Union

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

Just when you thought the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program for poor, predominantly minority kids was fully protected from politics, here comes the Obama administration with another broadside. The popular program (which falls under congressional jurisdiction) allows impoverished children in the notoriously underperforming D.C. public school system to attend area private schools with vouchers of up to $12,000. Its contentious history includes full-scale support from congressional Republicans and theGeorge W. Bush administration.

Roberto Pagan-Franco didn't have a bank account for decades. His employer paid him in cash or with a check that the Baltimore resident took to a check-cashing store. A few years ago he lost his job after a severe illness and for a time was homeless. Not exactly the type of customer you'd expect a big bank to court. But Pagan-Franco enrolled in a PNC Bank program that targets consumers who otherwise might be shut out of the banking system. And today, the 54-year-old has checking and savings accounts at PNC and is in the process of getting a credit card.

For years there has been an increasing acceptance to so-called same-sex marriage (which should be called "civil unions"), and recent remarks by our national political leaders have added to it despite many states having voted otherwise. Isn't it about time to recognize that we are catching up with the pols and the politicians? However, we need a definitive understanding about what we are dealing with. We need to recognize that same-sex commitments are not marriages but rather legal unions, separate and distinct from the marriage commitment between a man and a woman.

All along, they had been so relaxed. So when it came time for Team O'Neill's horse to make his charge -- a historic one -- the colt moved forward almost nonchalantly. I'll Have Another glided past Bodemeister to win the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, setting up a chance at the first Triple Crown since 1978. The California-based horse is the 12th to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed edged Alydar in all three races.

After a seven-year delay, Randallstown residents cheered Monday over an announcement that a Walmart will open on Liberty Road next year. Officials and residents have long hoped that the store — a planned $9 million, 160,000-square-foot supercenter with groceries and a pharmacy — would revitalize the aging commercial corridor, encouraging other national retailers and restaurants to set up shop in the affluent, largely black community....

The NFL tweaked some of its rules Tuesday, making thigh and knee pads mandatory equipment for players (starting in 2013) and pushing forward a pair of other changes involving the trade deadline and injured reserve. The rule involving thigh and knee padding for players is already being met with criticism by some players who argue that the bulky, additional padding slows them down without adding much protection . Vanity might also be a factor here for some opponents of the rule change, specifically those flashy wide receivers and defensive backs.

Was that a State of the Union address or was it President Barack Obama's first big campaign speech of 2012? It certainly sounded like the latter, but given the state of Washington, what else could we expect? His opening lines, a tribute to the soldiers who returned home from Iraq, was a reminder of a promise kept from his first campaign - and it was followed by a reference to the killing of Osama bin Laden under his watch, and that by a dig at how little has been accomplished by a deeply divided Congress.

Realignment in Major League Baseball, which could move the Orioles out of the American League East one day, was touched on Thursday during the players' annual spring meeting with their union chief. But because it is only conceptual, not a lot of time was dedicated to it, according to new union chief Michael Weiner , who spent nearly two hours with the Orioles. "On-field issues are very important to the players, so we mentioned a number of those issues. My understanding is that realignment is not a front-burner issue," said Weiner, the union's former general counsel who took over as executive director from Don Fehr last year.

A bill that would require contractors doing business with the city to give preference to local union employees has been yanked by the city councilman who proposed it. Henry said he plans to change the wording of the bill after hearing from contractors who said they already hire locally but not from union halls. The bill was intended to boost employment by increasing job training and opportunities for city residents, Henry said. But it alarmed many contractors who saw it as a union power grab that would drive up wages.

A fire company slated for closure played a key role in rescuing three children caught in a Sunday morning blaze in West Baltimore, the fire union said. Truck 10, one of three companies the department is planning to disband, was among the first to respond to the fire in the 800 block of W. Lexington St. in the Poppleton neighborhood, said Rick Hoffman, president of the firefighters union. "It's a team effort, but certainly Truck 10 was in the mix, and they assisted all the rescues," Hoffman said.

The thrill of potentially winning big bucks gets people to spend millions of dollars regularly on lottery tickets. Can this same concept excite Marylanders to become better savers? We'll find out. A new law that kicks in next month will allow banks and credit unions here to offer raffles with cash prizes as a way to promote savings. Michigan's credit unions launched a similar campaign a few years ago, and thousands of depositors have managed so far to save tens of millions of dollars.

Frances D. Tompkins, a registered nurse who had been vice president and director of nursing at Union Memorial Hospital, died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia at the Oak Crest Village retirement community. The longtime Stoneleigh resident was 92. Frances Dillaway was born in Baltimore and raised on Stuart Avenue in the city's Forest Park neighborhood. After graduating in 1937 from Forest Park High School, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from what is now McDaniel College.

Tower Federal Credit Union employees teamed up with volunteers from the Gilbane Building Co. and other local organizations and subcontractors to work on upgrading a home in Laurel in support of Christmas in April, a national nonprofit that rehabilitates homes for low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and those with disabilities. The volunteers arrived early in the morning on Saturday, April 28, and put in a full-day's work providing much-needed repairs at the home of an elderly Laurel resident who uses a wheelchair.

Most of the entries in the 138 th Kentucky Derby galloped at Churchill Downs this morning, staying loose in front of a growing crowd. Creative Cause, the striking grey horse who caused some intrigue when he didn't come out to the track the last two days, looked very strong. Hansen, the near-white colt who won the Breeder's Cup Juvenile here last year, looked small but athletic and playful. “He eats everything,” trainer Michael Maker said. “None of it sticks. He goofs around too much.” Hansen mostly appeared to vacilate between antagonizing other horses and preening for photos.

Michael Matz and his assistants are tired of the question - most trainers and riders are by this point in the week before the country's most talked-about horse race - and give mostly a perfunctory answer. "He's just a really nice horse," exercise rider Peter Brette said of Union Rags, one of the favorites to win the 138th Kentucky Derby on Saturday. "He's a nice, classy horse. " He's also the most scrutinized colt in a field that has fascinated even longtime observers of the sport.

Councilman Bill Henry's proposal to exclude non-union laborers from working on city-funded construction projects is already causing great concern among the small business community, particularly for those of us whose companies are black or minority owned. Mr. Henry introduced a bill March 22 that calls for mandatory community partnership agreements (more commonly called project labor agreements or PLAs) on all taxpayer-supported city construction projects of more than $5 million.

Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett and Chris Van Hollen are planning to take service members past and present to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address Tuesday evening. Bartlett, a Western Maryland Republican, and Van Hollen, a Montgomery County Democrat, are among some two dozen lawmakers participating in the bipartisan effort organized by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the House National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus to help focus attention on veterans' needs.

Ravens outside linebacker injured his Achilles tendon during a workout last week and is expected to miss most - if not all - of the 2012 season. Suggs, the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is scheduled to see a foot specialist in North Carolina next week to determine the extent of the injury. Dr. Lew Schon, the chief of foot and ankle surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, discussed, in general terms, what the surgery and recovery from such an injury entails. How serious is a torn Achilles tendon for an NFL player?

A new poll commissioned by an Anne Arundel County police union shows a majority of county residents who are "aware" of the scandal involving County Executive John R. Leopold think he should resign. The survey showed that 58 percent of the respondents think Leopold should step down, while 44 percent said Police Chief Col. James E. Teare, Sr. should stay in his job. The poll was sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the union representing the county police's sergeants and lieutenants.