Sales

A single winning ticket for a record Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million was sold in Florida, organizers said late Saturday, but there was no word about who won. The winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11. The odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a suburb of Tampa, according to the Florida Lottery. The prize tempted many Marylanders to buy tickets for the lottery game before the 11 p.m. drawing.

The world is waiting Sunday to find out who bought the Powerball jackpot winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla. Nobody had come forward by mid-morning.  It could take a few days before anybody claims the prize, but it's best to be skeptical of anything that comes out before lottery officials make a formal announcement. Remember the circus surrounding the Mega Millions jackpot winner sold in Maryland last year? It started in the middle of the night, just after it became clear that a hot ticket had been sold in Baltimore County.

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

Regarding the Internet sales tax ("Online sales tax bill should be improved, and passed," May 16), I suppose that if I go to Delaware and purchase something and since I am from Maryland, shouldn't that retailer charge and forward the sales tax? What difference does it make whether I purchase it there and have my wife carry it and bring it to Maryland or have UPS carry it? It's still mine. I purchased it, and I suppose it should be taxed. I also suppose it should be my moral responsibility to tell the retailer, "I'm from Maryland so charge me tax. Here, check my I.D., and forward the tax to Maryland.

You take your good news where you get it and here's mine: the Preakness sent Kegasus packing. You remember Kegasus. Sleaze-ball centaur with the biker haircut and beer gut? Budweiser-swilling centerpiece of the Infield Fest ad campaign the past two years? Gone. Got the proverbial pink-slip. You won't see him Saturday for the 138th Preakness Stakes. "He went back to the islands and I haven't seen him since," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas joked the other day. Good thing.

Cecelia P. Bucci, a longtime department store sales associate and avid gardener, died of congestive heart failure Friday at Bradford Oaks Rehabilitation Center in Clinton. She had celebrated her 100th birthday last month. Cecelia Presutti, daughter of a Pennsylvania Railroad foreman and a homemaker who were immigrants from Sulmona, Italy, was born in Washington, where her parents owned and operated a grocery store. She later moved with her family to a Prince George's County farm.

Catherine S. Rykowski, a retired Hutzler's department store sales associate who earlier had been a secretary, died in her sleep Dec. 26 at Oak Crest Village retirement community. She was 91. Catherine Sawecki, the daughter of a city police officer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park. She was a 1935 graduate of Eastern High School and attended Strayer's Business College. During the late 1930s and early '40s, she was employed as a secretary for the Southern Supply Co. Inc. She was married in 1943 to Edward Rykowski, an Army officer.

Albert Carl Grochmal, a retired sales manager for a trucking business who was a standout high school athlete, died of respiratory failure May 3 at St. Agnes Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 95. Born in Baltimore and raised on East Pratt Street near Patterson Park, he attended St. Elizabeth of Hungary School. Family members said he spent hours playing sports in the park. When he graduated from Polytechnic Institute in 1933, he was a star athlete. He played lacrosse, soccer, baseball, football and basketball at the varsity level.

Raymond E. Boulay Sr., a retired manufacturers' representative and woodworker, died March 4 of congestive heart failure at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 92. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Boulay was raised in Ashburton. He was a 1935 graduate of Loyola High School and attended what is now Loyola University Maryland. Mr. Boulay was a sales representative for many years with the Harbor Sales Co. before establishing Precision Sales Co., which represents a variety of manufacturers, in 1965.

Homes selling for less than $100,000 in the Baltimore region outnumber those going for more than $1 million by a whopping 14 to 1. But sales on the low end are shrinking as the high end grows. About 1,850 homes sold for under $100k in the first half of this year, down 20 percent from a year earlier. The 130 homes that sold for more than $1 million? Up 20 percent. That's according to figures from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems' RealEstate Business Intelligence arm, which tracks sales made through the multiple-listing service.

Since 1901, Annapolis residents and downtown workers have been dropping off letters and buying stamps at the brick Georgian Revival-style post office on Church Circle. But not for much longer. A vote by the state's Board of Public Works on Wednesday seals the eventual fate of the post office. The state is buying the office for $3.2 million, with eventual plans to use the building for government offices. "The state saw an opportunity to retain the historic value of the building, particularly because it's in the footprint of other state-owned facilities.

Tucked away in the state's capital, adjacent to the Naval Academy, sits the Peggy Stewart House, a historic house that played an important role in the American Revolution and was home at different times to a signer of the Constitution and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Georgian-style home, built in the 1760s and designated a National Historic Landmark, is on the market for $3.2 million. The remodeled home at 207 Hanover St. has five bedrooms, 31/2 bathrooms, six fireplaces and an eight-car garage.

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that would allow states to require Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on behalf of local governments. This bill has flaws, but they could be fixed in the House. It should be passed. I don't like the idea of the state and local governments collecting more taxes - they know no limits to their capacity to tax and squander our hard-earned dollars - but the current situation is unfair and bad economic policy. (Also, Marylanders stand to gain from this legislation in another way, because of a state law that will reduce future increases in gasoline taxes if taxing Internet sales is allowed.)

As a parent of a ninth-grader at Glenelg High School, I am saddened and flabbergasted that the PTA is taking such a hard-line stance against student health and, indirectly, academic performance. I was equally shocked by the soda and candy machines moved into my child's school this year - especially as they directly conflict with the message taught in health classes. I truly think it comes down to money that the school and boosters want to make. I read one reader's concern as to the negative impact of proposed wellness changes.

Genevieve B. "Gen" Miller, a retired sales associate and homemaker, died Wednesday of heart failure at St. Joseph's Nursing Home in Catonsville. She was 95. Genevieve Beatrice Scriba was born in Baltimore and raised on Hollins Street. She was a parochial school graduate, family members said. She was married in 1943 to Grant W. Miller Sr., a career Army officer, who died in 1988. Mrs. Miller, who lived briefly in France during her husband's Army days, spent most of her life in Catonsville.

Did you get out and shop in April? Retail sales numbers released today show improving consumer confidence and more spending in stores. The National Retail Federation reported a 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted sales gain from March to April, excluding autos, gas stations and restaurants, and a 3.9 percent gain compared with April 2012. The U.S. Department of Commerce said total retail and food service sales - which do include autos, gas stations and restaurants - grew 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted, month-to-month basis in April and 3.7 percent year-over-year.

The 14 t h Maryland Film Festival proved the most popular yet, with ticket sales up from 5 to 10 percent daily and advance sales up more than 25 percent, according to festival officials. The four-day festival, which ran through Sunday at the Charles Theatre , MICA's Brown Center and the Wind-Up Space, included 22 sold-out screenings, MFF director Jed Dietz said. People had to be turned away from the John Waters pick, "Wanda," the set-in-Baltimore "LUV" and the closing night local premiere of Todd Solondz's "Dark Horse," among other films.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton signed the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibited state and local taxation of Internet access and Internet-only services, the purpose was to promote the commercial potential of the Internet, especially for start-ups and small businesses. Congress extended the bill three times, the latest until 2014. Now there's the Marketplace Fairness Act, which, writes The Washington Post, "would allow states and local governments to require large Internet retailers and other 'remote sellers' with sales over $1 million annually to collect sales taxes and send the revenue to the appropriate location.

It is wrong to collect sales tax from online sales by the state where the customer lives ("Senate OKs online sales tax" May 6). If I take the highway to another state, I pay tax in that state. If I take the information superhighway, I should pay sales tax in the point-of-sale state. This is most likely the state where the store is located or where the product was created, manufactured, processed, warehoused, designed, grown, etc. Sales tax should not be a way for state governments to make money without contributing anything to the commerce process.