Repairs complete on Dundalk water main
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Repair crews have completed four months of work to secure the 6-foot-wide water main that erupted in Dundalk last September. The break flooded several neighborhoods and undermined part of Broening Highway. Utility workers replaced two sections of the mammoth pipe at the site of the Sept. 18 break, said Kurt Kocher, spokesman for the Baltimore Department of Public Works. They also inspected three miles of the line, made more repairs at 13 locations and installed carbon fiber lining to strengthen portions of the main. Water officials blamed the break on a faulty 1970s concrete pipe that has caused numerous big breaks in Maryland and other states. "It is another example of the need for infrastructure investment on a massive scale," Kocher said. Many miles of pipe are far older, he added.
- Frank D. Roylance
Alonso to offer plan to close 5 schools for poor performance
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City schools CEO Andr?s Alonso will present a plan to close five schools to the city school board Tuesday night. After announcing the news at a state Board of Public Works meeting this week, Alonso told WBAL-TV that "we looked at our lowest-performing schools - our schools where the parents are choosing not to send their kids any longer." The school board would vote on the plan in late winter or early spring.
- Baltimore Sun staff
Board fines club, suspends license after fondling incident
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The city liquor board handed down a five-day liquor license suspension Thursday night to a strip club on The Block after a dancer in the bar was found guilty of fondling the genitalia of a male patron. Mouse Trap II in the 400 block of E. Baltimore St. was also fined $2,250. A liquor board inspector testified at the hearing that he saw a dancer with her hand inside the unzipped pants of a man July 12. The club was also fined for selling alcohol to an underage patron that same night.
- Brent Jones
Eastern Shore hospital seeks injunction to stay open
An Eastern Shore hospital scheduled for closure next month is seeking a preliminary injunction to remain open, according to court papers filed this week. Upper Shore Hospital in Chestertown is to close Feb. 28 as part of a series of cuts proposed by state officials in light of revenue shortfalls, according to court papers. The closing would save the state about $2.7 million. The petition for an injunction, filed in Kent County Circuit Court, alleges that the closing of the hospital would be an improper exercise of gubernatorial power by Gov. Martin O'Malley. The court papers say about 90 employees would lose their jobs and 40 patients would have to be discharged or transferred.
- Brent Jones