Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) articles from April 2005

Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) archives from April 2005

Commentary: Viewpoint - Insurance is essential when running a business.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Terry O. Mayer Perhaps the most baffling task when designing your business insurance program is how to select liability limits. While establishing liability limits on property values and business income is typically...

Commentary: On Second Thought - Management without the mess.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Mark Cheshire During a recent wedding reception, having a lot of time to talk because there was no booze, someone at the table said he'd recently heard that Las Vegas oddsmakers named the Baltimore Orioles' Lee Mazzilli the manager...

Ivy League medical school seeks help in Md. for alternative medicine.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Robyn Lamb After presenting the benefits of acupuncture, botanical healing and other alternative medical procedures to a group of traditional physicians, Robert Duggan said he received a response that perfectly represents the...

Even at 10 years old, Howard County's Business Resource Center keeps helping young companies.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Joe Bacchus After 10 years, Howard County's Business Resource Center is still going strong in its quest to assist fledgling companies. Since it opened March 22, 1995, the center has helped about 8,000 businessmen and...

Baltimore's religious booksellers thrive in shadows of chain stores.
April 1, 2005... Byline: James Mosher Call it a small miracle, but religious bookstores are surviving and even thriving in a retail environment dominated by big chain stores. What's the cause? Smart business decisions? The will of God? Maybe, but...

MD considering program to implement plastic, debit-like payroll cards.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe More Maryland workers could be getting their paychecks through plastic, debit-like cards under a bill heading toward passage in the state legislature. With more than 10 million households nationwide...

Commentary: On the Road - Philanthropic powerhouse focuses on health and human services.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Beverly Richards United Way of Central Maryland has been a dominant philanthropic force in Maryland for 80 years, helping those in need to meet survival challenges with as much success as possible. Over the years, United Way...

Commentary: Economic Analysis - Maryland Leading Index drops 0.6 percent to start 2005.
April 1, 2005... Byline: John Hopkins The RESI Maryland Leading Index decreased 0.6 percent in January, the largest monthly decline since July 2003. However, the index remains 1.5 percent above last January. Five of the seven components of the index...

Commentary: Educated Investor - Dollars up in smoke: Make better use of your hard-earned money.
April 1, 2005... Byline: David Clogg The other day I stopped at a local convenience store to pick up a carton of cigarettes for a friend of mine. Since I do not smoke, I had no idea what a carton or 10 packs of cigarettes cost nowadays. So for you...

Lawyer-turned-baker to bring popular CakeLove to Maryland.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Kara Kridler A high-end bakery in Washington, known for its homemade cakes, is moving into Maryland with the opening of two additional locations during the next several months. Warren E. Brown, the owner of CakeLove bakery and...

Commentary: UB Viewpoint - Why can't Maryland protect its young?
April 1, 2005... Byline: William H. Cole IV The tragic death of young Roy Lechner Jr. recently is yet another vivid reminder that Maryland has many notable failures in its ability to adequately protect our vulnerable young people. In 1999, I sat as a...

Commentary: Raising the Bar - 'Legal Fools' Day.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Paul Sandler Sometimes raising the bar requires a look in the mirror. Here is what I see today on this April Fools' Day, a sampling of some bizarre legal machinations. See if you can tell which ones really happened. 1.A...

Baltimore office of Saul Ewing to move to Inner Harbor.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Jen DeGregorio The Baltimore office of the Saul Ewing law firm will pack up its boxes and move by late fall from its current South Charles Street home to one of the Inner Harbor's newest office buildings. The firm was able to...

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine regains No. 2 ranking in U.S. News & World Report's list.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Johns Hopkins Medicine officials released a letter from Edward D. Miller, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, formally thanking the school's faculty and staff for helping the school...

MD-based Osiris Therapeutics begins clinical trial of Provacel.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Osiris Therapeutics Inc., of Baltimore, a biotechnology company that uses adult stem cell therapy to treat damaged tissue, said it has begun a multi-center, randomized, clinical trial of Provacel, a new...

MD-based RegeneRX Biopharmaceuticals reports net loss of $3.3M.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports RegeneRX Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Bethesda, which is developing products for repair and healing of chronic wounds and injured tissues, reported a net loss for 2004 of $3.3 million, or 10 cents per diluted...

