Employees

Days after the Obama administration threatened widespread furloughs of government employees, one of Maryland's largest federal agencies, the Social Security Administration, said it might shoulder across-the-board spending cuts without sending any of its full-time employees home. And the federal funding cuts that U.S. education officials say would have the most immediate impact on public schools nationwide would trim only about $440,000 from Maryland districts - less than 1 percent of the combined operating budgets of the systems that receive it. After weeks of dire warnings about the economic impact of the $85 billion in cuts known as the sequester, the White House and Democrats in Congress now face another pressing task: Convincing the public that the alarms they sounded were justified and the pain they cautioned against is real - or will be. The time to make that case is short.

Most of the Howard County public library's 184 employees would have the right to unionize and bargain for pay and benefits under a bill that has been endorsed by the county delegation to Annapolis. The legislation follows an unsuccessful attempt in the 2010 legislative session to pass a bill that would apply to all library employees in the state and is one of 17 county bills now before the Maryland General Assembly. Other county measures cover alcohol sales, charity casino nights, the county sheriff's salary and an array of bond bills for construction projects.

The Baltimore Health Department said late Wednesday that investigators believe a faulty hot water heater sickened 23 people at the Johns Hopkins at Keswick complex this week. An estimated 600 people were evacuated from the complex Tuesday afternoon after people reported difficulty breathing. Standard checks by emergency officials ruled out exposure to carbon monoxide, explosives, hydrogen sulfide and low oxygen. Investigators said they also were examining the possibility of food contamination.

Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman on Tuesday named a former colleague to replace the county's information and technology chief. Rick Durkee of Davidsonville, an IT contractor with NASA —who was chief operating officer of Matrics Inc., a developer of microelectronic devices, when Neuman was its CEO — is expected to direct the technological modernization of the county government. Under Neuman's helm, Matrics was turned around from near-insolvency and was sold for $230 million in 2004.

City police said they were investigating an unusual armed robbery that took place Tuesday afternoon on the third-floor of a downtown hospital. The robbery was reported around 1:10 p.m. at Mercy Medical Center's McAuley Tower, in the 300 block of St. Paul Pl. Det. Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman, said two hospital employees were robbed of cash from their personal belongings. The incident prompted police to set up a perimeter around the hospital. Silbert said police were reviewing surveillance camera footage and were exploring whether the robbery was tied to another that took place recently in the same area.

The following is compiled from local police reports. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Wilkens Police Station at 410-887-0872. Baltimore National Pike, 6200 block, Feb. 22, 9:49 p.m. Man pointed gun at Taco Bell employee who ran. Nothing taken. Whitfield Road, 300 block, Feb. 19, between 10:50 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. Wallet and cell phone stolen by man armed with handgun.

Zynga, the video game maker best known for FarmVille and Words With Friends, has closed its Timonium office as part of a broader corporate consolidation, company officials said Monday. The company also made changes at three other offices, closing and consolidating some in Texas and New York. The company did not say how many jobs were being cut, but said that the moves affected about 1 percent of its work force of more than 3,000. About half of those in the Timonium office were relocated.

I'm sure prior city administrators have looked into the feasibility of privatizing our trash collection within Baltimore City, or have they? ("Putting on the red ink," Feb. 20.) This has been a very successful venture in Baltimore County for over 40 years. Think about the elimination of sanitation employees, their pensions, benefits, salaries, trash trucks as well as other equipment, mechanics and maintenance employees. The bulk trash collection as well as the landfill operations would still be ours - or could those functions be privatized also?

Some members of the Rev. David Carl Olson's congregation are homeless. A few work minimum-wage jobs, he said, but they still cannot afford to leave shelters. His faith calls him to live in a world with "profoundly more justice," said Olson, who oversees First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, and that starts with increasing wages. Olson spoke to about 25 people gathered to protest the corporate profits of low-wage employers Thursday morning at a Walmart store in Catonsville. Demonstrators chanted "Raise the minimum wage!"

Ignoring pleas from union leaders and the county's Annapolis delegation, the Baltimore County Council approved a bill Tuesday changing how county employees can appeal decisions about retirement benefits. The council voted 6-1 in favor of the bill, proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Councilwoman Vicki Almond, a Reisterstown Democrat, was the only member of the council to oppose it, saying it will put county employees "through unnecessary hardship, both economically and procedurally.