Hancock

From Jay Hancock's blog: Not much time. On the way to the PSC's hearings on the electricity grid's notorious reliability pricing model, which basically pays generation plants for merely existing and hasn't done its promised job of luring new generation projects to Maryland. The EDF Group offer to take over development of Calvert Cliffs 3 is a long long shot. A million things have to go right. If EDF were to take over UniStar, it and Constellation Energy Group would have to come to terms.

From Jay Hancock's blog: A column about BGE's smart meters last month had a throwaway line about how digital meters could blow the whistle on your marijuana grow lights. I hadn't thought much about it, but that's what people seem to believe will happen on a large scale in British Columbia, which is to pot what Texas is to oil. It's not that pot growers are using metered kilowatts to grow their weed. Rather, they're pirating electricity by tapping the lines and routing it, unmetered, to their nurseries.

I was deeply troubled to read Jay Hancock's column, "Slots-parlor odds favor losses and tedium" (Oct. 2) At best, Mr. Hancock failed to check the facts; at worst, he deliberately misled his readers. The gaming industry makes no secret about the odds associated with casino games. Had Mr. Hancock read the American Gaming Association's "Understanding the Odds" brochure more carefully, he would have realized that slot machine odds are, in fact, listed quite clearly. As stated in the brochure — and confirmed by Hollywood Casino representatives — slot machines keep between $2.50 and $12 of every $100 wagered.

Jay Hancock's statement that "Stents do little if any good, even when arteries are blocked…" is over-simplistic and leaves patients with the wrong impression ("Officials slow to probe how many stents are unneeded," Sept. 26). Cardiac stent procedures are an important treatment option for many patients to consider. For example, cardiac stents are a life-saving and necessary medical procedure for individuals with acute myocardial infarction. For other patients with severe artery disease cardiac stenting is a treatment option that can enhance the patient's quality of life.

When white settlers arrived in what is now Virginia, bringing with them their strange and sometimes warlike ways, the Powhatan peoples of the region had some decisions to make. The settlers had fired on Powhatans almost the moment they landed in 1607. Their leaders inadvertently insulted Chief Powhatan by asking him to kneel to accept a ceremonial crown. John Smith, president of the Jamestown colony, sent soldiers to drive many Powhatans from their homes. "The clan mothers got together, talked and prayed: How will we handle this problem with the white settlers?"

In his column "Risk to city outweighs benefits of living wage" (July 25) Jay Hancock perpetuates the myth that wage rates are the dominant factor influencing decisions of where large business will locate within the greater Baltimore regional marketplace. As a general rule, nothing could be further from the truth. In making location decisions, transportation access and the availability of a skilled workforce are very important to the success of a manufacturing concern; transportation and proximity to customers to a warehousing operation; and the existence of underserved demand and public access are crucial to retail sales outlets.

Jay Hancock's column "Md. hospital stays: the one-day wonder" (Feb. 28), regarding "one day" hospital admissions, fails to address the multi-dimensional nature of the issue. One would conclude from the article that patients admitted to the acute care setting for only one day did not need to be admitted at all and that one-day admissions reflect unnecessary and/or over-utilization of medical resources. While Maryland's unique payment system has indeed given hospitals an incentive to admit patients (as hospitals are reimbursed by this methodology)

C all it the riddle of the revolving-door recuperation. Why are so many Maryland patients spending only one day in the hospital? Maryland hospitals on average discharge more people after one day, as a portion of their total business, than those in almost any other state. The reason might not be what you think. It has to do with delivering too much health care, not too little. Solving the puzzle shows yet again the difficulty of containing medical costs and how Maryland employers, insurers and patients pay millions for what are probably unnecessary services.

The city has responded to a January column that chronicled the sufferings of businesses in Crossroads Business Park (formerly Industrial Park). They have lots of problems - crime and vandalism, especially - but the place also was littered with trash and furniture. Baltimore Development Corp.'s M.J. "Jay" Brodie sent me pictures of the cleaned-up spots, which are hugely improved, especially Bernard Drive where it goes under Interstate 95. But Brodie is mistaken in his assertion that the city Department of Public Works also took care of a boat dumped months ago in Crossroads.

Hancock wrong on Towson U. I take strong exception to a number of statements made by Jay Hancock in his recent column, "Tuition freeze leaves Md. students out in the cold" (Sept. 25). I question the statement that the freeze leads to "rationing Maryland education," but I will not comment on whether holding tuition levels is good or bad. Mr. Hancock seems to have made that decision. I will question his view of Towson University. To say that Towson and its sister schools "were supposed to educate the kids who didn't get into the University of Maryland, College Park" is ridiculous.