civil and public service

• Maryland

No rush to make appointment

• Maryland

Changes coming to state employee health plan

Maryland officials on Wednesday approved $16 billion in contracts that are intended to change the way state employees use health care by offering rewards for taking steps to stay well — and imposing penalties for refusing to comply.

• Business

Cost of not taking a smart meter arrives

As bills go out with the first fees for customers who don't want smart meters, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is pressing to apply the charges to a much larger group — people the utility says have ignored repeated requests to switch out their old indoor meter.

• Maryland

James Ward Morrow, Democrat [Profile]

• Opinion

Swipe and ride [Editorial]

Installing back seat credit card readers may be the least of the cab industry's troubles

• Politics

Colvin sails through Social Security confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON — Criticism of President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Social Security Administration appeared to evaporate Thursday at a confirmation hearing that featured few questions about controversial service cuts and recent allegations of mismanagement.

• Politics

Lawmakers push OPM to release retirement rules

The Office of Personnel Management has been working on rules for a phased retirement plan for federal employees for more than two years, and lawmakers are getting anxious.

• Harford

Who carries the tax burden? [Editorial]

After all, unlike in 1776 when there was taxation without representation, in our era, tax policies are made by people who answer to those of us who vote.

• Features

Maryland shifts insurance policy to cover transition-related care of transgender employees

In a full reversal of existing state healthcare policy, transgender state employees in Maryland can now access gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other transition-related care under their state-provided health insurance plans.

• Laurel Leader

Falling short of BRAC predictions, Laurel seeing uptick in growth

A decade ago, planners predicted that Laurel would see a surge in its population as civilian and enlisted military personnel, mainly from Virginia, were relocated to Fort Meade under the Base Realignment and Closure Act, or BRAC.

• Business

Power plants coming to electricity-hungry region

Maryland hasn't had a new power plant of any significance built in over a decade — one reason it imports more electricity than almost any other state, racking up extra charges for consumers. But now new plants are coming.

• Afghanistan

Army engineer honored for improving battlefield communications

Patrick DeGroodt, who oversaw the development of a communications system for the Army that allows soldiers on the battlefield to communicate with the same ease that the rest of us have with cellphones, has been named a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal.

• Maryland

Court gives employers a pass

• Business

BGE asks for fourth rate increase in four years

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is asking for the fourth rate increase in as many years.

• Obituaries

James R. Miller Jr., federal judge in Baltimore

James Rogers Miller Jr., a former state delegate from Montgomery County who spent 15 years as a federal judge in Baltimore for the District Court of Maryland, died of congestive heart failure June 25 at HeartFields Assisted Living at Easton. He was 83.

• Opinion

Public unions at risk [Editorial]

The Supreme Court's decision in Harris v. Quinn only dealt with home health care workers in Illinois, but it invited more direct challenge to public sector collective bargaining laws.

• Sun Investigates

UM coaches, UMB doctors among state's highest earners

The University of Maryland, College Park's football and men's and women's basketball coaches were the state's three highest-paid public employees last year, continuing a long-standing trend.

• Maryland

Public service recognized

• Environment

Construction of Fairfield power plant ordered halted over air quality permit violation

A planned power plant in Fairfield that environmental groups and local schoolchildren have protested faces millions of dollars in fines and has been ordered to halt construction because organizers didn't buy enough emissions credits to offset air pollution the facility will create, according to state officials.

• Maryland

Public service recognized

• Baltimore City Paper

Alice Goffman: On The Run

• Opinion

The IRS scandal is less political but more threatening than it seems

The real lesson of the IRS scandal is the rise of the self-interested bureaucratic class, Jonah Goldberg writes.

• Armed Forces

National Guard commander leads from experience

As military leaders grapple with rising reports of sexual assault in the ranks, Maryland Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Linda Singh is believed to by the highest-ranking officer in the armed forces to discuss her own experience of abuse publicly.

• Maryland

Community awards distributed at annual dinner

• Sports

Veterans trump gridlock [Editorial]

It takes something as big as the VA scandal to prompt compromise in the gridlocked Congress; too bad more things aren't considered a national embarrassment.

• Politics

Mikulski, noting Bergdahl, presses Obama on detainees from Md.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski called on the Obama administration Thursday to turn its attention to two Marylanders who are being detained overseas and argued that the recent release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl raised significant questions for U.S. efforts to bring those men home.

