Security

A Circuit Court judge has dismissed a multimillion-dollar damage suit brought against Baltimore County by the developers of Colvista, a proposed 3,000-unit development adjacent to the Loch Raven Reservoir.Security Management Corp., the developer, claimed its constitutional rights were violated in 1992 when the County Council turned down its request to change the zoning on 215 acres west of York Road during the comprehensive rezoning process done every four years. The council rejected Security's request because it wanted to limit large, high-density residential development to its two established growth centers, Owings Mills and White Marsh.

The local division of Westinghouse Electric Corp. announced yesterday a seven-year partnership with a unit of New York Life Insurance Co. that could provide $50 million to expand Westinghouse's home security business.The arrangement calls for an equity investment from NYLIFE Bridge Investor Inc., a subsidiary of New York Life, and a loan from a London bank, both of which Westinghouse would use to buy the accounts of regional security companies across the country, said Ric Campbell, manager of Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group's security systems unit in Linthicum.

Security will be beefed up for the Spirit's visit to Cleveland to play the Crunch in a National Professional Soccer League game Friday night.At the suggestion of Spirit general manager Drew Forrester, concerned that Cleveland fans might vent their anger over losing the Browns on Baltimore's indoor soccer team, Crunch general manager Al Miller agreed to add more security guards. They will be stationed at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center, the game site, and at the hotel where the Spirit will stay tomorrow night.

A committee examining strategies to revitalize the Clay Street area in Annapolis has suggested hiring the Nation of Islam Security Agency to patrol the neighborhood, sparking controversy among residents, committee members and city council members."

The Orioles are tightening security at Memorial Stadium so memorabilia buffs can't steal parts of the 37-year-old ballpark in its last baseball season.Discussions were held this week between Orioles Director of Stadium Services Roy A. Sommerhof and officials of the city Department of Recreation and Parks, which owns and leases the stadium to the team, Oriole spokesman Rick Vaughn said today.The meetings were in response to the Tuesday night theft of a section of the protective vinyl padding on the fence in center field.

MISSION, Texas -- President Bush visited the Southwest yesterday to highlight recent improvements in border security and to counter the continuing attack by House Republicans on the broad revisions he is seeking in immigration law. In Mission, a parched pocket of the Rio Grande Valley just north of the Mexico border, Bush once again urged Congress to act, reiterating his call for an overhaul of immigration laws that encompasses tougher enforcement, a...

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to conduct a $9.3 million test next year of new security equipment and strategies at Baltimore-Washington International Airport for possible use throughout the country, state and federal officials said yesterday.The FAA project will include a test of a new, airportwide approach to security that screens and monitors all visitors and employees, rather than relying on individual airlines to focus on selected areas."We're looking for all possible holes in the [current]

Calling for tighter security measures at Towson State University, nearly 200 students marched across campus yesterday, stormed the administration building and confronted the school's president with a list of demands.The students, fearful after two rapes within six months, told President Hoke L. Smith they would no longer allow their lives to be "endangered" because of the university's "negligence" in addressing the security issue."We want the administration to know that we wanted to be protected.

In addition to 16 state-of-the-art movie theaters, Towson Marketplace's proposed face lift will focus on security and powerful video cameras that the developer hopes will deter crime and win community support for the project.Signs will be posted throughout the shopping center at Goucher Boulevard and East Joppa Road, letting people know that they and their vehicles are being taped by the cameras, which developer James A. Schlesinger said are strong enough to detect a wart on someone's face half a mile away.

The recently released report on airport security in this country would have been shocking if it had not been so predictable.Federal investigators found that security is so poor at some U.S. airports that not only was it easy to evade security checkpoints, but it was easy to get a hand grenade past a metal detector.The Transportation Department's Office of the Inspector General sent out investigators who were dressed "casually," who wore no identification, and who acted in ways "intended to prompt suspicion."