Funding on hold for court reforms By Caitlin Francke and Scott Higham | Caitlin Francke and Scott Higham,SUN STAFF
Bell says he plans to run for mayor By Gerard Shields and Ivan Penn | Gerard Shields and Ivan Penn,SUN STAFF
Freedom Area's water, sewer rates would rise in July under proposal By Brenda J. Buote | Brenda J. Buote,SUN STAFF
Panel raises possibility of I-95 toll lane between Baltimore, D.C. beltways By Candus Thomson | Candus Thomson,SUN STAFF
Voters to reshape Columbia Council in village elections By Erika Niedowski | Erika Niedowski,SUN STAFF
Resolution would require U.S. steel for purchases by Baltimore County By Dennis O'Brien | Dennis O'Brien,SUN STAFF
Allies probe convoy attack By Tom Bowman and Mark Matthews | Tom Bowman and Mark Matthews,SUN NATIONAL STAFF
Developer's plan to turn Elkridge school into senior housing seems to gain ground By Jamal E. Watson | Jamal E. Watson,SUN STAFF
State officials affirm fourth-graders' gains on national reading test By Greg Garland | Greg Garland,SUN STAFF
A commitment to stay in the city, Organization: The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore has broken ground for a $2 million addition and headquarters renovation. By Edward Gunts | Edward Gunts,SUN STAFF
Higher education bill welcomed by state's university officials By Michael Hill | Michael Hill,SUN STAFF
River Hill High School senior gets another view of art By Diane Mikulis | Diane Mikulis,SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Hundreds expected at college for Great Kite Fly on Saturday By TaNoah Morgan | TaNoah Morgan,SUN STAFF
Brokerage is sued for $431,000 By Sean Somerville and Kevin L. McQuaid | Sean Somerville and Kevin L. McQuaid,SUN STAFF
Fresh on the scene Telly Stroumbis, who was involved... By Elizabeth Large | Elizabeth Large,Sun Restaurant Critic
Buying stocks simply because they have fallen is no better a strategy than buying simply because they've gone up. The same is true for funds. Still, there are a few good reasons to look for turnaround candidates among mutual funds.
First, if you've left your portfolio untouched, you've probably got greater weighting in the hotter sectors and funds than you did at the beginning of the year. If you want to rebalance, then these funds are good choices.
Second, the media are full of stories about this year's tech heroes, but there are plenty of good funds you could miss amid the hype.
Finally, funds often suffer down years simply because the market rotates away from the sectors that a manager favors.
When those sectors get cheap enough, they can produce an explosive rally. Gabelli Asset, for example, had a couple of down years when investors gave up on cable and media stocks. Then Bill Gates noticed that cable is a great way to deliver Internet access and Microsoft bought a piece of Comcast. Gabelli's funds have been on a three-year hot streak since then.
Value funds have been out of the spotlight as growth dominates, so I looked for some value funds that have been underperforming other value funds but still have a great record.
Talk about a fish out of water. This fund's managers like their stocks cheap and if they can't find enough, they'll buy bonds or park a lot of money in cash.
While others were making a killing in tech, this fund was holding bonds, financials and Philip Morris. Still, it has managed to do well over the long haul, so I wouldn't bet against it. A rally in financials or tobacco stocks would be a big help.
This fund's 3 percent year-to-date return is only slightly below the large-value average, but how often will I get a chance to put George Vanderheiden on a comeback list?
While Clipper needs a tobacco rally, this fund needs a Berkshire Hathaway rally. They've got more than one-fourth of assets riding on Warren Buffett. Naturally, that has made for awesome long-term returns but the fund is down nearly 15 percent this year. By picking Sequoia to rebound, I am boldly betting that Buffett will make some money for investors.
A second group of comeback kids fall into the Japanophobe category. They've done well in the past, but have completely missed out on this year's remarkable rally in the land of the rising sun. If Japan's returns are more pedestrian in the coming years, these funds should be sitting pretty.
This portfolio has a grand total of zip in Japan because its managers think Japanese stocks are too pricey. They look for stocks with healthy growth rates but are picky about what they'll pay. As a result, they are bringing up the rear this year. Like Clipper and Sequoia, though, this is a very concentrated fund that figures to be volatile in just about any market.
This one has actually overcome its fear of Japan and started to invest there. However, the managers missed out on most of the rally and have the wimpy returns to prove it. Even so, this will be the first time in the fund's seven-year history that annual returns didn't beat the foreign-fund average.
