Leak

Eleven people were hospitalized after they suffered carbon monoxide poisoning at a Columbia hotel last night, Howard County fire authorities said. The fire department was called to the Sheraton hotel near The Mall in Columbia around 6:15 p.m. for a carbon monoxide leak, fire spokeswoman Anna Hoffman said. Guests, including many parents and children visiting for a youth hockey tournament, were evacuated from the 10-story hotel and 26 people were found to have suffered from mild carbon monoxide poisoning, Hoffman said.

About 30 Harford County residents, who were evacuated last night after a highly toxic chemical was found leaking from a truck, were back in their homes by about 2 a.m. today, and State Police continued to investigate what may have caused the leak.Residents of about 15 homes near Joppa were evacuated last night when the leak was discovered on a tractor-trailer hauling 39,000 pounds of the highly toxic chemical, chloroacetaldehyde, which is used in making fungicides. There were no injuries, but authorities said they were cautious because the chemical can irritate the eyes, throat and respiratory system.

Maryland's top court agreed Wednesday to hear appeals of two multimillion verdicts affecting hundreds of Jacksonville-area residents who sued ExxonMobil Corp. over 2006 underground gasoline leak. The Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in October in the two cases. Last year, a Baltimore County jury returned a $1.5 billion verdict against the oil giant. ExxonMobil appealed, and attorneys for residents asked the top court to bypass the intermediate appeals court. In March, in the second case, the state's second-highest court rejected much of a $147 million verdict, and both ExxonMobil and the residents appealed.

A low-level leak of mustard agent has been detected in the same storage building at Aberdeen Proving Ground that reported similar discharges in June, the Army said yesterday. The Army, which operates the Harford County proving ground, said an alarm sounded at 12:45 p.m. indicating a low-level presence of mustard agent vapor inside the sealed storage structure that houses steel containers of the deadly chemical. No vapor was detected outside the building and at no time was there any danger to facility workers, the community or the environment, the Army said in a prepared statement.

A leak of potentially deadly carbon monoxide gas led officials to shut down a Southwest Baltimore school Tuesday for the second time in a week, prompting a call from elected officials for a major infusion of state funding to upgrade dilapidated school buildings. Six students complained of illness and 40 other people were possibly exposed to carbon monoxide Tuesday morning at Dickey Hill Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore fire officials said. A child who complained of abdominal pain was taken to Sinai Hospital, but his condition was not life-threatening, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman.

A two-mile section of the Capital Beltway was closed to traffic for four hours yesterday after a 55-gallon drum containing a hazardous material tipped over in the back of a tractor-trailer and began leaking, authorities said.The outer loop of the beltway, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Central Avenue, was shut down from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. while firefighters from Prince George's County cleaned up the ethanolamine, an alcohol-based solvent described by officials as an irritant.

Natural gas service will be restored to customers in Locust Point starting late Wednesday and the company has begun forced entries into homes as part of repair efforts, according to a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. official. The company had estimated Monday that more than 1,000 customers would be without gas service for several days as a result of a bridge contractor accidentally breaking a 12-inch gas main Monday in the 1200 block of E. Fort Ave. About 100 households and businesses in Locust Point had their natural gas service restored Tuesday, but 900 more customers would continue without the heating and cooking fuel as the utility struggles to fix a ruptured main, BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy said.

The four northbound lanes of Interstate 95 near Savage were closed for up to 3 1/2 hours yesterday, causing at least a two-mile backup after battery acid leaked from a tractor-trailer, Howard County firefighters said.The truck, which was hauling car batteries, was northbound on I-95 near Route 216 about 4:30 p.m. when the driver, Darryl Myers, 28, of Lancaster, Pa., hit the brakes in an attempt to avoid an accident, firefighters said.A minor collision with another vehicle ensued.There were no injuries, but about 50 of the car batteries toppled in the trailer compartment and began leaking acid, said Battalion Chief Donald R. Howell of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services.

Washington -- The most worrisome thing coming out of the Congress this week had nothing to do with bounced checks. It was word that Senate special counsel Peter E. Fleming Jr. had subpoenaed telephone records of the two reporters who first told the nation that Anita Hill was charging Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with sexual harassment.Mr. Fleming has harassed the two reporters, Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and Timothy M. Phelps of Newsday, forcing both to secure attorneys and attend hearings during which each asserted a constitutional right not to identify their sources.

A water-valve leak in Baltimore's Guilford neighborhood caused flood damage to 10 homes near a pumping station at Old Cold Spring Lane and Underwood Road, the city Department of Public Works reported. Robert H. Murrow, a DPW spokesman, said the leak occurred after routine maintenance on water valves and released a cascade of water into an alley near the Guilford pumping station and reservoir. Water damaged several yards and basements in the area, Murrow said. About a dozen Public Works employees were dispatched to the scene and halted the leak about 8 p.m., Murrow said.