Maryland Residents

It's a problem most government agencies wouldn't mind having: millions of tax dollars to spend, and not enough places to spend them. But for the Maryland Higher Education Commission - the agency that administers state-funded college scholarship programs - the looming threat of getting stuck this year with millions of dollars in undistributed student grants could threaten future financial aid funding, officials say. That's why the commission is anxious...

lNVEIGHING against the harmful effects of smoking, King James I, in 1604, noted that smoking is "a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the braine, and dangerous to the lungs . . ."King James got it right, even if he did not yet know the specific names we would give these ailments, the enormous toll they would extract in human suffering and costs of medical care, or the way the nascent tobacco industry would cynically manipulate tobacco's addictive properties while denying (under oath)

Don't close curtain on Legislative Follies, the session's antidoteI read with unbelieving eyes that the Legislative Follies is apparently to be no more ("Curtain falls on Legislative Follies," March 9). Say it isn't so!Surely reporter C. Fraser Smith must have gotten this story wrong. The Follies kaput? Never. Not so long as there is a Maryland House and Senate, an annual session and enough material each year for an entire season on Broadway. How can lawmakers, staff, lobbyists and reporters, all aboard for the annual 90-day cruise, get through to sine die without the wit and release of the Follies?

From the comfort of their living rooms, Maryland residents may soon be able to watch 60 horse races on television every day and place wagers by clicking buttons on hand-held remotes.On Demand Services, a company based in Colorado, plans on launching a cable and satellite network late this year that for the first time would bring legal betting on a national basis into homes and offices via television. The endeavor, Television Games Network, would feature races from Pimlico and Laurel Park as part of its marquee menu -- a potential boon to the Maryland racing industry.

Hundreds of Maryland residents targeted to lose their disability and medical assistance payments have won a temporary reprieve in federal court in Baltimore, where lawyers for the poor and the government have settled a class action lawsuit.The settlement, reached late last week, requires the Social Security Administration to re-examine the cases of 842 Maryland residents that were scheduled to lose their benefits under a tough new federal law passed by Congress last year.The settlement is not expected to have an impact on cases pending outside the state.

To most Maryland residents, going to the Motor Vehicle Administration means waiting in lines. A new device to be unveiled at The Mall in Columbia this week is designed to change that.Access Maryland -- an ATM-like machine that is scheduled to be unveiled tomorrow at 2 p.m. -- can be used for payment of vehicle registration renewal by check or credit card, said Marilyn Corbett, director of public affairs and information for the MVA.Corbett also said that plans call for more state agencies to be reachable by Access Maryland soon.

Maryland residents -- increasingly cynical toward the criminal justice system -- favor more capital punishment, are losing faith in the courts and think inmates do little work, according to a state survey being released today.In a telephone poll of 800 Marylanders for the Maryland Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy, two-thirds of those responding said they favor increased use of the death penalty and believe crime is a major problem nationwide, though not necessarily in their communities.

THERE ARE two rules of entertaining that have been around for generations. The first is: "Never serve your guests a meal that you haven't practiced and perfected." The second is: "If your guests are your friends, practice on them. The company is more important than the food."I'm pleased to report more successes in cooking for company than failures, but must also admit there have been a lot of things that didn't get tried a second time.Ken Upton, of Ken's Creative Cuisine in Annapolis, will walk a middle road to entertaining at an evening seminar at Anne Arundel Medical Center Medical Park next week.

State legislators are tiptoeing into a difficult balancing act -- weighing the need to control health care costs against the sensitive issue of patient confidentiality.Under a 3-year-old law, Maryland has begun assembling a statewide computer database of medical records to show what kinds of health care state residents are getting and what they are paying for it.That information already has been collected on a voluntary basis from a variety of sources including Medicaid and some private insurance companies, but soon such reports will become mandatory.

A week after the filing of a class-action lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court, Maryland's disabled citizens and the people who drive them will no longer have to pay for windshield parking placards.The state Motor Vehicle Administration issued an order yesterday eliminating the $5 fee, said MVA public information director Marilyn Corbett. The blue placards, which must be renewed every two years, permit the disabled and any vehicle transporting them to park in designated spaces.But the suit, filed last Wednesday, alleged that the charge was illegal under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which says that "a public entity may not place a surcharge" on the disabled to cover the cost of accommodating their disabilities.