Recruitment to begin for Baltimore patients to take part in U of MD School of Medicine study.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Recruitment is set to begin today for 1,600 patients in Baltimore to take part in a five-year, $6 million study by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Bon Secours Baltimore Health System of...

Protest held outside of Charles Schwab's Towson office.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports About 50 people protested outside the Towson office of Charles Schwab & Co. yesterday as part of the AFL-CIO's national campaign against changes in Social Security. The labor organization is targeting Schwab...

Child support collection becomes issue in Maryland.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Ann Parks Derek Harvey is trying to be a good dad. On wages of less than $11 per hour, this landscaper for the City of Baltimore has raised, and is in the process of raising, his four children, who now range in age from 16 to...

Commentary: The Big Picture - Trying to think humanely about Terri Schiavo - and the rest of us.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Jack Gohn Now that Terri Schiavo is fully dead and gone, the loud national dialogue about her will inevitably die down as well. A softening would come as a relief. The loudest voices all seemed to describe Terri and her husband and...

Baltimore Co. executive weighs purchase of former aircraft assembly plant.
April 1, 2005... Byline: James Mosher Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. is scheduled to tour a former aircraft assembly plant in Middle River today with an eye toward bidding for the building when it comes up for sale this summer. Smith...

Columbia-based Corporate Office Properties Trust enters Texas market.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Jeffrey Raymond Corporate Office Properties Trust has set itself up for expansion in the Southwest, grabbing a two-building, 470,000-square-foot campus in San Antonio, Texas, for $30.5 million. The Columbia-based company may...

MD lawmakers considering two unemployment insurance bills.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Dori Berman Two pending legislative proposals stand to have positive results for Maryland's workers, but neither will go as far as advocates would have liked. The Senate is poised today to pass the House version of...

Baltimore restaurants and pubs ready for baseball season.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Joe Bacchus The bleachers in Oriole Park at Camden Yards sit empty. Workers straighten banners and hose down walkways. The public address system echoes with the test sounds of the J. Geils Band, and blocks away people waiting for a...

Rubble fill operator files suit against Harford County.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Peter Geier A company that has spent more than a decade fighting with Harford County over a landfill it wants to operate alongside the historic black community at Gravel Hill has gone back to court to try to settle the issue. ...

MD Legal Briefs: April 1, 2005.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Staff Reports Piper wins WTC work DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary won a competitive bid to advise the New York Port Authority, which is overseeing the estimated $7 billion redevelopment of the city's World Trade Center site, on all...

Montgomery County ranked 16th-most-expensive place operate a biotechnology company.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Dailly Record Staff Reports Montgomery County, which is home to more than 150 of the state's 300-plus life sciences companies, was ranked the 16th-most expensive place to operate a biotechnology institute, according to a new study....

Commentary: Pet projects-Maryland makers of animal medicines benefit from spending deluge.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Rebecca Boreczky More than two-thirds of American households include four-legged friends 37 percent of U.S. homes own dogs, and 34 percent own cats, according to the consumer marketing firm NPP Group Inc. For the pet owners,...

Commentary: Outlook for venture capital.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Donald C. Fry Much has been written about the Greater Baltimore region's ability to attract venture capital to fund its emerging life science and biotech companies. A study by the Battelle Memorial Institute cited lack of venture...

Commentary: Down on the biopharm-Altering plants to produce drugs hits glitch.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Debra Siedt Biopharming, the process of using plants to make medicines, is a growing field in the drug manufacturing market. By some estimates it has become a $40 billion market annually. But taking plants and genetically...

Commentary: Forensic studies based on information technology offer big opportunities.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Mary E. Medland Can't take the televised gore on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" but love the plots? Take heart, there's probably a primetime series about to air with all the drama, but none of the blood so common to CBS'...

Commentary: Small MD firms take on telecom giants in Net-based phone service.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Alan Dessoff The price wars have started, and competition is already hot in the rapidly emerging Internet-based phone business. Comcast Corp. is the latest to join Verizon Communications, AT&T Corp., Time Warner Cable and...

Commentary: Backseat to biotech-I-270 corridor is also home to significant software developers.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Barnaby Wickham To some, dubbing the I-270 technology corridor in Montgomery and Frederick counties as "DNA Alley" is limiting, or at least shortsighted. Certainly, since the federal government built Interstate 270 in the...

