Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) articles from December 2004

Daily Record (Baltimore, MD) archives from December 2004

MD makes trade agreement with Africa.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency in South Africa signed a five-year agreement pledging an effort to increase trade and...

Baltimore nonprofit launching music biz internship program.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Kara Kridler A Baltimore nonprofit group hopes a new program will help the city's high school students develop business skills while learning about the entertainment industry. Team Urban Inc., an educational organization...

After decades of delays, work to begin on Prince George's County's $2B National Harbor.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Tim Lemke Developers and Prince George's County officials tomorrow will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for National Harbor, a long-awaited, $2 billion development believed to be the largest real estate project ever proposed in...

MD Legal Briefs: December 1, 2004.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Embezzler sentenced Rachel Reed Chittams, 38, the former president and chief executive officer of Capital Concepts Inc., a Bowie-based investment business, was sentenced yesterday in Prince George's...

Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. earmarks $1.2M for SEC settlement.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Ezra Fieser Legg Mason Inc. appears to be near settling one of two investigations the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a year ago in connection with its handling of mutual funds. In a quarterly earnings report, the...

Court of Special Appeals says child limit on home-based day care centers includes owner's kids.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Alisa Bralove The eight-child limit on home-based day care centers in Baltimore County includes the provider's own children if they are under 18, the Court of Special Appeals has said. The decision means that Ellen Papanikos,...

Court of Appeals to consider whether murder suspect entitled to publicly-funded DNA expert.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Ann Parks The Court of Appeals will consider tomorrow whether a murder suspect who could not afford a $225-per-hour DNA expert should be entitled to one at public expense where he was represented at trial by a private attorney and...

Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences testing new cancer drug.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, a pharmaceutical company that develops new drugs through genetic research, said it completed the enrollment and initial dosing of patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial...

City of Rockville hires new city manager.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Scott Ullery, formerly deputy county administrator of Santa Barbara County, Calif., has become the City of Rockville's new city manager. Ullery, who has 25 years of government managerial experience, succeeded...

MD-based Comcast expands HDTV On Demand Service.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Cable giant Comcast announced the launch of its HDTV On Demand service for the entire Washington Metro/Virginia region. Comcast HDTV customers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland and...

Gaithersburg-based GenVec obtains license from National Institutes of Health.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for cancer, heart disease and vision loss and vaccines for infectious diseases, said it has obtained an exclusive license from...

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin awarded contract from National Security Agency.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, said it has been awarded a contract by the National Security Agency to provide highly integrated physical security systems for NSA's locations in the Washington...

Northrop Grumman's Linthicum facility earns high grade from MD OSHA.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems facility in Linthicum, where 5,000 workers are employed, has earned a high grade from Maryland Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Department of...

Vaccine plant to open in Frederick.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and representatives of Emergent BioSolutions jointly announced plans to open Emergent BioLogics Inc., a new vaccine manufacturing facility in Frederick. The plant, which will...

Columbia-based Micros Inc. supplies mgmt. system to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Micros Systems Inc., of Columbia, a provider of information technology equipment and services for the hospitality industry, supplied its Micros OPERA property management system to the Fantasy Springs Resort...

U of MD biz school signs agreement with ChinaCast Communications.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, and ChinaCast Communication Holdings Limited, of Beijing, a privately owned, satellite-based educational services group,...

TSE TelSys, of Columbia, cuts loss.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports TSI TelSys, of Columbia, which designs, manufactures and markets high-performance data receivers, data acquisition, simulation and communication systems for the test range and aerospace industries, reported a...

Commentary: Thirty-three flavors of money.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Chuck Morton It takes money to make money. This phrase has been uttered a million times over. Its staying power at the top of the business cliche charts is driven by the fact that it concisely summarizes what otherwise could be...

MD firms cashing in on popularity of Web-based diaries.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Liz Skinner While President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry battled it out during campaign debates this fall, bloggers such as the Templar Pundit and Hawspipe shot out messages about who sounded too condescending and who...