Maryland residents save at Lorien Hotel and Spa What's the deal?: Maryland residents will receive a discount on their stay when they visit Kimpton's Lorien Hotel and Spa in Alexandria, Va. The new boutique hotel is in the heart of Old Town Alexandria on King Street. What's the savings?: Receive 20 percent off by presenting your driver's license. After taxes, a room that totaled $492.60 was $392.25 with discount. What's the catch?: You must be a Maryland resident and stay a minimum of two nights to receive the deal.

Unemployment in Maryland reached a nearly 17-year high in March as job losses mounted in the financial, construction and manufacturing sectors and more than 205,000 state residents actively sought work. The state's jobless rate reached 6.9 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said in a preliminary report Friday. The figures, adjusted for seasonal changes, compare with an adjusted 6.8 percent in February, also a nearly 17-year record. "The recession is a long way from over," said Charles W. McMillion, president and economist at MBG Information Services in Washington.

Maryland's jobless rate spiked over 6 percent in January, climbing to a 16-year high in the midst of the deepening recession, preliminary government figures released yesterday show. Economists said they were surprised at how rapidly employment weakness has accelerated in Maryland, though the state still fared better than the nation. The country's unemployment rate hit 7.6 percent in January and 8.1 percent last month, the highest rate in more than 25 years. The state's jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal changes, rose to 6.2 percent in January from 5.4 percent in December, the U.S. Department of Labor reported.

Helen Brierley turned off her heat pump and has been air-drying her dishes. Amina Gauhar hangs her laundry on a clothes rack and even avoids the vacuum cleaner. Both have turned their thermostats way down. But despite efforts to conserve energy, their utility bills - like those of other Maryland residents - have doubled or even tripled during the past few months. As Maryland regulators and utility executives scramble to explain the sticker shock to thousands of angry customers, the Maryland Public Service Commission set up a hearing this week to address the sharp number of complaints.

Maryland's jobless rate climbed to 5.3 percent last month, keeping it at a more than 12-year high, the Labor Department said yesterday. It was the worst unemployment rate for the state since January 1996, when it hit 5.4 percent, and the number reflected the worsening turmoil in the financial, credit and housing markets. "It's to be expected in light of worsening economic conditions," said Daraius Irani, director of applied economics for the RESI consulting arm of Towson University. "Maryland is going to get hit, and going forward will see an increase in the unemployment rate."

Two years ago, Germaine Thomas and her husband, Anthony, moved with their five children into a house in an upscale neighborhood in Prince George's County. Their purchase price was $810,000, but now houses in the area are selling for about half that. "In the course of about two years, we've watched our block disappear. ... Basically half the block is gone, and as a result, home prices are plummeting," said Germaine Thomas, adding that they are now unable to pay back their loans and are facing foreclosure.

When a Maryland dental HMO acknowledged this week that it had accidentally posted the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 75,000 members on its Web site, the revelation made news. But the security breach at The Dental Network is just one of more than three dozen filed so far this year with the Maryland attorney general's office, The Sun has learned. And though most of the security breaches are much smaller, they underscore how hard it is to completely protect computerized information.

There's a standard question in opinion polling that asks people if they'd be willing to pay more in taxes if the money is spent on education. Typically, the vast majority say yes - as many as three out of four. And it's possible they're all now suffering a temporary bout of buyer's remorse. At least that's what Gov. Martin O'Malley's sinking approval numbers suggest. To describe Maryland residents as unhappy with their current governor is a rather sizable understatement. According to the Sun poll, his approval rating is hovering around a dismal 35 percent.

Bottle bill helps put plastic in its place I was glad to see the editorial about San Francisco's ban on bottled water for city departments ("Thirst quencher," July 1). Americans' love of individual containers of water is not only costly to drinkers but has other, more harmful effects. We have seen an explosion of plastic bottles showing up as debris in our rivers and the bay. Last September, at the International Coastal Cleanup's event in Maryland, 6,239 plastic bottles were collected.

It's a problem most government agencies wouldn't mind having: millions of tax dollars to spend, and not enough places to spend them. But for the Maryland Higher Education Commission - the agency that administers state-funded college scholarship programs - the looming threat of getting stuck this year with millions of dollars in undistributed student grants could threaten future financial aid funding, officials say. That's why the commission is anxious...