Vouchers

Keith Church left the Navy in 1974 after a two-year stint, worked for years as a maintenance mechanic and never considered asking for veterans benefits. But in December, Church, 54, was jobless, coping with health problems and on the brink of homelessness - "couch surfing" with friends, he says - when he turned to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for help. Within a few months, he moved into an apartment, thanks to a VA program that started in Maryland this year to help homeless veterans.

Landlords in Howard and Montgomery counties cannot turn away low-income renters who pay for their housing with federal vouchers, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday. The unanimous ruling upholds fair-housing laws in those counties and, housing advocates say, provides momentum for a drive to pass a statewide law requiring landlords to accept rental vouchers. Such a law, advocates say, would make it easier for poor people to live in affluent communities with better jobs and better schools.

Arecent report from the Abell Foundation finds that housing for low-income families in Baltimore is being torn down by the city's housing authority a lot faster than any replacements are being put up. City housing officials challenge the report's conclusions and insist that reduced funding, particularly from the federal government, has limited their options. The federal government's disinvestment in public housing is clear - and should be reversed. But the city should do more - and do it faster - to create more livable spaces for the city's poor and working poor.

WASHINGTON -- An important crack has opened up in black America's once-impenetrable wall of resistance to school vouchers.The eyebrow-raising split has developed in Miami between two of America's oldest and most prominent civil rights groups.In a move that pokes gaping holes in the argument that publicly funded school vouchers are a racist plot, the Urban League of Greater Miami has retained a Washington law firm to intervene in court on behalf of a voucher plan passed by Florida lawmakers.

WASHINGTON -- Deepening the division among courts about the legality of using public funds to pay for tuition at parochial schools, the Vermont Supreme Court yesterday struck down that kind of subsidy.Because this latest ruling on school vouchers was based only on the state constitution, it is binding and cannot be challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.But, by adding to a lengthening list of decisions on the issue, with differing results, the Vermont court put pressure on the Supreme Court to take on the dispute under the U.S. Constitution.

Maryland Baseball Limited Partnership is initiating a fan appreciation program designed to reward attendance at games of the Bowie Baysox, Frederick Keys and Delmarva Shorebirds.Similar to frequent flier programs, fans will accumulate points with a free Heavy Hitter FanCard at each game they attend. They will swipe the card at kiosks and reward vouchers will print with an updated point total.The top award -- for 100 points -- is an all-expenses paid trip for two to Orioles' spring training next year.

It might seem like a concept that would be above criticism: A billionaire Wall Street financier wanted to hand out $100 million to help needy children pay tuition at private schools.But advocates of public education questioned Theodore J. Forstmann's program yesterday, saying the 40,000 scholarships of up to $1,500 each -- including 500 awards in Baltimore -- will encourage parents to flee public schools.That the philanthropy of the Children's Scholarship Fund could be interpreted as a sneak attack on the American educational system illustrates the intensity of the debate over the ability of parents to choose private schools over public ones.

WASHINGTON -- At the end of this month, 17-year-old Aaron Bagley will return to school and will worry from time to time about how his family in Raymond, Maine, will raise more than $5,000 for his tuition at a Catholic school in Portland.Because of the Bagleys' choice of Cheverus High School for Aaron, and in the future for his younger brother, Jody, and because they want the state to help pay the tuition, the Bagleys have become soldiers in a culture war.It is a growing battle that is moving from legislature to legislature and courthouse to courthouse.

BargainsTime, as the saying goes, is money.And if you are an airline passenger with extra time, you could get a free flight or big money off your next flight.This is perfect for laid-back folks who don't absolutely, positively have to get somewhere by a certain hour, and don't mind waiting for a later flight.This is the art of getting bumped. More than 1 million people got free or discounted air travel in 1997 just because they volunteered to get bumped, according Bestfares.com, a discount travel magazine that has outlined the strategy.

WE'RE A long way from a definitive ruling on whether using tax money to send kids to religious schools is constitutional, but the finding by a federal district court in Ohio that there's probable cause to suspect a church-state violation in Cleveland's program may hint at what's to come.Supporters of vouchers are reacting as if the very idea of judicial review were novel to the point of abomination. Clint Bolick, litigation director of the Institute of Justice, which argued for the Cleveland program, called the ruling by Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. "an outrageous abuse of judicial power."

