Expenses

On Thursday, the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, a 47-year-old Baltimore woman went to the drugstore, and pulled out her debit card to pay for a prescription refill. But she didn't have enough money in the account to cover the $425 charge. So she asked the pharmacist and staff for a favor. "I asked them to break up the prescription to give me one-third," says the woman, who would not allow her name to be published because she didn't want to disclose her medical conditions.

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported a 42 percent drop in profit for the first quarter, as operating and interest costs rose and revenue increased but fell short of analysts' expectations. The television station owner and operator said Monday that its income fell to $17 million, or 21 cents per common share, from $29.4 million, or 36 cents per share, during the three months that ended March 31. Its earnings did beat Wall Street's expectations of 17 cents per share, yet its stock fell Monday, closing at $26.69 per share, down 2.9 percent.

The story on the Health Services Cost Review Commission's (HSCRC) decision about the state's $123 million Medicaid cut hasn't quite got the numbers right ("Patients, insurers to pay more," April 7). Where the story asserts that the commission voted to "make patients and insurance companies shoulder most of $123 million in Medicaid expenses," in fact it is the federal government that will shoulder most of the burden. While these are complex formulas, the split works out this way: the federal government will pay $47 million; hospitals will pay $39 million; and insurers will absorb $37 million.

Baltimore's spending panel on Wednesday unanimously approved $285,000 for city police to hire a Massachusetts-based consultant — the highest of five bidders — to recommend how the department should be run. Despite the protests of competing consultants and a city councilman, the city's Board of Estimates, which is controlled by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, voted 5-0 to hire Strategic Policy Partnership LLC, based in Martha's Vineyard, to...

College Savings Plans of Maryland, an independent Maryland state agency, offers two tax-advantaged 529 plans to pay college expenses Both the Maryland Prepaid College Trust and the Maryland College Investment Plan can be used at most federally accredited schools across the country, including many trade and technical schools. Earnings in the plans are tax free as long as they are used for qualified higher education expenses. For information, go to http://www.CollegeSavingsMD.org/Webinar.

The city government will be able to use some reimbursement funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover certain costs incurred when the city was hit by Hurricane Irene in August. An emergency declaration put into effect by President Barack Obama authorized FEMA to provide appropriate assistance for costs of required emergency measures. Under this declaration, the city of Laurel was eligible to receive funds to cover overtime for employees, equipment used and materials and supplies.

About 32 percent of clients served by the Maryland Food Bank reported having to choose between buying food or paying for utilities at some point last year, according to a study released Tuesday morning as part of a national survey. The report, conducted by Feeding America, the parent organization for the Maryland Food Bank, interviewed more than 62,000 clients nationwide, including several thousands in the state. Among some of the findings: &bul;27 percent of households served by the food bank have children under 18; &bul;about 9 percent of those households have individuals 65 and older; and &bul;63 percent of clients have incomes below the federal poverty level.

A nonprofit foundation paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the Baltimore Police Department as part of the commissioner's signature training program reported that nearly 40 percent of the foundation's expenditures over two years covered entertainment, meals and travel, a review of tax records by The Baltimore Sun has found. The expenses reported by the Center for Research on Institutions and Social Policy included more than $34,000 spent on entertainment in 2009 and 2010, the most recent years for which records are available.

Now that August has arrived, I'm starting to get the kids ready for going back to school. I'm trying to get them to bed earlier. I'm nagging them to finish their summer reading assignments. And I have the 11-year-old practicing his multiplication and division. The kids are whining that I'm being too mean, but they don't know how easy they have it. I read a recent report from the National Retail Federation that says the average 13-to-17-year old will spend $36.48 on pens, papers, lunch boxes, etc. as they get ready for school.

WASHINGTON -- Special Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh, already under sharp criticism for the high costs of his prolonged investigation, drew a new complaint yesterday from government auditors over his personal expenses.The General Accounting Office, although not saying that Mr. Walsh intentionally broke any laws or rules, found that he had charged the government $78,000 more than federal law allows for room and board in Washington and while traveling.Mr. Walsh got $95 a day for a room at Washington's famous Watergate Hotel, even when he did not stay in the room, and that was wrong even if he could claim some room rent here, the audit report said.

