Flow

Dear Mr. Azrael: My neighbor several years ago filled in a low area on their property, changing the contour so that rainwater now drains onto my property. Much of the fill was being pushed past the property line. I dug a drainage ditch along my side of the property line to divert water back where it formerly drained. I did this to stop erosion of the bank between us, which was created 60 years ago by a previous owner, and was not a problem until [my neighbor] filled the low areas of their property.

The heavy wind and rain this month have homeowners looking up - to their gutters. Nothing will alert you to clogs, leaks and loose fittings like a downpour. Home improvement experts, including Daniel Onyikeh of Lowes in Catonsville, offer some tips. •Make sure the gutters are clean, especially after a heavy rain when debris from trees and the roof collect there. This means checking every couple of weeks, not just in the fall. Clogs most often occur where the gutter meets the downspout, so check there.

THE GREAT blackout of 2003 last month has pushed lawmakers and the Bush administration to fast-track needed legislation to ensure that electricity consistently flows to U.S. consumers. And a good thing, too. Because while widespread outages caused by disasters such as Hurricane Isabel may not be preventable, every effort must be made to ensure that the infrastructure can handle the nation's ever-increasing daily grind. In the two versions of the mammoth energy bill now before Congress, much that relates to improving the electrical grid is worthy, but one of the details is not. On the good side: Giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission real power to enforce reliability standards across the grid is necessary.

In Anne Arundel County, where new stormwater fees have generated national attention amid criticism of what some call Maryland's "rain tax," the debate over how much to charge property owners will continue into June. County Council members had been scheduled to vote Thursday on a series of alterations to its fee structure, but the councilman sponsoring the changes, Crownsville Democrat Jamie Benoit, missed the meeting for medical reasons. Earlier this week, the council approved a series of adjustments to the fees, including a three-year phase-in and capping the maximum fee for businesses.

"Flow" iOS Free/$.99 ad-free version Big Duck Games Rating: 4 out of 4 When you first open "Flow," you are not treated to the typical one- or two-screen tutorial that seems to be standard with iOS games. Instead, it's a bit like the film "Inception. " You see a field of 25 squares and eight colored dots. You can almost hear Leo DiCaprio asking you to draw him a maze in one minute that takes two minutes to solve. "Flow" challenges the visual and problem solving side of the brain in a way that is intruiging but beautifully simple.

For a few years in the 1980s and 1990s, the world was changing for the better and seemingly destined to keep doing so indefinitely. Back then, freedom resembled justice as described in the Bible - rolling down like waters. But in the last few years, various governments have managed to dam it up, and in some cases even reverse the flow. Between 1990 and 1997, the number of democracies in the world rose from 69 to 118, according to the human rights group Freedom House. In the past decade, though, the number has crept up by just five.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it earned $3.05 million, or 10 cents a share, during the second quarter, a performance an analyst said was on target considering that savings from recent acquisitions have not yet taken effect.The Baltimore-based owner or operator of 28 television stations, including Channel 45 -- the Fox affiliate in Baltimore -- and 34 radio stations saw its profit margins shrink considerably since the second quarter of last year, and most of its 37 percent gain in cash flow came from the sheer increase in size of the acquisition-minded firm since last year.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported gains in its third quarter yesterday, with broadcast cash flow - a crucial industry yardstick - increasing 4 percent to $79.5 million and net broadcast revenue going up 8.1 percent to $174 million. The company had net income of $18.85 million, or 18 cents per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $11.34 million, or 14 cents a share, in the third quarter of 1999. After-tax cash flow per share went up 41.4 percent to 41 cents.

An overflow at a pumping station caused millions of gallons of raw sewage to pour into Gunpowder Falls yesterday, prompting health warnings for the waterway from Perry Hall to the Bird River as county public works crews worked to stop the flow and determine the cause. County public works officials were alerted to the overflow at the Gunpowder pumping station in the 9300 block of Dundawan Road in Perry Hall about 2:30 p.m. By 10 p.m., more than 2 million gallons of sewage had flowed into Gunpowder Falls, according to Ellen Kobler, a county spokeswoman.

Adelphia Communications overstated both the number of its cable subscribers and its cash flow for 2001, people close to the company said yesterday. The number of cable subscribers has been overstated by at least 4.3 percent and perhaps as much as 10 percent, these people said, although the exact figure is still being determined. The company inflated its estimated $1.55 billion in 2001 cash flow by tens of millions of dollars and possibly by more, they said. The company also overstated its estimated 2001 cash flow - or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - by tens of millions through a complex swap transaction on the purchase of digital set-top boxes from Motorola Inc. and Scientific Atlanta Inc., these people said.

