Programs

PHOENIX -- President Bush, mindful that Democrats have been hammering the administration on shifting defense spending to help the civilian economy, yesterday proposed more than $1 billion in educational and job training programs for military and civilian defense workers.The president's proposal includes nearly $90 million to help former defense technicians find new careers in education by paying for courses to become state-certified teachers. One-third that money is specifically targeted to encourage them to become teachers in math and science.

The Johns Hopkins Health System announced Tuesday that it would delay for 60 days the scheduled May 12 closing of two community psychiatric programs at Homewood North Hospital. But some hospital employees still worry about the future of the programs' patients."My concern is that this is not an answer to the true problem," said Sharon Barolet, a Homewood North employee, referring to the patients' fate when the hospital is finally closed."I want Hopkins to make a commitment to maintain services here until a successor can be found to take over the services,"she said.

IF YOU ARE willing to let a computer program try to help set your financial house in order, the arrival of your January bank statement heralds the best time to do it. For reasons involving the Internal Revenue Service, getting your records organized for the entire year may help reduce the pain on April 15, 1999.Both Intuit's Quicken 98 and Microsoft Money 98 can do a good job of tracking accounts, assets and budgets, but "computerized" financial management is not the same as "effortless." Getting the most from either program requires spending plenty of time entering data and mastering unfamiliar conventions.

The Carroll County Public Library will hold its summer reading programs June 12 through Aug. 5. The five branches will offer reading and other programs for children. Reading Rhythms is open to children from infancy through fifth grade. The eight-week program combines reading and music with game activities. Children can earn weekly reading incentives, watch programs and enter weekly prize drawings. Incentives include a summer reading bag with a game board, bookmark, Baltimore Zoo pass and more.

William T. Brown doesn't want to hear about "institutional mission."All he's worried about is theater. And for the last 22 years, he has built a well-respected drama program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.Now, the University of Maryland Board of Regents wants to eliminate Dr. Brown's theater major and scale back his course offerings. Theater is just not an essential part of UMBC's "mission" and doesn't produce enough graduates to justify its expense, the regents concluded.

How's this for a perk? You and your 11 closest friends can spend an afternoon trying on jewelry from Sotheby's diamond unit. Or, how about cruising the Mediterranean on a yacht? Or leasing a villa in the South of France? Maybe you'd prefer to test your putting skills on the green with a PGA star. These are just a few of the rewards you could earn with the Sotheby's MasterCard coming out in June. These rewards definitely have the "wow" factor - as those in the industry say - and show that rewards programs have gone way beyond airline miles and cash rebates, particularly for the affluent consumers increasingly targeted by card issuers.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer's latest round of budget cuts hits economic development programs that train employees, advertise Maryland to out-of-state businesses, send the governor abroad on foreign trade missions and provide information to travelers.The budget reductions, which the Board of Public Works will vote on today, will reduce the Department of Economic and Employment Development's budget by $2.775 million, or 6.3 percent. The department will lose eight employees and four vacant positions.

Christian pastors from throughout Maryland don't want the state to regulate their child care programs because they fear that their philosophies, including the practice of disciplining children by spanking, will be trampled upon.The ministers said last week that their preschool programs would be no different from public school programs if the state tinkers with them."It will destroy our effectiveness. It will destroy our program," said Pastor Shelton L. Smith of the Church of the Open Door in Westminster and leader of a statewide group fighting new Department of Human Resources regulations.

If your job puts you in contact with a lot of people, keeping track of all of them can be a big task. How much information can you scribble on those Rolodex cards? Is there really another empty spot close at hand for one more yellow Post-it note?A personal computer loaded with contact management software could make the job a lot easier. The best such programs go far beyond being mere electronic telephone books or schedulers to help you automate many of the tasks that result every time you dial or answer your phone.

Next month's children's programs at the Savage branch library include: "Play Partners," a series of short programs for ages up to 23 months, at 9:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays, July 13 through Aug. 3. "Storytime Safari," programs of animal stories, songs and activities for ages 2 to 5 with an adult, are offered at 10:30 a.m. Mondays, through Aug. 8; 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, through Aug. 9; 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursdays, through Aug. 11; and 10:30 a.m....