Strike

BOWIE -- Orioles pitching prospect Kevin Gausman has hit some rough patches through the first few weeks of his first full professional season while pitching at Double-A Bowie, but the 22-year-old right-hander's steady development continues to be more important than any pitching line. Gausman, who is ranked the No. 2 prospect in the Orioles' organization and No. 26 in all of baseball by Baseball America, will enter his fifth start of the season on Sunday against Harrisburg with a 1-2 record and a 4.74 ERA and has allowed four or more earned runs in two of his four starts.

As reported by Rusty Weiss on January 10, 2013, "…. a federal judge struck down the attempt to regulate stormwater runoff as a breach of authority. The judge, U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady, ruled that the EPA had exceeded their authority in trying to regulate stormwater runoff into a Fairfax County creek because it was a pollutant. " By not appealing its own EPA demand, Maryland's Tax and Spend government has not acted in the interests of taxpaying citizens. Instead, our elected officials add this new "rain tax" to: recent "sin" tax increases, recent sales tax increases, recent road and bridge toll increases, recent increases in licensing and other fees, recent state income tax increases - the list goes on. Furthermore, the "rain tax" is the result of demands made by a Federal Agency, which is responding to a President's executive order (May 2009)

After two very expensive (to taxpayers) trials, Roger Clemens is found guilty of nothing ("Jury acquits ex-pitcher of all 6 charges," June 19). When will theU.S. Department of Justice stop this nonsense and waste of our resources with this grandstanding and justification of a job? F. Cordell, Lutherville

BOWIE -- Orioles pitching prospect Kevin Gausman has hit some rough patches through the first few weeks of his first full professional season while pitching at Double-A Bowie, but the 22-year-old right-hander's steady development continues to be more important than any pitching line. Gausman, who is ranked the No. 2 prospect in the Orioles' organization and No. 26 in all of baseball by Baseball America, will enter his fifth start of the season on Sunday against Harrisburg with a 1-2 record and a 4.74 ERA and has allowed four or more earned runs in two of his four starts.

The New York Stock Exchange will purchase renewable electricity certificates from a Constellation Energy subsidiary, the company announced Wednesday. Constellation NewEnergy Inc. will produce wind energy at certified facilities in the United States to match the approximately 28 million kilowatt-hours used annually by the stock exchange, according to the announcement. By supporting this renewable source of electric power generation, which will displace generation using conventional fuels, the exchange will avoid production of more than 57 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

My thoughts on a few things that, by themselves, won't make a complete column but will do nicely when combined: First of all: what Hollywood writers' strike? Hollywood writers have been on strike how many days now? Does anybody really miss 'em? There are only three shows that I give a darn about. One is 24, the action-thriller starring Kiefer Sutherland. I'm still hooked on the series, even though last season smacked suspiciously of a recycled product. The second is the bad-cop/worse-cop series The Shield.

Pub Date: 4/24/97

Amtrak and MARC trains are scheduled to run as usual today, after a federal judge blocked a planned strike by the United Transportation Union.U.S. District Judge Stanley Harris signed a temporary restraining order in Washington yesterday at the urging of lawyers representing Amtrak who contended that a strike was illegal.The walkout, which was called by the union amid a dispute over who should operate trains at maintenance facilities, would have begun at 12:01 a.m. today and shut down all Amtrak passenger service as well as MARC lines.

The region's Red Cross chapter says the union representing 50 employees involved in blood drive operations has threatened to strike next Friday if a new contract is not reached. Teamsters Local 311 sent a letter of intent to the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region warning of a work stoppage, an action the nonprofit agency labeled "irresponsible" and a potential disruption to blood collection operations to aid areas ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. The local, chartered in 1952 and headquartered in Baltimore, did not return requests for comment.

Life in the American Hockey League went on as usual for the Skipjacks yesterday, one day after the beginning of the first strike in the 75-year history of the NHL.The Skipjacks and all AHL players have agreed in their Professional Hockey Players Association contract not to strike, and none will be called up as replacement players for the NHL teams.The NHL owners and the NHL Players Association have agreed that replacement players would not be used the remainder of the regular season or in the playoffs scheduled to start in six days.

