Upfront

If you're discouraged by how long it's taking to find a new job, you might be tempted to pay an advance-fee career-marketing firm to speed your efforts. Many promise access to "the hidden job market," a high rate of success with past clients and fast results. All they ask in return is your signature on a binding contract . . . and a few thousand bucks upfront.In most cases, however, what job hunters receive isn't what they're promised. Sure, they'll get a new resume, several lists of hiring managers at local companies and lots of interviewing tips.

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice will be the first player featured during the upcoming season in USA's "NFL Characters Unite" campaign, the cable channel will announce later today. Rice will also announce an expanded relationship between the NFL and USA at the upfront TV presentations in New York City later today. Here's the release from USA: NEW YORK - May 16, 2012 - USA Network announced today that it is expanding its Characters Unite collaboration with the National Football League.

A growing number of employers are requiring job applicants to pay for their own drug tests, saying they are fed up with paying millions of dollars for drug users who flunk the tests.The trend started with temporary agencies, construction companies and other employers offering entry-level positions -- some of whom say half of their job applicants are flunking drug tests.But more companies are embracing the practice, saying that charging for the test upfront discourages drug-using applicants from wasting companies' time and money.

Voters in this week's election between Julia McCready and Alex Hekimian to represent Oakland Mills on the CA Board need to know a very important fact: a clear majority of the current OM Village Board members support Julia McCready, as do three former Board chairs. The reason is a matter of trust. Julia McCready is honest, upfront, and respectful. She works toward consensus and cooperative problem-solving. She is a creative, hardworking person who supports her community with her positive outreach and hands-on work.

The state Senate's version of legislation to expand gambling in Maryland began to take shape yesterday with a radical rewrite of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bill allowing slot machines at four racetracks. Among the ideas proposed during an all-day work session was scrapping the upfront licensing fees that Ehrlich is counting on to help balance next year's budget. The move reflects an emerging consensus that it would be better for the state in the long term to give the tracks a lower percentage of the proceeds.

NEW YORK CITY - Jason Maltby settles into a padded seat in the upper reaches of the balcony at Carnegie Hall, his right thumb resting in the crease of his left palm. He is peering steeply below to see the Soggy Bottom Boys sing gospel music from the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Only this time, their soulful songs are performed at the behest of CBS, and their lyrics tweak the network's competitors. It is late May, the kickoff to CBS' entry in the "upfronts" - essentially a weeklong, floating trade convention for the TV industry, in which executives from each network try to promote the shows they will be putting on the air this fall.

1999 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot, Columbia Valley ($11). Too many merlots are either trying to be cabernet sauvignons or are greenish and medicinal. This Washington state version is precisely what a merlot should be - and at a most attractive price. It offers immensely appealing, upfront black-cherry fruit, lush texture and admirable intensity. It's neither immense nor complex, just thoroughly appealing. Serve with red meat, roast poultry or pasta dishes.

By opening today's magazine you've probably already noticed we've made another content change.After much thought, we've decided to replace "Upfront," the Page 2 cavalcade of celebrity news, with a new series of portraits of rural life we're calling "Postmark." We've asked some of The Sun's finest writers and artists to venture across the region in search of small but important locations, places worthy of your notice on a Sunday morning.Our first author-artist duet features Elizabeth Large, restaurant critic and former editor of Sun Magazine, with Jef Dauber, a lifelong Marylander whose illustrations have enhanced the pages The Evening Sun for many years.

1999 Cinnabar "Quicksilver" Central Coast Chardonnay ($17.50). This well-balanced, toasty, full-bodied chardonnay would be an ideal companion to a salmon fillet in a rich cream sauce. It offers impressive apple, melon and lemon flavors with a well-calibrated touch of oak. The texture is soft and creamy upfront, but it finishes with good acidity. This wine is a blend of juice from three vineyard sites in California's Central Coast region, an area that is showing considerable strength in chardonnay.

