexed a little extra muscle in December, above and beyond its regular holiday rush. Over the course of several days, a team of five employees processed shipments totaling in excess of 1,000 pounds – all postmarked to various military installations overseas. These packages contained an assortment of comfort items that had been collected and assembled by volunteers of an organization known as "Some SAY Support. We SEND Support," or S5. Members of S5 recently visited the Aberdeen post office to personally thank the postmaster and her staff, whose stellar customer service made these shipments possible.
NEWS
February 26, 2013
Laura Neuman comes to the job of Anne Arundel County executive as an almost complete outsider to county (and Maryland) politics. She spent a career in the private sector, then less than two years working for a Democratic administration in another county before being named last week to a post that makes her the second-highest-ranking Republican in public office in Maryland. She has not worked on campaigns, much less run one of her own, and she is being greeted with no small amount of skepticism by the GOP. She could be in for a steep learning curve in both the policies and the politics of her new job. But Ms. Neuman, who met today with The Sun's editorial board, may also be the kind of leader Anne Arundel County needs right now. She comes to office in the wake of the trial, conviction and resignation of John Leopold, whose political and personal misdeeds brought dishonor to the county and sapped the morale of the government he led. Ms. Neuman has no association with him or with his opponents, and that may help her be seen as an honest broker in the process of rooting out those who were complicit in the Leopold scandal - an effort she has already begun.
NEWS
January 11, 2013
Polar Bear Plunge Volunteers are needed between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. for the 17th annual Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Sandy Point State Park. Duties include setup and breakdown, registration/customer service, food and beverage distribution, and crowd control. Volunteers are also needed from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 27 for the "Super Sunday Sweep" to clean up and remove items left behind by plungers. To register and more information, go to plungemd.com . Blood drives The American Red Cross needs volunteers 14 and older (some positions 18 and older)
BUSINESS
By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun | December 13, 2012
Deatrice S. Besong says it feels like winning the lottery: Her mortgage servicer recently agreed to reduce her loan by $249,000 next year, saving her $300 a month and erasing the debt overhang that has her owing far more than her house is worth. "It's a great feeling — it's a feeling of relief," said Besong, who lives in Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County. Her principal reduction comes courtesy of the national mortgage settlement, a deal struck by state attorneys general, the federal government and the country's five largest loan servicers after allegations of widespread servicing and foreclosure misdeeds.