Questions And Answers

Frequently asked questions about the governor and mayor's proposal to reform city schools:What is this fight about?In December 1994, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland filed suit against the state on behalf of Baltimore children. The lawsuit claims that Maryland fails to provide them a decent education. Baltimore filed a similar suit in September 1995. Both demand an increase in state school aid.In October, state education officials responded with a lawsuit. Their claim: The work of educating the children falls to the local school district, and Baltimore hasn't done a good job of managing its resources and staff.

Editor's note: While "God's Other Plan" has been appearing in The Sun, many readers have called with questions about the serial. Following are answers to some of the questions asked most frequently.Why did you write this story and is it appropriate for a newspaper?The courage and strength Marci Crosby exhibited during the time of her illness altered the lives of her family and friends and the doctors and strangers with whom she came in contact. Her story seemed to hold the same potential for people beyond her immediate circle, for readers of The Sun. The issues with which she dealt -- issues of loss, illness, faith, loyalty and the bonds of family -- are the same ones everyone faces in life.

Will you try to change Governor Glendening's mind about slot machines at racetracks? "I think I have almost an obligation to. Delaware is doubling the number of machines at its racetracks. The issue of slots at tracks will probably be on the ballot in Pennsylvania the Tuesday after the Preakness. If that referendum passes, we'll then be virtually surrounded -- Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. "And I don't know what more dramatic a picture you can see than in Kentucky with Keeneland, the most historic, traditional, conservative racing organization in North America, partnering with a casino company and a lottery supplier to buy Turfway Park.

This is a story about a daughter, but first we must briefly introduce her mother. She is 46 and is struggling to survive. In and out of jail and once nearly lost to heroin on the desolate streets of West Baltimore, she long ago surrendered her four children to their grandmother's care in Woodlawn. One of them was Tyisha M. Brown. The 15-year-old was a high school sophomore, but her grandmother, Mozzella Burriss, who raised her since she was 5, said she talked more about being initiated into the Bloods gang than she did about doing her homework.

It only seems perfect.The fruits and vegetables so unblemished they might be cast in wax. The free samples of farmer cheese, sweet red pepper pesto and pink vodka sauce arrayed just so with a basket of Crostini Tuscan Crackers. The floor shining like a dinner plate in the bright, airy market. The staff ever helpful and mellow - an Up With People cast on chamomile.The real and the ideal might appear to converge at Fresh Fields market in Mount Washington. Look closer, though. There's trouble in paradise.

WASHINGTON - It went into the history books as "Whitewater," the name of a peaceful river in the Ozark mountains on which Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton and their business partners hoped to sell dozens of rustic home sites. As the name for one of the murkiest and most complex scandals in political history, it should have been called the "Big Muddy." By the time independent counsel Robert W. Ray wrapped up the loose ends and closed a six-year investigation into the Clintons' activities, the details had become so clouded that almost no one could remember what the original issues were.

An auto insurer might have owed you far more than you got for your last accident claim. If a driver on a cell phone rear-ended your car, for example, his insurer would probably pay for repairs, but did it compensate you for "diminished value"? Diminished resale value is the dollar amount your vehicle inherently loses simply because it has been in a wreck. In other words, when it is time to sell, you probably won't get as much money for it because it is viewed as damaged goods, even if it has been expertly repaired.

If nothing else, give Tabitha Soren credit for not beating around the bush in her new prime-time show, "The MTV Interview," which premieres at 10 tonight."

Hunter S. Thompson -- who coined the phrase "gonzo journalism" to describe his own uniquely participatory school of writing -- will speak tonight at Max's on Broadway, 735 South Broadway.In two appearances scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Mr. Thompson will speak on "Fear and Loathing in Baltimore." The planned format is an introductory talk followed by questions and answers.Mr. Thompson's appearance will be preceded by Mark Harp, a local musician scheduled to go on at 7:15 and 10:15 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m. for the first show, 9:30 p.m. for the second.

When first-time mom Sarah Dorman has a parenting question, she often turns to a Facebook group of Baltimore women before her own mother. Her mother's probably not available at 3 a.m., and not familiar with the latest rules regarding infants and organic fruit or fretting over the contradictions in all those advice books - unlike some of Dorman's online peers. "It all goes through fads of what's the popular thing. What was really popular when our parents were doing it might now sound psychotic," said Dorman, 31. Three decades ago, for example, parents were told to place babies face-down to sleep, a distinct no-no today after doctors realized it increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.