Million

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

F.N.B. Corp. announced Friday it plans to acquire BCSB Bancorp, the parent of Baltimore County Savings Bank, in a stock swap valued at about $79 million. BCSB's share price jumped $4.82 after the announcement on Friday to close at $21.79. F.N.B.'s stock fell 34 cents to $11.09 per share. With this acquisition, F.N.B. will gain $640 million in assets and 16 banking offices across Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties. F.N.B., based in Hermitage, Pa., has $12.4 billion in assets and more than 250 branches in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

Sen. Rand Paul is recruiting plaintiffs - and seeking donations - for a class-action lawsuit against the National Security Agency. “Dear Patriot,” the Kentucky Republican wrote Thursday in an e-mail to supporters. “I'm looking for ten million Americans to stand with me and sue the federal government and TAKE BACK our rights. “Can I count on your help? “Without it, I truly fear where our fragile Republic could be headed …” Paul, who is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, told a Fox News interviewer this week that he would be asking Internet providers and telephone companies to join him in a lawsuit against the electronic eavesdropping agency based at Fort Meade.

The Annapolis city council passed Monday a $95.6 million operating budget and $10 million capital budget for next year, with a slight increase in the property tax rate and funding for projects that include a bulkhead replacement at City Dock. Mayor Josh Cohen, a Democrat, said the budget will improve government services while limiting the impact on taxpayers. "I think it's a good budget. I think it's a responsible budget," he said. Alderman Fred Paone, a Republican who voted against the measure, criticized the budget as unfixable.

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet - one-tenth the size of the average new American house - and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap - that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Gambling started Wednesday afternoon at the Rocky Gap Casino Resort right after the state approved the opening of its fourth casino, one that Western Maryland leaders hope will lure not only gamblers but also their families to a region eager for more tourist dollars. "It's open and jamming," said Scott Just, the general manager of the resort near Cumberland. "There's a couple hundred people in there. They were pressing up against the ropes. " The $35 million casino, located in what was the lakeside golf resort's conference center, will be open around the clock.

On Thursday, the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, a 47-year-old Baltimore woman went to the drugstore, and pulled out her debit card to pay for a prescription refill. But she didn't have enough money in the account to cover the $425 charge. So she asked the pharmacist and staff for a favor. "I asked them to break up the prescription to give me one-third," says the woman, who would not allow her name to be published because she didn't want to disclose her medical conditions.

The lights are always on at Campbell and Co.'s offices in Towson. Across time zones in a dozen countries, its traders are betting on the world's financial markets, millions of dollars at a time. Those transactions have made Keith Campbell a rich man. Now they are helping to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1998, when he started the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, the 64-year-old investment manager has given away more than $20 million - much of it to fund the bay cleanup.

PITTSBURGH -- Westinghouse Electric Corp. Chairman Paul E. Lego has had his salary cut by $1 million in the wake of a $1.1 billion loss by the company.According to proxy materials being distributed to shareholders, directors slashed Mr. Lego's pay to $677,083 from the $1.68 million he earned in 1990. Mr. Lego has been given financial incentives to improve Westinghouse's performance. The electronics giant is Maryland's largest private employer.Among the incentives is $1.1 million for meeting unspecified goals during a three-year period ending in 1993.

WE'RE IN A RECESSION. The governor can't keep up with th constantly declining revenue estimates. More cutbacks are certain. Legislators intend to chop additional sums from the governor's fiscal program.Yet one part of the budget reads like a "Happy Days Are Here Again" refrain. The capital budget looks as fat and happy as in prior years, when economic forecasts were rosy. The governor is seeking $815 million in construction funds, only slightly less than last year.There's money for garages, renovations, art for public buildings, a college swimming pool, state park comfort stations, new prison gatehouses, new college racquetball courts and other dubious spending.

The Inn at the Black Olive, a boutique hotel in Fells Point, was sold at auction for $3.9 million Thursday to mortgage holder 1st Mariner Bank. Bidding for the South Caroline Street hotel, restaurant and cafe-market opened at $2.5 million, said Bradd Caplan, auction agent for Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. One other registered bidder competed to buy the 12-suite luxury inn, he said. The two-year-old inn will remain open and continue to be run by the Spiliadis family, said Stelios Spiliadis, whose family operates the inn and separately runs the Black Olive restaurant on Bond Street nearby.

Defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman said Thursday that they've won a $91 million contract for radars to be used on Saudi Arabia's Apache attack helicopters. Northrop Grumman said its share of the Longbow work would be handled from its electronic systems division in Linthicum. Lockheed Martin is based in Bethesda. The companies said the contract is for Longbow Fire Control Radars for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command and the Saudi Arabia National Guard, spares and support for the aviation command and Longbow mast mounted assemblies for the U.S. Army.

Irene Pollin, the wife of former Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Abe Pollin, has given $10 million to Johns Hopkins' Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease. Her donation establishes the Kenneth Jay Pollin Professorship in Cardiology and will enable the school to embark on new research projects, the university announced Thursday. Pollin lost two children to congenital heart defects. Kenneth, for whom the professorship is named, died when he was 13 months old. Pollin's daughter, Linda, died at age 16. Her husband died in 2009.

The compensation of Legg Mason Inc.'s CEO and chief financial officer more than doubled over the year that ended March 31, according to a proxy statement filed Wednesday with regulators. CEO Joseph A. Sullivan, who took the helm of the Baltimore-based money manager in February, saw his total compensation for the fiscal year rise to $7.29 million, up from nearly $3.23 million the prior year. This includes a $425,000 salary, a $2.7 million cash bonus and $3.77 million in stock awards.

The New Jersey law enforcement officer charged with killing a Lansdowne man in a road-rage incident in Anne Arundel County was released from jail Wednesday after a $1 million bond was posted. Joseph Lamont Walker, a detective in the Hudson County, N.J., prosecutor's office, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting Saturday evening of Joseph Dale Harvey Jr., a truck driver who friends said recently bought a home in Lansdowne. Police said Wednesday that Walker's agency-issued gun was used and that an autopsy showed that Harvey suffered three gunshot wounds.

A few days ago, yet another article appeared in The Baltimore Sun about Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and his contract that will pay him more than $20 million per year for the next six years. That's a total of over $120 million. I don't know Joe Flacco. I am sure that if I knew him I would like him, and that if we were neighbors, we'd get along just fine. But that is not why I write. And I am not writing because I am jealous of Joe Flacco's good fortune, or because I don't think he is worth it based on his competitive value in football.

In 1990, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars was bet at Pimlico Race Course.What happens to all this money?Of the $234,071,757 wagered, about 80 percent, or $187,532,497, was returned to the fans who made winning bets.That left $46.5 million that was split nearly 50-50 between the track and the horsemen.Of that $46.5 million, about half, or $23.9 million, went into purses -- the prize money that goes to the winning horses.The track ended up with $20.7 million after state taxes, contributions to the Breeders' Fund and to the track employees' pension fund were subtracted.

Armco Inc., the Parsippany, N.J.-based stainless steelmaker with an operation in Baltimore, lost $8.5 million in the fourth quarter, or 12 cents a share, compared to a profit of $15.5 million, or 15 cents a share, in the 1989 fourth quarter.Sales during the fourth quarter were $414 million, a 5.3 percent drop from the previous fourth quarter when sales were $416.2 million.For the year, the company lost $89.5 million, or $1.10 per share, compared to a net income of $165 million, or $1.78 per share, for 1989.

The vacant lot now known as Harbor Point sure is a beautiful piece of property. To its west lies the newly developed, thriving and beautiful Harbor East. To its east sits one of Baltimore's finest neighborhoods, Federal Hill. And to its south, that which Baltimore treasures most, our lovely harbor. It is sad that this 27-acre lot now lies empty and tarnished - as those who wish to develop it keep reminding us - by toxic waste and a lack of proper road access. I look forward to the day when this property is developed and populated by mixed-use development.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is investing another $1 million in a program it launched six years ago to help train the next generation of nurse educators. The program gives nurses a stipend of up to $80,000 to pursue a master's or doctorate degree. In exchange, the nurses must agree to teach nursing classes for at least three years. The program is aimed at increasing the area's nursing ranks. One dilemma in addressing the problem has been the limited number of qualified faculty at nursing schools.