Index

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

President Barack Obama didn't release his proposed budget for 2014 until Wednesday, but liberals and the AARP have been howling all week about something they expected to be in it. What has our president done to provoke such outrage among his supporters? He's chained CPI. In an attempt to meet Republicans halfway in the battle over taxes and spending, Mr. Obama has offered to change the formula for calculating Social Security's annual cost-of-living increase - an "entitlement reform" GOP leaders have long asked for. The result would not change current Social Security benefits, but it would reduce future raises by an estimated three-tenths of 1 percent in the first year, or about $42 for the average beneficiary.

Constellation Energy Group, which is being sold to Chicago-based Exelon Corp., will be replaced on the S&P 500 index by a Houston wireless company. Exelon is acquiring Constellation in a $7.9 billion deal that is waiting for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. S&P will announce the date when Crown Castle International Corp. is to replace Constellation on the index after the merger deal closes. Hanah.cho@baltsun.com Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

How was your Valentine's Day? If it was, well, complicated, the Family Research Council, a conservative, Christian advocacy group in Washington, D.C., would probably not be surprised. Last month, the FRC's Marriage and Religion Research Institute released its third annual Index of Family Belonging and Rejection. The index reports the percentage of 17-year-olds who have been raised in households headed by two married, biological parents. According to MARRI, fewer than half (45 percent)

The worsening economy in Maryland was confirmed in a third-quarter report by Grant Thornton, a national accounting and management-consulting firm with a local office.The Grant Thornton Index, consisting of seven equally weighted economic indicators, declined 0.23 for Baltimore in the July-September period, hitting 109.1. For Washington, the index dropped 0.90 to 109.9. This is the third quarterly decline for Baltimore since the end of 1989, when the index was at 110.2.The index includes factory hours, nonfarm employment, construction permits, retail sales, business starts, business failures and money supply.

An index of U.S. mortgage applications eased from an eight-month high as purchases slowed last week, an industry group said Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index fell 0.2 percent to 1,114.9 last week, the first decrease in six weeks. The Washington-based group's index of purchase applications declined 0.8 percent to 448.9. The measure of refinancing rose 0.1 percent to 4,988.7, the highest since the week that ended July 18, from 4,983.7. The mortgage applications index reached 1,117.

A measure of U.S. mortgage applications fell for a second week after reaching an eight-month high at mid-month, an industry group said Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index declined 2.1 percent to 1091.3 last week. The Washington group's index of applications for mortgages to buy homes dropped 1.1 percent to 443.8. Mortgage rates that are close to last year's record low are bringing more homebuyers into the market and encouraging a new round of refinancing. Sales of new and existing homes rose last month, and the National Association of Realtors said last month that it may raise its forecast for this year's resales.

Fewer Americans sought to refinance mortgages last week after an unexpectedly strong national jobs report contributed to the biggest increase in home-loan rates since early December. The Mortgage Bankers Association's applications index declined 7.2 percent to 1,012.9, the third straight drop. The Washington-based group's gauge of applications to refinance existing mortgages fell 15 percent to 4,126.7, the second straight decline. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes, used to benchmark home loans, jumped after the Labor Department said payrolls rose the most since April 2000.

SORRY TO BREAK this to America, but the Micro Mood Index is hovering around 5.The MMI is my small-picture system for tracking the health of the economy. It operates on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ''Happy Days Are Here Again,'' and 1 being "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?''Five is Mantovani playing both of them.I go narrow and deep with this index. While experts follow the vast shifting sands of housing starts, leading economic indicators and the Federal Reserve, I talk to the guy at the wine store.

WASHINGTON -- The number of mortgage applications fell to the lowest level in nearly a year, according to an index by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The association's index of applications fell 4 percent in the week that ended Dec. 16 to 594.6, from 619.3 the previous week. It was the lowest level since the first week in January. The group's purchase index fell 5.2 percent to 453.1 from 477.9 the week before. Higher home prices and mortgage rates have made homes less affordable, while less refinancing removes a source of cash for consumers.

