Washington Baltimore

The Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition has secured office space on the sixth floor of the International Square Building in Washington.The 2,300-square-foot building at 1875 I St. N.W. has been donated by Carr Realty for the Olympic coalition's use over the next two years. Offices are to be completed by Jan. 1."We're, of course, very appreciative of the donation, but also excited now to have a home base within which to grow our operation and really take on the next phase of this work," said Dan Knise, president and CEO of the coalition.

One of the premier goals on the minds of speakers and people attending a town hall-style forum on regional cooperation last night was the Washington-Baltimore effort to bring the 2012 Summer Olympics here.More than 100 people came to the gathering, sponsored by The Sun, called "Baltimore-Washington Regional Cooperation: Opportunities and Obstacles.""We have a wonderful opportunity with respect to the Olympics," said Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. "This bid helps focus us as a region in a way that nothing else has done in the past decade."

St. Paul Cos., the Minnesota property and casualty insurer that acquired USF&G, announced yesterday that it might cut 500 to 600 more jobs by the end of next year, a move that could include some job losses in Baltimore.The reductions were billed as a way to offset the company's falling profits in its commercial insurance business, and would be in addition to 2,000 job cuts already announced when St. Paul Cos. bought USF&G for $3.5 billion in April.Before it was acquired, USF&G employed about 2,500 people at its Mount Washington complex.

PHOENIX -- As about 900 people in the sporting world descended on this Southwestern city for the annual United States Olympic Congress, Washington-Baltimore organizers had their first chance to show off since they united to bid on the 2012 Summer Games.With 3,000 watts of light, a high-technology animated video and free T-shirts, Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition promoters hoped to accomplish exactly what everyone else in attendance was trying to do -- send a message that wouldn't quickly be forgotten.

The Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition filed legal papers with the United States Olympic Committee, further cementing a commitment to the Summer Games 14 years from now.That approximately 20-page document, called a bid committee agreement, was due yesterday at the USOC office in Colorado Springs."

Olympic silver medalist Jair Lynch and Morgan State University President Earl Richardson are among 10 community and business leaders named to the Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition by those cities' mayors.Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke named five people to that board, which is working to bring the 2012 Olympics to the region:Richardson, John A. Moag Jr., chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority; Ioanna Morfessis, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Alliance; Ron Shapiro, a Baltimore attorney, and William L. Jews, president and chief executive officer of CareFirst, which was formed by the combination of the Maryland and District of Columbia Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.

John Morton III has turned around failing thrifts, controlled billions of dollars in assets and weighed in on some of the banking industry's biggest mergers.Now he's directing his trademark aggressiveness and energy toward a new challenge: helping to bring the Summer Olympic Games to the region in 2012."I have a passion for seeing us win this," he said. "Once it's established in my mind, everything becomes focused on getting there. The benchmark to every decision has to be: Will this further our effort toward winning the bid?"

THE SOUND of music can be a powerful instrument. Joshua's mighty trumpet reverberated so fiercely it brought down the walls of ancient Jericho. Dramatist William Congreve declared, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."Now for the big test: Can music transcend the barriers that separate Baltimore from Montgomery County and bring these two crucial regions of Maryland closer together?Thanks to a commitment this week from Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a sparkling 2,000-seat concert hall will be built on the grounds of Strathmore Hall along Rockville Pike, giving Montgomery countians a long-overdue focal point for top-caliber cultural activities and giving the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra a much-needed second home.

BETHESDA -- Washington won four matches and split another in turning back Baltimore, 12-6, in the annual women's team match between members of the Women's District Golf Association and the Women's Golf Association at Congressional Country Club. It was Washington's first win since 1991 in a series that dates back more than 50 years.City and State champion Andrea Kraus and Joanne Salerno produced Baltimore's only winning margin when they combined to get 2 1/2 points from Shawn McCullough-Ruth Ann Verrell, and Hobbit's Glen club mates Cheri Cooper and Young Ja Kim split 1 1/2 -1 1/2 when Cindy Carlin-Carmen Oelsner won the 18th hole to halve the back nine and the match.

A much-overdue full-length history has finally been written of the Washington Baltimore & Annapolis Electric Railroad, which once conveyed travelers and commuters from the ferry wharf in Annapolis to Camden Station or its downtown terminal in Washington at speeds approaching 70 mph. It's a story not only of the past, but of this area's present and future, for before there was light rail in Baltimore, there was the W.B.& A.As related by John Merriken, a...