Uncovered

NEW YORK - Cablevision Systems Corp., the largest cable operator in the New York area, said yesterday that federal regulators have opened a formal investigation into improper accounting at the company that led to the firing of 14 employees. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also subpoenaed records, Cablevision said in a regulatory filing. The company said it notified the SEC and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn about accounting irregularities it uncovered at its American Movie Classics unit.

Change of venue sought in carjacking trialELLICOTT CITY -- A Washington teen-ager charged in the carjacking death of a Savage woman in September is asking that his case be moved to Prince George's County so he can receive a "fair and impartial" trial.An attorney for 17-year-old Bernard Eric Miller cited the outcry by Howard residents that followed the slaying of Pam Basu, who was dragged to her death after thieves forced her from her car on Sept. 8.Mr. Miller is one of two defendants facing first-degree murder and other charges.

WASHINGTON - The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently discovered that dozens of contribution checks - some for as much as $25,000 - were diverted from its coffers to a private bank account, officials said yesterday. The apparent theft from the committee, which raises funds to help elect Democratic senators, totaled about $350,000 and is under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office here. All but $10,000 has been recovered. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee uncovered the missing money in time to get it back and use it in the November elections, said spokesman Brad Woodhouse.

On a September day in 1939, a Baltimore man poured money, a lot of hope and one regrettably unprotected box into a city block he had fallen in love with. Yesterday, the man's son and grandson, who inherited his passion for the 1700 block of N. Charles St., dug into the concrete to unearth the time capsule that adman Louis Shecter had buried there and to maybe solve what's been something of a family mystery for nearly 70 years. Like any respectable time-capsule burier, Shecter intended his bounty to lie dormant for a century.

NEW YORK -- Salomon Bros. Inc. admitted yesterday that it had committed two additional violations of the rules governing the Treasuries markets and said that even more violations were expected to be uncovered.The admission of the additional violations took the firm to a new level of uncertainty in its struggle to regain its footing since it admitted last month that it had submitted illegal bids in Treasury auctions.The newly discovered violations, both of which government officials said occurred in 1990, mean that the firm was violating Treasury rules even earlier than had previously been acknowledged.

We want your opinions THE ISSUE: Concerned about high levels of methane gas, the Army has evacuated a dozen families from homes built near a buried landfill at Fort Meade. Col. Kenneth O. McCreedy, the installation commander, has ordered that a cluster of 20 townhouses stay unoccupied as environmental regulators assess the risk. Critics say the move wouldn't have been necessary had the Army post's private housing developer stopped building when it uncovered the site three years ago. Federal and Army regulators say the World War II-era dump may have to be dug up. YOUR VIEW: Have Fort Meade officials responded appropriately to the threat?

While progress on the planned $65 million extension of White Marsh Boulevard creeps along, archaeologists have uncovered reminders of Baltimore County's past, from the pre-Columbian era through post-Colonial days.Early evidence uncovered recently in site preparation on the project shows that Native American tribes hunted bear and beaver southeast of White Marsh from 1500 to 2500 B.C., a fact of immense interest to state archaeological officials.Other artifacts -- dating from after the time of European settlement -- include furniture, china, figures and other fine goods that might give archaeologists a better understanding of the communities that once existed in the area.

After 10 days of digging on shore and mucking around in the West River south of Annapolis, archaeologists say they have uncovered the remains of one of Maryland's earliest defense industries.The 42-acre Stephen Steward shipyard prospered from the 1750s until British forces sailed up in 1781 and torched the yard and the rebel warships it was building.The shipyard also was the target of a small army of amateur and professional archaeologists and divers, who wrapped up their work yesterday."An intact 18th century shipyard has not been recorded for the whole mid-Atlantic coast," said Bruce F. Thompson, assistant state underwater archaeologist, and the principal investigator at the site.

The director of student activities at Baltimore City Community College used a campus credit card to make $7,250 in "questionable purchases," including an $800 digital camera, electronic game consoles, video games and DVD players, according to a legislative audit report released yesterday. College officials told auditors that the consumer items were given away to students at school-sponsored events, but they were "unable to document the specific students to whom prizes were given or the related events," the report said.

PARIS - The European Union has uncovered a bugging operation aimed at five of its 15 member countries, the organization said yesterday. Listening devices were found late last month in a headquarters building in central Brussels that houses the offices of the French, German, British, Austrian and Spanish delegations, officials said. "This equipment, which is assumed to be of hostile intent, is currently being examined in order to determine whether it may have resulted in breaches of privacy or possible damage," a European Union statement said.