University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center will be able to recoup some of the tens of millions of dollars it lost while operating without a Medicare certification under a compromise reached with federal officials. The Towson hospital will be able to bill Medicare for treatment given to patients in the federal program since Jan. 7, about six weeks before it regained what is known as a Medicare provider agreement. St. Joseph had operated without one since the University of Maryland Medical System bought the hospital and chose not to renew its existing Medicare certification.

As a four-year varsity player, captain and the catalyst of his team's undefeated start this season, South River pitcher Scott Mitchell has earned the right to have a say. So when he asked to stay on the mound to get the final out in Friday's showdown against Anne Arundel County rival Severna Park, the Seahawks' brass obliged. And Mitchell finished what he started. When Severna Park second baseman Danny Fulton swung through Mitchell's high fastball for the third strike, the No. 2 Seahawks completed a sound 2-1 win over the No. 9 Falcons in Edgewater.

For weeks, my inbox, Twitter timeline and ears have burned. Readers and colleagues can't stop talking about WC Harlan, a new bar in Remington. The praise has been gushing and unanimous. To them, WC Harlan is a wonder. But there was something else: The bar's owners - Matt Pierce of the local band Big in Japan and writer Lane Harlan - are not interested in publicity and would prefer we not list its address. During a time when bars hire public relations teams to generate buzz via social media and other outlets, WC Harlan would rather find success through solid execution and word-of-mouth marketing.

Police said a Hanover, Md., man died Saturday after being shot while lying on the couch at a home he was visiting in Westminster. Westminster police said Vygants Tomas Campe, 46, died after being struck by a bullet from a gun that may have discharged accidentally. Police said on March 16 at about 11:45 a.m., officers and emergency medical personnel responded to a residence in the 400 block of South Hills Court in Westminster for the report of a shooting. When they arrived they found a man, later identified as Campe, on the first floor of the home suffering from a single gunshot wound.

A driver on an Anne Arundel County road Wednesday evening lost control of his vehicle and struck a utility pole, leaving him and a female passenger with critical injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma, according to Anne Arundel police. A statement released by police officials Thursday said that at about 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, county police and fire departments responding to the area of Hammonds Ferry Road and Evelyn Road in Linthicum found a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette against a utility pole.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul got a lot of attention Wednesday for mounting an honest-to-God filibuster of President Barack Obama's nominee for CIA director, John Brennan. The nation's political class marveled at his real-life Mr. Smith act, the funny stuff his fellow senators said as they took their turns in support - Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, referenced Jay-Z, Wiz Khalifa and "The Godfather" - and the reason he stopped 11 hours short of Strom Thurmond's filibuster record (it seems the late South Carolina senator was, if not stronger in his convictions, at least stronger in his bladder)

Detroit -- WHEN MY colleagues, the reporters and lower level editors of the Detroit Free Press, walked away from their desks at 8 p.m. last Thursday night, I was not with them.They carried their floppy disks and Rolodexes, ready to trade the tools of their profession for picket signs, as another newspaper strike began.I, on the other hand, had more domestic duties to attend to. Early that morning a woman from the day care center that my son attends had called to say that with a temperature of 103degrees, Allen had to leave.

Baltimore will send an "ambulance strike force" to New Jersey to help victims of superstorm Sandy, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday.  “The people of Baltimore stand with the people of New Jersey and New York who have suffered great damage and tragedy as a result of this historic storm," the mayor said in a statement.  Two Baltimore city medics and a supervisor will travel to New Jersey, overseeing a team of five medic units...

Two senators who sit on the committee that oversees the state budget have issued a harsh rebuke to Comptroller Peter Franchot, accusing Maryland's chief tax collector of misusing taxpayers' money to travel around the state giving out “questionably invented awards” - a charge Franchot rejected. Sen. Nancy King, a Montgomery County Democrat, and Sen. David Brinkley, a Frederick County Republican, sent Franchot a letter this week charging that the four categories of awards created by the Comptroller's Office since 2010 “are completely unrelated” to the duties of his office.

Much of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address this week was a fairly ho-hum affair, with the usual laundry list of programs and goals (most so familiar that it could have been a recycled campaign speech from 2012, or maybe 2008) and the customary reaction of cheering supporters and stone-faced critics. Until he turned to the subject of gun control. What had seemed routine, even pro forma, suddenly turned electric. Invoking speech attendees including the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed in Chicago just days after the 15-year-old performed in the presidential inauguration; former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered a gunshot to the head two years ago; and relatives of the Newtown, Conn.