Machinery

BALTIMORE TURNED an important corner in recording fewer than 300 homicides last year for the first time in more than a decade. But Mayor Martin O'Malley's ambitious goal -- to reduce the number to 175 by the end of 2002 -- won't be achieved unless judges, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and the probation system become more reliable partners in stopping the bloodshed. The decline in homicides this year was due, in large part, to aggressive policing methods introduced by Commissioner Edward T. Norris.

Americans are habitually skeptical; they know that shampoo won't make them sexier, that campaign promises won't mean great schools, and that partisanship essentially runs the federal government. But until Nov. 7, people generally assumed that voting for president was clean, unbiased and uncomplicated. They punched a ballot. A disinterested machine or worker counted their vote. And the candidate with the most votes won their state. Silly them. Among the revelations that sprang from Florida's electoral meltdown of the past 12 days is that the electoral system itself is thoroughly partisan, not to mention inaccurate, archaic and inconsistent.

KOFI APEA Orleans-Lindsay was just a number -- one of 54,000 Maryland convicts on conditional release -- until he allegedly killed an undercover state trooper 19 days ago. The 23-year-old dope dealer simply didn't stand out in the bizarre world of the Maryland Division of Probation and Parole. Yes, he had missed eight meetings with his probation agent, had failed three drug tests and skipped 61 others. But he had also kept 12 probation appointments and passed 45 drug tests. So nothing was done to lock him up. Until it was too late.

GOV. Parris N. Glendening was wrong when he approved the execution of murderer Flint Gregory Hunt. The governor was wrong when he approved the execution of murderer Tyrone X. Gilliam. And the governor would be wrong to approve the execution next month of murderer Eugene Colvin-el. Since 1976, states have executed some 630 people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In each case, it was wrong. The state must punish wrongdoers, but state-sanctioned killing is immoral -- period.

FORT EUSTIS, Va. -- Watch your step.You might not see rats -- the food's long gone -- but topside on some of the rusting ghost ships in the James River Reserve Fleet, you can see through holes to the deck below.Grass grows on the deck of the cargo ship Marine Fiddler, moss and weeds on others. Pigeons leave foot-high hills all over the World War II Liberty ship Arthur M. Huddle. Peeling paint hangs in strips from cabins in the oiler Saugatuck. Water covers floors in the tanker Truckee. Peregrine falcons are protected on another ship, but they didn't show up this year.

WASHINGTON -- New orders at U.S. factories fell for a second straight month in October, as a plunge in electronics orders linked to an earthquake in Taiwan offset gains for machinery, chemicals and paper, government figures showed yesterday.Orders fell 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted $360 billion after dropping a revised 1 percent in September, the Commerce Department said.Without a 10.4 percent decline for electronic and other electrical equipment, orders would have risen 1 percent, the figures showed.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to a record $21.3 billion in May as oil prices rose and U.S. companies stepped up purchases of computers, machinery and semiconductors from abroad, the government reported yesterday. "It's another reflection of just how strong the domestic economy is," said Tim O'Neill, chief economist with Bank of Montreal and Harris Bank in Toronto. "It's also evidence of the still-modest recovery outside North America." U.S. exports fell for the sixth time in seven months, helping the May deficit widen from April's $18.6 billion, the Commerce Department reported.

As it moves closer to wrapping up a three-part divestiture plan, Towson-based Black & Decker Corp. said yesterday that it has completed the sale of its glass-making machinery business, Emhart Glass.Bucher Holding AG of Switzerland purchased Emhart for $194 million, netting Black & Decker $158 million -- significantly more than analysts had predicted.Electing to concentrate on power tools and hardware, Black & Decker is also in the process of selling a controlling interest in its True Temper Sports golf club shaft business to Cornerstone Equity Investors LLC for about $200 million and $4 million in preferred and common stock.

Boosted by a sharp increase in construction equipment and paper products, general cargo moving through Maryland Port Administration terminals increased 9 percent during the first quarter.Cargo during the first three months of the year was 1.6 million tons, up from 1.4 million tons in the first quarter of 1997."Roll-off/roll-on" cargoes, the category that includes construction equipment and heavy machinery, increased 19 percent to 127,200 tons. Paper products almost tripled, to 46,096 tons.

PEORIA, Ill. -- Caterpillar Inc. and United Auto Workers union representatives plan to resume full negotiations today with a federal mediator, as expectations grow for a multiyear contract proposal.Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director John Calhoun Wells last met with both sides the week of Feb. 1, in sessions that included a 12-hour meeting. UAW members at the heavy machine and agriculture equipment maker are working under terms of a 1991 contract.John Stark, a Chicago-based heavy machinery industry analyst, said union members told him that both sides tentatively agreed to a six-year contract.