Recommendations

Maryland should increase its efforts to protect natural resources, reduce waste and promote renewable energy as a way to attract and retain jobs in fast-growing green sectors, according to a report by a governor-appointed task force to be unveiled Wednesday. Recommendations of the Green Jobs & Industry Task Force, part of Gov. Martin O'Malley's initiative to create or retain 100,000 green jobs by 2015, include increasing the state's reliance on wind power and solar energy, improving public transportation and promoting high-density development around transit hubs.

Maryland's children would be required to get more vaccines before attending school under a proposal being considered by state health officials. But doctors and state health officials said most children are already getting the shots and that they are looking to regulate the process. Under the proposed guidelines, pupils would be required to get a chicken pox booster before starting kindergarten. The chicken pox vaccine is now required to be given to babies. Seventh-graders would be required to get the Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Baltimore leaders need to develop a clear vision for what they want to happen with the Social Security Administration's soon-to-be-vacant Metro West office complex and share those plans soon with the federal government. The developer of the long-stalled "Superblock" project near Lexington Market should come up with a construction plan that complies with previously agreed-upon preservation requirements or be replaced. Public officials ought to think twice about formally designating downtown's west side an arts and entertainment district because it probably won't generate much new retail activity and could "cannibalize" the fledgling Station North arts district near Penn Station.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation and other Baltimore institutions are organizing to help accelerate the growth of well-paying jobs and make sure more residents are qualified to land them, building on the recommendations of a new study that envisions the region's "next economy. " The report, released at a forum in Baltimore Thursday, suggests the region's leaders cooperate on efforts to encourage more entrepreneurship and exporting, as well as more growth in sectors such as manufacturing, bioscience and logistics.

A number of recent reports have recommended changes in the way Maryland pays for, manages and evaluates school programs. Here is a look those reports:* SONDHEIM COMMISSIONWho: Panel appointed by Governor Schaefer, chaired by long-time adviser Walter Sondheim.What: Studied education reform in the state.When: Reported August, 1989.Recommendations: Proposed a detailed system of reporting school-by-school performance and a school accreditation process as a way of prodding schools to develop improvement plans.

The U.S. Naval Academy's sports program, criticized on Capitol Hill for questionable spending, is headed for greater oversight and control, an academy official said.Admiral Charles R. Larson, the academy's superintendent, is expected to implement the recommendations the Navy Department proposed in its review of the Naval Academy Athletic Association. The private, non-profit group finances Navy athletics."Admiral Larson's intention is to adopt all of the recommendations that went forward if the Congress concurs with the report," said Capt.

A Westminster citizens group that has been studying ways to make Uniontown Road safer between Old New Windsor Road and Route 31 is recommending reducing the crest of the hill and adding left turn lanes.Westminster officials plan improvements to Uniontown Road in conjunction with a State Highway Administration project to improve West Main Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Route 31. The SHA project has been awarded money for design but not construction.Consulting engineer Leon Kriebel presented the citizens group's recommendations to the City Council at its July 28 meeting.

WASHINGTON -- In his latest assessment of the military's future, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has backed away from some of his earlier modest recommendations for reducing duplication in the roles and missions of the services.The changes in the report, "Roles, Missions and Functions of the Armed Forces of the United States," by Gen. Colin L. Powell are a sign of the difficulties President Clinton and Defense Secretary Les Aspin face in realigning the military's roles as the four services try to hang onto their missions at a time of reduced funding.

Criticized for hyping troubled companies and facing new regulations to encourage their independence, analysts are issuing more recommendations to dump stocks. Even so, some market watchers say there still aren't enough "sell" ratings. Thomson Financial/ First Call in Boston, which tracks analysts' stock ratings at about 200 brokerages, said that at the end of July, 3.4 percent of some 24,000 recommendations were "sells" or "strong sells." That compares with 1.5 percent a year ago, and 0.7 percent in early March 2000, when the market peaked.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has named a special committee to review the state's ethics laws that apply to legislators and other state and local officials and make recommendations for reforms that could be voted on as early as this year. Miller announced Friday that he has appointed Sen. Jamie Raskin, a persistent ethics advocate, to chair the seven-member panel. "As law school professor and constitutional law expert, Senator Raskin is uniquely qualified (to) lead this committee and I look forward very much to his recommendations.

