Tank

Legg Mason Inc. has created a retirement advisory council made up of industry leaders to review retirement products and challenges facing the industry, the Baltimore-based money management firm said Tuesday. The Legg Mason Retirement Advisory Council, a think tank of 14 members, will meet quarterly to discuss best practices in the industry, as well as innovative products, service providers and issues such as the impact of federal policy on retirement products, the firm said. Members of the council include representatives of 401(k)

The Ravens replaced pass rusher Paul Kruger with a three-time Pro Bowler in Elvis Dumervil. They are open to trying out defensive end Pernell McPhee at rush linebacker. Courtney Upshaw could improve his pass-rushing prowess before his second NFL season. And Terrell Suggs should have four fully-functioning limbs this fall. Will that keep the Ravens from drafting another pass rusher next week, possibly even with an early pick? This draft class boasts a mysterious but talented group of edge rushers, led by LSU's Barkevious Mingo, Oregon's Dion Jordan, Florida State's Bjoern Werner, Georgia's Jarvis Jones, and BYU's Ezekiel Ansah.

I wish Marta Mossburg and the rest of her ignorant cronies at her right wing "think tank" (there's an ironic name for you, as all you have to do to join their "think tank" is to shut off your brain and stop thinking) would finally follow through on their empty threats and move out of Maryland completely ("Governor, don't tell us where to live," Nov. 9). Ms. Mossburg constantly threatens to leave forever, to "take her ball and go home" so to speak, but year after whining year, she and her right wing cohorts are still here, still whining every day about the supposed "free market" and how it will make everything wonderful and rosy.

We who make our living lamenting the lack of progress on improving the environment must applaud when progress does rear its head, even as we refrain from clapping too hard. A decade ago, there wasn't much of anything hopeful to say about septic tanks from the bay's standpoint. I called them "outhouse technology in the 21st century" and "a 50-year-old grossly polluting waste system. " Septic tanks had mostly fulfilled their original purpose of protecting human health where central sewers weren't available by filtering bacteria in household waste through the soil.

Another experiment in democracy bit the dust. President Chadli Benjedid's bold plan to introduce more real democracy in Algeria than any Arab state has known ended Sunday under the tracks of the tanks President Chadli himself sent into Algiers. Their mission was to destroy the movement that would have won the election that was just postponed, and that would in all probability have ended democracy itself.The arrest of Abbasi Madani, chief of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), his principal lieutenant, Ali Belhadj and hundreds (or thousands)

Ben Perkins Jr. has his finger on the trigger. When he pulls -- or, if he pulls -- Tank will go rolling into Louisville, Ky.Perkins said a decision on whether to send Tank to the May 4 Kentucky Derby will be made "Thursday or Friday, after he works and we size up the field."The colt's owner, Mrs. Allaire duPont, "isn't overly enamored with going," said the 35-year-old trainer. "But she said the decision is up to us."The recurring "us" and "we" in Perkins' dialogue refers to himself and his father, Ben Sr. The two essentially share management duties in the powerful Perkins outfit, although Ben Jr. is named as trainer for all of the horses.

QABATIYA, Israeli-Occupied West Bank -- Defeated in battle, humiliated under occupation, the Abdel Rahman al-Nasser now faces an uncertain fate in peace.The al-Nasser is a Jordanian tank, captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and forced for 28 years to be part of a monument to the Israeli victory in a tank battle at this village outside Jenin.The question is, when the Israelis withdraw from the West Bank, will they take the Abdel Rahman al-Nasser?"It has to be moved," said Uri Hurvitz, 68, who was deputy commander of the 45th Israeli brigade, the unit that captured this part of the West Bank.

Baltimore's National Aquarium, facing the temporary closing next year of its two huge "ring tanks" during a major overhaul, will be moving nearly 2,000 fish into other exhibits but has not yet decided where to put its sharks, the attraction's director said yesterday.Since publication of an article in Sunday's editions of The Sun about the lengthy repair work, the aquarium has received hundreds of calls from people who were concerned that the whole facility might have to close. Director Nicholas Brown emphasized yesterday that not only will the aquarium remain open but that it also is "spending a million dollars on a replacement exhibit" -- a five-story-high laser show -- to be seen during the time of the repairs.

If you are a boater -- racer, cruiser or fisherman -- by now several weekends have been spent puttering around the marina or storage area in the yard or drive, getting the boat ready for the season.The hull has been inspected, washed and waxed, the bottom painted, the engine de-winterized and tuned.Electrical systems have been checked, including navigation lights, radios, Loran or GPS units. Charts have been updated or replaced. Flares, fire extinguishers and safety kits have been checked and replaced or refilled.

WASHINGTON -- Whenever one of the national political parties falls on hard times, it's predictable that a new organization will spring up designed to put the losing party onto the correct path to resurrection.That was the case in 1985 when moderate and conservative Democrats, weary of the New Deal retread message conveyed to the electorate by 1984 presidential nominee Walter Mondale and convinced the party had to address the needs of middle-class voters more effectively, formed the Democratic Leadership Council.

