Terminal

Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon has paid off the $45,000 a court ordered her to donate to charities, resolving charges that she violated her probation in the criminal case that led to her leaving office. In early November, Dixon was charged with violating her probation because she had fallen behind on the donations. In court Friday, her probation officer said the $27,000 balance had been paid off, pending the clearance of two cashier's checks. Dixon, who said when the charges were filed that she couldn't keep up with the payments, declined to say where she found the money.

Jarnetta Kroh, a Greater Baltimore Medical Center philanthropist who assisted her husband in his import car servicing business, died Nov. 25 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder at her home in Laguna Hills, Calif. She was 81 and had lived in the Rockland section of Baltimore County for many years. Jarnetta Althea Jarvis was born in Spencer, W.Va., and raised in Walton, W.Va., where her father was postmaster. Her mother was a secretary to a May Co. department store executive.

Some Dundalk area residents are concerned about the Maryland Port Administration 's designs on Sparrows Point, fearing the state's long-range plans to convert a corner of the old steel-making complex into a supercargo shipping terminal could literally dredge up the point's toxic legacy in the Patapsco River. An "emergency" community meeting has been called for 7 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 6) at the North Point - Edgemere volunteer fire hall, 7500 North Point Road in Edgemere. Russell S. Donnelly, a local environmental activist, said residents still sore from a seven-year fight against putting a liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point need to take a closer look at what the port is proposing to do there.

A new study predicts that exporting the nation's cheap, seemingly abundant supplies of natural gas will boost the U.S. economy, giving a nudge to prospects for shipping liquefied fuel abroad from a nearly idle terminal in the Chesapeake Bay. The report, commissioned by the Department of Energy , finds that the economic benefits gained from exporting liquefied natural gas, or LNG, outweigh the impact that higher domestic fuel prices may have...

A stranger approached a cluster of women laughing and chatting at an Annapolis coffee shop and politely inquired what type of group was having so much fun. "One that you don't want to join," answered 55-year-old Sally Ring, setting off another wave of giggles. Moments earlier, Ring had told the group her cancer had spread to her bones and she'd had another stint on a ventilator. Her colorful storytelling had the women doubled over. "My motto for through this whole thing is that somebody has it much worse," Ring said.

The Maryland Department of Transportation is working with CSX Transportation to review four sites in Baltimore that the railroad company could use as a new multi-million-dollar cargo transfer facility needed to accommodate increased freight demands at the Port of Baltimore, a state official said Friday. Leif A. Dormsjo, MDOT's acting deputy secretary, said his department and CSX officials are considering four parcels of land currently owned by CSX in South Baltimore. The possible sites are in the areas of Locust Point, Curtis Bay, Mount Clair and Mount Winans, he said.

A Baltimore coal terminal operator has agreed to pay a $34,600 penalty and settle pollution violations alleged by the Environmental Protection Agency. Federal regulators contend that CNX Marine Terminals at 3800 Newgate Ave. near the northern entrance to the Harbor Tunnel was piping storm-water runoff illegally from its coal storage yard into a creek that feeds into the Patapsco River. The company also was accused of not adequately safeguarding its underground fuel storage tanks from leaks, and of improperly storing used fluorescent lamps.

Baltimore plans to use a $4 million federal grant to build a permanent Greyhound bus terminal off Russell Street near the two sports stadiums, city transportation officials said Wednesday. The city will seek bids on the project, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2013, deputy transportation director Jamie Kendrick said. The Board of Estimates approved a deal Wednesday in which the city will lease a 3.8-acre parcel of land in the 2100 block of Haines St. to Greyhound for 20 years.

Baltimore-based real estate developer and casino operator The Cordish Cos. has arrived at a $3.5 million settlement agreement with the bankrupt owner of a racetrack and casino outside Indianapolis, according to court records. On Monday, Indianapolis Downs LLC requested that a Delaware bankruptcy judge hold a hearing next week to approve the agreement, court records show. If approved by a judge, the funds must be paid to Cordish by Aug. 22. Cordish would also have an unsecured non-priority claim to $12 million but would lose the right to any new claims if the settlement is approved, according to the agreement.

Work has begun on a $100 million upgrade of the oldest portion of BWI Marshall Airport to streamline security screening by allowing passengers to move among the three busiest concourses without having to pass through security a second time. Airport officials say widening Concourse C — in the 60-year-old central section of what was once Friendship International Airport — will allow them to expand the number of security lines from six to nine. It also will permit the replacement of magnetic-resonance screening machines with larger advanced imaging devices like the ones already used on concourses A and B. The project also will add a moving walkway on the airfield side of the terminal that will connect the 26 gates at concourses A and B used by Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways with the 14 gates at Concourse C. In addition, Concourse C will be given the level of amenities found at the A and B concourses in approximately 8,500 square feet of new food and retail space.