Neiman

A well-made structureCall it the trifecta of trends: Structure's new X-Pants combine three hot looks - drawstrings, cargo pockets and khakis.These slouchy, stylish trousers are made for men, but they're already turning up on fashionable women as well. They come in other shades, including navy and olive, and two fabrics: twill ($28.50) or corduroy ($39.50). Available at Structure stores.Only Neiman Marcus ...The new Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog is a mail-order glimpse into how the other half lives.

Mary Ann Lundgren knows clothes. A former fashion director for Neiman Marcus, she's worked with Bill Blass, Emanuel Ungaro and other top name designers. While she likes high-end clothing, she believes women need to have confidence in their own style. "The biggest mistake is to let fashion dominate," she says.Since 1996, Lundgren, executive director of Women of Achievement in Maryland History Inc., has been on a quest to find exemplary women throughout state history for a book about their achievements.

ENGELS, Russia -- Judy Neiman has spent the past two years here bringing capitalism to Engels, a town named after the man who spent his life trying to destroy capitalism.Marx (named after Karl) is the next town up the Volga river -- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were fellow travelers on the road to communism.Mrs. Neiman, 68 and a former resident of Columbia, Md., came here as a Peace Corps volunteer to set up a business center offering practical help to Russians trying to emerge from 70 years of communism.

A Columbia Association personnel assistant has been charged with stealing $8,450 from the nonprofit organization by issuing paychecks to a nonexistent employee and depositing them in a bank account established by her sister, Howard County police say.Shari Lee Neiman, 35, of Annapolis issued paychecks to a fictitious employee, "Elizabeth W. Nehring," from last July through March until a Columbia Association internal audit of the Supreme Sports Club's financial...

A former Columbia Association personnel assistant pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing more than $8,000 from the nonprofit organization through a fraudulent-check scheme over a nine-month period.Shari Lee Neiman, 36, of Annapolis entered her plea in Howard District Court to one count of felony theft, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. Timothy S. Mitchell, Howard County assistant state's attorney, asked Judge R. Russell Sadler for a 10-year sentence with all but six months suspended.

The contrast couldn't be any starker.As former stock boy James J. Stankovic prepares to leave the top job at J. Schoeneman Inc., the reins of the apparel maker's corporate parent have been handed to Richard C. Marcus, who headed the glitzy Neiman-Marcus retail chain his grandfather founded.The corporate shake-up at the company that controls one of Maryland's last clothing manufacturers was both panned and praised by industry observers yesterday.Some claimed that Mr. Marcus would help Plaid Clothing Group Inc. by improving relations with retailers.

It's no surprise that most current holiday catalogs look as though their pages had been sprinkled with sparkles or bathed in sunlight: This year, glitter is as good as gold.Like candlelight and a crackling fire, golden and amber accents can provide a shimmery glow, and strategically placed touches of gilt can warm a home in dramatic fashion. Even a little bauble can transform a room -- no matter its style -- and give it a festive face. Choose objects with a lustrous glow, such as shiny brass or matte brushed gold; metallics are guaranteed to warm things up. Remember that all that glitters doesn't have to be gold -- silver or copper sparkle, too. Jewel tones also add a lush warmth and richness.

Hard up for holiday gift ideas?How about his and hers vintage (circa 1939-42) Harley-Davidson motorcycles, complete with sidecars? Or, if cocooning is more your style, how about a Sioux-style tepee that sleeps six adults?Both items -- a three-wheeler will set you back a minimum of $28,000, the tepee is $2,200 -- are in the 1992 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, which starting this week will be dropping into more than 2.5 million mailboxes across the country.Much of the cachet of this catalog, which has been issued annually since 1939, is owed to its "his and hers" gifts, a tradition that started in 1960 with his and hers airplanes.

EVERY CLOUD has a silver lining, they say, so I suppose the silver lining of this recession must be the crackerjack performance of our nation's retail salespeople. Lately, I have seen lots of examples of New Age vendors, nimbly dodging pink slips with resourceful enterprise and hustle.Recently, when I was looking for a winter coat at a well-known Chicago department store, the sales person there, apparently surprised to find herself face to face with a customer, actually found two or three coats my size before she lost interest.

HOUSTON -- A few steps from Neiman-Marcus displays of $14 chocolate popcorn truffles and one aisle over from Princess Marcella Borghese's cosmetic spa, Ron Franks was having a Clark Gable fantasy.Mr. Franks and many of Maryland's 100-member Republican National Convention contingent were doing their best to revive the Houston economy.Until yesterday, the GOP conventioneers were a disappointment the shopkeepers here. "Windowshop 'til you drop" seemed to be their motto.But Mr. Franks had come to help change that -- with style.

