Projects

I think I've come up with the ultimate earmark: "BioAgroEco Infrastructure Improvements to 911 Communications, Chesapeake Oyster Protection and Endless Preparations for BRAC - Plus a Little Something for Girl Scouts, Easter Seals and Victims of Head Trauma." Reading through the earmark wish lists that Maryland's congressional representatives have compiled, I thought of that old song about the ultimate country lyrics, covering all the bases beloved by that genre: "Well, I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison, and I went to pick her up in the rain.

WASHINGTON - Members of the state's congressional delegation have earmarked money for more than 200 pet projects as part of a huge $410 billion spending measure nearing final action in Congress, a Baltimore Sun analysis shows. Earmarks by Maryland lawmakers from both political parties would funnel more than $200 million to projects in every corner of the state. A final vote on the omnibus spending measure could come as early as tonight, though opposition from a few Democrats and most Republicans in the Senate could jeopardize chances for approval in its current form.

In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle. The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed.

Why haven't my ConocoPhillips shares done better this year? They had been great. - R.M., via the Internet Oil and gas price movements are the overriding consideration for this company, one of the nation's largest oil companies and refiners. It also must cope with oil-producing nations that can extract better contracts from it than before energy prices began their substantial run. ConocoPhillips, the result of the 2002 merger of Conoco and Phillips, owns a 20 percent equity stake in Russia's Lukoil, giving it access to significant hydrocarbon reserves but also political risk.

A wrought iron gate leads to a private, tree-lined courtyard of attached homes, shutting out the bustle of North Calvert Street. The Station North townhouses rise four stories and boast granite kitchens, open floor plans and the floor-to-ceiling windows that new-home buyers have come to expect. But the courtyard is deserted. In about half of the 32 homes, the oversized front windows reveal an emptiness back to rear windows. Several "for rent" signs appear next to front doors. Like other new residential projects around the Baltimore area, Station North, near Penn Station, was planned at the height of the housing boom but not finished until after the market began to fizzle.

The Harford County Council unanimously enacted and the county executive quickly signed a nearly billion-dollar budget last night that includes pay raises for teachers and sheriff's deputies, funding for several key capital projects and $23 million in local money for school construction - all without increasing the property tax. Although $100 million proposed for a new administration building in Bel Air and an expanded waste-to-energy plant in Joppa were...

Since he twisted enough arms to win passage of his Smart Growth anti-sprawl initiative two years ago, Gov. Parris N. Glendening has insisted that the law has teeth.Last week, he bit. And localities from Western Maryland to the Baltimore suburbs to the Eastern Shore felt the pain.The fiscal 2000 budget, released Thursday, showed that the governor dropped five long-anticipated highway projects previously included in the state's Comprehensive Transportation Plan.In each case, the administration said the projects did not pass muster under the Smart Growth law that went into full effect Oct. 1. The law is intended to protect open space and to channel development into existing communities by curbing state spending that encourages sprawl.

Ignoring evidence that pollution in Greater Baltimore is over federal limits, regional planners decided yesterday to press forward with road projects based on outdated 1990 traffic data.If approved by federal officials, the move would erase the threat of delays for several important road projects -- including those for the new Arundel Mills shopping mall off Route 100 and the General Motors Corp. plant under construction in White Marsh.But citizen groups denounced the planners' decision as unethical.

A last-ditch effort to negotiate an agreement in the development of a proposed mixed-use community in Howard County has collapsed, with the developer and residents unable to agree on how to move forward.John Breitenberg, an attorney representing several community groups in opposition to Stewart G. Greenebaum's plan to develop the 507-acre Iager farm in Fulton, said negotiations broke down after the developer reneged on concessions he made to the community in previous talks."We felt that the developer wasn't negotiating in good faith," Breitenberg said.

THERE'S little surprise in Gov. Parris N. Glendening's decision to veto long-planned bypass projects for Westminster and Manchester.The governor wants to take a stand against state projects that violate Smart Growth rules enacted in 1997. A bypass, by definition, lies outside the established municipal core that is the target of Smart Growth.The bypass decision is reversible. It may be no more than a delay, awaiting a new governor or action by the legislature or the Board of Public Works. Perhaps a legal challenge.

