Projects

Optimism might seem out of place after the Waterkeeper Alliance's bitter loss in a recent lawsuit to hold Perdue Farms and its grower Alan Hudson responsible for polluting waterways with poultry manure. But it's possible to at least be hopeful of solutions, perhaps within the current decade, to this widespread bay pollution. Reasons for hope were less likely when the lawsuit was filed three years ago. Witness a survey recently presented by University of Maryland ag scientist Kenneth Staver.

The National Aquarium's new $12.5 million "Blacktip Reef" exhibit, a replica of an Indo-Pacific coral reef that replaces the "Wings in the Water" exhibit, will open July 10, officials announced Monday. Once it is completed, visitors will be able to view the 260,000-gallon self-contained ecosystem through a 27-foot viewing window, as well as from platforms above the water. Visitors also will be able to observe diver demonstrations and feedings. "You're sort of transferred into their world," Jack Cover, the aquarium's general curator, said.

The list is long enough to give contractors a stiff workout. There are roof repairs and resurfacing due for Georgetown East Elementary School and painting for George Fox Middle School. Mills-Parole Elementary will get tiles, carpet and terrazzo. Crofton Elementary is due for kitchen equipment and fire sprinklers. Those are just some of the more than two dozen projects that the Anne Arundel County Board of Education approved this week as consent items — they are funded, and the board has given its blessing for them to be awarded to contractors.

COLLEGE PARK - Tianna Hawkins walked onto the court at Comcast Center earlier this week with a broad grin, beginning an informal workout in the arena where her jersey perhaps will hang in the rafters next to those of other program luminaries one day. The 6-foot-3 senior forward practiced shooting from the foul line while bantering lightheartedly with Maryland women's basketball assistant coach Dave Adkins, who has been partly responsible for Hawkins'...

Dennis H. McGinley Jr., a retired electrical engineer and model railroad enthusiast, died Tuesday of heart disease at Anne Arundel Medical Center. He was 73. The son of a Jersey Central Railroad yardmaster and a factory worker, Dennis Hayden McGinley Jr. was born and raised in Allentown, Pa., where he graduated in 1957 from Allentown Central Catholic High School. He served in the Air Force for four years until being discharged in 1961. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970 in electrical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, while working for Roeback Co. in Trevos, Pa. He also earned a master's degree in business administration in the 1980s from what is now Loyola University Maryland.

While catching up recently with an old friend, Sezin Palmer talked about her work as a program manager in APL's Research and Exploratory Development Department and her previous stint in the Undersea Warfare Department. “I mentioned that I also do modeling,” she says. The friend's face lit up, revealing her excitement at hearing about this sideline career walking a runway, Palmer says, laughing. She explained to the woman that she works with physics and mathematical models that allow exploration of scientific theories, not high fashion.

The state Board of Public Works publicly scolded the Towson University president Wednesday for her handling of a decision to cut the college's baseball and men's soccer teams and delayed approval of a contract the university requested to build a campus in Harford County. Two members of the board - Gov. Martin O'Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot - voted to postpone action on a small contract for pre-construction services related to the $25 million satellite campus until Towson's president, Maravene Loeschke, appears at their next meeting in two weeks.

The Town of Sykesville and the Warfield development along Route 32 will be the key topics of a town hall meeting Monday night hosted by County Commissioner Doug Howard, at 7 p.m. at the South Carroll Senior Center, 5928 Mineral Hill Road, Eldersburg. The meeting is the fourth in a series of monthly sessions for District 5 residents. Guests Ivy Wells and Brad Rees from the Town of Sykesville will provide information on the Main Street and Warfield projects.

Ernest T. Davis, a retired construction project manager and a World War II B-24 pilot, died Feb. 13 of heart failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 92. The son of a civil engineer and a government worker, Ernest Theodore Davis was born in Bemis, Tenn., and later moved with his family to Washington. He was a graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and started engineering studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1942, he enlisted in what was then the Army Air Corps, and after completing training as a B-24 Liberator pilot, was assigned to the 8th Air Force in England.

There is a sharp disconnect between the image and reality of the O'Malley administration's fiscal policies. The image features pension reforms, reduced structural deficits, a rainy day fund, and protection of programs. The reality includes deferred maintenance, transfer of costs to local governments, "Medicaid cuts" that shift costs to hospitals and the privately insured, revenue bond financing for core functions, failure to curb pensions and health benefits, raids on open space and Injured Workers' Insurance Fund revenues, over-reliance on gambling (both literally and within the state's pension funds)