Office Staff

The county is getting its legal services at bargain prices from its staff of six lawyers and ought to keep the county attorney's office open.Wayne Rhodes, government consultant with the Institute of Governmental Service in College Park, gave the county commissioners that assessment yesterday after a four-month study.The report, still in draft form, cost the county $750 and included a review of the attorney's office and the quality of its legal service, interviews with county bureau chiefs and comparisons with surrounding counties.

Though crime levels are at a 10-year low in his city, Annapolis Police Chief Joseph S. Johnson has one very large concern: Only five part-time officers patrol the city's 1,100 public housing units, where officials and residents agree that crime is rising. "Things could get out of hand in public housing," Johnson said. Because of federal budget cuts, the Housing Authority of Annapolis, which oversees the city's public housing, has cut back on the number of officers who patrol its property, supplementing regular police services.

An email that Gawker reports was sent through the University of Maryland Delta Gamma sorority list-serv is lighting up the interwebs, it seems. The gist of it appears to be fury that sorority sisters were "weird" and "awkward" to Sigma Nu brothers during Greek Week. News of the email has been spread around sites including Huffington Post , the Atlantic Wire , the Washington City Paper and Cosmopolitan magazine. The national sorority has responded on its Facebook page , saying, " Delta Gamma Executive Offices is aware of the email allegedly written by a member of our Beta Sigma chapter that has gone viral after being posted on gawker.com and deadspin.com.

Jack Jordan, the assistant basketball coach at South River High School couldn't believe how many boys tried out for his team this month. And he couldn't believe how many were ineligible because of their grades."

Harford County Public Schools announced last Friday that it will implement a four-day work week schedule for an eight-week period – from mid-June to early August – to save money and to have its facilities open into the early evening for parents who need to meet with school personnel. As a result, all but a handful of school buildings and other facilities will be closed on Fridays this summer, and the school system's 12-month employees will work four 10-hour days from the week of June 17 to 21 through the week of Aug. 5 to 9. "This new cost-saving strategy will save the school system approximately $120,000 by closing buildings for one day each week during an eight-week period throughout the summer," Superintendent Dr. Robert M. Tomback said in a news release announcing the change.

Even as Baltimore principals have been given an unprecedented amount of responsibility over the past four years under schools CEO Andrés Alonso, their average salary has remained among the lowest in the state. The average salary for city principals this school year is about $108,000, just $2,800 more than their pay in 2008, according to an analysis of school system employee salaries obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request by The Baltimore Sun. That leaves city principals — who lead schools with the largest and most academically challenged populations in the state — behind most of their colleagues in the metropolitan area and only slightly above rural counties on the Eastern Shore.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome is known for his coolness and he seldom gushes about a draft pick. He got a little excited when the team made UCLA offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden the franchise's first draft pick in 1996, but there wasn't much jubilation when the team selected Ray Lewis, Peter Boulware, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs or Chris McAlister. And then came Thursday night. As members of the Ravens' front-office staff walked to the podium at The Castle to talk about first-round pick Matt Elam, the safety out of Florida, Newsome appeared ecstatic, at least for Newsome.

Plastic surgeon Ronald S. Perlman thrives in the limelight. He has served as a celebrity judge at top-flight beauty pageants, helped run a charity that assists abused women - even raffled off his services at a society auction. His Perlman Plastic Surgery Center, which specializes in breast implants and laser facial surgery, is a fixture in Washington's Spring Valley neighborhood, a few blocks from the Maryland line. He also ran a satellite office in Greenbelt for 15 years and is licensed in Virginia.

About 3,000 paraeducators and other professional staff represented by the Baltimore Teachers Union will receive pay raises and more vacation time under a tentative deal struck by the union and city school system. The union announced Monday that the Paraprofessionals and School Related Personnel chapter of the BTU — which includes classroom assistants, teacher's aides, accountants, secretaries and office staff — will receive raises retroactive to July 1, 2010, and more holidays off. Members who do not work in a school will also be able to take a spring break.

The Royals are coming to Memorial Stadium . . . the ones from London, not Kansas City.Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will be at the stadium May 15 to watch what apparently will be their first baseball match ever."