Commentary: Success at the helm and in the home.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Sarah Abruzzese Jenny G. Morgan is one of those women who would likely elicit awe from many parents. At age 45, she has risen through her information technology company's ranks to serve at the helm, has more than tripled its...

Commentary: Building a Greater Baltimore bioscience community.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Penny Lewandowski Having just lived through another TechNite celebration, I continue to be awed by the remarkable staying power of Greater Baltimore's tech community. Despite the economic roller coaster of the past half-decade and...

Commentary: The buyer's brain.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Alan Dessoff In the emerging field of neuroeconomics, there is no such thing as a "no brainer." In fact, neuroeconomics is all about the brain and how it works when people make decisions. What researchers learn in this...

Innovation, investment help radio maintain its relevancy for modern listeners.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Barnaby Wickham The demise of broadcast radio has been predicted for decades. Television would mortally cripple it. The Internet would render its over-the-airwaves delivery obsolete. But traditional radio has fended off all...

MD-based Military to Home Video Network offers Web portal for deployed military personnel.
December 1, 2004... Byline: Carolyn Taschner Some soldiers deployed in Iraq will be home for the holidays, if only in a video message. Military to Home Video Network, a 2-year-old startup based in the Silver Spring Innovation Center, Montgomery County's...

Carroll County hardware store not liable for acid-spill injuries.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Alisa Bralove The owner of a Carroll County hardware store is not liable to two customers who were injured by an acid spill that caused the store's evacuation, a federal judge in Baltimore has ruled. U.S. District Judge J....

Millennium Chemicals sold; 500 Maryland workers to stay put.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Tim Lemke Allaying any fears of job cuts, Lyondell Chemical Co. yesterday finalized its acquisition of Hunt Valley-based Millennium Chemicals Inc. and said there will be no layoffs or changes to the combined company's operations in...

MD, OH cos. sued by insurance co. over fire caused by faulty water cooler.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Lawrence Hurley An insurance company has filed suit in Baltimore against two firms alleging that they manufactured and installed a faulty water cooler that sparked a fire, causing $150,000 in damage. Transportation Insurance...

Commentary: Health Care - Johns Hopkins Univ. research has promise for pancreatic cancer vaccine.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Dr. Robert Coplan Recently I learned of a very exciting and promising result from the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutes on the use of a vaccine in the treatment of cancer of the pancreas. The pancreas has two major...

Internet bank wants impact in Baltimore.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe Get ready for orange. Safety-cone-colored mail, media advertisements and orange-clad ambassadors will be competing for your attention, starting this week, in a Baltimore-based marketing effort to lure...

Prince George's County judge finds lawyer represented company, not 50-50 shareholder.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Ann Parks A Prince George's County judge has struck down a $17.2 million jury verdict against a Chicago lawyer and law firm on claims of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty in its representation of two Lanham-based...

U of MD, Baltimore County to link tech, women, business.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Kara Kridler A handful of Maryland universities want to help create at least six new, technology-related startup companies by targeting women in business. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is hosting an...

Columbia-based Bridge Technology acquired for $30M.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Ezra Fieser A small Virginia-based technology company that is competing with industry giants for government contracts yesterday said it will pay $30 million to acquire Bridge Technology Corp., a Columbia-based company that...

Bioinformatics bosses trained in Md. business.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Robyn Lamb A study of a young-but-growing biotechnology sector showed entrepreneurs in Maryland tend to be natives, coming out of the state's corporate base, rather than the traditional university or federal lab spin-offs. ...

No word on MD special session as panel offers tort reform plan.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Andrea Cecil Patients, doctors and lawyers still don't know whether Maryland's top lawmakers will convene a special legislative session to address medical malpractice reform after a Senate commission issued its recommendations. ...

Denial of long term disability benefits was unreasonable, Court of Appeals says.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Barbara Grzincic A woman who suffered from fibromyalgia and lupus was unreasonably denied long term disability benefits, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed yesterday. The court rejected UNUM Life Insurance Co. of...

