Enforcement

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

The chemical and fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas, where at least 15 were killed and more than 200 injured a few weeks ago hadn't been fully inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 1985. (A partial inspection by a different agency in 2011 resulted in $5,250 in fines.) OSHA and its state partners have a total of 2,200 inspectors charged with ensuring the safety of more than 8 million workplaces employing 130 million workers. That comes to about one inspector for every 59,000 American workers.

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

Isn't focusing on foreign students entering the U.S. a form of discrimination ("America is exceptional, and that includes the way we treat immigrants," April 29)? After all, we don't enforce our immigration laws, which has resulted in America being flooded with 11 million to 12 million immigrants who are here illegally. Who is to say how many of those have terrorist inclinations are not just students? We should either enforce all immigration laws or not enforce any, keeping in mind as President Ronald Reagan said: "A nation that cannot control its borders can't control its destiny.

All the recent emphasis on enforcing our way to a clean Bay is completely misguided. Bay water quality will continue to fall short because the bay lacks oysters -- which are nature's primary way of removing excess nutrients. Everyone contributes to bay water quality impairments. We are on the right track with the point source investments that have been made as well as expecting greater efforts from agriculture, new development and urban storm water. However, we continue to deceive ourselves if we think attainable (and sustainable)

Maryland is failing to ride herd on water pollution in the state because of serious funding shortfalls and its own flawed enforcement practices, according to a Washington-based think tank. The Center for Progressive Reform contends in a new report that while Maryland has some of the nation's toughest environmental laws, its enforcement of water pollution regulations is lagging. "They could do better," Robert L. Glicks- man, the report's co-author and environmental law professor at George Washington University, said of state environmental officials.

If you live in Maryland and order a box of $5 stogies over the Internet this summer, you might get busted for accepting an illegal tobacco shipment. Or you might not. Comptroller Peter Franchot says he doesn't want to enforce a prohibition on Internet sales of premium cigars that took effect May 1. The ban was "an unintended consequence" of 2010 reform of wholesale tobacco commerce, he said in a letter to legislative leaders dated Monday. He asked their permission to suspend enforcement of the law until the fall, when the General Assembly meets again.

New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws. State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences. "It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement. " Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.

Police officers in three surrounding counties and the city of Laurel Police are beefing up enforcement of drunk driving this weekend, as St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on Sunday. Laurel Police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Saturday night, March 16 at Route 1 and Main Street, weather permitting. If it's raining Saturday night, Laurel Police will conduct roving saturation patrols in area, according to Laurel City Spokesman Pete Piringer. Free rides home are available through SoberRide by calling 1-800-200-TAXI (8294)

Seeking to get more students onto sidewalks and off icy streets, the Howard County police announced yesterday that they will begin enforcing a county requirement that sidewalks be shoveled.County law requires homeowners to clear their sidewalks within 48 hours after a snowfall. Violators can receive citations from the police and be fined up to $50.The announcement of stricter sidewalk enforcement came a day after an Oakland Mills High School freshman was struck by a car while walking home from school.

The Federal Reserve Board announced Thursday that it terminated an enforcement action against Baltimore-based Harbor Bankshares Corp. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond issued the action in July 2010, reaching an agreement with the holding company to take steps to shore up its finances. The company, parent of The Harbor Bank of Maryland, agreed to comply with consent orders from other regulators as well as not to pay dividends, take on more debt or redeem shares without the approval of the Federal Reserve Bank first.

- Stores were shuttered and streets were mostly empty Friday morning as a manhunt was underway for a suspect in the marathon bombing that killed three and injured more than 180 others. Police had killed one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing in a shootout early Friday. Officials said the dead suspect was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and identified the hunted man as his brother, Dzhokar A. Tsarnaev, 19. Law enforcement urged all in Boston to stay home. Natalie Lambdin, a 27-year-old graduate student at Boston College, said the usually bustling area near Copley Square felt "eerie.

New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws. State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences. "It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement. " Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.

Maryland transit police are warning travelers to be alert on trains and buses, amid a long-running rash of mobile-device thefts targeting riders who were texting, listening to music or talking on the phone. The Maryland Transit Administration has logged more than 200 such incidents since it began tracking them at the beginning of last year in response to a series of customer complaints. A spike in these crimes followed the 2011 release of Apple's iPhone 4S, and the trend has kept up, with thieves taking music players, e-readers and tablet computers.

Despite decades of regulation, legislation and effort, obstacles continue to hinder equal employment opportunities for African-Americans in the federal workplace, a federal commission has reported. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said "unconscious biases" about African-Americans, a lack of adequate mentoring opportunities and insufficient training assignments all affect hiring or advancement in government jobs. The failure of agencies to follow and effectively enforce equal employment opportunity law also has an effect, the commission said in the report published this month.

Baltimore-area police departments are among the law enforcement agencies worldwide expected to take in part Friday in the first Global Police Tweet-a-Thon on Twitter. Annapolis, Baltimore and Salisbury are among the departments in Maryland that are participating. Det. Amy Miguez of the Annapolis Police Department said she is going to be tweeting virtual ride-alongs for two patrol officers, filling in any down time by tweeting safety tips and other information. The digital event, with dozens of police agencies joining in, is aimed at giving citizens a peek into the realm of daily police work while promoting the use of social media by police.

With rampant abuses of automated speed enforcement camera systems across the state well-documented by the news media and AAA Mid-Atlantic, the House Environmental Matters Committee on Tuesday is poised to review a series of bills to fix a broken system. AAA Mid-Atlantic worked with the legislature in 2005 to launch Maryland's first automated speed enforcement program in residential areas and school zones in Montgomery County. Again in 2009, we were before the legislature supporting the expansion of automated speed enforcement camera systems statewide for use in work and school zones.

Five substances known as "bath salts" were added to the list of Schedule 1 Controlled Dangerous Substances list in Maryland through emergency regulations Tuesday. The move codified an order issued this summer by Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, whose office had conducted a study and determined that the synthetic substances aren't yet widely available in Maryland but they could become a threat to health here. Sharfstein said the move gives law enforcement more power to enforce the earlier ban on bath salts, which can be inhaled, ingested, smoked or injected and can cause cardiac and circulatory problems as well as paranoia and psychosis for days or weeks.

David Johnson of Fells Point said he and his wife were awakened early on Sunday morning at about 2 a.m. to the sound of revelers' voices in front of their residence. He said his wife asked the group if they could quiet down. When the couple awoke this morning, they found two large planters at the front stoop smashed, the soil spilling onto the sidewalk. "I guess their response was to smash our planters," said Johnson, who said he reported the incident to Baltimore City police.

Police officers in three surrounding counties and the city of Laurel Police are beefing up enforcement of drunk driving this weekend, as St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on Sunday. Laurel Police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Saturday night, March 16 at Route 1 and Main Street, weather permitting. If it's raining Saturday night, Laurel Police will conduct roving saturation patrols in area, according to Laurel City Spokesman Pete Piringer. Free rides home are available through SoberRide by calling 1-800-200-TAXI (8294)