Bandits is a deliciously slap-happy movie about a pair of escaped ex-cons who develop an original m.o. and acquire an even more unlikely moll.
Their m.o. is to knock on the door of a bank manager's house near the end of the day, spend the night with him or her, and walk into the bank with the whole family the next morning. The crime scene becomes manageable, the cracking of locks and codes a breeze.
Their moll (Cate Blanchett) is a dissatisfied upper-class housewife who runs her car into one of the ex-cons, right at the marital disjuncture when she's ready to chuck it all and start anew. First she connects with the dashing, headstrong Bruce Willis, then with the thoughtful, sensitive Billy Bob Thornton, and finally with both of them in a kooky and mysterious menage.
Bandits is a welcome trip back to the movie era when the audience understood that some people became outlandish criminals just because they couldn't fit into society or figure out anything else to do with their lives. It makes an unabashed appeal to our sense of fun and fantasy, and it does so in a smart and adult way. The humor keeps building until laughter explodes from every kind of character-oriented mishap.
In a movie season when romantic or comedic pairings rely to a huge extent on providence, Bandits pins the chance for happiness of the film's men and women on their ability to keep their hearts open and their minds agile.
Willis is the leader of the little band that also includes Troy Garity as a would-be stuntman and getaway driver. At one point, Willis tries to pose as a Robin Hood, albeit a self-centered one: he says they're stealing only federally insured funds that the government already has stolen from other people. But that's hardly the point of the picture; I'm not even sure we're supposed to take his statement at face value.
Bandits is about three people who are life-size except for their larger-than-life dreams. Most of the time, they find it as difficult to navigate the emotions of their improvised relationships as they find it natural to operate outside the law. But they do, with delirious success. That's where the fantasy comes in.
Harley Peyton's script gives everyone a chance to be bright and silly. Thornton has the showiest part, and he stumbles through it like a virtuoso. He's the self-styled intellectual and man of sensibility - a gourmet chef, even - and the one who comes up with the idea that turns him and Willis into "The Sleepover Bandits." He's also a brilliant hypochondriac, able to assimilate and mimic symptoms from the single hearing of a disease on his audiotape of The Merck Manual.
Thornton speaks with a modulated, gritty-languid drawl that's a bit like Hank Hill's on Fox's King of the Hill. But Thornton is apt to extend that drawl's rhythms and keep his voice lingering in the air long after he's completed his already complicated thoughts. His performance is a hilarious example of synesthesia at its finest: He moves the way he talks, with an understated loopiness. If his behavior were traced with some kind of mental wave detector, the line would oscillate all over the print-out. He's so distinctive that when he and Willis try to be "masters of disguise," much of the hilarity derives from the raggedy Thornton-ness that sneaks out from under the fancy clothes and blond and black wigs.
Willis is more restrained but just as satisfying. His character has his own off-centeredness - he studies Eastern philosophy (notably The Art of War) to justify his urge to take whatever he wants. But he knows that's what he's doing, and unlike most people, he also knows what he wants. A decade ago, Willis was a smirky actor. He's been so good for so long that when he slips into a smirk here, it's because that's how he expresses this bandit's rare moments of defensiveness.
Willis and Thornton transcend the buddy-movie cliche of opposites attract. One may be a man of thought and the other a man of action, but that means they're ornery, dissatisfied and egotistical in different ways - emotionally, they're not really opposites.
The movie doesn't completely ignite until Blanchett enters, as a woman whose despair masks an oversized exuberance struggling to spring out. Cooking in her swank kitchen, she takes equal delight in chopping and dicing the food and turning the clanking of her cookery into a silly symphony as she mouths Bonnie Tyler's rendition of "Holding Out for a Hero."
Billing herself as "the real Republican," Laura Townsend unseated incumbent Annapolis Alderman Michael W. Fox in otherwise lackluster primary elections yesterday in Maryland's capital city.
There was no contest at the top of the party tickets, with incumbent Mayor Ellen O. Moyer the lone Democrat and Alderman George O. Kelley Sr. the lone Republican seeking her job. But they will vie in a three-way race with Independent Gilbert T. Renaut in the Nov. 8 general election.
In Ward 7, Townsend defeated fellow Republican Fox, 106-71, according to last night's still-unofficial tally. With no Democratic candidate for the seat, she likely will become the ward's alderwoman when the new council is seated Dec. 5.
