Maryland House

Three men attacked a fellow inmate at the Maryland House of Correction Annex in Jessup yesterday, stabbing him eight times and puncturing his lung, prison officials said.The 25-year-old victim and 47 other inmates were outside a housing unit about 1: 50 p.m. during a recreation period when the attack occurred. Officers recovered a homemade knife.The inmate, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, was taken by MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he is listed in stable condition, said Dave Towers, a spokesman for the state Division of Correction.

Pilgrimage to past Curious how life was lived in the 1790s? Tour Hampton Hall, home of the Ridgely family, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. The Georgian-style house, one of 13 on the Dulaney and Long Green valleys portion of this year's Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage, offers examples of original American and European decorative arts, plus two styles of garden, a formal French design and an English landscape style. The house is located on Hampton Lane, just off Beltway Exit 27 north. Other houses on the tour range from the 19th-century Henry's Delight on Pot Spring Road to a newly constructed villa-style house near Loch Raven reservoir.

Three men attacked a fellow inmate at the Maryland House of Correction Annex in Jessup yesterday, stabbing him eight times and puncturing his lung, prison officials said.The 25-year-old victim and 47 other inmates were outside a housing unit about 1: 50 p.m. during a recreation period when three men accosted the victim. Officers recovered a homemade knife.The inmate, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, was taken by MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he is listed in stable condition, said Dave Towers, a spokesman for the state Division of Correction.

LAST WEEK, Glen Burnie High School honored the outstanding students of the graduating class of 1999 at the annual awards ceremony. The following students received awards and scholarships for their commitment to excellence in scholastics, athletics and community service:Deborah Anthony: Talent in the Arts Award-Drama; Rotary Club of Glen Burnie Scholarship.Alicia Beads: Omicron Gamma Omega Chapter Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Award.Andrew Bonn: Severn Athletic Club Soccer Achievement Award; Paul Rusko Award.

The Maryland House of Delegates gave its approval yesterday to legislation that would allow Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to form a holding company, a measure the company says it needs to retain its competitive flexibility.The bill passed on a vote of 102 to 23. An identical measure is pending in a Senate committee.Several delegates spoke against the bill, saying it could potentially allow the company to merge with other holding companies without scrutiny by state regulators.But the bill's proponents said the state Public Service Commission would be able to review such mergers.

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich and his prospects for re-election as House speaker are consuming this city, but so far few Marylanders seem caught up in the controversy.In the two weeks since Gingrich admitted violating House ethics rules, Maryland's eight representatives have not received many calls or letters on the subject."This is not a burning issue," said Lisa Lyons Wright, press secretary to Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Western Maryland Republican.Bartlett has received three calls on the matter, she said.

For what it's worth, the Maryland House of Delegates is strongly convinced that the Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl.With an extremely light agenda early in the 90-day legislative session, House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. yesterday instructed the House clerks to call the roll on the game's outcome.Before the vote was taken, there was even some lobbying. One Baltimore County delegate rose to remind his colleagues that the New England Patriots feature running back David Meggett, a former Towson State University standout.

Prisoners need work behind barsIn a recent column, George Will wrote, ''some of the prisoners'' at the Maryland House of Corrections Annex in Jessup, which is Maryland's ''new'' maximum-security prison, ''are more easily confined than controlled in confinement.''He attributes this to the ''explosive force of boredom.'' Throughout the history of penal institutions (as early as 1811 -- Maryland's Penitentiary) boredom has been combated by institutional workshops, road-gangs, schools and a number of other productive betterment programs for those incarcerated.

There's a gold shield pinned to Maryland State Police Trooper Doug A. Cawman's uniform. What you can't see, though, is that his heart is the same color.During almost seven years of patrolling Interstate 95 from just north of Baltimore to the Delaware state line, Cawman has taken on the to-the-rescue mantle of his hero, John Wayne.He has changed more than 100 tires, rescued drivers in distress and even used a dab of Super Glue to help unlock a car -- deeds that would make even the Duke proud.

WASHINGTON -- During his first afternoon as a congressman, Elijah E. Cummings reflexively got up from his desk and began to walk across his new Capitol Hill office to get a soda. His legislative director politely stopped him and then returned from a closet with a Diet Pepsi.It was one of many small signs yesterday that Mr. Cummings' life had fundamentally changed. That morning, he had stood in the well of the House of Representatives as Speaker Newt Gingrich swore him in as Maryland's 7th District congressman before a cheering crowd of friends, family and fellow state politicians.

A winding road narrows in St. Mary's County toward the tip of a peninsula. Here, a partially hidden entrance with a sign that reads "St. Marie's" heralds the home of Loretta "Tiny" and Francis Taylor. It is an enchanted, short ride up the driveway, which is bounded on both sides by verdant lawns, toward the main Georgian-style house. Against its white siding and three tall columns of its portico, myriad flowers and blossoming trees burst forth in colors both pale and bold. A brick walk leads to the home's front door, providing the first, brief glance of water before entering the interior foyer.

