Dismissal

A 21-year-old West Baltimore man -- who had a murder charge against him dismissed in January in a case that highlighted the crisis in city courts -- found out yesterday that justice can be swift and harsh.A Baltimore Circuit Court jury deliberated one hour before finding Dontae Spivey and co-defendant Donnell Harris, 21, guilty of first-degree murder in the drug-related, execution-style killing in September of 17-year-old Dameon Travon Burrell.At the time of Burrell's killing, Spivey was out on bail in a 1995 murder case.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted virtually along party lines yesterday to defeat a Democratic proposal to dismiss the impeachment charges against President Clinton, then summoned Monica Lewinsky and two others as trial witnesses.The tally on separate proposals to dismiss the charges and to depose witnesses made clear that nowhere near the required two-thirds of the Senate is ready to convict the president.Republicans and Democrats both drafted proposals last night that would end the trial by Feb. 12. Yet by summoning witnesses yesterday, the Senate shifted the trial into unpredictable territory.

THE MORE MY kids tell me how different life is now from when I was a kid, the more I'm convinced they are wrong. The transition between summer and school is one example.Little variation exists with school supplies. My daughters' lists include the same No. 2 pencils, folders and loose-leaf paper that mine did.And the anxieties are the same. What teacher will I have? Who will be in my class? What kind of clothes will everybody else be wearing?And speaking of clothes, even they aren't all that different.

They stormed through the Super Pride on East Northern Parkway, waving a pistol and ordering terrified cashiers to empty their registers. They forced a family from their car at gunpoint. Then, they barged into a rowhouse, punching a mentally disabled man in the face before making off with his mother's Mercury Cougar.After police arrested the two suspects several blocks away that April night in 1996, the case appeared to be picture-perfect for prosecutors. The men were carrying nearly $2,000 from the robbery.

WASHINGTON -- The hope at the Clinton White House is that yesterday's dismissal of Paula Corbin Jones' sexual misconduct suit will be seen as a sweeping vindication of the president, not as a narrow legal decision.White House aides and the president's legal advisers are keenly aware that the dismissal of Jones' suit will not, in itself, halt the criminal investigation of the president being conducted by special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr. Starr is looking into possible perjury and obstruction of justice related to allegations that, in combating the Jones lawsuit, Clinton lied under oath and took other steps to hide aspects of his sexual past.

In 1924, Baltimore and Maryland formed the War Memorial Commission, an obscure board of veterans charged only with managing their stately headquarters across the street from City Hall, where the usual action has been civic groups huddling for community meetings.Today -- after 74 years of little conflict -- the board is at war with itself.Friction came to a head last month when Baltimore police escorted the commission's fired executive director from the property. As a result of the abrupt dismissal, commissioners are arming themselves with personal attorneys and threatening to file suits over the matter.

WASHINGTON -- A Maryland woman has filed suit in federal court against Rep. Martin Frost of Texas and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, alleging she was fired because she was pregnant.A spokesman for Frost, who has chaired the committee since 1995, denied the charges of Amy Gleklen, who left the House Democrats' campaign arm in April.Gleklen says her dismissal is a violation of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which Democrats advocated to help ease the burdens on families.

AL GORE seems to have succumbed to a Washington disease, now reaching epidemic proportions, that is known as Clintonitis. It is a serious sickness transmitted mainly to persons who have been exposed in various ways to the president of the United States. Suicide, indictment, prison, betrayal, derision, disgrace, defeat, dismissal -- there seems to be no end to the ravages of this illness. Now the latest victim, the vice president, may be on the way to a rest home rather than the White House in 2000.

They eat. They sleep. They read best sellers and the Bible. They daydream and chat. They exercise and entertain.They even order pizza.But mostly they wait.Sometimes twice a day, five days a week -- and for nearly an hour.They are the dogged souls who sit in their cars, waiting for schools to close, children to appear and those in front of them to start their engines.On Roland Avenue, winding along Tuscany Road, up York and down Harford the lines form. Almost anywhere there's a private or parochial school without bus transportation, there's an often-bypassed sign of the times: the car-pool line.

Three former Baltimore County school facilities managers ousted in May amid allegations of bidding violations and mismanagement have dropped appeals contesting their dismissals -- prompting speculation by a school board member that a financial settlement is in the works.The three -- Robert Klein, former maintenance supervisor; William J. Moran Jr., former capital projects specialist; and James F. Patton, former air and water quality specialist -- are no longer requesting hearings to argue for compensation for lost earnings and tell their story, said their attorney, George A. Nilson.

