Trustees

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- More than a month after the death of the legendary soul singer James Brown, his body has not been laid to rest, a circumstance that has dismayed his friends and bewildered residents here in the town that has honored him as a native son. "He wrote a song about this," said Charles A. Reid Jr., a funeral director and lifelong friend who has custody of Brown's body while his survivors and the trustees of his estate squabble over control....

Series on lawyers unfairly depicted role of trust fundThe Sun series "Lawyers on trial" (Feb. 22 and 23) did not fairly portray the role of the Clients' Security Trust Fund of the Bar of Maryland in compensating victims of dishonest lawyers.The article said that if the victim cannot recover from the lawyer, he or she must then "navigate" the fund's claim process. That implies that the procedure is difficult, which it is not.To submit a claim, a victim merely has to complete the fund's claim form and file it with the fund.

In Sunday's Arts section, an incorrect photo was used. Here is a photo of James S. Riepe, member of the Baltimore Art Museum board.The Sun regrets the errors.For more than a year, the Baltimore Museum of Art has been asking members and outsiders what attracts them to the institution and what keeps them away. Now, as the museum begins its search for a new director to replace Arnold Lehman, the answers will have an extra resonance.Before beginning the search, the museum's board of trustees is waiting for the results of a $75,000 study of BMA audiences that is scheduled to be completed in two weeks.

SOMEONE SLIPPED a circular under my front door the other morning. It announced a rally to protest the Enoch Pratt Free Library trustees' decision to close the branch down the street.A few days later I dropped by the doomed branch library, the place where I first checked out a book 40-odd years ago. It looked very much the same. The children seated at the tables might well have been my sisters.That morning's visit to Branch Six, at St. Paul Street above 25th, was downright emotional. The place appeared to be well-staffed.

Dr. James A. Block, president of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, says he intends to step down by fall -- his job diminished by a major reorganization of the East Baltimore medical complex.Block says his likely departure is the natural consequence of a restructuring that essentially places the hospital under the Johns Hopkins University. Because the move puts the university's School of Medicine and the hospital beneath a single official, it significantly reduces his authority.Hospital trustee chairman George Bunting said the medical "czar" is expected to be named by early fall and will likely hold dual titles: dean of the medical school and chief executive officer of the hospital and health system.

The trustees of Baltimore County's three community colleges -- under mounting fire from angry faculty members -- plan to meet privately next week to decide the future of Chancellor Daniel J. LaVista.Trustees have told The Sun that a vote will be taken Dec. 30 on whether to oust the veteran educator, who was hired in September 1995 to unite three independent campuses in Catonsville, Essex and Dundalk into one system and streamline administrative services. The board appears to have enough votes to oust him, the trustees said.

Leaders of Baltimore County's community colleges -- stung by public criticism amid a cost-cutting reorganization -- have decided to return $25,000 worth of computers and other equipment that were purchased with public funds and placed in the homes of eight trustees.College officials said yesterday that the equipment will be returned to classrooms."It seems we were talking about the issue at every board meeting, people asking questions about the computers," board Vice President Bruce J. Chaillou said yesterday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have narrowed their search for a new owner to three investors -- two of whom, including Orioles owner Peter Angelos, may be trying to bring the team to Baltimore -- and may ask them all to put down a multimillion-dollar deposit to continue talks.The NFL team said it is in active negotiations with a group led by Angelos, Florida-based financier Malcolm Glazer and a group represented by Baltimore attorney Robert B. Schulman.Angelos says he would move the team to Baltimore, Glazer says he would keep it in Tampa and Schulman has not said what his investors would do, although he has led several efforts to bring a team to Baltimore during the past year.

Washington College has tapped former University of Maryland System President John S. Toll to lead the school past its financial and morale troubles into the 21st century, campus officials announced yesterday.Dr. Toll, who has been an academic administrator since 1965, has served as the school's acting president since Jan. 1. He stepped in for Charles H. Trout, who resigned after a turbulent year with the school's faculty."It's a great honor," Dr. Toll said yesterday. "I feel very fortunate."

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have narrowed their search for a new owner to three investors -- two of whom, including Orioles owner Peter Angelos, may be trying to bring the team to Baltimore -- and may ask them all to put down a multimillion-dollar deposit to continue talks.The NFL team said it is in active negotiations with a group led by Mr. Angelos, Florida-based financier Malcolm Glazer and a group represented by Baltimore attorney Robert B. Schulman.Mr. Angelos says he would move the team to Baltimore, Mr. Glazer says he would keep it in Tampa and Mr. Schulman has not said what his investors would do, although he has led several efforts to bring a team to Baltimore during the past year.