MD Legal Briefs: December 2, 2004.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Web site for lawyers Silver Spring-based legal and business publisher Pike & Fischer Inc., a subsidiary of The Bureau of National Affairs Inc., unveiled its redesigned Internet Law & Regulation Web...

Annapolis-based CompuDyne Corp. installs mgmt. system for Ft. Collins, Larimer County, Colo.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports CompuDyne Corp., of Annapolis, a provider of security products, integration and technology for the public security markets, completed the installation of a $3.3 million, integrated, computer-aided dispatch,...

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin's GPS satellite declared fully operational.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports A Global Positioning System satellite built by Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Valley Forge, Pa., Space Systems facility, which was launched successfully Nov. 6 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in...

Baltimore-based Performax Inc. expanding consumer program.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Performax Inc., of Baltimore, a national developer, manager and administrator of employee health and benefit plans, said it is expanding its consumer program by offering Health Savings Accounts alongside...

Paris-based drug discovery co. to start Phase II study on Alzheimer's compound.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports ExonHit Therapeutics, a Paris-based drug discovery company whose U.S. facility is in Gaithersburg, announced plans to start a Phase II proof-of-concept study in Alzheimer's disease with EHT 0202, its most...

Md., Va. education firms awarded federal grants.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Catapult Learning LLC, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Educate Inc. that provides public and private school and community-based educational services, and the Association of Education Services Agencies, of...

Baltimore-based Rita Ann Distributors acquired by BMK LP.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Rita Ann Distributors, of Baltimore, one of the nation's largest cosmetics distributors, has been acquired by BMK LP, of Carrollton, Texas, near Dallas, a distributor of general merchandise products,...

Credit Manager's Index shows virtually no change during November.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The Credit Manager's Index, a monthly survey compiled and released by the Columbia-based National Association of Credit Management, showed virtually no change in economic factors during November. A slight...

Dorchester County trying to attract company to take over landfill.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Dorchester County officials are considering accepting up to 600 tons of garbage from outside the county every day in hopes of attracting a company to take over the county's landfill. But some officials in the...

Columbia-based Spectrum Signal Processing to supply satellite systems to Techno-Sciences.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Spectrum Signal Processing (USA) Inc., of Columbia, the U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian company that designs and manufactures signal processing systems, was selected by Techno-Sciences Inc., of Lanham, a...

Baltimore City officials, Adopt-A-Waterway join forces.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Baltimore City officials and Adopt-A-Waterway, a national environmental organization based in California, have joined forces in a campaign to provide positive solutions to the area's urban stormwater runoff....

Better Business Bureau of Greater MD issues warning about fraudulent loan broker.
December 2, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland issued a warning about a fraudulent loan broker that is using the BBB name without authorization to market advance fee loans. The company uses several names,...

Law being drawn to put mortgage collectors under Maryland regulation.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe More companies that collect and oversee mortgage payments for lenders could start answering to Maryland regulators under legislation being drafted by a state agency. The measure would provide extra...

Prince George's business leaders outline their priorities for upcoming year.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Sofia Kosmetatos For business leaders in Prince George's County, the upcoming year will be focused on trains, cranes and automobiles. At a year-end roundup with the county council in mid-November, members of the county's...

Eye on the Entrepreneur - Biz owner puts service before self.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Neil Young During the past few weeks, people have spread out all over Maryland and Washington to elementary schools. Their goal: to put a dictionary in the hand of every third-grader all 63,000 of them. Why are they doing...

Charitable Giving - What Marylanders give and where it goes.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Betsy Nelson When it comes to charitable giving, I'm pleased to report that Maryland's grant-making foundations continue to be extremely generous. The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers recently released its 2004 Report...

Web Sightings - Can your personal computer actually help humanity?
December 3, 2004... Byline: Larry Fiorino IBM recently launched a global grid-computing project that will harness unused computing power to help solve a variety of health issues and other scientific problems. IBM said the project, the World Community...

Commentary: UB Viewpoint - The 2004 election in perspective.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Special to The Daily Record This fall, I watched the presidential election unfold from an unusual perch, teaching an honors course on "Issues in the 2004 Presidential Election." The idea was to avoid partisanship as much as...

