Pact

Critics of a revised settlement agreement that would resolve outstanding issues with Verizon say state regulators should not deregulate any telephone services. "Maryland can do better than this deal with Verizon," said Rion Dennis, political director of Progressive Maryland. The original agreement was negotiated by Verizon, the staff of the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Office of the People's Counsel, which represents consumers. It tackled several concerns before the commissioners, including complaints from customers who were left without service for long periods and the prices that consumers pay to maintain local calling rates to a different geographical area.

Maryland regulators approved Constellation Energy Group's nuclear joint venture with a French utility Friday, adding conditions - including a one-time $100 credit for each Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customer - that fell short of concessions Gov. Martin O'Malley had sought for the deal. Besides imposing the residential ratepayer credits totaling $110.5 million, the Public Service Commission placed terms on the transaction that would protect BGE from future financial troubles of its parent company.

The Howard County school system has entered into a new contract with the company used by the county for its garbage and recycling efforts, saving the school system an expected $40,000 in its first year. Under the new contract with Jenn-Kans, a small trash-disposal company based in Tuxedo, there will also be additional savings based on the amount of recycling done by the school system, which was not included in its previous contract with Waste Management. The switch, which took effect July 1, is the result of talks between the school system and the county over the past year, according to Ken Roey, the school system's executive director of facilities.

Against the backdrop of the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit in Baltimore, Maryland authorities on Monday signed a first-ever bicoastal agreement with the state of California to enable hundreds of scientists funded by agencies in each state to pool their scientific talents and hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants. "By forging collaborations with California, we can create together intellectual powerhouse teams to accelerate the search for cures and ... therapies for the benefit of people across the country and around the world," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, who witnessed the agreement signed by the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

The city's development arm announced Thursday it will cancel a $1.5 million contract to demolish eight downtown buildings at Calvert and Lombard streets, the second planned demolition to be halted since The Baltimore Sun reported that the agency was not following the city's open-bidding rules. "We're not planning to do any future demolition at this time," said Baltimore Development Corp. President M.J. "Jay" Brodie. "We are not going to follow this approach of BDC soliciting work." The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the agency had awarded a $378,477 demolition contract at the proposed site of a slots casino after soliciting prices from a handful of firms rather than advertising the work publicly.

The Baltimore City school board approved a contract with Teach for America on Tuesday night that will allow up to 200 teachers into the city's public schools during the coming school year. The cost to city schools of $450,000 includes recruitment, selection and training of new teachers, who commit to their posts for two years. Schools chief Andr?s Alonso said the contract only covers one year because of the current economic climate. "Given the changes in the market with regards to teachers in Baltimore City, we need to be careful of the commitments we make in the long term," he said.

A hard-fought agreement that promised to settle a decades-old lawsuit over the way Maryland treats Baltimore's foster children is in jeopardy as state lawyers now push for an outright dismissal of the federal oversight. A federal court hearing today was expected to make official a carefully constructed exit strategy in the case, marking a major turning point in the case. It was the first time since 1988, when a consent decree placed the Maryland Department of Human Resources under judicial watch, that the agency and attorneys representing more than 5,000 city children in foster care were in harmony.

Maryland energy regulators said Thursday that more time is required to review Constellation Energy Group's $4.5 billion deal with a French utility, forcing the company to miss its deadline to close the transaction. Constellation said it was disappointed and warned that "any delay in a transaction of this magnitude adds to the risk of it not closing, which would be a real loss for Maryland." The Public Service Commission had expected to issue a decision by Sept. 17 on whether the company's agreement to sell half its nuclear power business to Electricite de France is in the public's interest.

Anne Arundel County teachers will likely be presented with a contract to vote on in the fall that provides no raises or signing bonuses and between one and three furlough days, conditions already laid out in the school department's budget, according to the teachers union. Timothy M. Mennuti, president of the Teachers Union of Anne Arundel County, said the tentative agreement was reached last week, and will likely be voted on by teachers in October. Currently, the county's schoolteachers are working under a terms of employment agreement, because their three-year contract expired at the end of June.