• Baltimore City Paper

Local 44 files labor complaint against Convention Center and city

• Baltimore City Paper

How Clean Currents’ demise is going to cost you

• Baltimore City Paper

Public Service Commission fines power company $350,000

• Baltimore City Paper

Towson University audit shows how government works--and for whom

• Baltimore City Paper

State Fines Rogue Powerbroker

• Baltimore City Paper

Musical Chair: A Five-Month Incumbent Hopes To Hold Onto 6th District City Council Seat

• Baltimore City Paper

Rumorgate: Day 2

• Courts and the Judiciary

Appeals court says Maryland power-plant deal 'is not permissible'

A U.S. Court of Appeals panel has upheld a decision that Maryland strayed into federal-only territory when it tried to jump start construction of a power plant with subsidies.

• Environment

Cove Point natural gas export facility gets state OK

A proposed natural gas export facility in Southern Maryland moved closer to reality Friday, but state regulators ordered the terminal's owner to include more safety and environmental protections for the controversial project, and to donate $48 million to promote clean energy in the state and to help poor Marylanders pay their power bills.

• Business

Uber to file long appeal of Maryland proposal to regulate it as taxi operator

Uber Technologies still has a lot to say about the Maryland Public Service Commission's plan to regulate it and other ride share companies as taxi operators — and the regulating agency will hear them out.

• Harford

Aegis again honored as Newspaper of the Year by regional press association

For the third consecutive year, The Aegis was honored as Newspaper of the Year among the state's largest circulation non-daily papers by the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association during the organization's annual awards luncheon Friday.

• Pensions

City wants 2,000 school employees to start paying into pensions

The city government is requiring nearly 2,000 school employees to begin contributing to the municipal retirement system, a plan met with resistance by school officials who say the district won't be able to meet the July 1 deadline.

• Justice System

New generation of federal judges seated

With the swearing-in last week of U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel, more than half the federal district judges sitting in Maryland now are appointees of President Barack Obama, marking a generational shift that reflects the state's evolving legal culture.

• Business

Surge in calls for help to keep the power on

Organizations that pay portions of past-due utility bills say the surge in calls for assistance they got during the bitterly cold winter have continued this spring as people try to keep their power on. The winter added to a longer-standing problem: Growing numbers of people can't afford their utility bills.

• Fort Meade

Md. federal employees honored after tough year

More than 300 awards were given to employees in 20 different categories at the annual Baltimore Federal Executive Board ceremony, from "outstanding supervisor" to "rookie of the year."

• Baltimore County

Arbutus Achievers Club partners middle schoolers with UMBC students

Both middle school and college students are learning from each other after school at Arbutus Middle School. The education is thanks to a program called the Arbutus Achievers Club, in which University of Maryland, Baltimore County, students volunteer to tutor at-risk students at the school on Shelbourne Road.

• Opinion

Declining a smart meter too costly [Letter]

PSC should not allow BGE to charge so much to those who 'opt out' of smart meter

• Opinion

An opportunity for Pepco customers [Editorial]

Based on BGE's experience with multiple buyout offers over the years, Pepco customers should push for big concessions in the proposed Exelon deal, with a particular eye toward boosting reliability.

• Workplace

Gender wage gap for federal workers is shrinking, OPM reports

Women who work for the federal government, on the whole, make less than their male co-workers — just as in the private sector.

• Business

Md. commission proposes Uber regulations

A judge with the Maryland Public Service Commission proposed a ruling that would categorize Uber as "common carrier" taxi service, subject it to the same regulations as other taxi companies.

• Science

Federal agencies use pay flexibility to attract scientists, professionals

Thousands of scientists and researchers federal agencies have been hired in recent years under special hiring authority intended to help the government compete with the private sector for senior leadership positions. Government watchdogs warn, however, that officials must use the powers judiciously.

• Crime

Reports raise concerns over security at federal field offices

A series of recent federal reports have raised concerns with safety in small field offices scattered across the country, where federal employees at the IRS, Social Security Administration and other agencies are more likely to interact with the public.

• Baltimore City Paper

Maryland gives tax breaks to lots of businesses, not just Kevin Spacey's

• Howard County

After 48 years in public service, it's 'Sine Die' for James Robey

State Sen. James N. Robey claims no grand ambition, no plan to arrive where he now sits as majority leader of the Maryland Senate, or to have made the unusual leaps from Howard County police chief to county executive to legislator. Things happened, he said, one thing led to another, people egged on a sometimes reluctant candidate.