Maryland Attorney General

Towson-based Baci Management Inc., which left the Lyric Opera House and other theaters in the lurch recently after its subscription-series touring shows were abruptly canceled, has filed for bankruptcy. All but three of the eight Broadway-style productions that Baci had booked for Baltimore's Lyric between last September and this May were called off, hurting the theater and aggravating customers. The Maryland attorney general's office said it is trying to mediate 77 complaints about Baci.

An 11th-hour challenge to the eligibility of Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to run for that office was dismissed because last-minute lawsuits are "too disruptive" to elections, the state's highest court said yesterday. The unanimous Court of Appeals opinion says the judges are not considering whether Gansler met the requirements -- a lower court ruled that he did -- because the matter should not have been heard. The opinion elaborates on the court's Nov. 2 order that threw out the case for being filed too late for the Nov. 7 election.

A candidate for Maryland attorney general must be licensed and practice law in the state for 10 years, Maryland's highest court said yesterday. But critics predicted the main opinion will invite a flurry of court challenges to qualifications of future candidates. One of the four opinions issued warns that the main ruling could lead to a scenario in which judges, not voters, evaluate the qualifications of attorney general candidates. The case stems from a battle that ended in August with the Court of Appeals throwing Democrat Thomas E. Perez off the ballot.

When Global Security Inc. advertises for new employees, the pitch is enticing: Come join a growing company and become an office manager for $15 an hour. No experience necessary.Applicants arrive to find a U.S. map studded with push pins from New York to California next to a message board saying, "You pick a city!" By selling fire extinguishers and other safety equipment, a company manual exhorts, you can "Walk The Road To Riches."The road instead almost always leads to a dead end of disappointment and debt, according to investigators and dozens of angry job applicants in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

An unlicensed contractor has been fined $1,000 by the state of Maryland for dumping water contaminated with lead paint into a Fells Point storm drain.James Joseph Lucas, 34, who lives in the Butchers Hill neighborhood of East Baltimore, pleaded guilty to the charge in Baltimore District Court and was sentenced to pay the fine to the Maryland Clean Water Fund.The environmental crimes unit of the Maryland attorney general's office received a complaint Oct. 15 that outdoor paint was being stripped from brickwork at 1915 Bank St. in Fells Point.

Curran's call to ban handguns won't make Marylanders saferIt's nice to see Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran speak the truth for once: that his goal is to eliminate handguns ("Curran calls for ban on handguns," Oct. 20).It's also nice to see a man, with armed guards protecting him, say it's time for the rest of us to give up our handguns.Would Mr. Curran like to pay for armed guards to protect my family?It is my God-given right to defend my family and myself from harm. I will be damned if I will sit by and let Mr. Curran take that away from me.Law-abiding gun owners have stood by long enough while politicians spout feel-good legislation that hurts law-abiding citizens and helps criminals.

A Maryland company that has been accused in lawsuits of bilking customers in a slick sales scheme has closed two of its three offices in Maryland amid rumblings that three government agencies are considering investigations.Global Security Inc., which suggests that prospective applicants can "walk the road to riches" after paying up to $12,000 in start-up fees, abruptly closed its offices in Glen Burnie and Towson this week. An office in Laurel remains open."We were forced to shut offices down because of the bad publicity," said Paul W. Janoski, one of two chief executives at Global Security, referring to a Sunday story in The Sun that detailed the company's business practices.

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun said the Maryland Attorney General's office took action against Continental Food for deceptive practices in its direct food sales to home consumers. That operation has no connection to restaurant food distributor Continental Food Service Inc.Pub Date: 12/13/97

Lawyers for the state filed a rebuttal yesterday in Baltimore federal court to a lawsuit by anti-abortion advocates seeking to overturn Maryland's law prohibiting lobbyists from raising campaign funds for legislative candidates.Two officials with the Maryland Right to Life State Political Action Committee filed the suit in U.S. District Court in February, alleging that the restrictions on lobbyists infringe on their constitutional right to raise political funds for the candidates of their choice.

Gary P. Jordan, a career prosecutor who left his mark at the state and federal levels, died Friday evening at his home in Bel Air. He was 45.Although he had been treated for cancer since 1993, he continued in his post as first assistant to the U.S. attorney for Maryland until Tuesday."