Absent the colorful facade yet to come, the slots casino at Arundel Mills looks from the outside like a giant parking garage, but thousands of gambling machines on the first floor will soon be lighting up the day and night. The doors are set to open in June, and this year Anne Arundel County can begin slicing up its share of the expected millions. The estimate now is $15 million for Anne Arundel during the first 12 months. That's how much County ExecutiveJohn R. Leopoldput into his proposed budget, calling the Maryland Live Casino "the largest single new source of revenue.

Chances are many Baltimore commuters will spend the weekend poring over maps, checking out city byways and back streets, and dreaming of something that may not exist come Monday morning's rush hour: a clear shot into downtown. The Jones Falls Expressway as we know it disappeared Friday evening, with one lane closed in each direction near 29th Street by barrels and barriers, and marked with flashing signs and arrows. It may stay that way for up to two months while crews conduct emergency repairs to damaged drainage pipes and bolster the highway's underpinnings.

Carroll County public schools should strengthen financial controls and network security, seek all valid Medicaid-related reimbursements, review some of their contractor arrangements and re-evaluate their food service operations, according to a report released by the state Office of Legislative Audits. Those measures could save the county as much as $4 million a year, said the report released last week. "These are recommendations," said Bruce A. Myers, legislative auditor. "We have no enforcement power, but we can advise.

St. Joseph Medical Centertook another step in choosing a buyer for its Towson campus. The hospital said the board made a recommendation Monday to the parent company, Catholic Health Initiatives, which has the final say. Officials declined to identify the board's choice. But the three finalists were LifeBridge Health, which owns Sinai and Northwest hospitals; Ascension Health, which owns St. Agnes Hospital; and the University of Maryland Medical System. St. Agnes is the only Catholic hospital among the bidders, but St. Joseph's said all three systems agreed to honor its "Catholic identity and religious heritage.

The principal of Federal Hill Preparatory Elementary/Middle School told the Baltimore city school board Tuesday that she strongly supported the district's recommendation to drop the school's struggling middle grades program. Since the system rolled out it's fourth-year-recommendations to close or discontinue struggling programming in schools, we hadn't heard as much from the Federal Hill community as we had from other schools impacted by the proposals. You can read about the distric'ts recommendations, here.

An independent panel of scientists says two government-issued studies can't show if people were harmed by toxic pollution from Fort Detrick contaminating the ground water, but further studies are unlikely to answer lingering questions about the health impacts of the cancer-causing chemicals buried decades ago at the Frederick military base. In a review sponsored by the Army, a committee of environmental and health experts with the National Research Council took issue with a study by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which concluded that tainted ground water seeping out from Detrick's Area B was "unlikely to have produced any harmful health effects, including cancer.

NEW YORK -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to issue recommendations on what companies that sell asset-backed bonds must tell investors about the offerings.The recommendations, to be issued perhaps by year's end, will address long-standing concerns among investors who say they aren't getting enough information to figure how much to pay for the bonds and how much yield they should get.Even when information is available, some investors say they don't have enough time to examine documents such as the preliminary prospectus, called a red herring.

Howard County Council members plan to take until September before moving to change county zoning laws based on recommendations of a citizens task force. "I think it's going to take someone sitting down with us. I'd like to come back in September," said Councilwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a west Columbia Democrat who with North Laurel-Savage Democrat Jen Terrasa created the Public Engagement and Land Use Task Force. Terrasa pointed out that many of the 46 recommendations reached this month require use of county technology, which is being modernized.

— A Charlottesville jury recommended Wednesday a combined sentence of 26 years in prison for George Huguely V, less than three hours after finding him guilty of second-degree murder and grand larceny in the 2010 alcohol-fueled beating death of Yeardley Love, his former University of Virginia girlfriend. Huguely was acquitted of more serious murder charges, requiring premeditation, as well as robbery, burglary and breaking-and-entering allegations. Circuit Judge Edward Hogshire will set a formal date for sentencing in April, when he will choose to accept the recommendation, as is typical in most cases, or reject it. Standing outside the courthouse in the pouring rain at the end of the night, defense attorney Francis McQ. Lawrence said his team was disappointed in the verdict and looked "forward to some corrections in what happened here.