The tip came from a Towson student almost finished her sophomore year. A former sorority member who decided Greek Life wasn't for her, the student said Towson could be boring because parties seemed like they were filled with "all of the same people. " But recently, her friends were raving about Voltage Nightclub, the 12,000-square-foot club peculiarly located next to the Baltimore Travel Plaza right outside of Canton. It didn't matter to these students that Voltage, which opened in October, was once a Greyhound terminal or that it's located away from the city's hopping nightlife scenes.

With the announced near term political retirement of now state Sen. and former County Executive James Robey, it is worthwhile to consider what might be his most enduring legacy, namely raising Howard County state income tax rates from one of the lowest to the highest in the state. In particular, in light of the many tax rate increases in other areas imposed on Howard County residents since that time, and the presently proposed increase in real estate taxes before the County Council, it may be asked whether these increases could have been prevented or greatly reduced with a different set of decisions about what the future of Howard County would be with respect to development.

Wine growlers are coming to Maryland and the music at Merriweather Post Pavilion can play at the usual volume under Howard County-based legislation adopted in the 2013 General Assembly session. The Howard legislative delegation got just about everything it asked for in the session, which ended this week, either by having bills passed, folded into statewide legislation or included in the state's capital budget. The legislature approved bills to allow the county to create a property tax credit to encourage improvement of certain neighborhoods and give library employees the right to form a union.

Mount St. Mary's offense has enjoyed better days. After averaging 11 goals in the first nine contests, the unit is averaging just 6.5 goals in befuddling losses to UMBC and Sacred Heart in back-to-back Saturdays. Fifth-year senior attackman Brett Schmidt has scored two goals each in the setbacks, but senior attackman Andrew Scalley has scored just once while assisting on four goals. Fifth-year senior attackman Cody Lehrer has scored a goal in each game, but has zero assists. “I just think they've lost their chemistry a little bit,” coach Tom Gravante said Friday morning as the Mountaineers traveled to their next game against Quinnipiac.

Legg Mason Inc. reported Friday a $453.9 million loss for the third quarter, following a previously announced $734 million writedown of certain assets. On a per-share basis, the Baltimore-based money manager lost $3.45. For the corresponding quarter a year ago, the company earned $28.1 million or 20 cents per share. Legg, which has been operating without a permanent CEO for four months, continued to see investor dollars flow out of its funds in the quarter ended Dec. 31. The stock fell more than 3 percent Friday, closing at $26.79 per share, down 86 cents.

State and federal politicians have been scrambling for the last few weeks to react to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., with governors, congressmen and the president exploring new laws that might have prevented that tragic massacre. But today, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced the outlines of a package of legislation that would do much more than merely react to that terrible act. He pledged to take some of the steps that many of his peers are pursuing, such as a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, but also to pursue a comprehensive licensing system for handgun buyers.

State engineers call it an innovative design that could save money and speed the flow of traffic along busy intersections. But Sherri Bennett, an auto parts store clerk who drives the "continuous-flow" intersection built in 2000 in Prince George's County, isn't so enthusiastic. "It's terrible. It's just very weird," Bennett said of the oddly shaped intersection of Routes 228 and 210, one of only two places in the country making use of the design. "I would not recommend it," she said.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. yesterday reported that operating cash flow -- a key measure for the broadcast industry -- increased 15.2 percent to $21.5 million in the first quarter.The fast-growing Baltimore chain of independent TV stations said the gain came on an 11.9 percent jump in revenues, to $47.8 million from $42.7 million in the same period last year.For the period ended March 31, the company reported a loss of $458,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $2.5 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.Sinclair agreed last month to acquire St. Louis-based River City Broadcasting L. P. in a $1.2 billion deal that will make it the nation's seventh-largest TV broadcast group.

For your Midweek Madness drollery, I have -- yes -- once again gone to the SCTV well, this time to pull up a holiday-theme gem. You may thank me later. Here's the attempted filming of promo for a 'Liberace' Christmas Special with a very temperamental 'Orson Welles' as guest star:

Falita Liles marked Thanksgiving eve by inviting some of her best friends to what could be grimly described as a condemnation party. The Upper Fells Point resident hauled possessions out of her tiny historic rowhouse Wednesday, after a city inspector ordered it vacated because an unexplained water flow had undermined the foundation. "You can see I'm not real thrilled right now," she said. Liles' home was one of two condemned in the 200 block of South Madeira St., an alley street of roughly century-old homes near Patterson Park.