Hurricane Charley

LOCALLY Micros Systems Inc. The Columbia provider of hardware and software to the hospitality industry rose $2, or 4.3 percent, to $48.54 yesterday on news that Data Connect, which is running a technology trade show in Los Angeles, has begun using 350 of Micros' workstations. NATIONALLY Wendy's International Inc. The fast-food chain gained 89 cents to $35.26 after posting strong sales despite 100 temporary restaurant closures because of Hurricane Charley and other storms. Same-store sales, those from restaurants open at least a year, rose 2.8 percent, the company said yesterday in what may be a harbinger of other retailers' reports today.

In spinning up from a relatively unremarkable Category 2 storm to the extreme Category 4 level in just five hours yesterday, Hurricane Charley illustrated the limits that still dog hurricane forecasting. John L. Beven, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the storm's explosive development was "extremely unusual" and, for the moment at least, inexplicable. Yesterday morning, the center had predicted that the storm would strike Florida as a Category 2. But then something happened over the Gulf of Mexico 100 miles south of Fort Myers, Fla., Beven said - possibly some extra pulse of energy from warm gulf waters, some shift in winds that might otherwise hinder the storm, or some chaotic change in the walls of clouds around its eye. The changes occurred at a pace rarely seen in such giant swirling storms.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - With thousands of Floridians still waiting for housing help after four hurricanes devastated parts of the state, Gov. Jeb Bush named a task force Wednesday to advise state lawmakers on how to create more affordable housing. Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, whose family owns an Orlando construction firm, was named to head the group of bankers, state officials and housing leaders. Jennings said it will recommend ways to spend millions in federal aid and to ease red tape that slows housing construction.

Marylander Terrye L. Jackson is poised to enter the Guinness World Records for an Olympian feat: She watched more hours in a row of television than anyone else on Earth is ever documented to have done. Jackson, an Upper Marlboro resident who works at a Columbia law firm, pulled off the coup this week at Universal Studios in Orlando by watching 50 hours and seven minutes straight of Olympics coverage on NBC and its sister stations, including Bravo and Telemundo, a Spanish language channel.

Public workshop tomorrow to discuss disaster, hazard plan A public workshop will be held tomorrow on the draft of the county's Hazard Mitigation Plan. Staff from the Carroll County Bureau of Comprehensive Planning and the Office of Public Safety prepared the plan. Officials from both offices will be available to answer questions. Potential hazards addressed in the plan draft include hurricanes, soil movement and sinkholes, drought, tornadoes, winter storms, floods and dam failure. The workshop, scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Room 003 of the Carroll County Office Building, will follow an open-house format.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The federal government used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by last year's storms, the state's coroners said. The deaths include a Palm Beach Gardens millionaire recovering from heart surgery who died two days before Hurricane Frances, a Miami baby not born when the storm arrived, and a Port Charlotte man who died of cirrhosis and heart failure five months after Hurricane Charley. In two other cases, coroners could find no record of the people dying.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Since Hurricane Charley slammed into the state Aug. 13, more than 110 people throughout Florida have contacted the state attorney general to report fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency. People told of applicants pouring water on their belongings, collecting checks for furniture they didn't own and claiming damage to appliances that weren't working before the storms. The attorney general did not investigate and referred the complaints to the inspector general for FEMA's umbrella agency.

As Hurricane Katrina moves north, Allan Schwartz of Lisbon plans to head south with a trailer full of supplies to help rescue pets and farm animals endangered by the storm. Schwartz is co-founder of Days End Farm Horse Rescue in western Howard County and has trained in swift-water and other types of large-animal rescue over the past 15 years. He will join close to 80 volunteers who have been waiting in Florida and Texas for the storm to pass as part of efforts by the Humane Society of the United States.

NATIONAL Charley batters Gulf Coast A stronger-than-expected Hurricane Charley roared ashore in Florida yesterday as a dangerous Category 4 storm, slamming the heavily populated Gulf Coast with devastating storm surges and 145 mph winds that snapped trees in half, ripped roofs off buildings and blacked out hundreds of thousands of people. [Page 1a] Review upholds suspects' status A military review of the cases against four terror suspects held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has concluded they are classified properly as enemy combatants and will not be freed, the official overseeing the process said yesterday.

Consumers' minds these days are about as jumbled as the racks at Filene's Basement at closing time. Consumer confidence took a sharp downward turn in August, according to a report by the Conference Board, a private research group. But just a day earlier, the Commerce Department reported spending was up slightly despite tepid job growth. The 32,000 jobs that employers added to payrolls in July was the smallest gain this year, and a sign to some that the economic engine had once again stalled.