Congress and President Obama have set the inheritance tax trigger at $5 million and indexed it to inflation. They also indexed the alternate minimum tax to inflation. This legislation limits some of the penalty on those who have achieved wealth that they subsequently pass on to their heirs as well on those who are still in the in process of accumulating their wealth. Now that those inequities have been addressed. It's time to eliminate the inequity our government has fostered upon the majority of retired Social Security recipients.

The Maryland State Department of Education unveiled Monday a new way of assessing accountability of each school in Maryland under the waiver that it received from the federal No Child Left Behind act. The new measure, the School Progress Index, aims to cut in half the percentage of students who do not score at a proficient level on the state's assessments by 2017, school officials said. It replaces the system of measuring school targets called adequate yearly progress. The index will offer a "snapshot" of each individual school.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has taken on the road to Charlotte, N.C., and to Iowa his claim that Maryland's schools are "Number One. " The annual ratings by Education Week are held to justify the hundreds of millions in additional Thornton Commission spending that are at the root of state and local budget problems. These funds have been squandered on the rapidly escalating costs of "Cadillac" health insurance policies for teachers and on lockstep seniority increases not accorded other public and private work forces — while the state maintains certification requirements of 30 credit hours of mind-numbing education courses that exclude about 95 percent of its college graduates from the public teaching force.

Temperatures had reached the lower 90s already by lunchtime Tuesday, but relatively low humidity was keeping the heat index in check in the Baltimore area. A temperature of 95 degrees was recorded at BWI Marshall Airport about noon, but the dew point, a measure of humidity in the air, was 58 degrees. That is on the low side this time of year, and it is keeping the humidity from adding to any perception of heat. During the heat wave earlier this month, dew points topped 70 degrees, bringing the heat index upward of 110 degrees.

The National Weather Service is calling for Friday to start cloudy and then become sunny, with a high near 102 and west winds between 6 and 9 miles per hour. A heat advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Heat index values will be as high as 109. The weather service has issued an "excessive heat watch" from Saturday morning to Saturday evening. Heat index values will be up to 100 degrees on Saturday afternoon. Friday night is expected to be partly cloudy, with a low around 79 and west winds around 5 miles per hour or less.

June got off to a cool start, but summer heat is expected to return Wednesday. The National Weather Service is expecting highs in the mid-90s Wednesday and Thursday. AccuWeather.com is expecting the same, with a high of 96 on Thursday. Humidity will surely make it feel even hotter -- the weather service is forecasting about 40 percent relative humidity, which would make the heat index about 101 degrees. This month has seen two days at 90 degrees or hotter, as measured at BWI Marshall Airport.

U.S. mortgage applications increased last week as a drop in mortgage rates prompted more people to buy homes. Fewer homeowners refinanced. The Mortgage Bankers Association's applications index rose 3.4 percent to 696.2 from 673.3 during the prior week. The group's gauge of applications to purchase homes rose to the highest level since the end of October. The National Association of Realtors expects home sales to reach a record this year, which will help the economy and may drive purchases of appliances and other home furnishings.

WASHINGTON -- The government announced yesterday the first decline in six months in its major gauge of future economic activity, reflecting an enduring weakness in the economy and --ing any hopes in the Bush administration of a strong recovery before the election."

Constellation Energy Group, which is being sold to Chicago-based Exelon Corp., will be replaced on the S&P 500 index by a Houston wireless company. Exelon is acquiring Constellation in a $7.9 billion deal that is waiting for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. S&P will announce the date when Crown Castle International Corp. is to replace Constellation on the index after the merger deal closes. Hanah.cho@baltsun.com Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Investors had plenty to keep them jittery in 2011. There were the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, economic woes in Europe, and, here at home, politically tinged fiscal showdowns in Washington over deep government spending cuts. Still, the stock market will enter 2012 in a spot that wasn't too different from late 2010. Looking ahead, economic and stock market observers see uninspiring U.S. economic growth, financial problems in Europe, and the health of Far East markets looming large in investors' minds.