Verification

JERUSALEM -- The death of an Israeli army major in south Lebanon in December has revived questions about whether Israeli soldiers are taught to shoot to kill wounded enemies.Israeli newspapers reported that the major, a Druze Arab serving in the Israeli army, may have been killed at close range by his own men, mistaking him for a wounded attacker.The report prompted a discussion yesterday in a closed session of the Israeli Cabinet about the tactic of shooting a wounded soldier at close range.

Before cell phones and Facebook, there was amateur - or ham - radio. These radio operators would connect with other people around the world and share what daily life was like on their side of the country - or sometimes globe - all from the comfort of their own homes. One or several radios would take up space on kitchen tables or office desks where plates and papers would normally be and act as the base of these experimental radio stations, called "shacks," just waiting for another person's voice to come in through the airwaves.

GEORGETOWN, Del. -- A government experiment will expand to include the poultry industry on the Delmarva Peninsula, part of the federal government's continuing battle against illegal alien workers.The pilot program is designed to verify noncitizen workers' credentials by quickly using an Immigration and Naturalization Service database. It will begin in the Delmarva poultry industry sometime this summer, said Kathleen "Cassie" Boothe, a program specialist with INS in Washington.Boothe and three other INS officials journeyed to Delaware to recruit volunteers for the INS experiment.

Eight state prison employees have been disciplined -- including one who was fired -- in connection with the erroneous release last week of a violent inmate serving a life sentence for attempted murder. The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said the employees "failed to follow well-established policy and procedures relating to the release and/or transportation of state prisoners." Officials declined to outline specific punishments but said one employee was fired, another will retire in lieu of discipline, and others were reprimanded or suspended without pay. Their positions ranged from correctional officers to ranking officers and other staff, including one employee with 30 years on the job. A manhunt was touched off Feb. 25 after 26-year-old Raymond T. Taylor, a man convicted of shooting his ex-girlfriend and her daughters execution-style in 2005, was released from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center in downtown Baltimore.

WASHINGTON -- It sounds simple enough: Every time a business makes a hire, the employer first dials a toll-free telephone number to verify the immigration status of the new worker.Just like the process that occurs at the cash register when a customer hands over a credit card, a central computer would instantly relay back a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.Computer verification of immigration status is being described by proponents as a virtually foolproof method of determining who can and cannot legally work in the United States, one offering far more reliability than the easily forged work-authorization documents now reviewed by employers.

Eating at the ballpark isn't getting any cheaper, but it is getting easier.Oriole Park at Camden Yards, a pioneer in accepting credit cards for concessions, is expanding the system that eventually will have 70 percent of the concession stands equipped for charge cards.MasterCard and VISA have been accepted at the stadium's novelty stands since Opening Day. In recent weeks, customers at the Pastimes cafeteria and club-level seating areas have been able to use them.Selected registers on the upper and lower deck are being outfitted to accept credit cards.

In addition to a tough job market and depressed conditions throughout the photo industry, Polaroid Corp.'s thousands of former employees face an unusual challenge as they seek new jobs. Prospective employers must pay a fee and negotiate a complicated voice-prompt phone menu just to verify the employment history of former Polaroid staffers. For two years the company - which filed for bankruptcy protection in October - has outsourced the service to a Massachusetts firm, Employ- ment Verification Service.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The University of California will begin checking college applications for lies and embellishments next year, as it acknowledges public concern that high school seniors may be tempted to distort their records to gain a competitive edge. The university will randomly select applications for fall 2003 admission and verify personal statements as well as the honors achievements and community service. The change comes on the heels of the University of California's year-old "comprehensive review" admissions policy.

The Sun is compiling statistics for boys and girls basketball to be published on Mondays. Call 1-800-829- 8000, ext. 6786 anytime Friday through 11 p.m. Saturdays. Please, start each call with "boys or girls basketball," school name, your name and phone number for verification or questions.

NEXT QUESTION Are the Philadelphia Eagles better off without Terrell Owens? Selected responses to today's question will be printed Monday on The Kickoff page. Please e-mail your answer (about 25 words) to sports@baltsun.com by 3 p.m. tomorrow. Include your name, address and a daytime telephone number for verification purposes.

Imposing harsh "enforcement-only" measures like the flawed "E-Verify" system on immigrant workers without fixing our broken immigration system will only make matters worse by pushing undocumented workers deeper into the shadows -- something that benefits only the most unscrupulous off-the-books employers. ("E-Verify urged for Baltimore County," Feb. 2.) The E-Verify verification system that Baltimore County Council Chairman John A. Olszewski Sr. wants to impose on Baltimore's workers and businesses is not the solution to our broken immigration system.

So Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts admits that he took steroids just once. Of course, we heard New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte say something similar right after the Mitchell Report came out. Basically, both said that they tried something bad in a narrow time frame, and extremely sparingly. That they were not habitual users, they haven't done it in a long time and they're sorry. It's just possible that some of these guys mentioned in the report are getting very good legal advice.

Successful negotiations so often seem on the verge of collapse just before a deal is reached that prospects for immigration reform may actually be brightened by the current Senate stalemate. Republican negotiators are chafing at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's deadline of today for producing compromise legislation. Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has threatened to offer instead the measure passed last year by the Republican-led Senate, which some Republicans now regard as too liberal.

Led by California and New England, 31 states representing more than 70 percent of the U.S. population announced yesterday that they will jointly track and measure greenhouse gas emissions by major industries. The newly formed Climate Registry is the latest example of states going further than the federal government in taking steps to combat global warming. State officials and some affected industries and environmentalists say the registry is a crucial precursor to both mandatory and market-based regulation of industrial gases that contribute to warming.

NEXT QUESTION What teams look to be the Super Bowl favorites at this point? Selected responses to today's question will be printed tomorrow on The Kickoff page. Please e-mail your answer (about 25 words) to sports@baltsun.com by 3 p.m. today. Include your name, address and daytime telephone number for verification purposes.