In Ward 3, Alderwoman Classie G. Hoyle defeated Michael "Scott" Bowling in the Democratic primary and also faces no opposition in November.
The other contested primaries were in Wards 1 and 2, for open seats on the council. In Ward 1, Democrat Richard E. Israel defeated Alice O. Johnson and will face Republican Douglas Burkhardt, who was unopposed in the primary.
In Ward 2, where both parties had contests yesterday, Debbie R. McKerrow, founder of a citizens organization to "preserve quality of life" there, defeated longtime city activist Joseph Simms in the Democratic primary. Naval Academy alumnus Michael I. Christman beat David A. Hanson and Robert H. Eades in a three-way GOP primary.
In the wards with uncontested council seats, voter turnout was "horrendously low," said Allen Furth, a member of the city board of elections. Eight people voted in one of Ward 5's two precincts, according to unofficial results, while 30 voted in the other.
Furth said voter turnout was about 20 percent in areas with contested races, which he described as normal for an Annapolis city primary. In Ward 1, incumbent Louise Hammond chose not to seek another term. while incumbent Ward 2 Alderwoman Sheila M. Tolliver was planning to move away from the city within a few years. Official results are expected this week.
DAVID REDD, formerly of St. Lukes Lane, passed on October 28, 2005. He was laid to rest on November 3 in the Veterans Cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia.
On April 12, 2006, MARY (nee Bilica) beloved wife of the late Frank J. Mc Quade, devoted mother of Terence Mc Quade, Frances and Craig Rickert and Carol Lynch, dear sister of Helen Sinoski, Nancy Shelton, Frances Le Masters and Julia Moore. Also survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.. Friends may call at the STERLING-ASHTON-SCHWAB-WTIZKE FUNERAL HOME CATONSVILLE, INC., 1630 Edmondson Ave. (1 mile west of Beltway exit 14) on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Resurrection, Ellicott City on Tuesday at 10 A.M. Interment private.
On Thursday, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign into law a 3 percent sales tax on alcohol, Maryland's first increase in alcohol-specific taxes since 1972 (and the first on hard liquor since the Eisenhower administration). The alcohol industry has warned the state's drinkers of this impending increase with something of a doomsday air; liquor wholesalers and retailers spent the 90-day legislative session telling consumers that the "dime a drink" proposal being considered would really amount to much more, and the last-minute switch from an excise tax to a sales tax has done little to change their tune. One liquor store on the Baltimore City/County line used its marquee in recent weeks to advise customers to stock up before the new tax takes effect.
Indeed, the best research available suggests that the tax increase will reduce alcohol consumption in Maryland, particularly among underage drinkers, who are particularly price sensitive. Public health researchers say that will have a host of benefits, from reduced drunken-driving fatalities to lower rates of domestic violence.
But looking at things from a consumer's perspective, the tax increase, paradoxically, may be the best thing to happen in years. It will mean that alcohol is slightly more expensive, but it also signifies the most significant crack yet in the all-powerful Annapolis liquor lobby. Taken in conjunction with the passage of a bill to allow direct shipment of wine to consumers, this year could mark a turning point that leads to greater consumer choice, more competition and, perhaps, even lower prices.
The liquor industry has, historically, been among the most influential special interest groups in Annapolis. It spends millions on lobbying fees and campaign contributions to maintain a set of regulations that date back to the end of prohibition. Liquor industry representatives spend a great deal of effort to give the impression that a strict, three-tiered regulatory system (the three tiers being manufacturers, distributors and retailers) is all but divinely ordained. If it seems suspicious that an industry would be lobbying for more government regulation, not less, that's because it is. The system is designed to favor established players in the industry at the expense of competition and of consumer freedom.
There is actually a law on the books stating that it is the declared policy of the state of Maryland to eliminate price competition in the alcohol industry. The comptroller is empowered to limit the amount of discounts that can be offered by manufacturers and distributors, and if any manufacturer decides it wants to lower prices, it must wait until the comptroller has given its competitors the chance to match it. These rules are couched in terms of the need to promote temperance, but the effect is to guarantee a level of profits for the industry.
Other laws limit the days and hours alcohol may be sold; prohibit most grocery or other chain stores from selling alcohol; ban diners from bringing bottles of wine to restaurants that have liquor licenses; and, even after the new law allowing direct shipment of wine, prevent consumers from ordering from retailers in other states, thus precluding membership in wine-of-the-month clubs or, generally, ordering foreign wines.
