Phase

The sight of a forklift lowering a 9,300-pound concrete slab ontoPratt Street attracted a crowd Monday night at the Inner Harbor. Curiosity-seekers joined organizers running the first Baltimore Grand Prix as the second phase officially began in constructing the downtown race course that will be used for the Labor Day weekend event. Martyn Thake, the Baltimore Grand Prix 's director of operations, said that the first phase, resurfacing and repairing many of the city streets that will be part of the two-mile course, has been completed.

Anne Arundel County's stormwater fee hasn't been collected yet, but the County Council has already changed it. By a 7-0 vote Monday night, council members agreed to reduce the maximum fee that commercial property owners would pay and to phase in the fee for some property owners. The changes were made to make the stormwater fee more palatable to County Executive Laura Neuman, who vetoed the stormwater fee that the council passed earlier this spring. Owners of nonresidential properties still must pay based on the percentage of their lot that's covered by impervious surfaces such as parking lots and rooftops.

The State Highway Administration has announced that it expects to reopen East Main Street in Westminster from Little George's near Church Street to Manchester Avenue today.At the same time the reconstructed blocks are opening, the next phase of construction will start. The Main Street and Washington Road intersection, plus a small portion of Washington Road between Main and Green streets, will be closed for construction.The last phase of the project is expected to take about six weeks, depending on the weather and unforeseeable complications.

The Anne Arundel County Council voted Wednesday to override County Executive Laura Neuman's veto of fees to pay for stormwater pollution projects, but council members then offered changes that could address some of her concerns. It was not clear whether their new bill, which would cap some fees at a lower rate and phase in the charges, would meet her approval. Her spokeswoman, Tracie Reynolds, said Neuman "is working with the County Council on new legislation. " Budget analysts have not determined how much revenue the council proposal would raise for pollution control projects.

Some numbers to ponder while waiting for the Orioles to pull out of this "slump":They have lost 24 of their last 30 games and 35 of their last 49 dating to last season.They're five games under .500 since sweeping the Braves 277 games ago in June 1997.Yes, that's a period that has included two front office regimes, numerous personnel moves and several blueprints, but still, the pattern is impossible to miss.You can keep calling their 4-13 start a slump or a phase or whatever, but the reality is the Orioles aren't a winning ballclub and haven't been for some time.

T. Rowe Price, the giant Baltimore-based mutual fund manager, yesterday showed off to elected county and state leaders the completed first phase of its new financial center in Owings Mills.About 950 are expected to be employed in the two four-story office buildings, each with about 100,000 square feet of space, that make up the first phase.The workers, who are primarily moving out of the Baltimore headquarters, are expected to move into the new offices by the end of the month, said company spokesman Edward F. Giltenan.

A ceremonial planting of a tree yesterday marked the end of the first phase of a $900,000 beautification project of Albemarle Street between the Baltimore City Life Museums' 1840 House and the Flag House Courts public housing project.The tree was one of 18 planted in the yards of low-rise units in East Baltimore.Last summer, 18 neighborhood teen-agers helped erect cast-iron fences in front of more than 30 units.Next year, the street will be repaved and new street lights installed."It really was a ceremony to acknowledge the contribution of the kids," said Nancy Brennan, executive director of City Life Museums.

For many families, the 288-acre Kinder Farm Park the county acquired in 1979 is the place where children play Green Hornets -- that is, Greater Severna Park Athletic Association sports.For mothers of young children, it's the sandy playground with swings, slides and a log-cabin playhouse.For gardeners without space at home to cultivate, it's holy ground.On Friday, ground was broken for a $12 million, three-phase project to expand facilities and services in the park by 2002.Presiding at the ceremony were County Executive John G. Gary, Tom Angelis, county director of recreation and parks; and Brian Woodward, the department's chief of environmental programs and facilities.

BGE is working out details on how its customers can sign up to phase in the 72 percent electric rate increase approved by the Public Service Commission of Maryland, a spokesman for the utility company said yesterday. The new rate is to take effect July 1, but customers have the option of phasing it in over the next two years, starting with a 19.4 percent rate increase. Robert L. Gould, a spokesman for BGE's parent company, Constellation Energy Group, said the utility company plans a direct-mail and media campaign to advise customers of their options.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. has finished the first phase of its acquisition of St. Louis' River City Broadcasting, a deal that will make it the seventh-largest broadcasting company in the nation.Baltimore-based Sinclair completed its acquisition of the "nonlicense assets" of River City on Friday. The assets include office space and television and radio equipment, said Pat Talamantes of River City, who has been named head of investor relations for Sinclair."In terms of the acquisition, this is by far the biggest piece of it," Talamantes said.

