State Agencies

Today is the deadline to register to vote in Maryland in the Nov. 6 election. You can register online until 9 p.m. at elections.state.md.us/voter_registration/ . To register online, you must have a Maryland driver's license or a state-issued ID. You also can register at your local board of elections or the state board of elections until 9 p.m. During regular business hours, you can register at some state agencies, including the Department of Health...

Having spent my career working to address the burden of disease in disadvantaged communities in central Maryland, I appreciated Del. Jim Hubbard and Hannah Pingree's op-ed ("Hold chemical companies to account," June 4). Maryland needs to be doing more to protect our most vulnerable citizens - the young, the old, those with fewer financial or educational resources - from toxic chemicals. I've just read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," written in 1962, which makes it clear how long Americans have been exposed to dangerous pesticides and other chemicals.

As a soon-to-be 40-year state employee, I and many of my public safety peers are wondering about the fairness of Gov. Martin O'Malley's buyout offer, since virtually all of us — parole and probation agents and supervisors, state police officers and correctional officers, for example — are on the long exclusion list. However other employees of the same and other agencies who are in very limited or unique job classifications and who may have relatively limited experience apparently are not excluded.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler on Wednesday morning released a long-awaited opinion saying same-sex marriages performed in other states could be recognized by Maryland's legal system. Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., a Democrat, asked in May asked if such marriages could be recognized. "The answer to that question is clearly 'yes,'" Gansler wrote in a 40-page document. The opinion does not enable same-sex couples to wed here. It also does not carry the weight of law, but is meant to guide judges and state agencies.

Downtown commercial property owners fighting the planned $1.5 billion State Center development in Baltimore are now questioning the legality of plans to build a $33 million parking garage that would be financed mostly by the state. In an amendment to a lawsuit the group filed in December, plaintiffs say the state allowed developers to bypass competitive bidding laws and privately select their own contractors, architects and engineers, even though the state Board of Public Works voted that month to pay for the underground garage through a bond sale.

WHEN THE CLOCK strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, street revelers celebrating the new millennium could be in for a shock: Computer-driven street lights could go dark, subways may stop running and vast computer systems in businesses and government could crash.All because of a decision by computer pioneers to save precious space in programming by abbreviating years with two digits. Thus, this year is encoded as 97, next year as 98. But when 2000 arrives -- 00 in our computers -- chaos could ensue.

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that state agencies employed more students than ever before as part of Baltimore's YouthWorks program, which gives students work experience and keeps them off the streets. The state government's investment of about $300,000 in the YouthWorks summer program allowed state agencies and offices to hire nearly 400 young men and women, including about 200 at the Department of Natural Resources. The state's participation helped Mayor Sheila Dixon fulfill her goal of not turning away anyone who applied to the program, which could not place about 1,200 youngsters last year.

Advocates for people with severe disabilities have launched a campaign to reverse $29 million in recent state budget cuts that they contend are hurting an already underfunded, vulnerable community. Supporters are organizing a series of nine public meetings around Maryland and are taking their case to top officials. Gov. Martin O'Malley, who met with advocates for the developmentally disabled this week, has repeatedly pared spending for state agencies and services to keep the budget balanced, and he must close another $2 billion shortfall next year.

We are writing as representatives of the state of Maryland to provide facts regarding the State Center project in response to inaccurate statements made in several letters to this paper. First, the 28-acre project site, which now yields zero tax dollars, will be placed on the tax rolls to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new city and state taxes over the course of the project's life. Second, the developer will pay to the state an estimated $135 million over the next 50 years for a ground lease on the property — a site appraised at $1.8 million but currently generating zero dollars for public benefit.

WASHINGTON -- Worried that some state governments are neglecting federal environmental laws, the Clinton administration is mounting detailed investigations of several states' performance, according to senior administration officials.Environmental Protection Agency officials say they have found that Pennsylvania and some other big industrial states are reporting only a handful of major pollution violations, suggesting that inspectors in those states may be turning a blind eye to pollution problems.