Nature

This letter is in response to the article on page 8 of the Laurel Leader dated March 7 , "Rosapepe disappointed by PSC assessment. "  Mr. Rosapepe and Mr. Frosh may be disappointed about the Public Service Commission's decision to not impose a $100 million fine on Pepco and BGE for their slow response last year in restoring power. However I'm not. Here's why:  If Mr. Frosh and Mr. Rosapepe would have been successful in their bid to compel the Public Service Commissioner to impose these huge fines, who would have ultimately paid for these fines?

With many important issues before the Maryland legislature this year, it is a shame to see time and effort being wasted on unnecessary proposals regarding natural gas development in our state. Pursuing such legislation right now is putting the cart before the horse — and could have a significant negative impact on our economy and efforts to create new jobs. Let's look at the facts. Today, there is no natural gas development under way in Maryland. In fact, there currently is a moratorium on gas development in place until summer 2014, due to an executive order signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

The Harford County Cultural Arts Board has an exhibit by Harford County artist Lin McLain is on display at the Council Gallery, 212 S. Bond St., Bel Air. The exhibit features oil paintings with the focus on scenes from nature. The show, which runs through March, is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. McLain's work is inspired by nature and the desire to "capture the beauty and amazing wonders of it all," according to a cultural arts board press release.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers will be paying higher rates this year, with the average bills rising by several dollars a month, to cover the cost of upgrading the utility's infrastructure. Maryland's Public Service Commission, which regulates the company, said Friday it approved an increase to distribution rates that will cost the average residential electricity customer an additional $3.33 a month and the average residential gas customer an extra $2.70 a month. The utility had sought larger rate increases.

Virginia Commonwealth will add women's lacrosse to its athletics lineup beginning with the 2015-16 season in order to maintain compliance with Title IX, the school has announced. The VCU Board of Visitors on Thursday approved adding the sport to its intercollegiate athletics program, which currently sponsors 16 intercollegiate sports programs -- eight men's teams and eight women's teams. Over the past four years, the number of student-athletes per academic year has consistently been between 265 and 279, and student-athlete composition has generally been equal between men and women.

Bills that would allow a surcharge of up to $2 per month on residential natural gas bills to pay for new pipelines and other distribution system upgrades passed both houses of the Maryland General Assembly last week, as most Harford County legislators gave the bills their support. The exception was in the House of Delegates, where Harford Dels. Glen Glass and Pat McDonough were among 18 votes cast against HB-89, which received 119 yeas, including from Harford Dels. Mary-Dulany James, Susan McComas, Wayne Norman, Donna Stifler and Kathy Szeliga.

Summer break finds many kids sleeping in, riding bikes and splashing in the pool. But it's not every day you come across a pastime like Autumn Boit's. “Yesterday I skipped lunch to clean artifacts,” the Ellicott City fourth-grader declared on a humid August morning at Robinson Nature Center. The nature center, which opened in Columbia in the fall of 2011, held its first series of summer camps in 2012 - including Autumn's “Digging Up the Past” archaeology camp. With 18 forested acres, Robinson Nature Center is full of ways to keep children engaged during the summer.

Now for a bit of good news - and from an environmental group at that. Drew Koslow, the Choptank Riverkeeper, reports that while walking the shore of Harris Creek in Talbot County, he saw an "amazing" abundance of oysters growing in the intertidal zone, inundated by water at high tide but exposed to the air at ebb. "You literally couldn't take a step without walking on oysters," Koslow said in a recent release by the Mid-Shore Riverkeeper Conservancy....

Wedding date: Dec. 29, 2012 Her story: Annie Balczerak, 31, grew up near Hunt Valley. She is a real estate agent at Prudential Home Sale WGC Realty in Baltimore. Her father, Edwin, is a retired pharmacist. Her mother, Patricia, is a retired schoolteacher. His story: Tom Molloy, 31, grew up in Baltimore. He is an emergency room physician's assistant at Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore. His father, Patrick, owns a contracting business. His mother, Agnes, owns an after-school program.

In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama laid out clearly and forcefully the philosophy that animates his presidency and placed it in context of America's history and values. He believes in individual initiative and hard work, in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But he believes that history has time and again forced us as a nation to recalibrate our notions of what actions are necessary to uphold those values - from the end of slavery with the Civil War to the enfranchisement of women during the Progressive Era to the dawn of the New Deal welfare state and the realization of equality through the civil rights movement.