Dutch Ruppersberger

In a decision that had all the surprise of snow in January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week gave conditional approval to the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline at Sparrows Point. The agency's choice to side with AES Corp., despite significant environment and community concerns, could be predicted months, if not several years, ago. Certainly, the fact that the 98-page order was issued over the objections of at least two federal agencies that called for a delay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was no shock.

Stepping up to the big leagues of Maryland political giving, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend raised an estimated $500,000 last night at a Baltimore fund-raiser for her expected run for governor in 2002.The event at Port Discovery downtown drew a crowd of about 600, with about half paying $1,000 for a chance to mingle with Townsend during a VIP reception.Townsend, 48, has held several fund-raisers this year, but last night's brought in the most money by far, aides said.Townsend said she was thrilled with the support, adding that it's never too early in a campaign to raise money to "create options."

In Baltimore CountyStudent achievement is topic of three-day schools workshopsTOWSON -- Teachers, administrators and parents from about 140 Baltimore County schools will meet for three days starting today to discuss ways to increase student achievement next year, an official said Friday.The workshops, from 8: 30 a.m. to 3: 30 p.m. each day at Perry Hall Middle School, 4300 Ebenezer Road, and Perry Hall High School, 4601 Ebenezer Road, will focus on teaching strategies, curriculum, staff development and classroom management, said spokeswoman Marjorie Hampson.

When Howard County Executive James N. Robey drove himself to a regional meeting in downtown Baltimore recently, he had to park eight blocks away and was late, while his peers were all dropped at the door by their drivers."

11 innings of baseball score a big victory in Cuban relationsBay of Pigs? Cuban missile crisis? My how times have changed. To a considerable extent, the once perceived immutable tensions between the United States and Cuba during the Cold War have fallen by the wayside. The only crisis in Cuba now is a bottom-of-the-ninth scenario, tied ballgame, runners at the corners.We're not talking revolution; we're talking baseball.I commend the Orioles for their trip to Cuba, though I question the altruism of Peter G. Angelos.

Convinced that Bill Bradley offers the Democrats' best hope for winning the 2000 presidential election, Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger said he will endorse the former New Jersey senator.Ruppersberger said he purposely distanced himself from most of Maryland's top Democrats who rushed into Vice President Al Gore's camp, helping to raise $400,000 during a July fund-raiser."I'm very independent. I sit back and watch and observe," said Ruppersberger, who is weighing a run for governor in 2002.

Saving history might become easier in Baltimore County, a place that preservationists complain is afflicted by indifferent officials and cumbersome landmark protection laws.The County Council approved a bill to toughen penalties for destroying a historic structure without a permit. Two other proposed bills would provide tax incentives and establish clearer guidelines for preserving landmarks.The efforts were applauded by preservationists, who lost a battle recently to save a 145-year-old stone house in Cockeysville.

About 1,500 people paid up to $500 each to show support and rub elbows with Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger last night -- despite his lack of specifics on how he will spend the money.Ruppersberger, who is in his second term as county executive, is widely seen as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2002, but he remained coy about whether he will run. He is limited to two consecutive terms as executive under the county charter.Some political observers see a chance Ruppersberger would run for the 2nd Congressional District seat, which is slated to be redrawn after the 2000 census.

A photo caption on Page 1C yesterday transposed the identifications for Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger and Gilbert Marsiglia, president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. Mr. Marsiglia was on the left.The Sun regrets the errors.The embattled effort to raise the Federal HousinAdministration mortgage limit by more than $50,000 received strong support yesterday from Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger as well as officials from the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Things we'd like to see: Dustin Hoffman playing the main character, Nate, in Barry Levinson's new film, "Liberty Heights." (Hey, it might happen. I hear that Hoffman's people have been talking with Levinson's people, and Levinson has worked with Hoffman in several movies and, if it happens, you heard it here first, baby!)More things we'd like to see:Bulldozers ripping down the failed outlet center at Kent Narrows, along U.S. 50 on the Eastern Shore. The state should turn that whole area into wetlands again.

