Petition

The opponents to Maryland's new same-sex marriage law are holding a series of closed-door training sessions to teach volunteers how to properly collect signatures to petition the measure to referendum. In an email, the Maryland Marriage Alliance said it wants to "gather a minimum" of 150,000 signatures by May 31. "Past efforts have proven that the Board of Elections will invalidate at least 30% of the signatures, so it is imperative that we gather thousands and get it right!" according to the email.

We in Maryland have petitions to override laws the legislature enacted and to approve amendments to the Maryland Constitution. Other States have similar laws. California also allows petitions to enact new laws. Sounds very democratic, in a political structure sense, not a partisan sense. However, the Constitutional Convention debated the question of democracy and concluded that democracy can only work in small settings, not in large state or national structures. Thus, Constitution's Article IV section 4. states: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government ... " A republican form of government requires a representative, elected legislature.

Regarding your report about Casa de Maryland and the ACLU's effort to block a referendum on in-state tuition for noncitizens ("Vote on tuition bill faces lawsuit," Aug. 2): I have been watching the letters to the editors expecting to see someone point out the irony in the efforts of these groups, who are contesting the petition signatures on narrow legal grounds. Yet they are the same people that insist anyone can come into a polling place and vote, even if they are not registered and present no identification.

The drive to throw out Maryland's new congressional district maps by petitioning them to referendum is, in all likelihood, something of a futile gesture. Even if the opponents can muster the necessary signatures - battling in the process referendum fatigue from parallel efforts on same-sex marriage - the new, convoluted maps will still be in effect this November. And if the critics of the maps prevail at the ballot box, all they will succeed in doing is getting the same people who brought us the current mess to draw the maps all over again.

Critics of Columbia's downtown redevelopment plan are facing a 4:30 p.m. Friday deadline for submitting at least 2,500 valid signatures as a first step toward putting the zoning for the project on the November ballot - and they are not sure whether they'll succeed. "We'll certainly have 2,500. The question is whether we'll have enough to survive all the rejections," said Russell Swatek, spokesman for the group called Taxpayers Against Giveaways. Swatek would not say exactly how many signatures the group had on Tuesday.

The article in Friday's Sunpaper ("Petition drive yields big numbers," July 1) was an example of freedom at work. It seems from this article that the people of Maryland have had enough of Maryland politicians who ignore their constituents and kowtow to lobbyists and political correctness. I sincerely hope their next step is to vote every politician who voted for this legislation out of office as I intend to do. Hats off to the Sunpaper for using the correct terminology, "illegal immigrant," rather than the ridiculous terminology from Gov. Martin O'Malley in this article.

Baltimore police made an emergency petition Thursday to the city's liquor board asking it to immediately suspend the alcohol license of the Velvet Rope nightclub after authorities said hundreds of patrons holding tickets were locked out of an oversold show and nearly rioted on a downtown street. Police said it took 50 officers, including several from the tactical unit and assistance from a police helicopter, to control the crowd that showed up late Wednesday night to hear Southern rapper Yo Gotti.

Critics of Columbia's downtown redevelopment plan are facing a 4:30 p.m. Friday deadline for submitting at least 2,500 valid signatures as a first step toward putting the zoning for the project on the November ballot, and they are not sure if they'll succeed. "We'll certainly have 2,500. The question is whether we'll have enough to survive all the rejections," said Russell Swatek, spokesman for the group called Taxpayers Against Giveaways. Swatek would not say exactly how many signatures the group had on Tuesday.

Maryland's second-highest court has thrown out an attempt by residents to revive a failed petition drive challenging Howard County's plan for redevelopment of downtown Columbia. The Court of Special Appeals turned down Thursday a challenge by Russell Swatek, who with a group called Taxpayers Against Giveaways organized a petition against a zoning amendment approved by the County Council in 2010. The group had sought to bring the measure before voters as a referendum. The county's Board of Elections turned down the petition, saying the group didn't collect enough valid signatures.

Since 2007, the Department of the Environment has made enforcing environmental laws one of our top three priorities - along with increasing transparency and improving our fiscal structure. Progress includes enacting standard operating procedures to correct enforcement delays, increasing enforcement activity 34 percent in fiscal year 2008 and securing two of the highest penalties ever collected for state environmental violations. We did this without additional inspectors or resources. Over the past three years, due to the national economic recession and necessary state budget reductions, MDE reduced its budget by $27 million - equivalent to about a third of our annual operating budget.

