NEWS
March 17, 2009
Robert Looney is just one of the poster boys for the need to toughen Maryland's system of good time credits for prison inmates. He was among the cases cited last year as city and state officials sought to restrict the credits given to prisoners for good behavior and participation in education and work programs that can lead to early release of prisoners, despite the sentences they received. The system is under attack again this year in the state legislature, and it's easy to see why: Maryland prisoners, on average, serve only about 74 percent of their sentences.
NEWS
June 19, 2007
Good morning -- Joe Girardi -- Got clashing with the owner out of your system?
NEWS
By Lynn Anderson | December 11, 2006
The implementation of the state's new foster child tracking system in Baltimore has been delayed because of continued reports of operating glitches and growing concern among child advocates, including the city's health commissioner, that the system will remain flawed unless more time and money are invested to fix it. The Baltimore Department of Social Services was slated to start using the Chessie computer system - short for Children's Electronic Social...
NEWS
By Lynn Anderson | October 10, 2006
911. 411. 311. These are the quick and dirty numbers most of us turn to in times of need, whether it's for an emergency, a telephone number or, in Baltimore at least, a pothole. Add to those 211, a fast and convenient way to access hundreds of social services with a single call, or so says the United Way of Central Maryland, which has joined with three other nonprofits to sponsor a $900,000, 10-month pilot set to start tomorrow. They are trying to prove to state legislators that the three-digit number should stay and that the public service should be state-funded.
NEWS
By C. Fraser Smith | October 4, 2006
Both major candidates for governor of Maryland now urge their supporters to vote absentee - pretend they're going to be away on Election Day. It's a high-level vote of no confidence in the system. Even as they seek the highest office in the state, the contenders say they don't trust the system that would take them there. How should the rest of us feel? The late, lamented primary election's biggest loser was, in case you hadn't noticed, public confidence in the election system. It's a crisis that has provoked defensive reactions from the candidates, but has not inspired anyone to take charge and fix the problems in a transparent way. Oh sure, there's hand-wringing and explaining and demonstrating.
NEWS
By M. WILLIAM SALGANIK | July 27, 2006
Columbia-based MedStar Health, a seven-hospital system, announced yesterday that Microsoft is buying its system to organize patient data from a variety of sources and make it available to doctors and nurses in a fraction of a second. For MedStar, it means a chance to see a system created by two of its emergency room doctors at Washington Hospital Center, then expanded over the past decade, get developed more fully by the world's biggest software company, with its vast capabilities and marketing prowess.
NEWS
May 2, 2006
Finally, there is a concrete sign from Baltimore's City Hall of real interest in moving forward on providing free or cheap wireless Internet access across the city - something that we've been encouraging as good for marketing the city, for aiding its economic development and, if done right, for improving opportunities for low-income residents. Baltimore this week will issue a formal "request for ideas," asking companies, nonprofits and citizens for best practices that could be incorporated in a Baltimore-wide WiFi service, says Mario Armstrong, the city's designated "technology advocate."
NEWS
By KAREN NITKIN | March 15, 2006
Eric Nager, an emergency room physician at Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, said he joined the new Krav Maga center in Columbia because he wanted an exercise system that had a practical element. Krav Maga, which teaches hand-to-hand combat and self-defense, certainly qualifies. The techniques, based on a system established about 40 years ago, are used by the Israeli army and by law-enforcement agencies around the country, according to Bryan Inagaki, the manager and chief instructor at the Columbia facility.
NEWS
By M. WILLIAM SALGANIK | December 1, 2005
Visicu Inc., a company founded seven years ago by two Johns Hopkins intensive care specialists, has decided to go public after becoming profitable this year. The Baltimore company, which makes systems for remote monitoring of hospital intensive care units, filed a registration statement for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday. The preliminary filing left key details blank, such as the number and price of shares and the timing of the IPO. Funds from the offering will be used to expand the company's business.
NEWS
By MICHAEL DRESSER | November 18, 2005
If you drive in metropolitan Baltimore and use a cellular phone, somebody might be "watching" as you come and go. A Canadian company is monitoring the flow of vehicle traffic in the area by using an emerging technology that tracks the constant stream of data generated by drivers' cell phones as they communicate with towers in the network. Maryland highway officials are excited. They plan to use the technology to help traffic move more smoothly. But privacy advocates worry that the system could lead to bigger headaches than a Beltway backup.