Occupants

Forty physical and occupational therapists who came to the United States through a visa program to work in 15 states, including Maryland, were awarded a total of $134,000 in back pay in a U.S. Labor Department case, the department announced in a statement Monday. Labor Department investigators found that Jackson Therapy Partners, of Orlando, Fla., failed to pay the workers the required wages for the period between their arrival in the country and their reporting to work. The workers came to the United States from the Philippines under the H-1B visa program.

I watched shaking my head as Vice President Joe Biden pleaded with Republicans to pass the bill funding police, firefighters and teachers' jobs. But it was only last week that the administration had $20 billion on hand left over from the first stimulus, and it was rushing to find green companies worthy of investing in. Are these the best political minds this country has to offer? This is the same administration that encourages and embraces the Wall Street occupiers who have cost cities across the country millions of dollars in police overtime pay. One moment they are telling liberal demonstrators to keep doing what they're doing, hoping their protests will blossom into a left-wing backlash against the tea party.

Raissa Galitzin, a homemaker and volunteer who survived the German occupation of France during World War II, died of stroke complications June 23 at Sinai Hospital. The Roland Park resident was 87. Born Raissa Mikhailovna Antipoff in Kohlta-Jarva, Estonia, she was the daughter of Russian parents who had fled during the Bolshevik Revolution. She moved with them to the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, where she was educated. During World War II, she was ordered by German government officials to leave school and work in a textile mill.

in just a few weeks from now, Indigma will take up temporary residence in the old Tony Cheng's space at the corner of Charles and Madison. Tony Chemmanoor's posh Indian restaurant was one of the casualties of the December fire that totated Mount Vernon's Park Plaza buidling.. Chemmanoor plans to move back to the Park Plaza building when it reopens, which won't happen for another nine months, min. I'll keep you posted about the opening date for Indigma's temporary home.    

They were best friends since kindergarten and lived a block apart in South Baltimore's Pigtown. One was feisty, the other shy. Monday night, they set off to meet an acquaintance, crossing Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. A car heading south struck Courtney Angeles, 16, and Emerald Smith, 17, at West Pratt Street and sped off without stopping, according to city police. The teens were rushed to nearby Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where they died early Tuesday, nine minutes apart.

An unidentified person was burned in an apartment kitchen fire in Edgewood Tuesday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the Harford County's Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Association. At approximately 4 p.m., Harford County 911 call takers received a report of an apartment fire in the 1000 block of Magnolia Woods Lane in Edgewood, fire and ambulance association spokesperson Dave Williams said. As units from the Joppa-Magnolia, Abingdon, Bel Air Volunteer Fire companies and the Aberdeen Proving Ground (Edgewood Area)

A Howard County motel was temporarily evacuated Saturday night after rescue personnel discovered high levels of potentially lethal carbon monoxide there, a county fire and rescue spokesman said. Responders were called to the Sleep Inn on Second Street in North Laurel about 8:32 p.m. to check a report of a possible chemical leak, and found five children complaining of headaches and nausea, according to Battalion Chief Eric D. Proctor. Monitoring equipment detected high levels of poisonous carbon monoxide gas in the air, prompting authorities to evacuate 30 motel occupants and take 11 of them to hospitals in Laurel and Columbia.

Early Monday, Israeli navy commandos attacked a flotilla of humanitarian aid destined for the occupied Gaza Strip in international waters. The ships were carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies that are banned from Gaza under Israel's directives, including toys, wheelchairs, athletic equipment and medicines. The multinational aid convoy to Gaza included a former U.S. ambassador, a U.S. Navy veteran and 10 other U.S. citizens. The Memorial Day massacre left nine people dead and dozens more injured.

Howard County police have arrested four men in connection with two unrelated robberies. In the first, police say Adina Dehenda Bowen approached a Columbia man near the Long Reach Village Center about 9:30 p.m. Friday, struck him in the face with a gun and demanded cash. Tyrone Duncan, 25, gave Bowen money and an iPod, police say. As Duncan ran away, police say, Bowen fired a shot in his direction but missed. Police have charged Bowen, 21, of the 8900 block of Tamar Drive with armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of theft.