Top stories of the year

It's time for the editorial board to contribute to The Sun's 10-spot series in which the paper's bloggers chronicle the best or most memorable people, events and ideas in their field. At Second Opinion, we've got the task of ranking the 10 biggest Maryland stories of 2009. Here's our stab at a top 10:

1. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is convicted on a single charge of embezzlement. After deliberating for more than a week, a jury found her guilty of taking gift cards donated for the poor and spending them on herself and her family. The jury acquitted her on other charges and was unable to come to a decision on another. Now her future as mayor is very much in doubt.

2. The state, city and county governments were roiled in 2009 by a budget crisis brought on by the recession. The state has already cut more than $1 billion in spending this year and still faces a shortfall of as much as $2 billion next year. The city of Baltimore has cut tens of millions, and the situation is only getting worse. We've seen furloughs of state and local employees, layoffs and cuts in services -- most notably, the rotating closure of firehouses in the city.

3. After more than a decade of debate, the state of Maryland finally awarded slot machine gambling licenses this year, though the ultimate success of the program is far from settled. The Anne Arundel County Council debated for months before ultimately approving slots at Arundel Mills Mall, and a bid for slots in Baltimore collapsed amid lenghty delays in securing financing. Still, temporary facilities could be up and running on the Eastern Shore and in Cecil County within the next six months.

4. Maryland now has the most restrictive standards for the application of the death penalty of any state in the nation. Though the General Assembly declined to reject capital punishment outright, a last-minute amendment on the floor of the Senate -- which appeared to sow widespread confusion among senators about what they were voting on -- limited the eligibility for the death penalty to cases with DNA evidence, a videotaped confession or other such objective evidence.

5. In September, a Johns Hopkins University undergraduate confronted an intruder in the yard behind his house. The student was carrying a samurai sword, and the intruder, who may have broken into  the student's home earlier, lunged. The student swung his sword, and the man was killed. The story made national headlines and sparked a fierce debate in Baltimore over crime and vigilante justice.

6. This year a young man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute walked into the Baltimore offices of ACORN, the advocacy organization for the poor that has become a bete noir of the political right, and asked workers there for help in setting up a brothel to be staffed with underage illegal immigrant girls. Not only did the ACORN workers fail to call the cops, they gave the couple advice on how to evade income taxes. Turns out the man and woman were secretly videotaping the conversation and were able to repeat the incident, with minor variation, in several other cities. ACORN fired the employees, but it was also quickly stripped of millions in federal contracts.

7. The state Public Service Commission approved the purchase of nearly half of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear business by Electricite de France -- but only after months of hearings, demands by the governor and orchestrated campaigns on both sides. The upshot is that BGE customers will get modest rate rebates and more protections to insulate the utility from its parent company. The deal also increases the likelihood that Constellation and EDF will build a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant.

8. Was it a city looking for any revenue it could grab? Was it a rival business owner out for revenge? Was it a city inspector having a bad day? Whatever the cause, after hanging aloft over The Avenue in Hampden for seven years, the giant pink flamingo erected by Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting was declared an intrusion on the public space and in need of an $800 city permit. Rather than pay the fee, Ms. Whiting took the bird down, much to the city's chagrin. After a public outcry, the city agreed to a lower fee, and a new, snazzier version of the bird is back up.

9. With the health of the Chesapeake Bay as precarious as ever, the Environmental Protection Agency annouced this year that it would take charge of what had previously been a cooperative, multi-state cleanup effort. The administration is pushing stricter limits on pollution from farms and urban and suburban runoff, much to the chagrin of Maryland's agriculture and construction industries. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin is also pushing legislation that would fund the effort and give the EPA greater legal authority to set cleanup rules.

10. Del. Jon Cardin wanted his marriage proposal to be memorable, and that it was. With the help of Baltimore police officers -- and a city police helicopter -- he staged a mock raid on a boat he and his girlfriend were aboard, leading to a surprise when, instead of being handcuffed, he produced a ring. Police department brass weren't amused. Mr. Cardin reimbursed the department $300 for the expense of the incident, made a donation to the city equine unit and apologized, but at least one officer now faces disciplinary action over the incident.

Here are a few other stories we considered:

--Baltimore elementary school children showed surprising gains in this year's Maryland assessment tests. Dozens of city schools are now just as good on certain measures as the highly regarded elementary schools in the suburbs.

--After years of financial trouble, the Senator Theatre finally showed its last first-run movie this year. On the bright side, bidders to take over the theater want to keep showing movies there.

--In October, Hopkins undergraduate Miriam Frankl stepped off the curb on St. Paul Street in Charles Village and was struck by a white pickup truck. The driver didn't stop and careened on a wild course through the city, including another hit-and-run accident. Ms. Frankl died of her injuries, and Thomas Meighan, a Carroll County man with a long history of drunken driving, is now charged with manslaughter in the incident.

What are we missing? Give us your suggestions for the top stories of the year.