Gag

Attorneys for The Baltimore Sun, WBAL-TV and WJZ-TV filed their opposition yesterday to a gag order that would limit public comment on the cases against two men accused of killing former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. A hearing on the gag order could occur as early as 11 a.m. today in Baltimore District Court, but is likely to be postponed. Attorneys for Gary Collins and Charles Y. McGaney, who are accused of fatally shooting Harris outside a Northeast Baltimore jazz club during a robbery, requested the order, saying it was necessary to ensure a fair and impartial jury.

Baltimore lawyers representing two men charged in the murder of former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. have asked a judge to prohibit people involved in the case from talking about it publicly. But their written request didn't keep defense attorney Jan Bledsoe from telling reporters after a hearing that her client, Gary Collins, 20, was innocent. It seems the lawyers want to have it their way and then some. Attorneys for Mr. Collins and Charles Y. McGaney, 19, are seeking the gag order because they fear their clients won't get a fair trial.

Attorneys representing two men accused of killing former City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. are seeking a gag order in the case, arguing that publicity would make it difficult for their clients to get a fair trial. At a hearing yesterday, Charles Y. McGaney, 19, and Gary Collins, 20, were ordered held without bail by District Judge Devy Patterson Russell. Police say the men fatally shot Harris outside a Northeast Baltimore jazz club in a robbery and have been linked to the crime through DNA and witnesses.

Some area restaurateurs got together the other day to talk foie gras. They weren't swapping recipes. They were developing "talking points." The goose and duck liver lobby has landed in Baltimore, complete with pickets waving pictures of dead birds. The Baltimore Animal Rights Coalition -- BARC for short, though perhaps they could go by QUACK -- has been sending letters to chefs and demonstrating outside several restaurants since September. Two of its early targets, Timothy Dean Bistro and Ten-0-Six, quickly took the delicacy off their menus, BARC's Erin Marcus said.

Lest there be any question about why it's so difficult to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, consider the sordid saga of the Four Seasons development slated for the fragile shores of Kent Island. Controversial from the start, the project found favor with pro-growth Queen Anne's County commissioners who were ousted in 2002 by outraged voters but signed the deal just before leaving office. Their replacements tried to void the approval but were sued by the developer, lost in court and agreed to drop their opposition to avoid a threatened $3 million in legal penalties.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot has a message for the developers of a controversial waterfront development in Queen Anne's County: Let the county commissioners speak. Troubled by a gag order imposed on the commissioners, Franchot requested yesterdaythat the developers of a Four Seasons community on Kent Island suspend part of their settlement agreement with the county and allow the officials to testify at the next Board of Public Works meeting. The Four Seasons project, a long-fought development slated for the eastern shoreline of Kent Island, has hit a snag at the board where Franchot and other members have expressed reservations about the environmental impact of building 1,300 homes in land designated as a Chesapeake Bay "critical area."

Concern about the environmental impact of a proposed 1,300-home development along Kent Island's waterfront - and local officials' inability to talk about it - prompted the Board of Public Works yesterday to get in the middle of a long-simmering dispute over building in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The three-member state board heard hours of testimony from the developer and from Queen Anne's County residents who worry about the effect of the project on water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, eventually deciding to delay approval of a routine wetlands license to gather more information.

Manson guilty, Nixon declares." Remember that headline from all those years ago? President Richard M. Nixon, commenting about the trial of Charles Manson, opined that the defendant "was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason."

WASHINGTON -- In a setback for lawyer and TV commentator Gloria Allred, the Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear a free-speech challenge to the increasingly common practice of judges issuing "gag orders" for all the lawyers in highly publicized criminal cases. The order turning down Allred's appeal came on an unusually quiet first day of the court's fall session. By law, the justices open their term on the first Monday in October. But since this year it came on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the justices postponed the first oral arguments until today.

Animation fans, young and old, know that there is but one question for cartoon critters, one basic truth worth pondering in an imponderable universe. That is, is it "Wabbit season," or "Duck season"? Open Season (Sony Pictures) Voiced by Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Billy Connolly, Debra Messing, Gary Sinise. Directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton. Rated PG. Time 89 minutes.