In less than a year, the prospect of saving Maryland's racing industry with an infusion of slots dollars has become something of a mirage. The owner of the state's biggest tracks is in bankruptcy court, the promise of robust gaming parlors is iffy and the future of the Preakness Stakes is fuzzy. And the latest interested buyer of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park wants to build shopping malls on their grassy environs and says he'll pay for the tracks - in cash. After years of debate over legalizing slots in Maryland, voters overwhelmingly approved them (granted, the recession and the state's deep budget woes helped)

To comply with a Justice Department ruling this week, the Pentagon might have to pick up the pace in cleaning heavy metals and other contamination at Fort Meade that fouled nearby wells and forced evacuations of base housing. In an advisory letter to the Pentagon intended to settle a lengthy dispute among federal agencies, the Justice Department said that the military must obey an "imminent and substantial endangerment" order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 for Fort Meade and other Defense Department facilities in New Jersey and Florida.

The Q: Auto repair complaints were No. 2 behind landlord and property management problems on the Maryland attorney general's top five consumer complaints list last year. When your car won't start, leaks or is making funny noises, it can cause consumers to panic and forget what their rights are under Maryland law. Reader Rodney Kerr was in a miserable situation recently when he sent a frantic e-mail to us. "Hello, I'm in an auto repair shop, and I'm very, very concerned," Kerr said. "The owner started a lot of repairs on his own without any authorization at all. The vehicle is there because it wouldn't start.

The Maryland attorney general's office and the Humane Society of the United States are to announce today an increase in rewards for people who provide law enforcement authorities with information on illegal dogfighting events in Maryland and across the country. Coming on the first anniversary of NFL quarterback Michael Vick's federal indictment on dogfighting charges, the move will double the money offered for information leading to arrests and convictions, from $2,500 to $5,000. "We're making a concerted effort to eliminate dogfighting," said John Goodwin, manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States.

Personal information of about 56,000 Maryland consumers was compromised when several former employees of LendingTree.com, an online mortgage lending exchange, gave three mortgage brokers unauthorized access to company databases, according to state records. Charlotte, N.C.-based LendingTree's internal security discovered the breach in early February, according to an April 17 letter sent to the Maryland attorney general's office. An investigation revealed that the former employees divulged passwords for company databases containing consumer information.

With the foreclosure crisis accelerating, Maryland lawmakers approved last night the final elements of one of the most aggressive reform packages in the nation to guard against future mortgage-related calamities. Maryland is poised to enact tougher sanctions for mortgage fraud; to force banks to establish a borrower's ability to pay before making a loan; and to require more notification and a longer waiting period before a home can be repossessed or sold. With passage of the last bill yesterday, lawmakers expect to quickly reconcile minor differences between versions of the legislation approved by the Senate and House of Delegates before sending them to Gov. Martin O'Malley, whose administration made the reforms a top priority this year.

Underage drinking gets a boost One might think the last thing lawmakers in Annapolis would want to do is make alcoholic beverages more readily available to minors - and make them cheaper to boot. But, believe it or not, legislation that would accomplish just that is poised for final approval in the Senate today. In a recent opinion, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler found that flavored malt beverages or "alcopops" have been wrongly categorized as beer by the comptroller's office and should be treated as hard liquor.

The publication, sent to an inmate at the Eastern Correctional Institution, includes a cartoon of a black woman drawn to resemble an ape. Next to her, a white man in a suit makes a racist remark about her hair. One look at it and the prison's warden instituted a ban on the monthly newsletter, which is produced by the Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist group based in Learned, Miss. "You have a very diverse population behind prison walls and, if this were to get out, it could pose some sort of a security issue, if people get their feathers ruffled over it," said Rosa Cruz, a spokeswoman for the prison system.

"How many of you guys know more about computers than your parents?" Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler asked a gathering of fourth-graders at Waverly Elementary School in Ellicott City. Nearly every hand shot up. Gansler, whose children are 10 and 12, sees firsthand that youngsters today spend a lot of time on computers. But the Internet, he said, is like Halloween - a lot of fun, but also a little scary. At Waverly, he introduced a statewide program intended to educate children about potential online dangers, including sexual predators and identity theft.

Robert Mason Thomas Sr., a retired attorney and fair-housing advocate who briefly headed the Baltimore Museum of Art board, died of a stroke Tuesday at University of Maryland Medical Center. The Phoenix resident was 86. Born in Baltimore and raised on Calvert Street, he was a 1938 graduate of Gilman School, where he played football and lacrosse. Editor of the school's yearbook and active in its debate club, he received the school's top award for scholarship and leadership. He received a Naval Academy commission, but after his plebe summer, he was found to be colorblind and was disqualified from service.