1997 Beringer Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($13).This lush, complex, rounded, dry sauvignon offers a fullness of flavor and compatibility with food that few chardonnays can match. The soft, toasty upfront feel never loses its sense of proportion. It's a wonderfully rich, long wine for this price. It would be ideal with grilled salmon, but has tremendous versatility. It offers exceptional complexity for the price.Pub Date: 11/18/98@

Here we go again with reports that NBC is looking to ditch Jay Leno. But this time, the ditching makes eminent sense. The Hollywood Reporter, citing unnamed sources, says NBC is putting the pieces in place to announce in May that Leno will be replaced in latenight  at the end of the 2013-2014 season by Jimmy Fallon. Why not? Leno, whose contract is up in 2014, is yesterday - and then some. He can still draw overall ratings, but you can't sell overall ratings the way you can sell the 18 to 49 or even 25-54 demographics.

The Baltimore Convention Center expects to save $18 million in energy costs over 15 years because of water and energy conservation renovations it announced Monday. Constellation, a division of energy provider Exelon Corp., will install the efficiency measures, according to a joint statement from the energy company and the convention center. Although the conservation efforts — along with other capital improvements planned for the center — come with a $10 million price tag, no money is required up front from the convention center, the statement said.

Burying power lines is not unlike going solar. There is a big upfront cost that is difficult to afford or justify. Firms like SolarCity point out that houses with solar arrays are more salable and sell for more. They have investors who contribute to the upfront cost of installation. The same would be true for communities that wanted to bury their lines. They would know that their community would have higher house values because of the lifesaving value of buried lines. Community associations could organize households to purchase power at higher rates for a specified time to pay for the burial.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and housing advocates warned Maryland homeowners yesterday to avoid shady businesses that charge high upfront fees to avoid foreclosure. Since the mortgage and housing crisis began widening last year, Maryland officials have tried to stem the tide of people losing their homes to foreclosure. Since September, officials said, they've seen a troubling trend of struggling homeowners turning to for-profit companies that offer so-called "loss mitigation consulting" or "foreclosure prevention."

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation is warning consumers and mortgage companies to beware of a new type of business purporting to offer "loss mitigation consulting," "foreclosure prevention" and similar services. Many of the businesses, which advertise through direct-mail solicitations and other marketing materials, are offering Maryland consumers help in negotiating resolutions of their delinquent mortgage loans with lenders and servicers in exchange for upfront fees.

John Dickerson Internet sales manager Antwerpen Volkswagen, Pasadena Salary --$50,000 Age --22 Years on the job --three How he got started --Dickerson began working at the dealership when he finished high school, washing and moving cars. He then switched to the parts department, working in sales, and eventually moved into car sales. He began his current job with the Internet division about 18 months ago. Typical day --Most of Dickerson's day is spent talking to customers and arranging appointments for them to take test drives.

1999 Haywood Merlot, Vintner's Select ($10). This lush, chunky California red wine might not please French-oriented purists, but it will have immense crowd appeal for regular folks. It's a soft-textured, exceptionally fruity wine with jammy flavors of blackberry, black cherry and plums. Complex it's not, but that upfront fruit just reaches out, grabs you and twirls you around. It's a fine choice to serve with hamburgers hot off the grill.

Burying power lines is not unlike going solar. There is a big upfront cost that is difficult to afford or justify. Firms like SolarCity point out that houses with solar arrays are more salable and sell for more. They have investors who contribute to the upfront cost of installation. The same would be true for communities that wanted to bury their lines. They would know that their community would have higher house values because of the lifesaving value of buried lines. Community associations could organize households to purchase power at higher rates for a specified time to pay for the burial.

For nearly a half-century, television network executives and advertising buyers have gathered each May in New York to negotiate the cost of commercial spots for the fall season. And for nearly a half-century, the ritual has remained a relatively predictable and temperate affair, as both groups depended on a single ratings source: the Nielsens. But when the weeklong "upfront" bargaining begins today, network chiefs will be ready for battle. Faced with radical changes in the way people watch television, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox hope to introduce new ways of measuring - and getting paid for - the growing number of viewers who download, stream or replay TV shows.

Three decades ago when then-Gov. Marvin Mandel heard from constituents about the high cost of automobile insurance, he bucked opposition from industry and pushed through legislation that set up a unique state agency to act as an insurer of last resort. Now a provision of that 1972 law has come under fire for contributing to today's high costs for 70,000 Maryland motorists who rely on the state for their auto insurance. The provision requires that residents insured through the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund pay the entire annual premium upfront - an average of $1,700.