Takeover

Shrene E. Burnett is a victim of the state takeover of the Baltimore City Jail. After 11 years as an administrative assistant at the jail, Burnett was fired July 3, two days after state officials took over. She still doesn't know why."There's no logical, clear-cut reason," Burnett said. "Nobody seems to know the reason, or they say, 'I don't know the reason."Burnett is one of several jail employees who worked for the city but were quickly let go by the state after the July 1 takeover.The General Assembly, in approving the state takeover, gave state officials great power to dismiss the 850 employees at the jail during a six-month probationary period.

ANNAPOLIS -- Despite operating costs expected to increase by millions of dollars, a Senate committee chairman said yesterday he was committed to passing an administration bill allowing the state to take over the Baltimore City Jail."

Anne Arundel County leaders are considering an early takeover of the financially troubled Compass Pointe Golf Course in Pasadena, saying they are not confident a quasi-public state agency can complete the project with existing revenues. The county gave the Maryland Economic Development Corporation a $1.1 million bailout loan this year. Also, officials recently learned that MEDCO does not have enough money on hand to finish paying for construction of the 36-hole course, originally projected to cost $17 million.

Making what could be a last-ditch effort to repair his fractured relationship with Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Gov. Parris N. Glendening said last night he supports the mayor's proposal to have the state take over the cost of the circuit courts across Maryland.The governor's statement came hours after Schmoke, in his first public comments on the matter, said a state court takeover would appeal to Baltimore residents because it would allow the city to commit about $9 million in additional spending to public safety.

AFTER WAGING an all-out war against President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic, Russian government is about to complete the takeover of NTV. As a result, the Kremlin will effectively control all television news programming. NTV has been a thorn in the side of Mr. Putin since he came to power 15 months ago. Alone among television stations, it has exposed official corruption and questioned the cruelty of the stalemated Chechnya war. When Boris Yeltsin occupied the Kremlin, NTV was equally irreverent toward and critical of his administration.

At lunch with a client in New York yesterday, analyst Bert Hochfeld discussed whether it was a good time to buy shares of Manugistics Group Inc., a software company based in Rockville that has struggled for months. By the time they returned to the office, they were startled by the ticker: The stock had jumped 40 percent. It ended the day up 78 cents, or 33 percent, to close at $3.17, as the fourth-largest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq stock market. Manugistics develops software that helps companies better track their "supply chain" of products, from the suppliers that sell the raw materials to customers who buy the finished product.

Allied Research Corp. of Baltimore, concerned about takeover threat from a Saudi investor, has adopted several measures to thwart a hostile bid.The company said that Kusai H.M. Azzawi, an investor who has suggested changes in the board and management of the company, has increased his holdings to nearly 22 percent of the common stock. Azzawi held about 14 percent of the stock at the time of last month's annual meeting, which he failed to attend despite saying in advance that he would nominate new board members.

C Wall Street's fascination with companies that run mutual funds has spawned one friendly takeover in recent months and, last week, a hostile bid. Some investors have also been $l gambling that one of the industry's best-known names -- Baltimore's T. Rowe Price Associates -- will be one of the next on the block.The reason is simple: Mutual fund companies are a bit like movie studios. Like entertainment, money management is seen as one of Wall Street's industries of tomorrow. The few that are independent are obvious candidates for a takeover, whether friendly or hostile.

NEW YORK -- The Westinghouse Electric Corp. became the latest company to increase its accountability to shareholders when the troubled company's board voted yesterday to increase the power of outside directors and to make a takeover of the company easier.Wall Street analysts said the board's decision did not signal that the company was up for sale -- though a sale would be easier under the new rules -- but indicated that it was looking for shareholder support as it embarked on a radical restructuring plan that has seen it shed thousands of jobs.

A proposed plan by Constellation Energy Group Inc. to split into two independent companies later this year will saddle Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. with too much debt and leave the regulated utility vulnerable to a takeover bid, the state regulatory agency's chief economist said yesterday in testimony that sent company officials scrambling. Regardless of whether a suitable plan is in place to pay off BGE's $2.4 billion debt after the split, there will be no guarantee that goal will be completed by new management if the company is sold or taken over, said Calvin L. Timmerman, a key witness who is also director of the research and economics division of the Maryland Public Service Commission.