Thousands of investors bailed out on Legg Mason's Bill Miller last year as funds he manages plunged much further than the stock market overall. Not Steny H. Hoyer. The House majority leader from Southern Maryland proved as loyal to the famous Miller as he is to the pro-Israel lobby. He held on to shares in Miller's Legg Mason Value Trust fund worth $100,001 to $250,000 even as the value plummeted last year by 55 percent. A year earlier, the stake had been worth $250,001 to $500,000. Since Hoyer listed total assets worth only $148,000 to $447,000, he's taken a significant financial blow.

When government action does substantial harm to private property, the perpetrator's obligation to its victims is clear - undo the damage or, if that's not possible, make the victim whole. Such is the case with the Schneider family of Essex, whose seven-bedroom house on 1.4 acres of waterfront land was irreparably harmed by the construction of a Baltimore County sewer line. The conflict between the county and the Schneiders has been long and contentious. As District Court Judge Norman R. Stone III observed, the case (now on the verge of outright eviction)

Player's obituary not front-page fare The Baltimore Sun seems to have some seriously misplaced priorities about what constitutes news and where it belongs in a newspaper. While the death of a local basketball player, who went on from a successful college career at Morgan State to a pro basketball career, is sad, it is hardly front-page news. Thus the article "Human Eraser" (April 9) belonged in the Sports section or in the obituaries. The same day that article ran, a ship sailing under an American flag had just been attacked by pirates for the first time in 200 years, and that story was buried inside the paper ("Navy ship on site of pirate raid," April 9)

In a decision that had all the surprise of snow in January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week gave conditional approval to the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline at Sparrows Point. The agency's choice to side with AES Corp., despite significant environment and community concerns, could be predicted months, if not several years, ago. Certainly, the fact that the 98-page order was issued over the objections of at least two federal agencies that called for a delay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was no shock.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has called on federal energy officials to delay a decision on the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point until questions about endangered and threatened species can be answered. The service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior, has found that the project would be located in an environmentally sensitive area and could affect several species with habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Those include the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and Delmarva fox squirrel.

From office secretaries to elected officeholders, nearly 60 people sympathetic to former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell submitted letters in court papers yesterday ahead of his sentencing on bribery charges in federal court in Baltimore. In more than 70 pages of passionate and personal letters about the convicted Baltimore County Democrat, Bromwell's friends - from his dry cleaner to his congressman, Democratic Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger - wax nostalgic about his accomplishments during 23 years in the General Assembly and plead for mercy in the wake of the former politician's admission of guilt.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is seeking $74 million for local projects in the fiscal 2008 federal budget, mostly for roads, mass transit and other infrastructure to accommodate growth at Maryland military bases, he said yesterday. Ruppersberger, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground, said that improving mass transit to handle thousands of new defense workers coming to those installations "is one of our highest priorities." The congressman made his comments in Linthicum during the annual luncheon for the Fort Meade Alliance, the lobbying arm for the Army post.

A copy of Kendel Ehrlich's private schedule came across my fax the other day, with all the stuff you'd expect to fill a busy first lady's day. A speech. A visit to the Ronald McDonald House. A dinner. And in between, some notes showing which state employees were baby-sitting the kids. From 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. one day - Monday, May 2, 2005 - it says "House coverage," meaning Government House staff watched the Ehrlichs' two young sons. The next day, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., it says, "Liz covering."

Reisterstown teen charged in shooting A Reisterstown teenager was charged as an adult yesterday with shooting his 15-year-old girlfriend in the chest Thursday while playing with his father's gun, police said. Richard Nelson Foltz IV, 16, was being held at Baltimore County Detention Center on $500,000 bail, charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and felony use of a handgun in a violent crime. His girlfriend, Angela Holyfield, an Owings Mills High School student, was released yesterday from Maryland Shock Trauma Center, a trauma nursing coordinator said last night.

Mayor Martin O'Malley joined yesterday the growing number of politicians condemning a business deal that would put a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates in charge of running certain port operations in Baltimore and a handful of other U.S. cities. "It's outrageous and irresponsible to turn over a port to any foreign government," O'Malley said during a chilly, outdoor news conference in Canton, where port buildings were visible across the harbor. O'Malley, a Democratic candidate for governor, sharply criticized the Bush administration for signing off on the deal.