If doctors were better informed about the cost of lab tests, they would request fewer of them for their patients or look for cheaper alternatives, Hopkins researchers have found. Researchers at The Johns Hopkins Hospital put the price on some blood tests for six months and found use of tests declined 9 percent. The hospital saved $400,000 over the six months. The results of the study were published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. Hospitals don't normally display the price of tests to doctors.

In this era of huge federal debt and fiscal dysfunction, it's less than heartening to learn from the Congressional Research Service that the nation's four living former chief executives got a total of $3.7 million in pensions and operating expenses last year from Uncle Sam, aka the American taxpayer. The largesse is provided under the terms of the Former Presidents Act, which Congress passed in 1958 to ease presidents back into private life and enable them to handle mail, travel and other obligations they carried with them into retirement.

The economy is improving and so is employment, but workers' optimism about a comfortable retirement has fallen to a new low, according to the annual Retirement Confidence Survey released Tuesday. Just over half of workers say they are either very confident about their retirement prospects or somewhat so. But 28 percent - a record high - have no confidence while an additional 21 percent express pessimism about their retirement future. The survey by the Employment Benefit Research Institute gauged the outlook on retirement among 1,254 U.S. workers and retirees interviewed in January.

The former principal of the Coppin Academy High School pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing more than $10,000 from a student activity fund and using the money to pay wedding and other expenses. William L. Howard II, 37, entered his plea in Baltimore Circuit Court and received probation before judgment. He was sentenced to serve four years probation and 150 hours community service and to pay back the money, which he did on the spot. Howard's case was pursued by the office of the state prosecutor, which investigates corruption and public misdeeds.

Coppin State University has a serious problem with very low rates of student retention and graduation. Last December, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents created a Special Review Committee to look into this problem further and make recommendations. This is of special interest to me, as I served as a member of the faculty at Coppin for 12 years, from 1999 until 2011, including service as Faculty Senate president in 2005-2007. Historically, Coppin's core mission has been to provide much-needed access to quality higher education for the citizens of Baltimore City, especially African-American men and women who often must contend with social and economic barriers because of race.

The Ravens' surprising decision Wednesday to cut Bernard Pollard, the hard-hitting and tough-talking safety who led the Super Bowl champions in tackles last season, opens up just $1 million of salary-cap room. So at least on the surface, the move appears to go beyond simple finances. While team officials have yet to comment on Pollard's release, it continues a trend of offseason activity that has the Ravens' roster - particularly on the defensive side - getting younger, thinner, quieter and in some cases, cheaper.

A former aide to Del. Jill P. Carter's mayoral campaign sued the campaign this week for $236 in unpaid expenses, the latest political finance dispute faced by a candidate running for office in Baltimore this year. Ellen Townsend, a Carroll County resident, said she performed secretarial duties for Carter's campaign this year and incurred the expenses - mostly cell phone charges - during late April and early May. She filed a small-claims lawsuit for the money in Maryland District Court on Tuesday.

Some Columbia Council members are questioning whether travel and other expenditures made by Columbia Association President Deborah O. McCarty were appropriate, and the vice chairwoman supports an independent audit. The 10-member council discussed the matter with McCarty during a five-hour closed-door session Wednesday night that ended with no clear consensus. Pearl Atkinson-Stewart, council vice chairwoman, said there were "sufficient questions" raised about the "appropriateness" of some of McCarty's expenses.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's technology chief said Friday he's drafting an "alternative plan" to overhaul the city government's outdated, expensive phone system. The strategy? Get out of the phone business. "I'm not convinced, strategically, it makes sense for the city to be in the telephone business," said Chris Tonjes, who heads the Mayor's Office of Information Technology. "We're looking for a lower-cost alternative that has as much infrastructure provided by the vendor as possible.

Regarding the recent arrest of Baltimore County Councilman Todd Huff on DUI charges, why does a part-time councilman warrant an automobile at the people's expense ("After arrest, Huff to give up county car," Feb. 26)? And why did it have to be a Jeep Grand Cherokee at a likely cost of over $30,000? Do county councilmen also get free fuel, maintenance and insurance? And why was Mr. Huff even driving this vehicle in the early morning hours? It seems to me that if councilmen are in such need of vehicles at taxpayers' expense they should at least confine their use of them to county business.