Tarmac

The Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis expanded with a four-story addition almost a year ago after outgrowing its space in the restored Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church. The current exhibit, Trails, Tracks, Tarmac, highlights African-American communities in northern Anne Arundel County through artifacts, oral-history recordings and documentary quilts. Museum director Wendi Perry says she is planning more programs to share African-American culture with a wider audience.

A British Airways flight was delayed about 90 minutes last night at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after a passenger suddenly got up from his seat, left the plane and fell about 12 feet on to the tarmac. The man, a passenger on Flight 228 to London's Heathrow Airport, "became disturbed and exited the plane," said BWI spokeswoman Melanie Miller. The man, whose name was not released last night, went out a right rear loading area of the plane about 15 minutes before the departure scheduled for 8:45 p.m., Miller said.

M any airline passengers have grown accustomed to sacrificing amenities and even comfort in their quest for cheaper fares. But new rules that take effect at the end of April would draw a line in the sand - or tarmac - by requiring that travelers have access to food, water and working bathrooms during extended delays before takeoff. The enhanced airline passenger protections adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation also require carriers to develop contingency plans to avoid leaving passengers on the runway for more than three hours and that airlines publish historical data about flight delays on their Web sites.

A rare $2,500 signing bonus didn't work. Nor has a $1.50-an-hour raise for entry-level workers. Now Southwest Airlines has created special management positions in Baltimore along with Philadelphia and Chicago to tackle the problem: hiring enough baggage handlers - ramp agents in airline parlance - and hanging on to the ones it's already got. "It's a very different environment than a 9-to-5 job," said Paula Darby, Southwest's new ramp retention specialist...

Hettleman right about Baltimore's potential As one who has labored for many years among Baltimore's educational systems, I was pleased to read Kalman Hettleman's article in this morning's Sun ("Alonso's focus on principals carries benefits and risks," Dec. 23). I concur with his opinion of Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso's efforts and, particularly, with his comment about the necessity for worthwhile professional development efforts. For many years, and in schools both public and private, I have witnessed the groans on the part of faculty when professional development days or sessions are scheduled.

The Sun's Frank D. Roylance and Michael Stroh answer your questions. EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of the overwhelming number of inquiries from baltimoresun.com readers, The Sun's Frank Roylance has joined Michael Stroh in answering your questions about cicadas. Betty, Baltimore: When will the cicadas surface? How long will they last? Stroh: Some cicadas have already started to surface. By next week, some Marylanders will probably start hearing singing males. By July 1, they'll be gone -- except for billions of rotting cicada carcasses.

If you have ever been frustrated by mysterious plane delays, being bumped from a flight or finding out that fares aren't as cheap as advertised, relief is on the way. The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a new series of passenger rights, the second update in as many years. The new rules are aimed at eliminating some of the small irritations of air travel — along with one of the nightmares. "It's the biggest change in airline passenger protection since deregulation" in 1978, says Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, an advocacy group.

After posing for photos, Chinese diplomats led guests through their new, $13 million embassy in Canberra, Australia, a dramatic pagoda-style building with a swimming pool, tennis courts, greenhouse and sweeping lake views.But the grand opening in August 1990 would have been ruined had the diplomats known everything about their elegant chancery.Thirty U.S. agents had worked for months to lace the concrete and drywall of every office with fiber-optic listening devices, their fine, glass threads undetectable in security sweeps.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower speaking to paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division on the eve of the D-Day invasion remains one of the most compelling and classic images from World War II.Several years ago, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp of the historic moment.Eisenhower appears animated, with an intense expression on his face. His right hand is raised and slightly clenched, and he is speaking directly to a young paratrooper."It's almost the most famous picture of Ike, and everyone knows this picture," said Stephen E. Ambrose, author of "Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945," published last year.

Work on a surface radar system for the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport was halted because a spat in Congress has stalled legislation to fund the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. transportation officials said Monday. The new radar system, which will allow air traffic controllers to better track airplanes and vehicles on the tarmac, was one of 60 projects across the country stopped on Monday, including control tower projects in New York and Las Vegas.