Towson University

Last September, Van Brooks walked for the first time in eight years. A wobbly video, recorded on a smartphone and posted on Facebook, shows the lower body of an undeterrable young man. Legs violently shaking as he refuses to accept his initial diagnosis, Brooks clings to a walker while his weight is supported by a harness attached to the ceiling. Wearing white tube socks and a pair of Converse All Stars, Brooks slowly takes a small step forward. His left foot quivers as he strains to straighten it and complete the step.

I teach at Towson University in the College of Liberal Arts, where it is part of our core mission to help students develop their critical thinking abilities - a skills platform essential for career advancement. One key skill is finding the best available evidence and using it to inform one's opinions. Former Governor Ehrlich writes that "under Chávez, life for Venezuela's poor only got worse" and that "public health [in Venezuela] is deplorable. " ("On student loans, Hugo Chavez and Joe Flacco's taxes," Mar 31.)

Niki Geckeler, who led Howard University to back-to-back 20-plus-win seasons and three postseason tournament appearances, was introduced as the women's basketball coach at Towson on Thursday. "When we started this search, we went in search of a coach that would possess the characteristics needed to build the Towson women's basketball program into a perennial force in the CAA," Towson athletic director Mike Waddell said. "Niki is just that person … a leader and a winner. She has shown leadership throughout her career as both a player and now as a coach.

State lawmakers have crafted deals that could send Towson University not only $300,000 to save its men's baseball program, but also $2 million to build a new women's softball field. The day after Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to give Towson money to keep the baseball program afloat drew criticism, lawmakers on Thursday reached a compromise that they said would help Maryland colleges address the financial and legal challenges that led Towson to cut its men's soccer and baseball programs.

Editor: I would like to ask the citizens of Harford County which of the following pieces of legislation they would support: • An onerous sales and inflation tax on gasoline that will increase the current rate by 83 percent in five years; • The most oppressive gun control law in the nation that strips away our Second Amendment rights to defend our families; • A multi-billion dollar risky wind mill project - the only kind of this...

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to allocate $300,000 in taxpayer money to save Towson University's baseball team came under fire Wednesday from some legislators and key fiscal policymakers for being unprecedented and unfair to other college sports programs. Comptroller Peter Franchot said the money, recently included in the governor's 2014 budget, is a "bailout" that rewards bad financial decisions by a university. Towson President Maravene Loeschke decided last month to eliminate the university's baseball and men's soccer programs because of insufficient funding and a lack of gender equity in the university's sports.

Mike Gottlieb feels like the Death Row inmate who gets a last-minute reprieve from the governor. Only in this case, the governor came up with $300,000 out of the state budget to keep Gottlieb's Towson University baseball team alive for a couple more years. So there was Gottlieb on Wednesday afternoon at Towson's Schuerholz Park, standing in the bright sunshine and biting wind before the Tigers' 5-3 loss to Navy, marveling at what a close call it had been for his team. "I remember growing up in the 60's," he was saying now, "and there was a Superman episode where they found out a guy who was on Death Row was innocent.

By dumping $300,000 in taxpayer funds on Towson University's baseball team, Gov. Martin O'Malley has temporarily solved one problem and created a multitude of others. The frustration that led Mr. O'Malley to intervene is understandable. But his proposal to use a supplemental appropriation to buy the team two more years sets a dangerous precedent while failing to address any of the problems in Towson's athletics department that got the university into the unwelcome position of cutting two men's sports in the first place.

Hundreds of students, alumni and professors at Towson University gathered Tuesday to declare that the school stands for tolerance and diversity, and that a student who has attracted international news coverage for advocating racial segregation does not represent them. Some of those attending the student-planned rally said they were deeply frustrated and angry with news media attention to student Matthew Heimbach's White Student Union and the nighttime patrols that he said are aimed at fighting crime.

BWI Business Partnership's April signature breakfast will be held Wednesday, April 17 from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m. at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve, 7795 Arundel Mills Boulevard, in Hanover. Keynote speaker Maravene Loeschke, president of Towson University, will talk about new initiatives at Towson. Towson University is one of the largest public universities in Maryland, and has interdisciplinary partnerships with public and private institutions, which provide research, internship and jobs for students.