A 27-year-old Anne Arundel County man pleaded guilty yesterday to fatally shooting his mother and attempting to kill his stepfather in 2006, but he was found not criminally responsible, the state's equivalent of an insanity defense. Zachary T. Neiman was delusional and had been hearing voices in the weeks leading up to the July 8, 2006, murder of his mother, Rae Bajus, 53, at their Pasadena home, said prosecutor Pamela Alban at a hearing in county Circuit Court before Judge Paul A. Hackner.

A Pasadena man accused of shooting his mother to death is no longer refusing to take his psychiatric medicines and is now competent to stand trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys said in an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court hearing yesterday. The attorneys' determination follows a February report from doctors at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup that found that Zachary Thomas Neiman, 27, can assist in his defense. Neiman faces first-degree murder charges in the July 2006 slaying of his mother, Rae Bajus.

A Pasadena man, who had refused to take medicine that would make him mentally competent to stand trial in the murder of his mother, has "regained his capacity to make responsible decisions," doctors have determined. The development, revealed in court papers filed in Howard County Circuit Court last week, could jump-start the trial of 26-year-old Zachary Thomas Neiman, which was postponed in August because he stopped taking psychiatric medications. In September, Neiman, who is being held at the state psychiatric facility, Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, stopped eating; his intention was to kill himself, according to a family member.

Accused of killing his mother with two shotgun blasts as she sat on her sofa, Zachary Thomas Neiman says he wants his day in court. But he has refused to take medicine that prosecutors say would allow doctors to deem him mentally competent to stand trial. "Mr. Neiman has drawn a line in the sand and said, `This is how much medicine I'm taking,'" Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Alban said yesterday at a court hearing. "A lot of it lies with Mr. Neiman." Refusing treatment won't free the 26-year-old Pasadena man anytime soon, experts say. While a person charged with a crime can theoretically avoid trial - or prison - by being found mentally incompetent, that defendant will end up remaining in a state institution where psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, nurses and other experts will continually watch, test and re-evaluate him. "People aren't getting away with anything.

The 25-year-old Pasadena man who allegedly shot and killed his mother over the weekend had been ordered seven years ago not to have any contact with her or his step-father after he was charged with "false imprisonment" and convicted on a second-degree assault offense involving them, court records show. Despite that criminal history, Zachary Neiman, 25, was living with his parents on the leafy 100 block of Beacrane Road Saturday night when, police say, he fired a shotgun twice at his mother as she sat on their living room couch.

Anne Arundel: Pasadena Man charged in his mother's death A 25-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his mother Saturday night at her Pasadena home, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said yesterday. Police found Rae Neiman Bajus, 53, with an upper body gunshot wound in the living room of her house in the 100 block of Beacrane Road at about 9:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead at Baltimore Washington Medical Center, police said. The victim's husband, David Bajus, 54, told police that his stepson, Zachary T. Neiman, had fired the shotgun at his mother, Rae Bajus.

Neiman Marcus sells $1,000 shoes and $9,500 gowns, but the most expensive thing it has ever sold is itself. Two investment firms agreed yesterday to buy all of the Neiman Marcus Group's outstanding shares for $100 each, for a total price of $5.1 billion. The two private equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus, are buying a leader in the luxury business, which has thrived for the past few years even as discounters and mid-tier retailers posted only modest growth. Neiman Marcus has posted double-digit sales increases for the past six quarters.

On Wednesday, August 11, 2004, MILDRED E. BORTNER, beloved wife of the late Victor E. Bortner, devoted mother of Marion Bortner Neiman and her husband Robert, cherished grandmother of Jan Neiman. She was preceded in death by nine brothers and sisters. Funeral service will be held 11 A. M Saturday, August 21, at Heffner Funeral Chapel & Crematory., 1551 Kenneth Road, York. Visiting hours 10 to 11 A. M on Saturday. Interment Prospect Hill Cemetery.

Virginia Barnett heads straight to Neiman Marcus whenever the urge arises to buy a $500 Ferragamo bag for herself or a $2,500 Prada suit for her boyfriend. But instead of driving to the store near her home in Fort Worth, Texas, Barnett logs on to the Internet, checks out the Web site www.neimanmarcus.com and e-mails her online personal shopper David Isaacs to make her purchase. Barnett, 26, said she doesn't miss the perks that usually draw a customer to Neiman Marcus -- an attentive sales assistant stroking her ego and tending to her every shopping need.

A well-made structureCall it the trifecta of trends: Structure's new X-Pants combine three hot looks - drawstrings, cargo pockets and khakis.These slouchy, stylish trousers are made for men, but they're already turning up on fashionable women as well. They come in other shades, including navy and olive, and two fabrics: twill ($28.50) or corduroy ($39.50). Available at Structure stores.Only Neiman Marcus ...The new Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog is a mail-order glimpse into how the other half lives.