Business group training students to be better workers

A program that engages the business community to train students to enter the work force is expanding this year, and the Howard County Chamber of Commerce is hoping to recruit more businesses that will hire and give better pay to graduates.

The chamber is running its Passport to the Future program for the second year. Business leaders and teachers in the county's Career Research Development classes are encouraging high school students to put in the extra effort to make them more employable and worthy of higher pay on their first jobs.

The program is part of the chamber's work force development effort, and a response to business leaders' concerns about the attitudes and habits high school graduates and first-time employees take into the workplace.

PTA Council seeking inquiry of board actions

Delegates representing the more than 27,000 Howard County PTA members voted Monday night to ask Maryland's attorney general to investigate the legality of actions taken by the Board of Education this year.

"We're not the experts," said June Cofield, executive vice president of the county's PTA Council. "We want to give it over to them."

Cofield is chairwoman of a task force created two weeks ago to look into board practices after it added a contentious amendment Nov. 14 to school Superintendent John R. O'Rourke's contract. The amendment promised to renew the contract at the end of his current term in 2004 or pay him the equivalent of one year's salary -- nearly $200,000.

Robey pledges progress despite budget woes

Promising steady progress despite the state's grim fiscal outlook, Howard County Executive James N. Robey was sworn in for a second term Monday night, along with a new County Council.

With a weak economy and looming state budget deficit, Howard's leaders -- dominated by Democrats -- likely will have a more difficult term than in the first four years of Robey's tenure.

At the Howard High School ceremony, Robey, at times emotional, spoke of successes of his first term -- such as pumping $178 million more into county schools -- and promised, "Folks, it's not going to be spectacular, but progress will be steady."

Proposal on open meetings wouldn't work, critic says

A bill proposed by Del. Elizabeth Bobo that aims to tighten open-meetings restrictions for the Howard school board actually would loosen them, a board critic said last night.

Allen Dyer, an Ellicott City lawyer who is suing the Board of Education for what he calls sunshine law violations, spoke out against the bill during a public hearing in Ellicott City.

In an e-mail to Bobo earlier in the day, Dyer pointed to the bill's use of the undefined term "exemption," which he says would complicate, if not destroy, the ability of citizens to get accountability from the Board of Education. He also noted confusion between "executive function" and the 14 reasons state law allows for meetings to be closed to the public.

Bobo, a Howard County Democrat, said she asked for the bill to be drafted in an effort to clarify conflicting laws and require the school board to conduct more of its business in the public's view.

Tubman alumni oppose crisis center addition

An alumni organization of the former Harriet Tubman High School says it opposes any expansion or external renovation of the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, a homeless shelter near the school in Columbia.

Any construction to add beds at the shelter would impose on the Harriet Tubman school site, said Howard N. Lyles, chairman of the Harriet Tubman Foundation of Howard County Inc.

The addition of a second floor to the shelter was proposed last month.

Violent crime found to decline by 15%

Violent crime in Howard County dropped 15 percent during the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period last year, but calls for police and adult arrests increased, according to statistics released by county police Wednesday.

Police Chief Wayne Livesay said he was generally pleased with the decline in violent crime, but added he could not give any reason for the decline and cautioned against viewing statistics for such a relatively short period as a trend.

Almost 95,400 calls for police were made in the county during the year's first three quarters -- a nearly 8 percent increase over the same period last year. About 5,100 adult arrests were made in that period, a number that also is about 8 percent higher.

Howard GOP enjoys $1-a-month office space

Campaign gifts to political candidates and groups are limited under Maryland law, but Howard County's Republican Party gets virtually free Columbia office space from developer Patrick McCuan via a legal loophole -- a gift valued at $25,776 over four years.

And though Howard Democratic Chairman Wendy Fiedler runs the party from her home -- without a permanent office -- she has no criticism of the $1-a-month deal the GOP is getting. "If we had a benefactor who wanted to donate, I'd take it in a heartbeat," she said.

Noncampaign gifts to political parties are not limited under Maryland law, according to Ross Goldstein, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the state elections board. Money given to candidates are limited to $4,000 per donor and cash to campaign committees cannot legally exceed $10,000 over a four-year election cycle.