Maryland Attorney General

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.

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.

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.

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.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society Maryland Chapter's annual Dinner of Champions is a star-studded affair. This year, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. and Baltimore City Council President Sheila Dixon were spotted at the Marriott Waterfront, all dressed in their black-tie best. The cause is a serious one, but causes and clothing need not always match. Just ask Richard Alter, who showed up in navy blue, not black, with a western-style belt, half a dozen rubber wristbands supporting various causes, and a cartoon Peanuts tie with Charlie Brown and all his pals dancing across it. "Basically," Alter says, "I don't take myself all that seriously.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Attorneys for the state argued before a federal appeals court yesterday to preserve Maryland's first-in-the-nation statute to force Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to spend more on employee benefits, but lawmakers in Annapolis have already begun looking for other ways to expand health care access. Maryland's bill, known as the Fair Share Health Care Act, drew national attention a year ago amid intensifying pressure for the giant retailer to change its business practices. But the measure was struck down in July by a lower-court judge on the grounds that it ran afoul of a federal law that promotes uniform treatment of employees.