Keith Church left the Navy in 1974 after a two-year stint, worked for years as a maintenance mechanic and never considered asking for veterans benefits. But in December, Church, 54, was jobless, coping with health problems and on the brink of homelessness - "couch surfing" with friends, he says - when he turned to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for help. Within a few months, he moved into an apartment, thanks to a VA program that started in Maryland this year to help homeless veterans.

Suspect shot by police in N.W. Baltimore 2 A Baltimore police officer shot a suspect in the upper body about 8 p.m. yesterday during a narcotics investigation in Northwest Baltimore, police said. The shooting occurred at Pimlico Road and Garrison Avenue after two people got into a car and drove into an officer at the scene, said Anthony Gugliemi, a police spokesman. The officer was treated at a hospital and released. A second officer fired at one of the suspects with a service revolver, Gugliemi said.

Bailout bill rewards bad debt choices The Sun's editorial "Housing help" (July 24) praised the passage of the housing aid bill in Congress, describing the bill as one "that offers help for every group battered by the mortgage foreclosure crisis." But as usual, The Sun's view of big-government bailouts is too broad, for the bill does not help "every group" affected by the current crisis. The editorial conveniently forgets the majority of Americans, who managed their finances responsibly and bought houses they could afford.

I know, because admirers of Sen. Barack Obama tell me, that this year's election poses a choice between a candidate who represents a fresh approach to problems and one who offers a dreary continuation of the status quo. That much I understand. What I sometimes have trouble keeping straight is which candidate is which. On the subject of elementary and secondary education, the two seem to have gotten their roles completely mixed up. Mr. Obama is the staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly, and he's allergic to anything that subverts it. Sen. John McCain, on the other hand, went before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People this month to argue for something new and daring.

With the switch to all-digital television exactly a year away, vouchers to defray the cost of converter boxes necessary to keep older sets working will begin hitting the mail this week - and officials are urging people to request them early, as they are going fast. The federal government is offering each family up to two $40 vouchers to purchase the boxes, which will translate digital broadcast signals so they can be viewed on analog TVs. But the number of requests for the vouchers has been higher than predicted, raising concerns that the $1.5 billion set aside by the government might not be enough to meet consumer demand.

We've fallen into a rut in the way we try to stimulate the economy. There's no certainty that those government checks will do much stimulating. Potential consumers might not spend, and businesses might not invest. There's no inevitability in the process. American capitalism has produced great wealth, but it has yet to tame the business cycle. A more certain source of spending and job creation is needed. If we cast aside anti-government shibboleths and focus, we can find ways to overcome what seem to be intractable laws of economics.

The recent, ringing defeat of a referendum on school vouchers in Utah - generally thought of as America's most conservative state - should be a wake-up call to critics of our public school system. The proposal failed for several reasons apart from the might of the teachers unions. Chief among these is that it was perceived as a solution in search of a problem: an effort by a group of doctrinaire conservatives to sell an intellectually tidy "free market" panacea without taking the trouble to first convince the electorate that schools, and particularly high schools, have serious flaws.

Baltimore officials moved 17 homeless people from their makeshift encampment beneath the Jones Falls Expressway to a Baltimore County hotel yesterday, vowing to help them find permanent places to live. The relocation comes a day after city officials ordered people to leave the shantytown, warning of frigid temperatures and saying their improvised shelters were fire hazards. Yesterday afternoon, officials destroyed the shelters - constructed with fraying tarps, old blankets, tents and plywood - hauling large pieces into sanitation trucks.

Landlords in Howard and Montgomery counties cannot turn away low-income renters who pay for their housing with federal vouchers, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday. The unanimous ruling upholds fair-housing laws in those counties and, housing advocates say, provides momentum for a drive to pass a statewide law requiring landlords to accept rental vouchers. Such a law, advocates say, would make it easier for poor people to live in affluent communities with better jobs and better schools.

A former employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers based in Baltimore has admitted in federal court to submitting false travel vouchers and overtime claims that cost the government up to $400,000, prosecutors said. Myron Price, 45, of Accokeek pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Thursday to making false claims between 1998 and 2004 for his work as a physical scientist. Price faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years of supervision upon his release.