Change to the system has usually come incrementally, with small concessions from the industry over the years on issues such as retail sales by local wineries. But this year, the industry waged an all-out war against a tax increase, and it lost. It wasn't even able to get the legislature to stick with the Senate's initial plan of phasing in the new sales tax over three years.
In fact, there are signs beyond Maryland that the liquor lobby isn't as monolithic as it once was. Producers and distributors are engaged in a fight over legislation in Congress that would cement the authority of states, rather than the federal government, to regulate the distribution of alcohol. A 2005 Supreme Court decision struck down some direct shipping regulations, leading to a rash of lawsuits challenging state regulations across the country. The distributors see this development as a threat to their state-sanctioned existence, so much so that the National Beer Wholesalers Association actually issued a news release last week trumpeting Maryland's direct shipment law as proof that the current regulatory scheme works. It is now to the distributors' advantage to loosen their grip, lest they be wiped out altogether, and that presents an opportunity for a newly empowered coalition of Maryland consumers who are pushing for laws tilted in their favor.
Adding 3 percent to the cost of beer, wine and alcohol for the benefit of schools, health care and services for the developmentally disabled will certainly put a pinch on consumers. But along with it comes proof that the forces that previously drowned out their voices are not invincible, and in the long run, that may matter more than a few pennies a drink.
TRI-STATE - As the Feb. 21 release date for the Civil War movie "Gods and Generals" approaches, several movie tie-in products, including a video game, a compact disc and books are scheduled to come out, Director Ronald Maxwell said Monday.
He is not going to deliver the movie to Warner Brothers until Jan. 24 because he is still making last-minute changes, he said.
One question left unresolved is whether to cut or keep scenes in the movie portraying the Battle of Antietam, he said. Antietam scenes were cut, and later restored, when Maxwell pared down his original six-hour version of the movie to about 31/2 hours for theater audiences.
In a PC computer game, players decide whether they want to be Union or Confederate soldiers and then fight in battles, including Antietam. He said the game is not bloody like some fighting games but is instead "classy" and "high-quality," he said.
TNT, the cable channel owned by "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg" financier Ted Turner, is rebroadcasting "Gettysburg" in late January, Maxwell said. For that showing, the channel will also debut music videos for songs written for "Gods and Generals" by Bob Dylan and Mary Fahl, Maxwell said.
Sony is releasing the compact disc of the movie's soundtrack Feb. 1. The disc contains the two songs. People who buy the soundtrack will also receive a DVD with the Dylan and Fahl videos.
Books about the movie, including a coffee-table book about the making of the movie, will also be published in the next few months, he said.
When Paired With Tough Competitors, Elite and Weekend Athletes Alike Push Themselves Harders and Strive for Their Full Potential
In the last moments of the Nagano Winter Olympics, Tara Lipinski had an edge that even she may have been unaware of.
When the diminutive athlete took center ice as the last performer in women's figure skating, the 15-year-old needed a near-perfect program to knock Michelle Kwan out of first place. She did just that.
Certainly, as with other Olympic skaters, Lipinski's skill and confidence, honed through countless hours of training, travel and competition, helped propel her into the final round of competition. But what may well have supplied the critical wisp of wind beneath her wings as she triple jumped her way to a gold medal was her intense and extremely well-publicized rivalry with Kwan.
Just as a good story needs a good villain, a good athlete often needs a good opponent to reach his or her potential. In a sense, great competitors like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and most recently Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa owe a portion of their amazing success to their rival.
"People do better with strong competition," said Robert Schleser, director of the Center for Sports and Performance Psychology in Chicago. "That's a universal. There's no question about that."
Whether you're an elite athlete in the NBA or a weekend warrior on the tennis courts, sports psychologists say the lesson is to welcome--rather than dread--a tough competitor. A hard fight, win or lose, is the surest way to improve overall skills and raise the level of athletic performance.
And even if your primary goal is fitness and not necessarily to enhance competitiveness, experts still say finding a partner roughly equal to your own ability can boost a flagging commitment to working out. The presence of a partner with similar talents and goals charges a person mentally and encourages them to work harder than they would otherwise, studies show.
"No matter what level athlete you are, you need to stay excited and focused about what you're doing," said Jim Loehr, who has worked with such top athletes as Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Eric Lindross. "Emotions are the key. They run the show."
