Make Maryland

COLLEGE PARK -- Can the Maryland football team make it to a bowl for the first time since 1990?That was the key question as the Terps opened practice yesterday with fewer doubts than in coach Mark Duffner's previous four years at Maryland. The Terps return their kicker, seven starters on offense and eight on defense, and 10 of those 16 are seniors. They are coming off a 6-5 record, only their second winning mark in a decade, and have shown steady improvement the last two seasons.Will the progress continue?

IT'S NO PANACEA, but the Glendening administration's proposed tax credit for firms creating new jobs in growth industries sends the right signal to corporate America. It lets companies know that from now on Maryland intends to be more creative and competitive in pursuing business opportunities and in helping in-state firms expand here.Other states, including Virginia, have benefited enormously from similar tax-credit programs. The idea is to encourage companies to bring large-sized plants to Maryland.

Maryland's attempt to get back to business as usual this morning is expected to be complicated by icy roads, still-narrow streets on major routes and school bus stops piled with snow or ice.Yesterday's 48-degree weather that helped the melting was a mixed blessing, officials said, because predicted overnight freezing temperatures probably will make the now-wet roads slick for the morning commute.In addition, most of the main roads, although they have all been BTC plowed, are still not clear from curb to curb.

Due to a problem in typesetting, there was a garbled line in the Friday editorial "Brady for Maryland's Economy." The line should have read that a top priority for James T. Brady's economic-development team is persuading Dr. Robert C. Gallo "to locate a world-class virology laboratory at the University of Maryland instead of Virginia."The Sun regrets the error.Gov. Parris N. Glendening picked wisely in selecting Baltimore business executive James T. Brady as his top economic development aide yesterday.

One of the most exciting developments in years for the nonprofit sector is just now beginning to unfold in Maryland. A group of 40 volunteers, known as the Nonprofit Policy Agenda Project and coordinated by the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations (Maryland Nonprofits), has just published the Partnership Platform 1995-1998. The report represents eighteen months of intense effort. Its release was timed to coincide with the current election campaigns.Maryland Nonprofits remains on the cutting edge of policy development for its members, which is critically important in today's fast-paced world.

ANNAPOLIS -- An attempt to make English the official language of Maryland, a perennial loser in the General Assembly, is getting serious consideration for the first time.An array of ethnic and human rights groups yesterday attacked the proposal, which would make Maryland the 20th state to adopt some form of "official English" legislation.Representatives of Latino, Asian, Native American and even deaf Marylanders who use American Sign Language led a news conference to brand House Bill 982 and its companion, Senate Bill 467, as discriminatory.

Enactment of the Mental Health Insurance Parity Act makes Maryland the first state to require insurers to make available mental illness benefits "under the same terms and conditions [as those] provided for any other type of health care."This "landmark legislation" (the Washington Post) was passed without significant news coverage (none in The Sun) and without public debate.Sen. Howard A. Denis, R-Montgomery, a long-time supporter of legislatively imposed parity coverage for mental illness, "Mental illness should be viewed as it is: a form of illness.

Make it an annual event -- the Dunbar High reunion at the Baltimore Arena. Tonight, Maryland's Keith Booth opposes Towson State's Scooter Alexander. Next year, Booth could team with Michael Lloyd against Massachusetts' Donta Bright.It's no mere fantasy. Maryland is trying to schedule UMass for a game at the Arena next season. And Lloyd, averaging 35 points at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College, has narrowed his college choices to Maryland, Syracuse and Florida State.Two Dunbar players at Maryland?

The television went on, and Mark Duffner started describing the video highlights from Maryland's latest disaster, a 38-0 loss at Georgia Tech.Alistair Cooke as host of "Masterpiece Theater" it wasn't.The Terps were sort of fun when they were losing 59-42 and 42-37, but that euphoria lasted only four games. The past two weeks they've been outscored by almost 17 touchdowns -- to be exact, 108-7.Their record is 0-6.Their ranking in total defense is 106 out of 106.Their next winning season might be in 2006.

STUTTGART, Germany -- Gov. William Donald Schaefer pitched Maryland to Mercedes-Benz yesterday, but the company remained uncommitted about building a car manufacturing plant in the state.Klaus D. Rettig, a spokesman for Daimler-Benz AG, Mercedes' parent company, told the governor at a meeting and luncheon at Daimler-Benz's sleek new headquarters here that the company had made "absolutely no decision" on the plant location.Mr. Rettig said the "first cut" would be made in July and that the final decision was scheduled for September or October.