Officials from Baltimore work to attract relocating companies to Crossroads in White Marsh.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Tim Lemke Construction on the 1,000-acre Baltimore Crossroads@95 development in White Marsh is more than a year away, but efforts to lure big tenants to the property are at a fever pitch. Economic development officials from...

Commentary: Raising the Bar - Brush up on your bankruptcy, part II.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Paul Sandler When thinking of personal bankruptcy, envision it as an adult's version of a child's "do over." Though the drafters of the modern Bankruptcy Code hoped that filing bankruptcy would not become habit-forming, the process...

Commentary: On Second Thought - Brand New Day.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Mark Cheshire No matter how much you like your job, returning to it after a vacation is, let's just say, uncomfortable. No more sleeping in until you rouse naturally rather than to a nagging alarm clock. No more reading every word...

Baltimore officials begin process of giving city a tourism identity.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Ezra Fieser As Baltimore officials enter a year-long process aimed at giving the city a tourism identity, diversity and cultural heritage could be fodder for creating a brand to be used in promoting the city around the country and...

Mergers and consolidation have transformed Baltimore's banking culture.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe The 19th-century statue's plaque declares: "Stereotypical view of a Native American woman." The life-size wooden figure, adorned in a red, green and yellow headdress, looms over the crowd of guests...

HUD pleads to be let out of Baltimore desegregation case.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Lawrence Hurley Although the notorious high-rise public housing projects that used to ring Baltimore's downtown are no more, their legacy still casts a shadow over the city. Yesterday that shadow reached as far as Richmond,...

Costs of attorney discipline proceeding aren't dischargeable, Baltimore judge rules.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Alisa Bralove Court costs assessed against an attorney during his disciplinary proceedings cannot be discharged in a Chapter 7 proceeding, a federal bankruptcy judge in Baltimore has ruled. "Because this Court finds that the...

Md. governor to choose site for cruise ship terminal by early January.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Ezra Fieser The future of Baltimore's cruise industry is now in the hands of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who is expected to choose a site for a cruise ship terminal by early January. The state Department of Transportation, in...

Commentary: Legal ADvice - Tales of the cyber-griper.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Jim Astrachan Copyright ownership bestows a virtual monopoly over use. Trademark ownership does not. This became very clear recently when I decided how best to protest the terrible service I had received at a local car dealer,...

Md. Legal Briefs: December 3, 2004.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff Reports C you later? Federal prosecutors in Baltimore filed a one-count criminal information against alleged counterfeiter Joseph Yosi Ziv of Tel Aviv, Israel. Ziv, who was arrested in July, and a purported associate,...

Developers to reinvent downtown Baltimore as a new neighborhood instead of center for offices.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Ezra Fieser It is a double-edged sword that has cut through the fabric of downtown Baltimore. The new offices shining brightly on prime waterfront land are attracting big-name businesses and bringing high-paying jobs to a city...

Md. senators, attorneys, and doctors discuss cost of medical malpractice liability insurance.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Andrea Cecil A Maryland Senate commission's proposals for tort reform to address the skyrocketing cost of medical malpractice liability insurance will not remedy the problem, legal advocates said. The Senate Special Commission...

Of Service - Whiteford, Taylor & Preston promotes a pro bono culture.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Joe Surkiewicz There are many ways for a private law firm to handle its attorneys' ethical obligation to perform pro bono duties. For one Baltimore legal establishment, a way that has proven very effective works something like...

Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers reports increase in total sales for November.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., of Hampstead, a manufacturer and retailer of upscale menswear, reported total sales for the fiscal month ended Nov. 27 increased 22 percent to $36.1 million, compared with $29.6...

Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals to acquire ProQuest Pharmaceuticals in Lawrence, Kansas.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Baltimore, said it will acquire ProQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in Lawrence, Kans., for approximately $7 million in Guilford common stock. In...