Greater Baltimore Tech Council interviews Rich Rubinstein, CEO of America's Remote Help Desk.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Dailly Record Staff Reports The Greater Baltimore Technology Council recently interviewed Rich Rubinstein, president and CEO of America's Remote Help Desk, an information technology consulting firm focused on small to mid-sized...

Baltimore-based reproductive immunology center helps couples have children.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Carolyn Taschner Dr. Darryl Carter hung up the phone on St. Patrick's Day with good news. Carter's patient reported her baby had a healthy, strong heartbeat, 10 weeks into pregnancy. The next few weeks would be critical,...

Commentary: Protect yourself when an employee leaves.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Randolph Stuart Sergent It's one of the things that will keep you up at night: Your key employee strikes out on his own or, even worse, joins your competitor. You trained this person; he know your files, your customers and...

Commentary: Before you move ahead, back up.
April 1, 2005... Byline: Michael I. Berman Imagine it: Your business your people, their contacts, your client data and all your work product building inside a network. It's all in there, on the hard drives, nested in folders and subfolders and databases...

Commentary: It's a Gimme - Think 'spring training' this time of year.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Joe Rahnis Early April can be a great time of year for golfers. The Masters is just around the corner, and many people are thinking golf again, including the weatherman. PGA pros have been tuning up their games all winter and...

Commentary: On Books - 'Crack-Up' fueled Fitzgerald's last great achievement.
April 2, 2005... Byline: James Mosher "The Crack-Up." By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Edited by Edmund Wilson. New Directions. 1945. 347 pages. "The Crack-Up" was published about 60 years ago, yet age has little dimmed its power. The collection remains a...

Tickets on sale for HFStival 2005 at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Tickets go on sale at noon today at area Ticketmaster outlets for the HFStival 2005, sponsored by FM radio station WHFS 105.7. The multi-band rock music concert will be held at M&T Bank Stadium on May 14,...

Volunteers to gather in April to build playground at site of Baltimore's former Memorial Stadium.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Over nine days in April April 7-10 and 13-17 thousands of volunteers will gather at the site of the former Memorial Stadium to build the Stadium Neighborhoods Community-Built Playground. The...

Meteorologists to launch weather call-in show on AM radio station WCBM 680.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Meteorologists Justin Berk and Tony Pann will launch a weekly talk and listener call-in show focused on the weather on AM radio station WCBM 680, beginning April 10 from 3 p.m. to 4 pm and every Sunday...

Let's Dish company plans second location in Maryland.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Let's Dish!, a company that supplies the ingredients and helps customers prepare homemade meals that can be frozen until ready to be cooked, said it plans to expand in June to The Amyclae Center, at the...

Md. Chimes program receives award for excellence in productivity and work quality.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Chimes programs in Maryland, including The Chimes Inc. d/b/a Chimes Maryland, Intervals and Chimes District of Columbia, received the Maryland Quality Award Gold Medal for 2005 for demonstrating excellence in...

Commentary: Great Escapes - Beyond the sand.
April 2, 2005... Byline: Liz Skinner Maryland's beaches may never rival those of California or Florida, but the Free State's shoreline offers many more pursuits than just sunbathing such as wild ponies and Civil War history. In fact, the beaches of...

Baltimore County's chambers of commerce unite in effort to connect better with politicians.
April 4, 2005... Byline: James Mosher They're not merging organizations, but Baltimore County's chambers of commerce are uniting voices in an effort to connect better with local and state lawmakers. The area's biggest group, the Baltimore County...

Md. Court of Appeals rules judge's glib remark to defendant was wrong.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Caryn Tamber A St. Mary's County judge was wrong to tell a defendant that he was imposing a $1,000 fine in order to pay the jury, the Court of Appeals has held. The defendant, Joseph W. Medley, pleaded guilty to possession of...

Md. Legal Briefs: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff Reports UM Law moves up The University of Maryland School of Law achieved its highest spot ever in the most recently released rankings of graduate schools by U.S. News and World Report. The law school tied for 41st place...

National survey finds fundraising strong in 2004.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Kara Kridler Nearly 65 percent of the nation's professional fundraisers raised more money last year than they did in 2003, according to a survey scheduled to be released today in Baltimore. Preliminary results of the study that...

Industry survey finds construction employment rising.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Jen DeGregorio Thanks to a boom in residential housing, the $1 trillion construction industry is among the biggest drivers of the national economy, according to an industry group. Construction employment rose by 3.6 percent...

