Group

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 Baltimore Sun was named Newspaper of the Year on Friday in the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association awards contest and also took home the association's annual honor for "extraordinary efforts" to gain access to public records. The Sun has been chosen Newspaper of the Year seven times in the past eight years. The Washington Post won the award in 2008. The James S. Keat Freedom of Information Award, named for a former Sun editor, was granted to The Sun for its pursuit of public records relating to property taxes, speed cameras and public school spending.

Centrist Democrats in the House of Delegates have decided to form a group to promote their point of view within the party and weigh in on key issues, a leading member of the group said Thursday. Del. Mary Dulany-James, a Harford County Democrat, said the groups would probably be called the Blue Dog delegation or caucus -- named after a similarly oriented group of moderate Democrats in Congress. James said the group could have apotential membership of about 20 members of the Democratic caucus, which has tended to be dominated by more liberal members from Baltimore city and Prinnce George's and Montgomery counties.

The Palestinian immigrant and his brother lived next door to each other in homes in West Ocean City , over the years opening a number of businesses throughout the area — three pizza shops, a Mexican restaurant, a liquor store, gas stations, and development companies, court records show. This week, however, authorities in New York alleged that Basel, 42, and Samir Ramadan, 39, were also at the top of a multimillion-dollar cigarette-smuggling ring and said they believe members of the organization may have funneled some of their proceeds to terrorist groups.

After months of planning, a group led by gambling giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. is expected to get the green light Tuesday to build a 3,750 slot-machine casino ringed with restaurants a few blocks from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Maryland's slots location commission - which has been considering an application by CBAC Gaming since September - is scheduled to vote on the plan when it meets Tuesday. The Las Vegas-based gambling company has teamed up with a number of local partners, including Baltimore financier and philanthropist Eddie C. Brown.

The organizers of the first Baltimore Grand Prix — which ran up millions in debts to vendors and taxpayers — have begun paying their back taxes, an attorney for the closed business said Thursday. Steven D. Silverman, who represents Baltimore Racing Development, said company managers have entered into an agreement with the Maryland comptroller's office that will result in all of the nearly $600,000 in back taxes being paid. The company owes $567,594 to Baltimore in admissions and amusement taxes, and $23,838 in sales and use taxes to Maryland, according to state officials.

Five groups submitted bids to manage Baltimore recreation centers Wednesday, including two groups that would charge significant monthly fees for after-school programs that have traditionally been free. The bids mark the beginning of the second phase of the cash-strapped city's attempts to find private parties to take over some centers so it can improve other centers with limited resources. After awarding four centers to third-party groups last month, the city sought bidders for 11 other centers.

UNC Inc., an Annapolis-based aviations company, recently changed thename of its TSS Group, one of the company's principal operations, toUNC Accessory Overhaul Group.The UNC Accessory Overhaul Group comprises ARDCO Division of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; ATS Division (Aircraft Turbine Service) of Bayshore, N.Y.; SEMSA Division of Hamden, Conn.; and Texas CAMCO Division of Grand Prairie, Texas.A leading supplier of accessory overhaul, repair and rotable services, the UNC Accessory Overhaul Group serves airlines, package carriers, commuters and executive fleet customers worldwide.

Tots and their accompanying par ents get a chance to meet new friends during weekly play groups held at Oakland Manor in Columbia. The Town Center Community Asso ciation sponsors the 10-week sessions.

MARILYN JOHNSON has spent two years trying to get her business off the ground. She runs a sewing school and costuming company, MTM Design Studio, in Laurel. And somewhere in the middle of working 12-hour days, raising teenage sons and pursuing a degree in fashion design, Johnson thought it would be a good idea to start a support group for businesswomen. In October, For Women Only was born. The group was supposed to start in September, but the pipes burst in Johnson's studio, forcing the postponement.

A group of black men with visions to improve Baltimore were awarded grants between $10,000 and $20,000 for youth job training, the development of a debate camp at Morgan State University and teaching former prisoners to urban farm. The grants, collectively worth nearly $200,000, were announced Tuesday by BMe, a network of black men working with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Open Society Foundations to strengthen communities. "BMe is based on a simple truth, that there are thousands of black men who are assets to their communities - and if the rest of us got behind people like these, the city would have more to celebrate," said Trabian Shorters, founder of Black Male Engagement, or BMe. "They are men from all walks of life.

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-civil rights, anti-immigration, and anti-United Nations rhetoric that comes with it. But the latest disclosure - gleaned from a draft inspector general's report...

In the Dunloggin, Beaverbrook and Font Hill neighborhoods of Howard County, residents say they've spent thousands on home generators and on food to replace the stuff that spoils when the power goes out for days. There have also been other expenses, they say: motel stays, flashlights, lanterns, gas hot plates and long, heavy-duty extension cords - the kind used to hook up to a neighbor's generator. "You see people running across the street with extension cords," said Cathy Eshmont, who lives in Dunloggin, one of several Ellicott City neighborhoods where residents say they've contended for years with frequent power failures.

Maryland tapped the nonprofit Seedco to help implement health care reform despite a $1.7 million settlement the agency agreed to in December to resolve a federal fraud suit. The U.S. government sued the agency, saying it defrauded a federal employment program by falsely saying it found jobs for hundreds of New Yorkers. As part of the agreement, Seedco admitted to the false reporting. Maryland health officials announced last week that Seedco, headquartered in New York but with operations in Maryland, was one of six agencies chosen to educate people about reform and help enroll them in health insurance plans.

One day after Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation to abolish capital punishment in Maryland, death penalty supporters said Friday they will launch a petition drive to give voters the opportunity to overturn the new law. At a news conference, Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said he plans to lead the effort to "repeal the repeal" of the state's death penalty. "We need to retain the death penalty for those prosecutors who wish to seek it because it is simply the right thing to do for public safety," said Shellenberger, a Democrat.

The body of a man found in a pool in Randallstown has been identified as that of a disabled man who'd previously gone missing from a group home, Baltimore County Police said Thursday. James White, 64, had gone missing from the home in Owings Mills on Feb. 26, and his body was found in the pool in the 8100 block of McDonogh Road on April 28, police said. White was pronounced dead at the scene. At the time of his disappearance, police had described White as being non-verbal and intellectually disabled.

BETHESDA -- Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend received an endorsement in her bid for governor from a leading abortion-rights group during a cocktail reception yesterday in Montgomery County. Nancy C. Lineman, executive director of the Maryland affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League(NARAL), said she expects abortion rights and other women's issues to play a critical role in this year's race for governor. Townsend "has been a consistent supporter of ours," Lineman said.

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr no longer is part of the Baltimore NFL expansion group that formerly carried his name, a spokeswoman for the group said yesterday.Phyllis Brotman, a Baltimore advertising executive who is a member of the group, said Starr's name won't be listed on the owners' application the group -- now called Maryland NFL Expansion Group Ltd. -- will file with the NFL next week.Brotman said the group, still meeting with a potential big investor from Maryland, won't include Starr because it wanted to become more of a local group.

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Ever since their season ended, former Towson quarterback Grant Enders and wide receiver Gerrard Sheppard have been honing their timing with a regular series of throwing sessions. Now, the undrafted free agent rookies are eager to put that rapport to work at the Ravens' three-day rookie minicamp that starts today at team headquarters. Sheppard agreed to terms on a three-year contract, while Enders is attending the minicamp on a tryout. Both had hoped to hear from the Super Bowl champions ever since taking part in the Ravens' local prospects day in March.