Testers

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced yesterday that it had hired a company to make anonymous calls and visits to banks and savings institutions in an effort to determine whether they are adequately disclosing to customers that mutual fund investments are not federally insured.Employees of Market Trends Inc., a market research company based in Bellevue, Wash., will pose as customers in calling or visiting 3,000 to 4,000 branches of banks and savings institutions around the country, said Alan J. Whitney, a spokesman for the agency.

Aberdeen Proving Ground is so much a part of the fabric of life in Harford County that it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the reality that it is a military test center where dangerous activities take place every day. Tragedies like two recent deadly incidents at what is commonly referred to as the Super Pond serve as stark reminders that protecting the nation is dangerous work and the people responsible for testing equipment that ends up on...

The four young men who went into a Washington-based employment agency had similar resumes.When they left BMC Marketing Corp., a local franchise of Snelling & Snelling, two were sent on job interviews; the other two were sent home.The two who received referrals for the entry-level jobs were white. The two who did not were black.What BMC didn't know at the time was that none of the men was actually seeking employment. Their resumes, educational and work histories were all fabricated. They had been paid to be employment "testers" for the Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington.

For the second time in less than a year, a fair-housing advocacy organization has filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming racial discrimination by a company that owns 24 apartment complexes in the Baltimore region. Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. is suing the national company Home Properties, claiming that in December and March, agents at Fox Hall Apartments in Nottingham showed more apartments and offered a lower price to white than black "testers" sent to check rental practices at the eastern Baltimore County complex.

WASHINGTON -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced that it will employ undercover "testers" in two pilot projects to detect discrimination in hiring, particularly at the entry level.In announcing that the commission will take a more active role in ferreting out job discrimination, officials said the need for such testers has increased because new welfare-to-work laws are bringing a large number of new employees, many of them minorities and women, into the marketplace.

On the surface, Peter Chan is the envy of every kid who grabs a Scorpion Flail Whip and does battle with an Exterminator. Chan plays video games. Most of the day, and sometimes night. For a living, and sometimes for fun. As a tester for Insomniac Games, he ate, lived and breathed the Sony PlayStation 2 game Ratchet: Deadlocked from February until its October launch. But lest children set aside their algebra homework with the idea that when they grow up their PlayStations can become their workstations, the boyish 27-year-old offers this perspective: "If I were a kid, I'd think, `Hey, this sounds easy - you get paid to play a game.

A Delaware company has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle charges of racial steering after its real estate agents selectively showed homes to potential black and white buyers in Randallstown, Owings Mills and Pikesville.Fine Homes, a limited partnership that once owned a Baltimore real estate company, agreed yesterday to settle a 1990 lawsuit filed by Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc., a fair-housing group.The suit alleged that Fine Homes agents steered black customers away from predominantly white neighborhoods in Baltimore County northwest of the city and that whites were steered away from predominantly black and integrated neighborhoods along the Liberty Road corridor.

Are minority homebuyers treated differently from whites by real estate agents? Ask that question to most agents and you'll almost certainly get indignant denials. But a new two-year study, financed in part by the federal government, suggests that at least for some agents, discriminatory practices are routine. The study was conducted between 2003 and mid-2005 in 12 metropolitan areas using teams of "paired testers" -- individuals or couples posing as home seekers to compare how randomly selected agents treat African-Americans, Latinos and whites.

They're bright. They're colorful. But are they good enough to drink? We put a cooler full of sports drinks and trendy juices to the test. After slurping down several summer refreshers, our Yak's Corner taste-testers gave several drinks a thumbs-up, but a couple of popular drinks didn't score any points with our panel.After sampling several drinks, Joshua Phillip said he's found a new summer refresher: All Sport Body Quencher. Seven-year-old Josh says the fruit-punch flavored All Sport is "fruity and very good."

For the second time in less than a year, a fair-housing advocacy organization has filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming racial discrimination by a company that owns 24 apartment complexes in the Baltimore region. Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. is suing the national company Home Properties, claiming that in December and March, agents at Fox Hall Apartments in Nottingham showed more apartments and offered a lower price to white than black "testers" sent to check rental practices at the eastern Baltimore County complex.

Salary: $62,000 Age: 35 Years on the job: 7 How he got started: Matt Christoph always enjoyed science as a high school student. After high school, he joined the Army and completed its medical laboratory technician program and is an accredited medical laboratory technician through the American Society for Clinical Pathology. He is also completing his bachelor's degree in biology at Stevenson University. When finished, he'll take the exam to become a certified blood bank specialist. Typical day: Christoph works the day shift at the hospital, arriving by about 7 a.m. and ending the day at 3:30 p.m. Medical technologists are trained to test and analyze body fluids.

Tyson J. Carter slept through a hailstorm as he camped outside a Target store to nab a PlayStation 3 last month. But the deluge of woe began when he got Sony Corp.'s $600 video game console home. The system crashed repeatedly when the 19-year-old tried to adjust the music settings. Others complain that some games from earlier generations of the console did not run properly. And the high-definition picture promised by the PS3 doesn't work on some older televisions. "I'm not surprised," said Carter, a student of multimedia design who lives in Pittsburgh.

Walter Kirk Cunningham, a retired Aberdeen Proving Ground engineer, died of cancer Tuesday in the hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The longtime Northwood resident was 84. Born in Harford County's Churchville, he moved to Hamilton in Northeast Baltimore as a child. He earned a General Education Development diploma at night school at City College. He worked in construction before serving in the Army during World War II. He landed at Normandy shortly after the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, and was a member of tank company.

Are minority homebuyers treated differently from whites by real estate agents? Ask that question to most agents and you'll almost certainly get indignant denials. But a new two-year study, financed in part by the federal government, suggests that at least for some agents, discriminatory practices are routine. The study was conducted between 2003 and mid-2005 in 12 metropolitan areas using teams of "paired testers" -- individuals or couples posing as home seekers to compare how randomly selected agents treat African-Americans, Latinos and whites.

It's a fact of life that students have to take tests and sometimes test-givers bend the rules in order to show good results. That may well be the explanation behind a few recent incidents in Maryland where educators in three counties apparently violated state test protocols. State education officials are reviewing the incidents and think they are just isolated occurrences, not an ominous pattern. But the officials are certainly right to keep a watchful eye. Students in third to eighth grades are given the Maryland State Assessment in reading and math, and high school students are tested in English and geometry.

On March 19, 2006, LORRAINE E. TESTER, loving mother of Valerie Kulp, Deborah Price and her husband Walter, Karen Smith and her husband Karl and Ernest Tester, Jr. and his wife Kim; cherished "grandmom" of Rhonda Garrison and her husband Joe, Robert Kulp, Jr., Walter Price, Kelle Machiran and her husband Brian, Ryan Smith, Paige, Kyle, Lucas and Autumn Tester and four great-grandchildren; dear sister of Stanley Snyder and his wife Phylis. Services are private. Inquiries may be directed to AMBROSE FUNERAL HOMES, 410-242-2211.

On the surface, Peter Chan is the envy of every kid who grabs a Scorpion Flail Whip and does battle with an Exterminator. Chan plays video games. Most of the day, and sometimes night. For a living, and sometimes for fun. As a tester for Insomniac Games, he ate, lived and breathed the Sony PlayStation 2 game Ratchet: Deadlocked from February until its October launch. But lest children set aside their algebra homework with the idea that when they grow up their PlayStations can become their workstations, the boyish 27-year-old offers this perspective: "If I were a kid, I'd think, `Hey, this sounds easy - you get paid to play a game.