Commentary: The Lawyer's Bookshelf - 'Discovery problems and their solutions': A review.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Andrew D. Levy When I was a young litigation associate at a large law firm, one of my primary responsibilities was the research and briefing of the seemingly endless discovery disputes that arise in what is quaintly called "trial...

Md. hospitals now evaluated by federal government; consumers can access data on Web site.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Robyn Lamb Maryland's major hospitals are listed on a just-launched government Web site designed to let consumers compare the performance of the nation's hospitals. All 46 acute care hospitals in Maryland are included in a...

Taking Stock - Md. stocks follow the technology slide down.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe Maryland stocks sank with broader indexes last week after coming back from the Good Friday holiday. Shares on the Bloomberg Maryland Index declined 0.2 percent during the week. The Nasdaq Composite shed...

Md. appellate court rules pro se murder convict was entitled to information in his police file.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Ann Parks A pro se prison inmate wishing to inspect the Harford County Police Department's file regarding his prosecution for homicide was entitled to receive that information under the Maryland Public Information Act, the Court of...

Baltimore County officials propose property tax relief program for victims of Hurricane Isabel.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Baltimore County officials announced a property tax relief program to offset increased assessments that may result when victims of Hurricane Isabel rebuild homes that were completely destroyed during the...

Linthicum-based Ciena and Columbia-based Broadwing settle their patent infringement suit.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Ciena Corp., of Linthicum, a manufacturer of fiber optic telecommunications equipment, and Broadwing Corp., of Columbia, a provider of voice, data and media technology and products, announced they have...

Rockville-based EntreMed sells 7 million shares of stock to New Jersey-based Celgene Corp.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports EntreMed Inc., of Rockville, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, announced that New Jersey-based Celgene Corp. exercised warrants to purchase 7...

Gaithersburg-based Ace*Comm completes $2.5M private-placement financing.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Ace*Comm Corp., of Gaithersburg, a telecommunications and Internet service company, said it has completed a private-placement financing valued at $2.5 million, and expects to use the proceeds to support its...

3e Technologies International to makes its AirGuard system available commercially.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports 3e Technologies International Inc., of Rockville, a technology company focused on computer networking, wireless communications and smart-sensor systems, is making its AirGuard wireless video surveillance...

Md. Court of Appeals rules new position meant loss of police officer's LEOBR rights.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Ann Parks A certified Maryland state police officer was not entitled to the protections of the Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights when he switched agencies and entered a two-year probationary period with his new employer, the...

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger may defer to Rep. Benjamin Cardin as MD Senate race aligns.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Dori Berman Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger has yet to make a final decision regarding a 2006 Senate campaign, but he seems willing to step aside if Rep. Benjamin Cardin decides to run. "If we both stay in the race, we might...

Md. Legal Briefs: April 5, 2005.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Porn case ripples A Pittsburgh-area man was arrested on child pornography charges stemming from a case involving a former Boy Scouts of America official. Richard Reichert, 64, of Penn Hills, was arrested...

Racing operations exec says chance of Breeder's Cup coming to Md. is slim without slots revenue.
April 5, 2005... Byline: James Mosher A top executive with the company that owns Maryland's two largest horse tracks said his company remains committed to the tracks, though the chances of landing a premier event are not good without an infusion of slot...

Upsurge in number of stores helps Jos. A. Bank Clothier's post 50% increase in net income.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Kara Kridler A strong increase in the number of stores helped menswear retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. post a 50 percent increase in net income last year, the company said. The company's stock rallied on the news...

Md. governor's administration has not yet introduced bill to change loophole closing law.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe Despite talk of reform, the Ehrlich administration has not introduced a bill to broadly change the Delaware holding company law passed last year. The inaction comes after wide speculation by business...

Baltimore City's lower property tax rate will not stop taxes from rising.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Jen DeGregorio Baltimore City's proposed 2-cent property tax rate cut won't stop taxes from rising. The city estimates the average homeowner will still pay $64 more on property taxes next year. The reason for the increase?...

Vocus to donate $4M in public relations software to universities; Univ. System of Md. will be first.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Joe Bacchus Vocus Inc. will donate $4 million in public relations software to universities over the next year, and the University System of Maryland is its first stop. The grant is the first in what will become an annual event...

