Operators

Baltimore school officials recommended Thursday severing ties with independent operators of six schools after a months-long review of more than two dozen diverse programs. In a presentation to city school board members, district officials recommended granting three-and five-year contract extensions to all but three of the 18 charter schools seeking renewal: Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy Middle School, Baltimore Freedom Academy and Collington Square Elementary/Middle School. Bluford and Baltimore Freedom Academy would stay open for current students until the end of 2013-2014, admitting no new middle and high school students as officials weigh whether the schools would close altogether at the end of that year.

The news that the Central Intelligence Agency had been running a fake vaccination program in Pakistan first surfaced in 2011 and quickly ignited fears that the covert operation could compromise the global campaign to eradicate polio. Late last month, a handful of vaccine workers, including a teenage girl, paid the price for the CIA's deceit: They were gunned down as they tried to give the polio vaccine to children living in the Pakistani city of Karachi and other areas. No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, although the Pakistani Taliban has threatened vaccine workers in the past.

Nearly a year after the Inner Harbor's historic carousel was ordered to move over unpaid bills, the city has struck a deal with a new merry-go-round operator. Charm City Carousel Entertainment LLC, of Stevensville, will bring a new carousel to the city's downtown waterfront in the spring, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Thursday. "Baltimore's Inner Harbor draws families from all over the country and the world to experience everything our unique waterfront has to offer," the mayor said in a statement.

When 2 a.m. came Friday, the sound of coins hitting metal — electronically replicated, of course, since the slot machines pay out with a printed ticket — continued at Maryland Live casino. About 1,000 people stayed where they were, plugging money into the video terminals and ordering drinks. Terry Cohen of Randallstown was there to celebrate the new schedule that will keep the casino open 24 hours a day. "There's nothing to do around here at night," she said. "The town shuts down.

Maryland Live Casino will open Thursday at 8 a.m. and, according to officials, "never close again. " The Hanover facility, located adjacent to the Arundel Mills Mall, is the only one of the state's three casinos that requested full-time operation from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission. The passing of Question 7 during the November election made it legal for casinos in the state to operate 24 hours a day. Maryland Live had previous closed at 2 a.m. on weeknights and 4 a.m. on weekends.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell has proposed a $1.01 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2014 that includes $16.6 million for employee raises and $4.5 million for increases in health care costs. It marks the first time that the state's fifth-largest school system has crafted a budget request that crosses the billion-dollar threshold. Maryland's four largest school systems (Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Baltimore County and Baltimore City)

Several hundred former Sparrows Point workers gathering late Monday afternoon for details of their steel mill's demise heard from union leaders that at least two groups had wanted to restart the plant but weren't given the chance. Joe Rosel, president of United Steelworkers Local 9477 in Sparrows Point, told the crowd that Sherman International, an iron and steel equipment supplier in Pittsburgh, wanted to operate the plant and tried to bid $150 million for it last week. "They were told they couldn't bid because the plant wasn't for sale anymore," Rosel said.

Current operator SMG is the winning bidder for a new five-year contract to run 1st Mariner Arena and oversee its potential renaming, according to a memo from the city's top purchasing agent. SMG's proposal awaits approval by the Baltimore Board of Estimates but has cleared the rest of the city's bidding process. The board will vote on the contract Wednesday. The Pennsylvania-based management company, which has operated the arena since 1999, beat proposals from Los Angeles-based AEG and Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectacor.

Five Harford County establishments licensed to sell alcoholic beverages failed the latest compliance test by the county liquor control board by selling to a minor working undercover with liquor board inspectors and the county sheriff's office, liquor board officials said. In all, 27 licensed businesses were checked Monday, with 22 not selling to the minor, the liquor board said in a news release issued Thursday. Of the five locations that sold alcohol to the 19-year-old employee of the liquor board's undercover program, none of them requested identification from the board's underage purchaser, the liquor board said.

Maryland's casinos will be allowed to open 24 hours a day under new regulations approved Thursday by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission that also relaxed limits on ATMs and lending to gamblers in the facilities. With the advent of full-scale casino gambling in Maryland after voters approved table games in the November election, the commission is updating the regulatory regime and relaxing some restrictions. The changes also added new rules, including some governing junkets that casinos provide to high-rolling gamblers.