Warning Signs

PERHAPS IT'S TIME for President Bush to heed his own advice. "A warning light is flashing on the dashboard of our economy," he said last week in promoting his $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan. But tax cuts won't turn off this warning light. With the nation's economy slowing dramatically in recent months, the dashboard alert is signaling a sharp drop-off in tax revenues. You can see it already in states from North and South Carolina to West Virginia, Vermont, Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon.

Thirty-six Maryland children died between 1998 and 1999 because of abuse or neglect, according to state estimates -- a sharp increase that has led advocates to question the state's ability to remove children from dangerous situations before they turn deadly. That death toll, from July 1998 to July 1999, was 50 percent higher than the 24 children who died from abuse or neglect during the same period in 1997-1998. Since 1994, the percentage of cases in which child welfare workers found abuse or neglect has been on the decline, while the number of investigations increased.

A 31-year-old construction worker doing renovations on a vacant Naval Academy classroom building suffered head injuries yesterday afternoon when part of a ceiling collapsed and buried him in rubble, academy officials said.Karen Myers, a Naval Academy spokeswoman, said the man, who works for Hudak Insulation in Baltimore, was standing on the third floor of Sampson Hall at Maryland Avenue and Decatur Road when an 8-foot-by-10-foot slab of concrete ceiling fell near him at 1: 20 p.m. Naval Academy fire officials arrived at the scene within minutes and extricated him from the rubble, and a state police helicopter took him to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Myers said.

Everybody loves dolphins, those playful models of animal wisdom, celebrated for protecting shipwrecked sailors and spending their days frolicking happily in the waves. Movies, television and water shows feature their antics.But scientists are discovering that dolphins are far from the happy, peaceful creatures that humans think they know.Growing evidence shows that the big animals, up to 12 feet long, are killing fellow mammals in droves, wielding their beaks as clubs and slashing away with rows of sharp teeth.

THE warning signs were there. Corey, 15, had become withdrawn and was experimenting with drugs. His father had abandoned the family seven years earlier. Corey's mother, a registered nurse, worked long hours at a local hospital, leaving him little adult guidance. Out of worry and fear, his mother sought help for Corey, who had stopped talking to her and was "always angry." Corey had a great smile but it hardly ever emerged from beneath his defiant scowl. He had long, dark hair, and his brown eyes were filled with spite and contempt.

Motorists speeding past Howard County schools face much steeper fines beginning this week. Speeders within a school zone -- where there is a sign warning of the new penalties as well as flashing warning lights -- will be fined twice as much as for an ordinary speeding ticket. Fines will range from $140 for speeding 10 to 19 miles over the 25-mph speed limit to $540 for driving 20 to 29 mph over the limit, police say. The normal schedule of fines applies when warning lights aren't flashing -- they flash 15 minutes before and after school opening and closing times -- or if warning signs aren't up. County officials decided to double the fines and put up the necessary signs after the General Assembly approved a law last year giving local governments authority to do so. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, went into effect Oct. 1. Under another bill he sponsored, which becomes law July 1, Howard County police can assess the higher fines whenever students are on school property, regardless of whether warning lights are flashing.

WHAT WARNING signs indicate that your broker or adviser is not telling the whole truth? Working Woman warns to watch for what it calls the "four biggest lies: ""We can take care of all your financial needs -- insurance, accounting, legal, etc. -- right here." The article says, "One-stop shopping seems convenient but it's not in your best interest. You need objective advice from several unbiased sources.""You must move all your money to me before we can start working together." Not true, says the article.

In a new scientific controversy that points out how little is known about Pfiesteria piscicida, a Virginia fish expert says Maryland officials may be placing too much faith in one of the key warning signs used to protect the public against toxic outbreaks of the microorganism.The bloody lesions that sometimes appear on menhaden during a Pfiesteria outbreak are not caused by Pfiesteria alone, but by another marine microorganism, said Wolfgang Vogelbein, a fish pathologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.

WHEN CITY and state school officials forged a "partnership" to run the city school system two years ago, Baltimore begged for extra millions in state aid.Our wasteful days are over, the supplicants promised. We'll use the money wisely. You better had, answered the General Assembly skeptics. Our patience wears thin.Now comes the first independent report on how well the money was spent in the first year of the partnership, and it makes for discouraging reading. Baltimore hasn't been the prodigal son, exactly, but it could have done better.