The future of BWI Marshall Airport can be seen in the new sweeping terminal roofline that hints of something big, the panorama of glass that gives street-side passengers a view of arriving jets and a cavernous security checkpoint with nine stations and the latest detection equipment. The first phase of a $100 million upgrade opened before dawn Tuesday and served its first bleary-eyed customers on their way to Chicago. The new Concourse C replaces a dark, funnel-like portal in the oldest part of the building, when it was known as Friendship Airport.

A phase-out of renewable energy subsidies for paper mills has cleared the Maryland Senate, though with a provision that guarantees the state's only paper plant in Allegany County would continue to receive payments underwritten by taxpayers. Environmentalists hailed the 33-13 vote Thursday for SB684 , which they said would close what they considered a major loophole in Maryland's renewable energy law. Currently, mostly out-of-state paper mills receive millions of dollars annually for powering their operations by burning "black liquor," a tarry byproduct of the pulping process, and other wood waste.

Legislation that would have phased out millions in ratepayer-financed subsidies for mostly out-of-state paper mills died in a House committee Friday, just a day after the Senate passed a companion measure. The House version of the so-called "black liquor" bill, HB1102 , fell one vote short of the 12-vote majority needed to get out of the Economic Matters Committee. The vote in the panel was 11 to 8 for it. The Senate had voted 33-13 on Thursday to end the subsidies, after the bill had died and been resurrected in committee.

The Baltimore City Planning Commission approved legislation Thursday that would overhaul Baltimore's zoning code if passed by the City Council. The legislation, the first comprehensive zoning law to come to the City Council in 40 years, went through several drafts in recent years before it was introduced to the council in October. Even then, it was approved by the commission with dozens of amendments based on public input. The law is designed to make the city's zoning more comprehensible by including maps, diagrams and charts for quick consultation.

With Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his top advisers visiting Washington this week, huge questions about the future of the NATO mission there consume Afghan and American minds. How fast can we draw down our current total of 68,000 U.S. troops (and another 30,000 or so from other outside countries) before the mission formally concludes at the end of next year? And how many forces do we have to keep in Afghanistan afterward? These questions come on top of other decisions we have been making lately, about the long-term size of the Afghan army and police and about foreign aid levels the international community will provide to Afghanistan for many years.

Baltimore County has asked a judge to suspend proceedings in an age-discrimination case, saying in federal court filings that determining damages owed to employees and retirees could be a "lengthy, costly and complex" process that requires the review of 10,000 pension files. County officials think it could take at least two years to determine how much people are owed in the case, according to the court documents. U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg ruled last month that the county's pension system discriminates because older workers had to pay more toward their retirement than younger workers.

The commissioners may continue to take money from the county's water and sewer expansion fund to phase in rate increases over a three-year period.The county had originally planned to double water and sewer rates in Eldersburg and nearly double sewer rates in Hampstead in just one year. Although the ultimate increases will be just as steep, the residents would pay less the first two years if the phase-in is approved.Water and sewer rates for Eldersburg residents using 18,000 gallons of water per quarter -- a typical residential use -- would increase from the current annual average of $220 to $298 starting July 1, to $378 in 1993 and $456 by 1994 under a proposal to phase in the increases.

Q: We have a lot of trouble getting our 3-year-old son dressed. There may be two or three pairs of pants or shirts that he'll wear, but anything else -- or something new -- he'll scream and cry and complain that it hurts him. I sure would like some help.Jim Statsky, Berwyn, Ill.A: Most preschoolers go through difficult clothes phases -- everything from insisting on the same pants for days to refusing any outfit that buttons down the front.If it's a phase, it'll pass, and the best thing is simply to avoid a battle.

After losses to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Seattle Seahawks in a span of four weeks last season, the outcry for the Ravens offense to run through Ray Rice was deafening, and the running back averaged almost 22 carries and more than four catches in the final seven regular-season games. But with the offense employing a no-huddle look in the preseason, it has become commonplace for observers to suggest that the unit could evolve into a more pass-friendly attack. Rice didn't debate that label.

In addition to a new hospital, the new medical campus proposed near the I-95/Route 155 interchange in Havre de Grace could have up to 19 additional buildings encompassing nearly 500,000 square feet, including a hotel, office buildings and retail activities such as a gas station, bank and day care center. On Sept. 24, the Havre de Grace Planning Commission will conduct what will likely be its final review of the concept plan for the proposed new hospital and its surrounding campus on Route 155 at Bulle Rock Parkway, City Councilman Barbara Wagner reminded citizens during her report at Tuesday's city council meeting.