Survey Results

The underwater grasses that sustain fish and crabs in the Chesapeake Bay expanded by 6 percent last year, reversing a two-year decline in one of the key indicators of the bay's health.The 3,500-acre growth of bay grasses, reported yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency's bay program office, was a welcome surprise because it occurred despite storms that flooded the Chesapeake with record flows of fresh water.Biologists had blamed spring flooding in 1994 and 1995 for declines in underwater grasses during those years.

Armed with a survey linking increased homelessness to a cut in state aid to the disabled, advocates for the poor issued a plea to Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday to restore the benefits."

Shocking positionAs one who has served several decades with Julian Lapides in the Maryland State Senate, I was shocked at the Sunpapers' failure to endorse him for city comptroller.For all of the years we served together, Senator Lapides was "the conscience of the Senate," resulting in his being the clear choice for chairman of the Ethics Committee.He also served ably on the very important Budget and Tax Committee and was an outstanding chairman of the joint Budget and Audit Committee. He was truly the "watchdog" of the state's purse strings.

WASHINGTON -- Although a majority of Americans say that they closely follow the daily turns of the O. J. Simpson trial, the number of people across the nation watching television news shows or reading newspapers continues to decline, according to a new poll to be released today by a media monitoring group.The Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press estimated -- based on its survey results -- that about 40 million people, or about 24 percent of the adult public, are watching "all or most" of the daily, live Simpson coverage and that about 59 percent "watched, read or heard" about the trial coverage.

Complaining that Baltimore's police chief is out of touch, the police officers union released a survey yesterday concluding that morale is poor and calling for the chief to be fired if conditions don't improve.Fraternal Order of Police leaders said officers feel they get no support from city leaders. And nearly half of those surveyed said they have considered leaving the department because of Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier's policies, the leaders said."It's going to be harder and harder to motivate people to go out there and do their jobs if they feel nobody is supporting them.

Bill Clinton's economic program isn't playing any better on Main Street than the president's $200 haircut, according to the latest consumer confidence poll.Virtually all the postelection surge in optimism about the new administration's ability to turn the economy around quickly has evaporated, the Conference Board survey for May showed.Confidence in May plunged to the lowest level since October, the private research group said yesterday. And job worries are intensifying despite few reports of major new layoffs and Labor Department data suggesting that job growth picked up modestly in the past six months.

A survey released today by Anne Arundel Community College shows county residents are almost evenly split betweenPresident George Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton, but are united in their view that the economy is the nation's most serious concern.According to the telephone survey of 577 residents conducted between Oct. 5 and 8, 40.2 percent of those likely to vote said they favored Mr. Clinton, compared with 36.1 percent who favored Mr. Bush.The difference is not statistically significant, since it falls within the survey's five-point margin of error.

In an unusual move, the Baltimore County Planning Board has rejected a recommendation that would have cleared the way for development around one of the county's busiest intersections.York Road at Burke Avenue is a major artery for Towson area employees heading to and from work.Public works officials had asked that the designation of the intersection at the southern edge of central Towson be upgraded because surveys show congestion there may be easing.Stephen E. Weber, assistant traffic engineer for the county Bureau of Traffic Engineering, said this was the first time the board had rejected a recommendation on an intersection's designation since the county's Basic Services Law went into affect in 1979.

The results of a survey mailed to 28,000 Columbia residents will be reviewed by the Columbia Council before it votes on a proposal to restrict memberships at the Hobbit's Glen Golf Course.The proposal, made by John Hansen, chairman of the council, would bar sales of so-called annual and daily memberships to people who don't pay the Columbia Association an annual assessment fee.Golfers who now hold those memberships could continue to renew their memberships under the proposal. And those who purchase so-called package plan memberships would also be allowed to buy and renew those memberships, under the Hansen proposal.

WASHINGTON -- Federal employees say flexible work schedules and some leave policies help them fulfill family responsibilities, but there are gaps in programs that make it hard for workers to care for their young children or aged parents.These were two of the findings in a survey of federal workers released yesterday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The survey, commissioned by Congress, sought to determine the work and family needs of the 1.3 million federal work force.About 58,000 white-collar workers from 29 agencies nationwide answered questions designed to determine what percentage ofthe federal workforce needs family care programs and the level of satisfaction with current programs.