Investment

Over the past decade many studies have reached the conclusion that investing in high-quality early childhood education is a successful hedge against poverty. Students who attend Head Start, America's comprehensive early childhood education and development program for poor children, are far better prepared to learn when they enter kindergarten. They are referred for special education services less frequently and they are also more likely to graduate high school. As adults they are less likely to be incarcerated and more likely to be successful, contributing members of society than those who do not attend such programs.

Columbia Association is committed to serving every segment of the Columbia community, as it has for the past 40-plus years with its three award-winning fitness facilities, its indoor and outdoor pools, indoor and outdoor tennis facilities, golf courses, Columbia Ice Rink, and Columbia SportsPark/SkatePark. CA will continue to serve the entire health and fitness community, and as part of that commitment will expand its offerings with a new club overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi in the former Rouse Company headquarters downtown.

Usually by early December, investment professionals have mapped out their outlook for the next year. But such forecasting has been made difficult by the "fiscal cliff" — the confluence of spending cuts and higher taxes that kick in automatically next year if politicians in Washington can't reach a deal. Some experts are waiting for the dust to settle on a compromise before outlining a 2013 investment strategy. But others say if it isn't the fiscal cliff, it would be the debt ceiling or some other Washington-manufactured crisis to worry investors.

Politicians routinely use false language to conceal the frauds they're committing and the harm they're doing. Journalists shouldn't echo the politicians' falsifications. Yet The Sun's John Fritze, in writing about U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski's taking over the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that the committee deals in "investments" ("Mikulski is set to lead Appropriations," Dec. 20). What a load of cow manure. Neither the committee nor the Congress nor the federal government deals in investments.

It has been a big week for the historic theaters of North Avenue. First the city announced it is moving forward with the Maryland Film Festival's plan to restore the Parkway Theatre. Now comes news that the state is chipping in a substantial sum toward the restoration of the Centre Theatre. The group that plans to turn the 1939 theater at 10. E. North Ave. into a multi-purpose arts space has been allocated $3 million in tax credits by the Maryland Historical Trust, a division of the state's planning department.

T. Rowe Price had reduced its stake in daily deal website Groupon, while increasing its ownership in Kayak Software Corp., the travel comparison site, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Baltimore-based investment company owned 14.2 million shares, or 2.1 percent, of Groupon at the end of November, according to a document filed Monday. That's down from an 11.6 percent stake at the end of July. Groupon's stock, which traded as high as $25.83 per share in February, closed Tuesday at $4.41 per share.

When Baltimore officials have talked about the city's "anchor institutions" - universities, hospitals, churches and other nonprofits - it has occasionally been unclear what sense of the word "anchor" they have sought to convey. When talk turns to what these tax-exempt entities contribute to keeping the city alive, the word has sometimes carried less an aura of stability and more a sense of great weight dragging things down. With today's announcement that it will invest $10 million over five years in its effort to organize the neighborhoods around the Homewood Campus around common development goals, the Johns Hopkins University is going a long way toward changing that.

Grotech Ventures will be the first venture capital firm to invest in Maryland startup companies using $12 million in state money as part of the InvestMaryland program, state economic development officials said Wednesday. The firm was selected based on its history of investing in Maryland companies and its overall track record, said Maryland Venture Fund Authority Chairman Peter Greenleaf, who is also CEO of Gaithersburg pharmaceutical research giant MedImmune. Grotech was once based in Timonium and maintains an administrative office in Hunt Valley, along with its Northern Virginia headquarters.

Having shown national leadership on marriage equality and fair treatment of immigrant children, Maryland has the opportunity to turn its attention to the plight of workers who have no access to paid sick days. The ability to earn paid sick days allows workers to avoid the choice of going to work sick or going without pay - and maybe even losing a job. Employers, workers, and the public would all benefit from such a standard. The many employers that already provide paid sick leave would have a level playing field with their competitors, and all would more easily maintain a healthy workplace.

As the holidays and harsh winter weather approach, this is often the time of year when families get drawn into a difficult decision - is it time mom or dad stopped driving? This can be one of the more vexing ordeals a son or daughter with an aging parent can face. It's not a matter to be taken lightly. Seniors age 80 and older have the highest rate of fatal crashes per mile driven of any group, including teens, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The death of a Johns Hopkins University bicyclist nearly two years ago - killed by an octogenarian driver turning into a marked bike lane on University Parkway - underscored the potential risks involved.