The group of teens and twentysomethings had no problem summoning an audience for a presentation on community building recently at a West Baltimore youth center. After all, instead of offering suggestions, they're offering money. Big money. To young people just like themselves. At a time when grant givers across the country are tightening their fists amid the recession, the Baltimore-based nonprofit group Youth As Resources (YAR) is helping others their age turn ideas into initiatives with up to $3,500 in funding per project.

Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has added tens of millions of dollars to a defense spending measure in earmarked grants for her top campaign donors, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis. All but one of Mikulski's 16 funding requests were approved, making her the champion defense earmarker for the state. Final numbers won't be available until Congress completes action on the spending legislation later this fall. Included in the senator's $42.1 million total is a combined $10.5 million for three companies, Northrop Grumman, Thales Communications and L-3 Communications, whose executives and political action committees have been among her most generous contributors.

Members of the education community questioned Tuesday whether Maryland should raise its standards, a day after the state released data showing that only a handful of seniors did not graduate because they could not pass newly required tests. Out of about 62,000 students in the Class of 2009, only 11 were denied a diploma because they had not met the High School Assessment requirement. All students in Baltimore were able to graduate unless they had not fulfilled course requirements. "I think the average citizen will look at this and say, 'This is not an endorsement of rigor to the diploma,' " said Benjamin Feldman, the chief accountability officer at the Baltimore public schools.

The more than $600 million in federal money allocated to Maryland transportation projects, which began trickling into the state's economy this spring, is now flowing steadily - resurfacing roads, upgrading transit facilities and boosting demand for contractors from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore. Although many question the stimulus program's impact - in a recent Gallup poll, 57 percent of those surveyed said it was not working - in the short term there is little doubt that the Obama administration's effort is creating and preserving construction jobs in Maryland.

Maryland put in a bid Monday for $360 million in federal economic stimulus funds to upgrade the state's creaky passenger rail network, seeking money to replace an aging tunnel under downtown Baltimore, expand the BWI Marshall airport rail station and open up other bottlenecks in intercity and commuter train travel in the Northeast Corridor. Most of the federal money the state has requested would go toward studying and engineering the eight projects on its wish list, which includes replacement of three bridges across the Bush, Gunpowder and Susquehanna rivers north of Baltimore, and separating passenger and freight trains from Perryville to Elkton.

Baltimore Development Corporation officials said Monday that they are seeking proposals for office buildings, hotels, business parks or other projects that might have stalled amid the recession and might qualify for some of more than $30 million in federal stimulus funds allocated to the city. The city plans to dole out $30.8 million in recovery zone bonds made available through the federal stimulus legislation - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act - for new construction, expansion or rehabilitation of commercial projects.

Age: 39 Salary: $85,000 Years on the job: 2 1/2 How she got started: : Growing up in Minnesota, Julie Schablitsky first became interested in archaeology at the age of seven when she discovered fossils in the limestone of her gravel driveway. She went on her first dig at the age of 15 and at the age of 18 began working as an archaeologist in the Midwest for the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service during the summers. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in anthropology and a master's degree from Oregon State University in anthropology.

State gets $44 million for affordable housing Maryland will get more than $44 million in federal funds to spur development of affordable housing projects throughout the state that have been stalled because of the economic downturn, the U.S. Treasury Department announced today. Maryland is one of 12 states or territories selected to receive a total of $486 million this week in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The federal grants will be awarded to Maryland's Department of Housing and Community Development, which in turn will "subaward" the money as cash grants to help develop or preserve affordable rental projects that meet federal requirements for funding assistance.

Some preservationists fight bulldozers and wrecking balls. Marty and Tony Azola had to outwit a black vulture. The female vulture laid eggs in the attic of Ruscombe, a vacant 1860s-era mansion near Cylburn Arboretum that the Azolas proposed to restore for commercial tenants. Because the black vulture is a migratory species protected by law, the father-and-son development team had to wait until her eggs hatched and she and her offspring flew away before they could begin work. She came back the next year and laid eggs again, delaying the project even more.

WASHINGTON - Maryland senators are seeking more than $1.4 billion this year in earmarked federal spending for hundreds of special-interest projects, according to first-ever public disclosure reports. Big-ticket items on the senators' wish lists include the Chesapeake Bay, transportation and government construction projects. The Democrats also want to steer more than $170 million combined to private defense contractors. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin has filed requests totaling $1.14 billion, and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski is asking for $942.