Inadequate

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

The National Mortgage Settlement's relief is not reaching enough Maryland homeowners and is not as effective as it could be in keeping people in their homes, the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition said Tuesday. “The number of Maryland families facing new foreclosures continues to dwarf those getting help under the settlement,” said Marceline White, the group's executive director, in a statement. Between March 1, 2012 and the end of last year, about 14,200 homeowners received assistance through the settlement, intended to resolve accusations by 49 states and the federal government that five major mortgage servicers abused borrowers during the foreclosure process.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has announced that the federal government would begin a nationwide campaign to immunize children against preventable diseases by age 2.Pediatricians and other public health experts said Mr. Bush's proposal was belated and inadequate.Mr. Bush also announced a federal program intended to reduce infant mortality by increasing the number of women who get prenatal care. This program is called Healthy Start, but Democrats derided it as a "late start," saying it was prompted more by the political calendar than by genuine interest in child health problems.

Conventional wisdom indicates that a host of mental health issues will be up for discussion during the General Assembly's 2013 legislative session. This is welcome news for the one in five Marylanders living with mental illness who are struggling to access the services they need. The current attention to mental health speaks to the longstanding inadequacy of the community mental health safety net in this country. More than 60 years have passed since we opened the wards of inhumane psychiatric hospitals for public inspection nationwide, as depicted with heart-wrenching clarity in the 1949 Baltimore Sun expose "Maryland's Shame.

A study of Baltimore's Circuit Courthouses released yesterday recommended that the city's two main court buildings undergo extensive renovations and that a new criminal courthouse be built downtown with all the work costing an estimated $324.5 million. The recent study elaborates on previous reports that detailed needs for improved court facilities. Calling the current courthouses "inadequate," the study -- performed by Baltimore and New York archtects at the direction of the state -- suggested eight sites where a new, $130 million criminal courthouse could be built.

The Maryland judiciary released a report yesterday that is highly critical of the bail bond system, saying that there is a "potential threat to public safety" and a "general disrespect for laws and rules governing bail bonds." In response to the report, Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell has ordered a task force to recommend ways to improve the bail system, which the judiciary decried in its report as having become "inadequate and antiquated." "We have identified lack of controls and procedures at each control point within the system," reads the internal audit, ordered by Bell and completed by the court.

Maryland officials announced yesterday that they would shut down children's group homes run by a company whose executive director expensed Caribbean cruises, luxury SUVs and meals while residents endured what they and former staff described as inadequate medical attention and other mistreatment. Taking unusually drastic action, the Department of Human Resources decided against renewing the license of Evershine Residential Services Inc. after an inspector found that the Owings Mills company wasn't providing proper care or clean facilities.

An article in yesterday's Carroll edition of The Sun about Access Carroll, a new, nonprofit clinic in Westminster for those with inadequate medical coverage, might have given the impression that a mobile unit operated by the Mission of Mercy downtown was closing. The mobile unit will continue to offer its services every other Wednesday at Distillery Drive.

An opinion sought from the Maryland attorney general's office may help determine when 220 houses will be built in the North Carroll Farms neighborhood of Hampstead.Hampstead's Board of Zoning Appeals delayed action on two related cases Thursday pending an opinion on whether a subdivision may be deferred because public services are considered inadequate.Area homeowners have appealed the town Planning and Zoning Commission's Aug. 29 preliminary approval of North Carroll Farms Section IV.They say the approval was in error because schools, water and roads in Hampstead are inadequate or approaching inadequacy.

Richard Nixon's complaint that foreign policy has been almost completely ignored in the current political campaign -- the first of the post-Cold War era -- constitutes a justified rebuke to President Bush and his Democratic challengers.His attack on "the new isolationism" finds its mark in the "America First" demagoguery of Patrick Buchanan. But real blame has to fall on Mr. Bush and on those with a plausible chance of replacing him -- Bill Clinton and Paul Tsongas.Mr. Nixon rightly suspects (see his remarks excerpted elsewhere in Perspective)

It was very proper to provide another viewpoint in your article about Gov. Martin O'Malley announcing that there would be a bill addressing the issue of gun control ("Gun control package pending," Dec. 19). However, I found the "perspective" offered by Del. Michael Smigiel to be an example of intellectual dishonesty and lazy thinking. Mr. Smigiel presented the same old "the problem is," response and I quote, "It is not to attack the firearm; it is to attack the problem, which is people who have a mental health issue.

Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso defended the system's financial management Thursday as a complex work in progress, in response to a state audit released Thursday outlining 26 recommendations that address inadequate oversight. In a mass email statement, the schools chief said the system took the recommendations "extremely seriously" but went on to emphasize that the audit — the first conducted under his administration — of fiscal 2010 had fewer findings than the system's last audit in 2004.

The Maryland State Lottery failed to collect tens of thousands of dollars from manufacturers who did not promptly fix inoperable slot machines, state auditors found in their first review of the agency since the start of the state's slots program in 2010. The audit also found other problems with slots oversight, as well as issues with security protections for the agency's computer networks. Both Bruce Myers, the legislative auditor, and Stephen Martino, the head of the lottery agency, characterized the issues as small problems for a fledgling slots operation that do not translate into any agency wrongdoing.

Hurricane Irene did more than topple trees and turn out the lights across the Baltimore area. The storm left behind some nasty, stinky reminders of its fury, as sewage spills forced beach closures and triggered warnings to stay away from the water as summer draws to a close. The worst problem came in the Baltimore Highlands area southwest of the city, where a ruptured sewer main has poured about 100 million gallons of raw sewage into the lower Patapsco River over the past week. Power outages also led to more than a dozen other sewage spills across the region.

After two previous dismissals, the city made a third attempt this week to sue Wells Fargo Bank, accusing the company of causing increased foreclosures in Baltimore through racist, predatory lending. The latest complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, contains 14 new paragraphs that purport to address concerns that led Judge J. Frederick Motz to twice before dismiss the case — namely a lack of evidence that the mortgage lender was responsible for housing vacancies and millions of dollars in associated damages.

I recently returned from a trip to England and thought the screening procedure at Heathrow Airport was very inadequate. I was not only disgusted with their complacency, but very concerned about my safety. The screeners paid no attention to the passengers, no one took their shoes off, and I couldn't believe how lax it all appeared. In fact, the screeners were more involved with each other than with screening the passengers. (I suppose they think that a bomber will be so exhausted after the mile and a half walk to the gate that he wouldn't have the energy to set off a bomb.

How should Carroll decide whether its schools are crowded or its firefighters and medics fail to get to emergencies fast enough?County commissioners agreed yesterday to ask town mayors for their ideas before voting on an adequate-facilities report prepared by a citizens committee.The report, presented to the commissioners in February, recommends standards the county can use to determine when TC growth causes county facilities to be inadequate.County staff members who helped write the report will explain the document to the mayors on May 13, the date of the next quarterly mayors' meeting with the commissioners.

The family of the truck driver who died when his tractor-trailer plunged off the Bay Bridge in August 2008 is suing the state, alleging that the Maryland Transportation Authority failed to adequately maintain the structure and improperly allowed two-way traffic on the eastbound span. In a filing this month, the estate and survivors of John R. Short Sr. added the state and the authority as defendants in a $7 million lawsuit filed in Queen Anne's County Circuit Court against the driver of a car that crossed the center line and allegedly set off the chain of events that led to the drowning of the Willards resident.