House OKs capital budget of $1.1 billion The Maryland House of Delegates approved a $1.1 billion capital budget Friday on a 124-13 vote. Some Republicans objected to a $150 million increase in the state's borrowing limit. The capital program would direct $260 million to school construction, the amount requested by Gov. Martin O'Malley. It would provide $52.5 million to replace aging medevac helicopters and nearly $120 million for a land preservation program. Laura Smitherman Senate tries to block D.C. insurance law Maryland lawmakers took steps Friday to block a recent District of Columbia Council law that requires CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield health insurance to enroll 2,500 Washington residents.

After driving more than 14 hours on a return trip from visiting relatives in Athens, Ga., the Daniel family got out of the rain and sat down to a table of fried seafood dinners yesterday afternoon at an Interstate 95 rest stop in Harford County. They just beat other motorists returning from Thanksgiving visits who were rushing to grab a spot in growing lines in front of the fast-food restaurants at Maryland House near Aberdeen. The family of five from the Philadelphia suburb of Sicklerville, N.J., has made it a habit of stopping at the travel plaza on road trips along the East Coast.

Some of the state's most spectacular gardens will be on display over the next three weekends as part of the 2008 Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, the public can visit 11 sites in Kent County, including Eastern Shore plantation homes and 19th-century townhouses in Chestertown. Tomorrow, the tour comes to Baltimore's Mount Vernon district from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and includes Washington Monument and Four Parks, the Knabe House, 4 East Madison Inn, Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, Asbury House, the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion and a restored 19th-century home on West Mount Vernon Place.

Hugh Burgess, a retired Howard County attorney who advanced environmental causes while serving in the Maryland House of Delegates for 16 years, died of complications from kidney failure April 25 at Ellicott City Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was 78. Born into an old Howard County family, he was the son of Lionel Burgess, who also served in the Maryland House of Delegates. The younger Mr. Burgess was a 1946 Ellicott City High School graduate who earned a premedicine degree from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College)

There will be no green bean casserole or homemade pumpkin pie this Christmas for Clayton and Mary Wilson. Instead, the Atlanta couple will be sleeping in the cab of their truck, somewhere near Allentown, Pa., some 12 hours and about 800 miles from home. But the Wilsons don't really mind - in a couple of days, they'll be out West again, savoring the open roads beyond the interstate highways on their way back to the Pacific Coast. "The pink skies in Arizona are beautiful. You can see so many more stars at night out West," said Clayton Wilson yesterday while stopped at the Maryland House along Interstate 95. "I've seen colors in the plants out West that I've never seen in Georgia."

A 20-year prisoner who disemboweled a fellow inmate in gang warfare but maintained he acted in self-defense was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole by an Anne Arundel County judge. Kenneth Lawrence Higgins, 37, described by prosecutors as a "five-star general" in the Bloods gang, asked Circuit Judge Paul A. Hackner for a suspended sentence so he could run prison programs. Higgins, who was serving 35 years for rape and related crimes at the Maryland House of Correction Annex in Jessup, was convicted last month of the January 2005 fatal stabbing of Brian Wilson, 21. He was serving four years and a day for drug dealing and assault.

Today, The Sun begins its endorsements for the Nov. 7 general election with the race for U.S. Senate. Against almost any election opponent imaginable, this newspaper would be strongly inclined to support Benjamin L. Cardin. Certainly against Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and Green-Populist-Libertarian candidate Kevin Zeese, we are convinced that Mr. Cardin is the best choice to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate and that he will serve both Maryland and the nation by helping to shape consensus on some of the most nettlesome but momentous issues of the era. During 40 years of service in the state legislature as well as in Congress, Mr. Cardin has displayed a rare combination of keen intellect and practical horse-trading skills that marked him for leadership in every arena he entered.

From the sunset of the Studebaker to the heyday of the Hummer, motorists traveling on Interstate 95 have been taking their bathroom breaks near Aberdeen in a distinguished-looking, red-brick, neo-Georgian building called the Maryland House - the busiest travel plaza in the United States. Since the Ford administration, drivers have had a second choice of pit stop on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway - the oh-so-'70s Chesapeake House in Cecil County, just to the north. It's not as busy - or as attractive - as its older counterpart, but it consistently ranks in the top five nationally.

Corrections officer killed in Jessup Two inmates were charged with murder in the stabbing death of 42-year-old corrections officer David McGuinn at the Maryland House of Correction. It was the fourth killing in the Jessup prison this year. Judges to hear same-sex lawsuit The debate over same-sex marriage was reignited in Maryland when the state's highest court agreed to hear a case that seeks to overturn a state law that defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. The Court of Appeals plans to hear arguments in late November or early December.