Cuts

University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center will be able to recoup some of the tens of millions of dollars it lost while operating without a Medicare certification under a compromise reached with federal officials. The Towson hospital will be able to bill Medicare for treatment given to patients in the federal program since Jan. 7, about six weeks before it regained what is known as a Medicare provider agreement. St. Joseph had operated without one since the University of Maryland Medical System bought the hospital and chose not to renew its existing Medicare certification.

President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2014 budget is a concrete plan to create jobs and cut the deficit. We do not need to choose between these two priorities. The president's balanced, compromise plan proves we can do both. The guiding principle behind the president's plan is reigniting America's engine of economic growth: a rising, thriving middle class. The plan is focused on addressing three fundamental questions: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do the jobs of the 21st century?

As federal agencies pull back on spending, 7Delta's strategy is thinking big. The Columbia information technology firm, which grew by focusing on work for one federal agency, is going after larger contracts and broadening its reach. It's a diversification tactic that other federal contractors at the smaller end of the scale are trying, too: expansion in a time of retrenchment. Deltek, a Virginia IT firm that provides services to government contractors and other businesses, is seeing that trend - but warns that it cuts both ways.

For full disclosure's sake, I am a 1968 graduate of what is now Towson University (and a 1974 graduate of Morgan State University). I taught high school for 14 years and founded an advertising agency that has a sports specialty. Our company has done sports ticket sales campaigns for 43 university programs in 24 states over a 30 year period - including Towson - as well as several pro teams, including all of the local franchises. To say that specializing in college athletics is not a way to build a big media billing agency is an understatement.

Orioles minor league outfielder/first baseman Conor Jackson - who was the final cut in major league spring training this season - has abruptly retired, Triple-A Norfolk announced today. Jackson, who signed a minor league deal this offseason, had a spectacular spring, hitting .302/.327/.528 with three homers and six RBIs in 22 games with the Orioles. In the final days of spring training, the Orioles chose Steve Pearce over Jackson for the final spot on the Opening Day 25-man roster.

It's facile to say that if the extreme right and left of American politics dislike something, it must be a good idea, but in the case of President Barack Obama's budget proposal, it may be true. The president is taking one more stab at a "grand bargain" on the budget that would reduce deficits to a manageable size, through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts - including cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Some liberal groups are promising primary challenges to any Democrats who vote for a reduction in future Social Security benefits.

The president and a few other prominent Democrats are openly suggesting that Social Security payments be reduced by applying a lower adjustment for inflation, and that Medicare be means-tested. This is even before Democrats have begun formal budget negotiations with Republicans -- who still refuse to raise taxes on the rich, close tax loopholes the rich depend on (such as hedge-fund and private-equity managers' "carried interest"), increase capital gains taxes on the wealthy, and cap tax deductions or tax financial transactions.

Executives from APG Federal Credit Union (APGFCU), Harford County officials and local dignitaries celebrated the opening of the new Fallston branch, at 210 Mountain Road in Fallston, March 15 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the credit union's 11th branch. In attendance were Mary Chance, director of administration; Harford County; Jim Richardson, director, Harford County Office of Economic Development; Jackie Euler, owner of Aumar Village LLC; Jeanette Lucas, director, Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce; Christine Sullivan, director, administration and finance, Harford County Chamber of Commerce; David Gilbert, APGFCU chairman; William Schultheis, APGFCU executive vice president; and representatives of Frederick Ward Associates, Paul Risk Associates and local business owners.

Once again our beloved governor is crowing about his responsible spending cuts while in office. In a recent opinion piece for The Sun, he wrote that over the last six years "Maryland has taken a balanced approach when it comes to fiscal policy - making responsible cuts to spending while prioritizing investments in jobs, opportunity, and a stronger middle class" ("Replace the sequester before it's too late," April 4). Since the budget has gone from $27 billion to more than $36 billion since 2007, when Mr. O'Malley took office, I would like to know just what cuts the governor has actually made.

The men who play baseball and soccer at Towson University, run track at the University of Delaware and wrestle, swim or golf at any number of other colleges all heard the same reason when their teams were cut: Title IX. To meet the federal law's goal of providing equal opportunities for athletes of both genders, schools have eliminated men's teams to keep their overall rosters in line with the number of women playing sports. But a growing chorus is crying foul. "People are really upset that they're dragging Title IX through the mud to cut sports teams," said Towson University graduate Scott Hargest.