Md. Court of Special Appeals adopts continuous trigger in lead paint case.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Barbara Grzincic The Court of Special Appeals yesterday officially abandoned "manifestation of injury" as the sole standard for insurance coverage in lead paint cases, finding the "continuous trigger" applied to the plaintiffs'...

Md. Court of Appeals remands lead-exposure case.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Ann Parks A lead-exposure lawsuit that wound its way up to the state's highest court should have stayed a while longer on the ground floor, the Court of Appeals held yesterday. The top court said the intermediate court, the...

Md. Court of Appeals reverses order to dissolve holding company.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Barbara Grzincic A disagreement between two brothers over which lawyer should represent their holding company was not sufficient reason to order the corporation dissolved, the state's highest court held yesterday. The decision...

Hunt Valley-based AAI Corp. acquires ESL Defence Limited in the United Kingdom.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports AAI Corp., of Hunt Valley, a manufacturer of high-tech mechanical and electronic systems, completed the acquisition of ESL Defence Limited, an electronic warfare company based in the United Kingdom, according...

French company renews its master purchase agreement with Rockville-based Spirent Communications.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Spirent Communications Inc., of Rockville, an international network technology company, announced that Alcatel, of Paris, France, a worldwide supplier of equipment for telecommunications networks, has renewed...

Belcamp-based SafeNet Inc. acquires Netherlands-based DMDsecure B.V.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports SafeNet Inc., of Belcamp, which manufactures software to protect communications on the Internet, said it completed the previously announced acquisition of Netherlands-based DMDsecure B.V., a manufacturer of...

Gaithersburg-based AmeriDream receives $13M construction loan from Provident Bank of Baltimore.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports AmeriDream Inc., of Gaithersburg, a nonprofit that works to expand homeownership opportunities for underserved groups, said Provident Bank of Baltimore has agreed to provide a $13 million construction loan...

BioElectronics makes distribution agreement for its dermal patch system with OKC pharmaceutical co.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports BioElectronics Corp., of Frederick, which makes portable and disposable electromedical devices that are designed to use the body's own bioelectrical energy to accelerate healing, said it has an agreement with...

Annapolis-based High Street Partners unveils HSP Access India.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports High Street Partners Inc., of Annapolis, an international consulting firm providing finance and accounting assistance to companies as they expand overseas, unveiled HSP Access India, a new service that offers...

Prince George's Chamber of Commerce sponsors economic development showcase event.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The Prince George's Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the 2005 State of the Economy and the Fourth Annual Economic Development Showcase, featuring a speech by County Executive Jack B. Johnson, today from 5:30...

Rockville Economic Development Inc. launches Spanish Web site for Hispanic business owners.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Rockville Economic Development Inc. launched a modified Spanish version of its Web site, www.RockvilleREDI.org, designed for Spanish-speaking business owners who are seeking information on starting, moving,...

Imre Communications selected by real estate network and housing council as agency of record.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Imre Communications, of Baltimore, a brand communications agency focused primarily on the hardware/home improvement, insurance, association and real estate industries, said it was selected by the Commercial...

Chesapeake City officials oppose proposal to build grain port on C&D Canal.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Officials in Chesapeake City are balking at a proposal to build a grain port on the nearby C&D Canal. Maryland's agriculture department has identified the Dann Marine Towing company west of town as one of...

Phillips Health LLC of Potomac announces company name change to Healthy Directions.
April 5, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Phillips Health LLC, of Potomac, a newsletter publisher and provider of physician-branded nutritional supplements, announced a company name change to Healthy Directions LLC, effective immediately. The action...

State has just five days to suspend workers without pay MD Court of Special Appeals holds.
April 6, 2005... Byline: Bryan Hughes The state needs to act quickly very quickly if it wants to suspend an employee without pay for misconduct. While state employers get 30 days to investigate claims of misconduct and impose other forms of...

MD Legal Briefs: April 6, 2005.
April 6, 2005... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Policeman charged Eric Spilman, a Baltimore City police officer, has been charged in Baltimore County Circuit Court with two counts of felony insurance fraud and attempted theft of $4,000 in insurance...

Baltimore County won't bid on massive U.S. General Services Administration Depot.
April 6, 2005... Byline: James Mosher Baltimore County will not bid on a former aircraft assembly plant when it comes up for sale this summer. County Executive James T. Smith Jr. reached the decision after touring the 1.9-million-square-foot building...