Nearly 100 people have added their names to an online peititon seeking to keep a convicted child rapist behind bars since Wednesday, when two U.S. Supreme Court decisions appeared to bolster the man's appeal arguments and the likelihood he could be released from prison despite having been sentenced to four life terms. John Joseph Merzbacher, now 70, was accused of terrorizing students at a Baltimore Catholic school in the 1970s and convicted two decades later of six counts of child rape and sexual abuse in connection with the allegations.

The opponents to Maryland's new same-sex marriage law are holding a series of closed-door training sessions to teach volunteers how to properly collect signatures to petition the measure to referendum. In an email, the Maryland Marriage Alliance said it wants to "gather a minimum" of 150,000 signatures by May 31. "Past efforts have proven that the Board of Elections will invalidate at least 30% of the signatures, so it is imperative that we gather thousands and get it right!" according to the email.

It was hard to tell whether his eyes were actually open when Derek Jones shuffled into his dimly lit kitchen at 5:45 a.m., the smell of bacon in the air. The 16-year-old didn't speak, but took directions from his mother who whispered: "I have your coffee made and your breakfast sandwich ready. " Within minutes he had munched on a banana, downed a cup of java, grabbed his egg bagel and backpack and was in the car on his way to the bus stop with his father. By 6:12 a.m. he was boarding the bus, and by 7:17 a.m., whether ready to learn or not, Jones was in his pre-calculus class at South River High School in Anne Arundel County.

CardinalEdwin F. O'Brienof Baltimore calls same-sex marriage, signed into law by the Maryland governor on Thursday, a "radical redefinition of marriage. " Of course, many people - most likely a majority - believed 50 years ago that ending racial segregation in the United States constituted a "radical redefinition" of American society. The races were meant to be separate, they said; it wasn't natural for blacks and whites to drink from the same fountains, and they certainly should never be allowed to marry each other.

Maryland's second-highest court has thrown out an attempt by residents to revive a failed petition drive challenging Howard County's plan for redevelopment of downtown Columbia. The Court of Special Appeals turned down Thursday a challenge by Russell Swatek, who with a group called Taxpayers Against Giveaways organized a petition against a zoning amendment approved by the County Council in 2010. The group had sought to bring the measure before voters as a referendum. The county's Board of Elections turned down the petition, saying the group didn't collect enough valid signatures.

Stef Gray launched an online protest against a $50 loan forbearance fee imposed by private student loan giant Sallie Mae. The fee is $50 per loan for a maximum of $150 per three-month reprieve on payments. Gray, who says she hasn't been able to find a full-time job since graduating last year, launched an online campaign against the fee. So far she's collected more than 78,000 signatures in support. Sallie Mae said yesterday it is revising the fee, adding that this was something it had been thinking about for some time.

The petition drive to block some zoning changes for the 30-year plan to redevelop central Columbia appears doomed, based on a preliminary review of signatures by the Howard County Board of Elections. After two days of counting, the board posted numbers on its Web site late Wednesday that showed the drive has a mathematical chance to pass its first hurdle but virtually no practical chance. Critics of the residential portion of the plan that would allow up to 5,500 new residences in town center need to have collected 2,501 valid signatures to pass the first requirement.

Robbery Incident (4800 Blk Roland Park) Baltimore, MD / February 1, 2012 - The Baltimore Police Department is investigating a robbery that occurred last night within the Roland Park Community of Northern Baltimore. Just before 8:00 p.m. within the rear of the 4800 Blk of Roland Avenue, as two women entered their vehicle they were approached by the suspect who demanded the victim's purses. Threatening to shoot if they did not comply, the suspect reached in the vehicle and removed a purse.

UPDATE : Read the updated story here. A man who implied he had a gun robbed two women outside a popular restaurant in Roland Park Tuesday night, getting away with one purse but failing to get a second when a victim fought back, Baltimore police said. The robbery outside Petit Louis, a French bistro in the 4800 block of Roland Ave., has sparked concern in the upscale North Baltimore neighborhood. A deputy police major has visited the restaurant and community leaders have called the police commissioner directly.