Silver Spring-based Interface Multimedia selected to create 3-D virtual tour for National Harbor.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Interface Multimedia, of Silver Spring, which produces computer images using three-dimensional modeling technology, was selected by the Peterson Cos., of Washington, the developer of the National Harbor...

Trizec Properties Inc. of Chicago completes sale of Silver Spring Centre for $38.1M.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Trizec Properties Inc., of Chicago, a real estate investment trust specializing in office properties, said it completed the sale of the Silver Spring Centre in Silver Spring for $38.1 million. The buyer of...

Columbia-based W.R. Grace & Co. acquires Tri-Flex 30 product line from Canadian company.
December 3, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports W.R. Grace & Co., of Columbia, a specialized chemical company, said it acquired the Tri-Flex 30 product line from Flexia Corp., of Brantfore, Ontario, Canada, in order to expand its roofing products...

Commentary: It's a Gimme - Backing off a shot.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Joe Rahnis You see the pros do it all the time. They are about ready to hit a shot, when all of a sudden they back away and start all over again. Follow a touring pro throughout a round, and he will do this two or three times. ...

Baltimore charity announces two-year extension of Global Fund for Youth Development.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports The International Youth Foundation, of Baltimore, an international charitable organization that gives money to children's programs worldwide, and the Lucent Technologies Foundation, of Murray Hill, N.J.,...

Health Care for the Homeless Art Expressions group displaying work in Baltimore.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Homeless artists and participants in the Health Care for the Homeless Art Expressions group are displaying their work at De Danann Coffee & Tea, at 22 S. Main St. in Bel Air, through Jan. 4. All artwork was...

Individual tickets for Baltimore Orioles' home game on sale on Dec. 11.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Individual tickets for the Baltimore Orioles' home games in 2005 (except Opening Day) go on sale Dec. 11 at 10 a.m., and a unique sale and auction of Orioles memorabilia items begins on the baseball stadium's...

Maryland Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants to make donations to MD Food Bank.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Maryland Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants will donate 10 percent of each check to the Maryland Food Bank between today and Dec. 18, when customers present with their check a special coupon...

$74K in technology grants awarded to 19 Maryland arts organizations.
December 4, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Business and Economic Development, awarded $73,919 in technology grants to 19 Maryland arts...

Baltimore Co. to help finance relocation of Md. Food Bank.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Tim Lemke The Baltimore County Council tonight is expected to approve a $5.3 million tax-exempt revenue bond to help pay for the new Maryland Food Bank facility in Halethorpe. The bond will take care of more than three-fourths...

Court of Appeals finds double jeopardy does not apply to assault, endangerment charges.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Lawrence Hurley First-degree assault and reckless endangerment are not the same crime for the purposes of double jeopardy under Maryland law, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The court reversed the decision by...

Commentary: Safe Harbor 401(k) plans can be beneficial to business owners.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Ben Proctor The creation of the Safe Harbor 401(k) plan has been a significant benefit to business owners who have been limited by their companies' traditional retirement plans. The Safe Harbor plan eliminates the need for...

MD Legal Briefs: December 6, 2004.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Staff and Wire Reports Jailed for embezzlement Darnita Dent, 35, a former treasurer on the board of directors of the Chapel Oaks Volunteer Fire Department in Capitol Heights, was sentenced Friday in Prince George's County...

MD tech stocks rally.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Kathleen Johnston Jarboe Prices of Maryland tech stocks fattened up in the first full week of trading since the Thanksgiving holiday. Broadwing Corp. popped the most buttons as its shares shot up 32 percent during the week. Its...

Appeals court affirms ruling for Allfirst Bank in derivative suit.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Alisa Bralove A major shareholder in the parent company of the former Allfirst Bank has no standing to sue over the $691 million loss caused by rogue trader John M. Rusnak, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed Friday. The...

MD nonprofits start for-profit firms to finance work.
December 6, 2004... Byline: Andrea Cecil A collaborative that provided business consulting to for-profit social ventures during the past 10 months was the catalyst many of the endeavors needed to get off the ground. Six funding organizations, including...