Placement

The man whose theft from a local marketing company sparked an ill-fated lawsuit against one of the nation's largest employee placement companies pleaded guilty to bank fraud in federal court yesterday. According to the plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Raheim Jackson, 34, of Silver Spring obtained temporary employment at several companies from which he took money to pay for his personal expenses. Beginning in March 2003, Jackson worked for the Rosen Group in Baltimore, providing bookkeeping services.

There may be few things like a public relations firm scorned. The Rosen Group, a Baltimore-based publishing and marketing company, hired a bookkeeper in 2003 through the employee placement giant Spherion. But no one at Spherion had checked the bookkeeper's references - they were fake - and Rosen Group officials later suspected Raheim Jackson of stealing from them, according to attorneys involved in the dispute. President Wendy Rosen was none too pleased about Jackson, who was later indicted.

Western High's girls won their seventh straight Baltimore indoor championship at the 5th Regiment Armory yesterday, and Mervo, having lost last winter, won its sixth city boys title.All Western did, while piling up 195 points, was quadruple the score of its nearest competitor, winning all but one of the 11 events.Western took the title for the seventh time, the same number of times the title has been up for grabs.Mervo was nearly as impressive on the boys' side, gaining revenge for losing to City College last year, the only time it hasn't come out on top in the meet's history.

The best conventions are in hotels near convention centersI agree completely with the editorial "Without more hotels, city can't be good host" (Feb. 11).Over the years, I have attended the National Catholic Educational Association convention (a major convention of 10,000 to 15,000 participants) in 10 cities. The best experiences have been when our hotel was close to the convention center, restaurants and area activities.Few cities have a convention center better positioned than Baltimore with proximity to the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, Little Italy, museums and historic sites.

ALTHOUGH telecommunications towers provide an important service, county and municipal governments should not shrink from exercising their authority to control the towers' placement.The first step in Maryland should be countywide task forces to examine the proliferation of towers that serve cellular telephones -- they could number 120,000 nationwide within two years -- and come up with reasonable rules and strategies to minimize their impact.The problem is on display now in Carroll County, where the county commissioners say they will heed a call from the Board of Zoning Appeals to devise a comprehensive plan.

Scores of unemployed men and women in Baltimore will be yelled at today.During the next three weeks, they will subject themselves to intense sessions during which they will be berated, intimidated and shaken emotionally. Some will break down in tears. For this, many of them will be grateful.Such is the promise of STRIVE Baltimore, an in-your-face job training and placement service not unlike boot camp in the Marines. STRIVE was heralded last year in a "60 Minutes" television broadcast and is spreading nationwide in major cities.

Tinsay Woreta, an 11th-grader at Centennial High School in Howard County, uses all of her youthful energy to drive hard in one straight line. She studies. And studies. And when she's done, she studies some more.Her twin, Fasika, also studies. Then she works part time at Wendy's. And she shops for clothes. And she sees friends.Tinsay and Fasika, who are Ethiopian immigrants, are determined to succeed in life. Both dream of careers in medicine, and both have made different decisions about the price they are willing to pay.Tinsay sought a place in Room 205 - Humanities 3 - a challenging course blended from English and Advanced Placement U.S. History, and an overachiever's dream come true: The students write a seven-chapter research paper.

New positionsTowson Town Center names Keough to marketing postTowson Town Center appointed Candace Keough assistant marketing director responsible for merchant communications, sales and special events promotions, and public and community relations.A resident of Baltimore, she is a graduate of Point Park College in Pittsburgh.Minardi is promoted at McCormick & Co.McCormick & Co. selected P. Paige Minardi as manager of financial analysis in corporate acquisitions and financial planning. She will have responsibility for reviewing capital and acquisition investments and consolidating the corporate strategic financial plan.

Frederick Memorial Hospital plans to consolidate its Mount Airy health care services and open physicians' offices in the Dubbaneh Plaza building on Capital Avenue.A corporation formed by the hospital bought the building for $2.3 million in 1995 and will spend about $1 million renovating it, according to Ken Coffey, assistant vice president for marketing and development.The project is scheduled for completion in February.The hospital plans to move its laboratory, X-ray and ultrasound service from rented space in Mount Airy Shopping Center and its blood-testing laboratory from rented space at Dr. Ronald Miller's Mount Airy Family Health Care Center on Culwell Drive.

Teresa "Tess" CrockerSchool: Mount De Sales Academy for GirlsHometown: ClarksvilleAge: 17Tess, a senior at Mount De Sales Academy in Catonsville, has a grade-point average of 3.62 in mostly honors and advanced placement courses. Her schedule this year includes advanced placement English, European history and Latin.Tess has been a member of the National Honor Society for two years. She is president of the Student Government. She is vice president of the Drama Club and contributes to Images, the school literary magazine.