The following are excerpts from Ronald J. Daniels speech Sunday marking his formal installation as president of the Johns Hopkins University. The full text of Mr. Daniels' speech is available at baltimoresun.com/opinion. Thank you for the trust and confidence that you have invested in me by inviting me to serve as the president of this magnificent university. I can think of no greater honor or privilege than to lead Johns Hopkins. On this day, I commit to you, without reservation, that I will work tirelessly to champion our great cause.

WASHINGTON -- Underscoring the urgency of the current push in Washington to rein in skyrocketing health care costs, Medicare's trustees warned Tuesday that the program's biggest fund would run out of money in just eight years. The prediction - issued in an annual report on Medicare and Social Security finances - offered the bleakest assessment of Medicare's future in years and reflects growing concern among policy experts that the nation's health care spending is unsustainable. "The Medicare trustees' report makes clear that today there is no more important long-term fiscal policy measure than gaining control of the growth of Medicare costs by delivering health care services more efficiently," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said.

Trustees overseeing Baltimore's troubled $1.5 billion police and fire pension system should hire an attorney and other experts to determine whether their past decisions have breached fiduciary responsibilities to retirees, fire union officials cautioned Tuesday. Speaking to the board, Thomas Lowman, an actuary hired by unions to examine pension finances, said: "The plan is severely underfunded. You have to believe that someone is going to ask how we got here." Trustees were "drawing a big bull's-eye" on themselves, Lowman said, by failing to ask the city to pay the full cost of pension obligations amid concern that the price was unaffordable.

Maryland : Personnel ConnectYourCare CEO leaving at year's end Terry Hunter, who became chief executive officer of ConnectYourCare in 2003 and sold the company twice, said yesterday that he is leaving at the end of the year. The Hunt Valley company, which has about 50 employees, manages health plans linked to tax-sheltered savings accounts. The privately held company was sold to Revolution Health in 2005, then resold in October to ExpressScripts. ExpressScripts named J. Marc Palmer CEO of ConnectYourCare and vice president of strategic planning and development for the parent company.

A pair of Naval Academy graduates has sued the school's powerful alumni association, accusing the top leaders of flouting the board's bylaws and demanding they be thrown out for allegedly violating term limits. The two graduates, backed by a former commandant of the Marine Corps, who filed the lawsuit Monday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, accuse the board of the 48,000-member association of manipulating last year's election to keep the incumbent chairman in office. They point to an ongoing discussion about scrapping elections altogether as further evidence that the alumni association is alienating members.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- More than a month after the death of the legendary soul singer James Brown, his body has not been laid to rest, a circumstance that has dismayed his friends and bewildered residents here in the town that has honored him as a native son. "He wrote a song about this," said Charles A. Reid Jr., a funeral director and lifelong friend who has custody of Brown's body while his survivors and the trustees of his estate squabble over control....

WASHINGTON -- The financial condition of Medicare is growing worse and its problems will eventually eclipse those of Social Security, the trustees of the government's two biggest social programs reported yesterday. But the warning appeared unlikely to spur action on a sensitive issue in an election year. Far from cutting back, Congress and President Bush have expanded Medicare with the creation of a prescription drug benefit. "There is no crisis," Rep. Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the House health subcommittee, said in response to the report.

. American University's board of trustees dismissed its president, Benjamin Ladner, last night, accusing him of misusing more than $500,000 in university money since 2002. After deliberating nearly eight hours, the board resolved a conflict that has roiled the campus in Northwest Washington since March, when an anonymous letter to board members said Ladner had been lavishly spending university money on himself and his wife, Nancy, for many years. The letter sparked a controversy that angered many student and faculty groups, led to Ladner's suspension in August and split the 24-member board.

ANTICIPATING THE coming General Assembly session, state leaders should be mapping out a management reorganization for Baltimore City Community College. Its immediate need is for strong interim leadership, but its statutory sails also need straightening. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and the city's Senate delegation must together ensure that accountability at BCCC will never again be a casualty of clashing egos, misbegotten management or neglectful state oversight. Why? Because the welfare of the city, state and region increasingly depends on BCCC as the gateway to higher education and employment for Baltimore's young adults.

EMMITSBURG - Mount St. Mary's College is now a university. The school's trustees voted unanimously yesterday to change the name to Mount St. Mary's University, effective immediately. Officials said they believe the new name will help the school attract more graduate and international students. Trustees were so eager for the change that one called from Ireland and Cardinal William H. Keeler phoned from Brazil to cast his vote. "This will position us better for the future," said Thomas H. Powell, the school's president.