November 1st, 1997
Category: Fiscal, News Series
The nay-saying has started. Opponents of tax cuts have deluged the General Assembly with dire warnings about the consequences of trimming taxes. So let us put Maryland’s fiscal situation in perspective. It is hardly as though Annapolis has been on a diet over our readers’ lifetimes. Adjusted for inflation, state expenditure was $1.7 billion back […]
November 1st, 1997
Category: Job Training, News Series
Drive a few blocks due east of the state penitentiary in downtown Baltimore and you will cross the 900 block of Somerset Street. There you will find the “Caroline Center: A Learning/Career Center for Women of East Baltimore.”1 This is not a salubrious part of town. Nonetheless, the center concentrates on providing intensive, values-based training […]
November 1st, 1997
Category: Markets and Privatization, News Series
The homeless veteran – he is a historical problem we want to ignore. The sheer magnitude of the dilemma makes us feel helpless. Ragged men – and women – on the streets, haggard from sleepless nights, eyes bloodshot from too much booze or drugs. Marylanders are not strangers to this sight, because we have some […]
September 1st, 1997
Category: News Series, State and Local Politics
We continue our series of interviews with the major contenders in the 1998 gubernatorial race. In this issue, we talk with Chuck Ecker, county executive for Howard County. Dr. Ecker will be facing 1994 Republican nominee Ellen R. Sauerbrey in the GOP primary. Calvert Question. Your proudest accomplishments as county executive? Ecker Answer. I think […]
August 1st, 1997
Category: Criminal Justice, Issue Brief
About the Authors Robert M. McCarthy, J.D. Robert M. McCarthy is the named principal of a general-practice law firm located in Bethesda, Maryland. His particular concentration is in juvenile cases; he has handled approximately 5,000 such cases in the last 15 years. Previously, he was a contract attorney with the Maryland state Public Defender’s Office […]
August 1st, 1997
Category: Issue Brief, Publications
About the Authors Denis P. Doyle Denis Philip Doyle, founder of Doyle Associates, is a nationally and internationally known education writer, analyst and consultant. Doyle has recently developed a comprehensive book and compact disc (CD) titled, Raising the Standard: An Eight-Step Action Guide for Schools and Communities, which will be available in October 1997. After […]
August 1st, 1997
Category: Fiscal, News Series
It is a rare day indeed when this journal opposes a tax cut, a rarer one still when it actually suggests an increase. But Harford County Executive Eileen Rehrmann’s proposal to do away with the state property tax prompts this response. It is, of course, entirely natural for gubernatorially aspiring politicians to dream up election-year […]
August 1st, 1997
Category: Fiscal, News Series
Great demands are placed on lawmakers each year to spend taxpayers’ money. The causes are usually noble, well intentioned and passionately argued. As a lawmaker, I know first-hand how painful it is to say no when someone looks you in the eye and pleads for your help. Our human nature makes refusal a difficult choice […]
August 1st, 1997
Category: Judiciary and Legal Issues, News Series
For years, social scientists have been trying to expand their influence from beyond the small university departments where they are holed up to the real world where serious work is being done. To some degree, they have been successful. In the world of business, for example, diversity counselors with Ph.D.s now advise CEOs on how […]
July 1st, 1997
Category: News Series, Regulation
Each year, the Maryland General Assembly considers over 2,500 bills during its 90-day session. Because of this volume and due to limited time, it is difficult adequately to address each bill proposed. It would help if there were fewer bills, if certain categories of bill were simply ignored or ruled “off limits” or were dealt […]