Ruppersberger

Woman, 18, charged in death of son, 2 ROCKVILLE -- The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was killed last week has been arrested in the child's death. Montgomery County police say Ruth Sendejas, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, Giovanni. Investigators believe the toddler was asphyxiated. Police say he was unresponsive when officers went to his home in the 3600 block of Bel Pre Road on Nov. 27. He died that day at a hospital. Officers went to the home after someone called 911, then hung up. Call takers couldn't reach anyone after that.

Ruppersberger wants company to withdraw LNG plant application Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is calling upon federal regulators to direct AES Corp. to withdraw its application to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Sparrows Point. In a letter sent yesterday to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which decides where LNG facilities can be located, Ruppersberger wrote that the National Gas Act places a strong emphasis on protecting coastal areas. Last month, a federal judge upheld a Baltimore County law that bans LNG plants from sensitive coastal areas such as Sparrows Point.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger says he hopes to strengthen the nation's child care industry and ease the financial burden it puts on working families with a bill that he announced at a day care facility in Hanover. "Blue collar, white collar, whatever," Ruppersberger said, "families are suffering and we need to give relief to these people." Ruppersberger, a Cockeysville Democrat and soon-to-be grandfather, announced Wednesday at the Childtime Learning Center that when Congress returns from the holiday break, he will introduce the Right Start Child Care and Education Act of 2007.

The Baltimore County firefighters union assailed yesterday the promotion of two top-level firefighters with ties to County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger, fraying the union's strained relationship with the executive.The union -- which in recent years has picketed Ruppersberger over his salary offers and fought his efforts to restructure the department -- said qualified candidates were unfairly shut out of consideration for the $80,000 deputy chief jobs because the administration made its choices months before the official selection process began.

C.A. DUTCH Ruppersberger, thanks to an odd set of circumstances, has won the Baltimore County pension jackpot.When he leaves office in 2002, he is in line to receive a pension of $89,250 a year. The County Council wants to amend the pension rules to ensure he will be the only beneficiary of such an overly generous payout.Baltimore County residents have known about Mr. Ruppersberger's pension for years. In the last election, former GOP delegate John J. Bishop tried -- unsuccessfully -- to galvanize voters on this issue.

Displaying a rare flash of independence from County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the Baltimore County Council is giving itself the right to halt the sale of public land.The move, prompted by two recent high-profile deals, could limit some of the far-reaching power of the county's top elected official, who has expansive authority under the government blueprint approved by voters more than four decades ago."Our county executive has much more power in Baltimore County than the governor has in the state," said Councilman T. Bryan McIntire, a North County-Owings Mills Republican.

Responding to concerns that critical decisions about Baltimore County's future were being rushed, the County Council postponed last night approval of a 10-year master plan for at least a month."

THIS WAS C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger explaining why he, his fellow county executives and the mayor are too busy to participate on a regional committee responsible for federal transportation money: "We have to run our government, too."This was Mr. Ruppersberger's calendar this week: Monday, speak at Fannie Mae "event"; Tuesday, open; Wednesday, attend party for Vice President Al Gore at Port Discovery; Thursday, open; Friday, open.Who has time for nuts-and-bolts transportation strategy when there are parties to attend?

The Baltimore County firefighters union assailed yesterday the promotion of two top-level firefighters with ties to County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger, fraying the union's strained relationship with the executive.The union -- which in recent years has picketed Ruppersberger over his salary offers and fought his efforts to restructure the department -- said qualified candidates were unfairly shut out of consideration for the $80,000 deputy chief jobs because the administration made its choices months before the official selection process began.

As Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger considers a run to become Maryland's next governor, he is drawing much of his financial support from business executives in Delaware who work for credit card giant MBNA Corp.More than one in every six dollars that has poured into Ruppersberger's campaign coffers this year -- $114,850 of the $629,851 total -- came from MBNA executives, their spouses and relatives, The Sun found in a review of his campaign finance reports.The contributions came from the company, 35 of its executives and 10 spouses or other relatives.

Washington -Congress is investigating a "serious" failure by the National Security Agency to comply with legal limits on its domestic eavesdropping activities, key lawmakers said Thursday. An internal review by the Justice Department and the NSA found that the spy agency's monitoring program had exceeded limits set by Congress last year designed to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens. The Justice Department said that steps have been taken to correct the problem, discovered as the Obama administration was preparing to seek renewal of the surveillance program.

