Omitted

To accommodate a fuller report on the two candidates for governor in next week's election, The Week That Was review is omitted this Sunday.

An article on artist Kathryn Schultz Norris in yesterday's Today section omitted information about an exhibition of her work in Fells Point. Her paintings are being shown at the Bismark/Wilson Gallery, 1760 Bank St., from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. today and Saturday. Information: 410- 675-8959.

Host Marriott Corp., an owner of 125 hotels including the Marriott World Trade Center in New York, reported lower third-quarter earnings yesterday as a result of falling room and occupancy rates and said it would not pay a dividend in the fourth quarter . Company officials said a slowdown in travel before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, combined with the dive afterward, forced it to suspend the dividend payment. President Christopher Nassetta said he was unsure when payments would resume, though the dividend would probably be lower.

Fiber-optics equipment maker Ciena Corp. reported a net loss for its second quarter yesterday but said that revenue more than doubled and, not including an acquisition and other charges, the company's earnings more than tripled. Company officials also announced that, effective immediately, Gary Smith, Ciena's president and chief operating officer, would become president and chief executive officer. Smith, who came to Ciena in 1997 to set up the company's international business and later ran worldwide sales, will focus on the day-to-day operations of the business in his new role.

Verizon has shortchanged the city of Baltimore and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties at least $7 million in taxes in the past year, and more than a half-million telephone customers will have to make up the difference. Company officials acknowledge they made a mistake when they began reformatting bills last year. The company failed to charge, collect and pass on a tax on local telephone service levied by the three jurisdictions. The problem began in July but wasn't noticed until months later, as its effects compounded.

Baltimore County's Landmarks Preservation Commission is asking the County Council to reconsider its decision not to protect from demolition three buildings the commission considers historic. In a "position paper" to be presented at the council work session tomorrow, the commission criticizes the council for removing the three buildings -- two in the Catonsville area, one in Essex-- from a landmarks-preservation bill. The move to omit the buildings from the bill "seriously degrades the integrity and purpose of the Baltimore County Landmarks Preservation Commission in carrying out its lawful duties," states the paper, which was unanimously approved by the 12 commission members present at a meeting Thursday night.

Baltimore County historical preservationists are accusing County Councilman Stephen G. Sam Moxley of avoiding county law by omitting a stately Catonsville mansion known as the A.D. Anderson house from a landmarks preservation bill. The move, which one preservationist called "unconscionable," could give the go-ahead for Cathy Hughes -- owner of the media empire Radio One Inc. -- to demolish the nearly century-old house she purchased in August for $500,000. This week, David Goldsmith, the commission's vice chairman, called the omission "a disaster.

Safety features developed decades ago by the tire industry to keep treads from peeling off have not been used in most standard lines of tires, including models implicated in recent fatal accidents. Safety advocates say many of those deadly crashes might have been prevented if tire makers had used the simple and inexpensive devices. The safety measures cost from pennies to a little more than a dollar per tire, but partly because of cost-cutting pressures from automakers, their largest customers, tire companies have been reluctant to use them.

The national NAACP invalidated an election for president of the Baltimore branch last night after candidate Larry Young learned that his name had not been placed on the ballot, said a spokesman for the civil rights group. John C. White said a field officer found "serious questions surrounding the decision by branch officials to omit the names of Young and others on the ballot." Under the rules of the NAACP's constitution, the national office has the authority to intervene in branch elections when there is evidence of possible violation of the association's rules and regulations governing the election of officers.