Panelists

Leaders of a committee studying proposals for streamlining Columbia's governance say the convoluted, 37-year-old system is ripe for change. The panel plans to make a recommendation by Sept. 30 to the Columbia Association board for revamping a system in which voting rights, election rules and Columbia Council terms vary from village to village. "My feeling is that there's an overwhelming majority of the board that is really looking toward making real changes," board Chairman Joshua Feldmark said.

More than a year after the Carroll County commissioners disbanded the previous ethics commission because of allegations of misdeeds, two former members are trying to keep their lawsuit against the three county officials from being thrown out of court. Carroll County Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway is scheduled to hear arguments tomorrow on the county's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the commissioners wrongfully fired James F.W. Talley, Suzanne Primoff and John Harner, who died before the suit was filed, as part of a conspiracy to thwart an investigation of Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge.

WASHINGTON - This year, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks played four minutes of a call from Betty Ong, a crew member on American Airlines Flight 11. The power of her call could not have been plainer: In a calm voice, Ong told her supervisors about the hijacking, the weapons the attackers had used, the locations of their seats. At first, however, Ong's reports were greeted skeptically by some officials on the ground. "They did not believe her," said Bob Kerrey, a commission member.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Dennis Bowman spent the past six weeks hearing stories of serial murder and ruined lives. As a juror in the John Allen Muhammad sniper case, he was haunted by the grisly autopsy photographs of people shot in the head, and he didn't sleep the night before he voted to put Muhammad to death. Now he's sitting through it all again. On a day when he could have stayed home with his family, Bowman sat yesterday in the crowded courtroom where Muhammad's alleged accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is on trial on capital murder charges.

WHEN LEADING criminal justice officials in Baltimore get together, the frequent result is mutual blame and requests for more money. A recent discussion provided a refreshing exception to this rule. The panelists -- who included four judges, among them a federal judge -- came up with some concrete, inexpensive suggestions for reform. They were: The number of peremptory challenges of jurors should be curtailed. Each side can strike jurors without giving reasons. In serious cases, between 15 and 30 citizens are thus turned into cannon fodder.

Julia Walsh Gouge entered her fourth term as a Carroll commissioner with tremendous momentum. After enduring four years of being outvoted by former Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Robin Bartlett Frazier, she left the conservative duo in her dust during the county's Republican primary and emerged as the top vote-getter in last month's general election. Two weeks ago, she began her new term as the president of a board that in its first two days cast votes to reshape county policy on a slew of major issues.

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Republican pollsters, media consultants and other political experts digesting the 2002 elections here yesterday turned frequently to Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s gubernatorial victory as they searched for lessons to teach future GOP candidates. Ken Mehlman, the White House political director and a Pikesville native, singled out Maryland's governor-elect -- who became the state's first Republican winner in 36 years by defeating a Kennedy -- as an example of the type of candidate Republicans need to field.

Telling anyone who would give up a sunny spring afternoon to attend a forum on prejudice that hatred is alive and well in post-Sept. 11 America is a bit like preaching to the choir, acknowledged Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. "But you have to tell someone about it. ... You have to do something about it," the Baltimore Democrat told an audience yesterday. The forum, titled "We Are One Community," aimed to encourage people to do just that. Held at Howard Community College and sponsored by a variety of groups including Maryland State Police and the U.S. Department of Justice, the event was designed to raise awareness but mainly to encourage people to act against racism and bigotry.

Telling anyone who would give up a sunny spring afternoon to attend a forum on prejudice that hatred is alive and well in post-Sept. 11 America is a bit like preaching to the choir, acknowledged Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. "But you have to tell someone about it. ... You have to do something about it," the Baltimore Democrat told an audience yesterday. The forum, titled "We Are One Community," aimed to encourage people to do just that. Held at Howard Community College and sponsored by a variety of groups including Maryland State Police and the U.S. Department of Justice, the event was designed to raise awareness but mainly to encourage people to act against racism and bigotry.

With a new county executive certain to be elected in November, the veteran-packed Baltimore County Council is looking at ways to expand its authority. Maryland jurisdictions put considerable power into the hands of their executives, and nowhere is it more concentrated than in Baltimore County, where the executive has sole discretion over proposing spending and complete control over government departments. The County Council's biggest responsibility is land use. With County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger due to leave office in December because of term limits, council members foresee the possibility that a legislative body considered the most experienced in recent memory will be paired with an inexperienced executive.