WASHINGTON - In spite of President Barack Obama's call for an end to the "old way of doing business," Maryland's members of Congress are requesting more than $1 billion worth of earmarked projects in federal spending legislation this year, disclosure reports show. Favored Maryland projects include those related to the Chesapeake Bay, highway construction tied to military base realignment, and aid to local schools and colleges, hospitals, law enforcement and public transit systems. A variety of private firms, mainly defense contractors, could also benefit from earmarks by Marylanders.

Michael Howard Davis, a lawyer and partner with Venable LLP in Towson who earlier had been a political adviser, strategist and aide to former Baltimore County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger and former Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, died Thursday of complications from a liver transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 49. "I think Michael had the most brilliant political mind in the state of Maryland if not the country. He had a knack for recognizing upcoming political trends," said Mr. Ruppersberger, now a congressman from Maryland's 2nd District.

State won't deactivate crabbers permits After a flurry of protests, the state has dropped plans to deactivate the licenses of about 1,000 commercial crabbers who had not been crabbing much lately. The Department of Natural Resources had proposed "freezing" the licenses of those holding a "limited crab catcher" permit who had not reported any catch from 2004 through 2007. That license allows fishing for crabs with up to 50 wire-mesh "pots" or with a trotline. State officials had said they were trying to protect the Chesapeake Bay's beleaguered crab population by preventing an upsurge in crabbing by some of the 4,000 or so crab license holders who are not active in any given year.

WASHINGTON - The incoming Obama administration must stop the legendary struggles between the Pentagon and the CIA over control of intelligence, Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a key member of the House Intelligence Committee, said yesterday. Ruppersberger, a Baltimore County Democrat, said it would be "a good thing" if Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates stayed on the job after Barack Obama is inaugurated as president Jan. 20. But he declined to say whether he thinks any of the top intelligence agency chiefs should be replaced.

The Pennsylvania attorney general's office announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit against Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger's son, alleging that he violated the state's Do Not Call law by making more than 500,000 illegal mortgage solicitations by phone between 2005 and 2007. The lawsuit, filed in late July in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, claims that C.A. "Cory" Ruppersberger, 34, working out of an Inner Harbor office, used an Indian call center to contact consumers in 36 Pennsylvania counties.

A coin commemorating Maryland's role in the War of 1812 and Baltimore as the birthplace of "The Star-Spangled Banner" could soon be minted, officials announced yesterday. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, sponsor of the Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentenntial Commemorative Coin Act, said the coin would be minted in 2012 to mark the 200th anniversary of the war with the British. "This coin is for all of our veterans. It is a wonderful way to honor the dedication of our military personnel of today and yesterday," Ruppersberger said during a news conference at the Maryland Historical Society.

Woman, 18, charged in death of son, 2 ROCKVILLE -- The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was killed last week has been arrested in the child's death. Montgomery County police say Ruth Sendejas, 18, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, Giovanni. Investigators believe the toddler was asphyxiated. Police say he was unresponsive when officers went to his home in the 3600 block of Bel Pre Road on Nov. 27. He died that day at a hospital. Officers went to the home after someone called 911, then hung up. Call takers couldn't reach anyone after that.

Ruppersberger wants company to withdraw LNG plant application Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is calling upon federal regulators to direct AES Corp. to withdraw its application to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Sparrows Point. In a letter sent yesterday to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which decides where LNG facilities can be located, Ruppersberger wrote that the National Gas Act places a strong emphasis on protecting coastal areas. Last month, a federal judge upheld a Baltimore County law that bans LNG plants from sensitive coastal areas such as Sparrows Point.

Alison DuVal should have been planning her wedding this spring in Maryland, followed by an exciting life in Italy as the wife of E. Austin Koth, a sailor in the Navy who would have been stationed there. Instead, DuVal was sitting with her mother under a white tent at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens yesterday, remembering her fiance, a petty officer second class who died in July in Iraq when a bomb he was defusing exploded. The DuVals joined the families of 26 other soldiers, Marines and sailors who were honored yesterday at the Baltimore County cemetery.