Outage

More than 3,500 customers lost power in Clarksville, Glenelg and other parts of western Howard County yesterday because of a technical problem at a substation in that area, according to a spokeswoman for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. The electricity went out at 1:40 p.m. and was restored within two hours, said Sharon Sasada, the spokeswoman. Schools completed their days, and most businesses continued operating. "It was a pain, but it went pretty well," said Matt Bormel, an employee at the Bagel Bin restaurant in the River Hill Village Center in Columbia.

Life at the Baltimore City Detention Center was normal overnight after guards quelled a disturbance by inmates following a power outage.Following last evening's incident, the entire center was put in a lock-down that was expected to be lifted today.Leonard A. Sipes, spokesman for the state's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said a few small trash fires were set and windows were broken by inmates during the first several minutes that power was out yesterday in an annex building that houses about 400 prisoners.

An underground cable in North Baltimore failed last night, causing a power outage to about 1,400 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers, including Loyola College, said a utility spokeswoman.The spokeswoman, Kathleen Nolan, said the outage was reported at 7: 44 p.m. in the vicinity of Cold Spring Lane and North Charles Street and power was restored shortly before 10 p.m.A Loyola College police officer said the school lost electricity at 7: 33 p.m., but that the school's backup system came on seconds later, supplying power to the campus.

A malfunctioning transformer interrupted electrical power in about 20 stores on the north side of Cranberry Mall and two other businesses in Westminster for at least 90 minutes yesterday.Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews found that faulty bushings that connect power lines to one of three transformers servicing the mall had worn out, a BGE spokeswoman said.To repair the problem, crews had to de-energize the transformer and that caused blown fuses in two other transformers, she said.The outage did not affect the south side of the mall, where customers shopped and stores operated normally.

A mid-afternoon power failure forced management at Pimlico Race Course to curtail the live card yesterday after the fourth race, losing the bulk of its daily betting handle and costing horsemen $80,000 in purses from the cancellation of five live races.The outage occurred when two transformers, one at the Hayward Avenue stable gate and the other situated off the track on Belvedere Avenue, shut down.Enough electricity stayed on to keep some lighting and betting windows open, but all power to Pimlico's television system was lost.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission yesterday blamed weak management and antiquated equipment at AT&T for the Sept. 17 phone outage in New York that crippled three major airports and blocked more than 5 million calls that evening.In its first public report since the incident, the FCC said American Telephone & Telegraph Co. managers at a switching site in lower Manhattan "did not exercise adequate care" to avoid the service disruption, but that the regulators had decided not to impose fines on the company.

An underground cable failure left about 1,000 Baltimore Gas & Electric customers in Westminster without power for nearly two hours Friday, company officials said.The outage was caused "by a normal equipment failure," but Jessica Brown, a BGE spokeswoman, was unable to say exactly where the failed cable was.Repair crews switched power to another cable and service was restored to all but 20 customers by noon.The outage occurred on the north side of East Main Street and the immediate area about 9: 15 a.m., officials said.

A faulty underground electrical cable caused the power to go out for more than an hour in all 185 stores at Towson Town Center yesterday afternoon, forcing most to close for a time but resulting in no injuries or incidents, authorities said.Debbie Ballwanz, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spokeswoman, said the mall's electricity went out at 1: 08 p.m. and was restored at 2: 21 p.m.Leigh Bates, mall marketing director, said that while most stores closed during the outage, the mall did not close and most customers waited for the electricity to come back on."

About 7,000 Anne Arundel County residents were without power for more than an hour yesterday afternoon after a transformer failure.The transformer apparently blew because of a faulty part about 4 p.m., said BGE public relations director Darcell H. Guy.The outage affected private residences and businesses around Gambrills and Odenton. Traffic signals also were affected."It was a bit of a traffic mess," Guy said.BGE employees fixed the equipment by about 5: 15 p.m., and power was restored to the area.

About 5,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers lost power Tuesday night, some for more than an hour, while voters waited in line to cast their votes in the presidential election.The outage affected a corridor that ran from Reese through Westminster and Frizzellburg to Union Mills.A Carroll County Board of Elections official said none of the polling places had to be closed and everyone who was in line was able to vote.The power interruption started at 6:54 p.m. In some areas, service was returned in just a couple of minutes as BG&E workers were able to switch circuits for customers indowntown Westminster.