Athletes who shy away from strong challengers and others, such as swimmers and distance runners, who view the clock as their chief nemesis, are at a competitive disadvantage against an opponent pitted against a formidable flesh-and-blood foe, say psychologists.
"You can't let up a second when you're against someone good," said Doris Heritage, who ran the 800 meters and 1,500 meters in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, respectively. "It keeps your adrenaline going. It keeps you sharp."
"A great competition is what holds people's attention," added Heritage, who also served as the women's distance coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team and today coaches track at Seattle Pacific University. "I don't think the crowds or the athletes themselves are as interested in seeing a great time as they are a great race."
Insights into this well-documented rival response begin with the observation that just having another person present alters physiological responses, says Schleser, a professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. A person's blood pressure and heart rate will rise as soon as another person simply enters their area, Schleser says.
"Just think if you're walking down a street and then someone gets behind you, you walk faster," he adds. "This was first demonstrated with cockroaches. They do the same thing."
On the other end of the motivational spectrum is a well-known rival, who, in human athletes anyway, produces a powerful incentive to excel. Some athletes, though equal in physical skills to a fierce opponent, will nevertheless wither under the stress. Others in a similar circumstance, however, thrive.
The boys of this summer provide a textbook example of a rivalry leading to the highest of achievements in their sport. In an unprecedented chase, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs helped lift each other over Roger Maris' 37-year-old home run record of 61.
Most sports psychologists argue there'd be no record-breaking year for either slugger without the other. It's true that McGwire, the more established home run hitter of the two, led the tally most of the season, but always with Sosa, and sometimes Seattle Mariners' slugger Ken Griffey Jr. close on his heels.
Said Cardinals coach Tony La Russa of the slug-fest: "I think it's a real healthy competition. It's much better for Player A if Player B and Player C are having great years."
Even in 1961, when Maris bested Babe Ruth's home run record by one round-tripper, he had Hall of Famer and teammate Mickey Mantle shadowing him. Mantle finished the season with 54 homers that year.
Psychologists say players locked in a McGwire-Sosa style duel benefit in two important ways from the heated competition. The first and most obvious is one player pushes the other, often with results that can exceed the expectations of both players involved.
SANFORD — It won't be in time for the Christmas shopping season, but the city will get two traffic signals -- one at the entrance to the Wal-Mart Shopping Center and another north of the center at the entrance to a road under construction. The state Department of Transportation told city commissioners Monday the agency preferred a signal at the southern entrance rather, but agreed that commissioners could have the final say.
Commissioners unanimously decided the main entrance to the new shopping center, on U.S. Highway 17-92 just north of Lake Mary Boulevard, is too dangerous without a signal. They also voted to require developers who plan to expand a residential area northeast of the center to install a second signal at U.S. 17-92 and Americana Boulevard.
Horne Properties, which owns the shopping area, will pay the estimated $50,000 installation cost of the signal and the city will maintain the light. The other signal would be about 1,000 feet north of the center. Company officials said the earliest they could install the light would be January.
Commissioners repeatedly have said they fear there will be many collisions at the intersection. Police Chief Steve Harriett said six accidents have occurred since the center opened in September. Officers directed traffic at the intersection last weekend.
-- Approved Harriett's recommendation to create an ordinance increasing parking fines from $3 to $5. They also agreed to increase fines from $3 to $25 for drivers who illegally park in handicapped spaces and in fire zones. The ordinance would permit police to attach a demobilization device, or ''boot,'' on cars belonging to drivers with at least five outstanding fines.
Harriett said the increases are comparable to those charged by surrounding cities. He estimates the city is losing $5,000 by not enforcing its parking regulations.
-- Voted 3 to 2 in favor of applying for a $650,000 community development block grant. Mayor Bettye Smith and Commissioner Dave Farr voted against applying for the money.
The Minnesota Optometric Association said this week that gamers often have eyestrain caused by Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).
What is CVS? Gamers and other heavy computer users diagnosed with CVS may experience "eye irritation, dry eyes, headaches, pain in the eyes or surrounding facial muscles, squinting, excessive blinking, increased sensitivity to light and difficulty focusing."
What is the solution? Dr. G. John Lach, president of the MOA, says that gamers need to sit directly in front of the TV or computer screen instead of at an angle, with the screen below eye level. He also suggests gamers should "try to follow the 10-10 rule: For every 10 minutes of gaming, take a break of 10 seconds."