Wait, I thought the Governor was supposed to be some super a-hole, like in the comic books, where he was a raping, murdering, torturing psychopath? In Sunday night's episode of The Walking Dead , we finally meet the gov', and he comes across as a stand-up dude, at first. He brings Andrea and Michonne into his charming little town of Woodbury (population 73, soon to be 74), sees to it that Andrea gets medical treatment for her persistent flu-like symptoms, sets them up in a nice little bed and breakfast room with running water, peaches, bottled water and fresh clothes, and feeds them strangled eggs and mystery tea. He even offers them food, ammo, meds and a new car if they insist on leaving!

Would putting more polluters behind bars help restore the Chesapeake Bay? The Center for Progressive Reform believes it would. In a new report, the  a pro-regulatory think tank argues that both state and federal authorities prosecute water polluters too rarely in Maryland and that the state penalties for conviction aren't stiff enough to deter violators. Criminal prosecutions are an effective way to improve enforcement of environmental laws, especially when government regulators lack the funds to adequately inspect all potential polluters, says Rena Steinzor, the center's president and a professor at the University of Maryland's law school.

It's a common refrain, and sometimes uttered for various reasons: We need to continue to control residential growth in Carroll County. My reason? New residences attract growing families - and growing families burden our school system. It is stated in the press, and even in the school system, that our school population is shrinking. That may be, countywide, but in my view the situation would have more gravity if I did not see portable classrooms still parked at most of the schools in the southern part of Carroll County.

A tractor trailer driver was killed after his or her truck crashed into a barrier along Interstate 95 North, at the exit for Interstate 395 North in Baltimore, and burst into flames, according to Baltimore fire officials. Just before 11 p.m., a tractor trailer carrying lumber north on Interstate 95 appeared to have struck a barrier wall separating the highway and the northbound exit lanes for Interstate 395, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a fire spokesman. The collision caused two "saddle tanks" carrying diesel fuel on the underside of the truck to rupture, and the fuel to burst into flames, which engulfed the truck's cabin, Cartwright said.

Drivers are finally getting some small relief from dropping gas prices, but we are still in very difficult economic times - witness the 13,500 jobs lost in Maryland between March and May of this year. Motor fuel consumers are still hurting and increasing motor fuel taxes or other highway user fees should not erase any relief that they are currently getting. The claim is made that an increase in gas tax revenues will create jobs, but the funds raised by a new gas tax are coming from the very same folks that have recently lost their jobs and other Maryland citizens who are struggling just to make ends meet.

My family and friends have enjoyed reading Jean Marbella 's excellent coverage of the continuing saga of Michael Phelps ("Phelps beats Lochte again," July 2).This year's rivalry with Ryan Lochte, coupled with the distinct possibility that he might again compete in eight Olympic events, sets the stage for an exciting swimming spectacle in London. Michael Phelps obviously has a lot of gas left in the tank. Never underestimate what he can do when he meets the water.

To lessen the sting of soaring gas prices, Thomas Addison has been fueling his Ford Explorer SUV a quarter-tank at a time. But with the price of gasoline topping $2 a gallon, he says, he can't go on. "I'm ready to trade the truck in for something that's good on gas," said Addison, 26, a grant processor for the federal government. "I can't afford to fill up" at a cost of $30, he said. While Addison and other motorists struggle to adjust to record-high prices, Maryland gas dealers complained yesterday that they're feeling the pain as much as - or even more than - consumers.

Less than 200 gallons of fuel oil, used to heat a warehouse at Green Way Lawns in the first block of E. George St., spilled after a seam in a 275-gallon tank ruptured Wednesday.Steve Iles, company owner, said he discovered the leak about 6 p.m. as the oil ran across the parking lot, a distance of about 20 feet from the tank. Mr. Iles said he spread an absorbent in the path of the oil and called 911.Engines from Westminster and Reese responded and blocked the oil from flowing into the sewer system and a nearby stream.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has named an advisory panel to assist in the search for the city's next police commissioner following the retirement of Frederick H. Bealefeld III. The mayor's office said the panel will conduct interviews of internal and external applicants and recommend finalists to Rawlings-Blake. It's headed by Baltimore attorney Ken Thompson, a partner at Venable LLP. Rawlings-Blake's new chief of staff, Alexander M. Sanchez, is vice chairman, and the group includes leaders of three universities and a former city fire chief.

From The Aegis of Thursday, April 26, 1962: A disturbingly large leak of propane gas had Bel Air on edge 50 years ago this week. The news staff quoted a firefighter in the county seat saying: "Half the town was sitting on a bomb, but nobody lit the fuse!" A tank truck parked at Dallam Place was undergoing a repair to a faulty gasket when a leak was sprung and about 100 gallons of liquefied gas was sprayed into the air. Fire and ambulance crews responded to the scene, houses were evacuated and the area was secured for about three hours to allow the gas to dissipate.