One day, Max Coale would like to be a doctor. He already appears to be training for the long hours necessary to get through medical school with a schedule that keeps him studying past midnight six days a week. "I take Sunday off," he said. Though his future is bright, current events occupy his every minute and his main concern at the moment is River Hill's next football game. The senior, 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds, is the Hawks' senior starter at offensive tackle and defensive end. In the spring, he plays lacrosse for his school team.

Maryland may rank No. 1 in the nation for the percentage of its high school graduates who pass an Advanced Placement test, but behind that distinction is a wide disparity between counties and high schools. Even among some of the best schools in the Baltimore region - and from one high school to the next within the same counties - students have widely different course offerings and results. For example, 46 percent of the graduates last spring at Broadneck High School in Annapolis had passed at least one AP test compared with less than half that percentage at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

It started with a searing headache pounding both sides of her head. And then there was the sharp, shooting pain that struck like a lightning bolt inside her head. The pain started on the third day of school for then-high school junior McKenzie Hull, who had been doing homework. "It was like throbbing," Hull said. "It became the worst headache of my life, and it never stopped." That was Aug. 31, 2006. For nearly two years, Hull has had an incessant headache, known as the New Daily Persistent Headache, an incurable condition, for which there is no known cause.

We don't think Advanced Placement classes should be just an elitist thing. It should be for any kid who is willing to do the work. A lot of these kids surprise themselves. A financial reward is always a great motivator for teenagers." - WILLIAM BASSELL, principal of Long Island City High School in Queens, N.Y., on why his school is participating in a private program to give students financial rewards for doing well on standardized tests; kids who get a top score, a five, on the AP exams will earn $1,000, while a four will be worth $750 and a three will earn $500

Prompted by a cheating scandal, students at Severna Park High School in Anne Arundel County are circulating a survey and demanding action from the administration. The survey asks questions about incidents of cheating and calls for suggestions on what can be done to curtail it. A student group has scheduled a meeting with Principal James B. Hamilton to discuss the survey results. Several students reported cheating occurred May 11 during an Advanced Placement U.S. history exam in a classroom of 45 students.

The man whose theft from a local marketing company sparked an ill-fated lawsuit against one of the nation's largest employee placement companies pleaded guilty to bank fraud in federal court yesterday. According to the plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Raheim Jackson, 34, of Silver Spring obtained temporary employment at several companies from which he took money to pay for his personal expenses. Beginning in March 2003, Jackson worked for the Rosen Group in Baltimore, providing bookkeeping services.

There may be few things like a public relations firm scorned. The Rosen Group, a Baltimore-based publishing and marketing company, hired a bookkeeper in 2003 through the employee placement giant Spherion. But no one at Spherion had checked the bookkeeper's references - they were fake - and Rosen Group officials later suspected Raheim Jackson of stealing from them, according to attorneys involved in the dispute. President Wendy Rosen was none too pleased about Jackson, who was later indicted.

Hearing set on proposed budget The Carroll County Board of Education will hold a public hearing on the superintendent's proposed fiscal year 2008 budget at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Parr's Ridge Elementary School, 202 Watersville Road, Mount Airy. A final public hearing and adoption of the Board of Education's proposed 2008 budget will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at Winters Mill High School, 560 Gorsuch Road, Westminster. Information: 410-751-3020, TTY 410-751-3034. Public forum set on reading program The Division of Instruction for Carroll County Public Schools is examining the pre-kindergarten to 12th grade reading program and will be developing a comprehensive two-year improvement plan to ensure that all students have access to a high quality, scientifically research-based reading program.

THE PROBLEM -- Richard Hillman, a former Annapolis mayor, contacted Watchdog about the placement of a stop sign on School Street near State Circle in Annapolis. He claimed the sign is 50 feet shy of the intersection, before a crosswalk that traverses School Street at an angle. Hillman said drivers must stop twice - at the stop sign and again when they reach the intersection - in order to successfully navigate the road. He said drivers frequently ignore the stop sign because they mistakenly think it controls only the crosswalk.

The final 1,000 who lost power in storm have service restored The last 1,000 customers who lost power because of Tropical Storm Ernesto had their service restored by yesterday afternoon, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spokesman said. "We expected that we would have some isolated instances where customers would be out of service into today," said spokesman Robert L. Gould. About 90 percent of the nearly 200,000 customers who lost power in the storm had service restored within 48 hours, he said.