General Motors raising output at 3 factories DETROIT - General Motors Co. will go to 24-hour operations at factories in Kansas, Michigan and Indiana to handle an expected increase in demand and to make up for production lost from a large-scale factory consolidation announced earlier in the year. The automaker says it will add a third shift at its factories in Kansas City, Kan., Delta Township, Mich., near Lansing, and Fort Wayne, Ind. About 2,400 production workers will be recalled as a result of the added shifts, and 600 more will be recalled at parts factories across the country, said Tim Lee, group vice president for global manufacturing.

Former Baltimore police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark has emerged a winner in the court fight over his firing. However the city erred in dismissing Mr. Clark in November 2004, there should be no mistaking this: The mayor should be able to fire the police commissioner at will, and state law should reflect that. The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled against the city last week in the Clark firing, saying officials didn't meet the requirements set out in the one-of-a-kind law that governs this most sensitive of labor relations.

A federal judge denied a request yesterday to dismiss the case against an Annapolis man on trial in Baltimore in a fatal carjacking. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson rejected defense attorney Kenneth W. Ravenell's argument that prosecutors did not file the appropriate documents to try Leeander Jerome Blake, now 22, as an adult. Blake was a juvenile when Straughan Lee Griffin was shot in September 2002 as he unloaded his groceries outside his home in Annapolis' Historic District.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, his trip to Latin America disrupted by a firestorm over the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, said yesterday that he is "not happy" with the Justice Department's public explanation of the firings and added that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has "got work to do" to repair relations with Capitol Hill. Bush insisted that he had not lost confidence in Gonzales, but his attempt to deflect criticism of the White House's involvement in the firing of the U.S. attorneys last year is likely to increase pressure on the attorney general, who faces calls from leading members of Congress for his resignation.

The top Justice Department official who forced the resignation of then-U.S. Attorney for Maryland Thomas M. DiBiagio more than two years ago said yesterday that serious problems with the prosecutor's judgment and candor prompted the dismissal. David Margolis, an associate deputy U.S. attorney general, rejected DiBiagio's assertions this week that his probe of corruption in the Ehrlich administration led to his dismissal. In fact, Margolis said, Jervis S. Finney, the top legal adviser to then-Gov.

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir V. Putin has dismissed Russia's chief prosecutor, who promised last week to disclose "high-profile criminal cases" involving corruption, officials said yesterday. The dismissal of Vladimir V. Ustinov, ordered Thursday and approved by legislators yesterday, was unexpected and was largely unexplained. It prompted a flurry of speculation about Putin's motives. Officials in or close to the Kremlin hinted at a larger government shake-up to come.

SUFFOLK, Va. -- Marcus Vick was charged yesterday with three counts of brandishing a firearm at a McDonald's in Suffolk on Sunday - one day after he formally announced plans to turn pro and two days after he was dismissed from the Virginia Tech football team. Vick, 21, surrendered to the Suffolk Magistrate's Office after three warrants were issued for his arrest. Bond was set at $10,000, Suffolk police Lt. Debbie George said. Vick posted the bond and was released, according to his lawyer, Larry Woodward.

WASHINGTON -- A Texas judge refused yesterday to throw out money-laundering charges against Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, potentially derailing his efforts to regain his position as House majority leader. The judge dismissed one charge against the Republican, conspiracy to violate Texas election law. Hours later, Vice President Dick Cheney, in a show of support for DeLay by the White House, headlined a campaign fundraiser for him in Houston. DeLay was forced by House GOP rules to resign his leadership job - the chamber's second-ranking position - when he was indicted this fall.

UNITED NATIONS -- The head of the U.N. elections agency acknowledged yesterday that she expected to receive a dismissal notice today and vowed to resist the move, which would come a week before crucial elections her office is overseeing in Iraq. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to deliver a dismissal letter to Carina Perelli, head of the United Nations' Electoral Assistance Division, the Associated Press reported and two U.N. officials confirmed. The officials said they could not speak for attribution because the action had yet to occur and involved "legalities."

Washington -- Before indicting Rep. Tom DeLay on felony conspiracy and money-laundering charges, a Texas prosecutor offered him a chance to plead guilty to a misdemeanor that would have let DeLay keep his job as House majority leader, the Texas Republican's attorney said yesterday. In a letter to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, attorney Dick DeGuerin said the prosecutor "tried to coerce a guilty plea from Tom DeLay for a misdemeanor, stating the alternative was indictment for a felony which would require his stepping down as Majority Leader."