by MAREN WRIGHT
Capital News Service
Maryland is home to the nation's third-highest percentage of foreign-born college graduates and should capitalize on the diversity of language abilities, according to a 2009 report of the Preservation of Heritage Language Skills Task Force.
The task force, authorized by the 2008 Maryland General Assembly, made four recommendations: to award high school foreign language credit by exam, increase immersion programs in schools, expand teacher certification options and enhance English speaking learning programs for foreign-born adults.
"The main challenges we face in assuring that Maryland benefits from these skills are leadership, coordination and innovation -- not taxpayer dollars," said Sen. James C. Rosapepe, D-Prince George's, co-sponsor of the task force legislation.
By LEONARD SPARKS
Capital News Service
Tim Kenny, then 15, protested when his father made him spend a snowy day replacing windows and doors as part of the weatherization program the elder Kenny coordinated in Harford County.
But 20 years later Kenny runs his own weatherization company and, along with his father, is hailing the $5 billion boost the Department of Energy's weatherization program is receiving from the stimulus law that President Obama signed last week.
by LEONARD SPARKS and MAREN WRIGHT
Capital News Service
President Obama presented a picture of financial penance and sacrifice in his address to Congress Tuesday night, but Maryland's congressional delegation heard the hope in the message for fixing the future.
Obama said the economic crisis gripping the nation is its "day of reckoning" for living in the prodigal moment while procrastinating on the difficult decisions the future requires. Now those decisions must be made, he said.
"While the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater," Obama said in laying out his intention to revive the credit market, move toward energy independence, reform health care and increase access to education.
By ERIKA WOODWARD
Capital News Service
February 20, 2009
ANNAPOLIS - Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday that schools will be spared some of the deepest budget cuts proposed in the state's history thanks to $720 million in public education aid Maryland will receive from the federal stimulus package.
The controversial American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will also save 700 state employees from layoffs by providing $62 million of discretionary funds that will be used to retain those jobs.
While O'Malley acknowledged the next two years ahead are going to be "very, very difficult" in these trying economic times, he said the federal funds will protect state investments in education.
by DYLAN WAUGH
Capital News Service
February 20, 2009
ANNAPOLIS - State leaders appear ready to proceed with the disappointing return on Maryland's slots bids, even though experts say reconsidering the bidding process might bring in more money for the state in the long run.
"It certainly would make some sense" to postpone the process until the economy rebounds, said Dr. William Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Lowering the 67 percent tax rate on proceeds or the application fees might also bring in better bids, said Jeffrey C. Hooke, a Bethesda-based gambling expert.
By MICHAEL FROST
Capital News Service
February 19, 2009
ANNAPOLIS - Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown urged lawmakers Thursday to require that judges remove guns from individuals facing final protective orders.
Brown said the goal was "to take guns -- all guns -- out of the hands of domestic abusers."
To do so, he advocated passage of two bills co-sponsored by the administration that would require the seizure of guns for final protective orders and grant judges the discretion to remove them for temporary ones.
by Ashley Bryant
To build or not to build was the question of the hour among Silver Spring residents at a forum regarding potential pedestrian crossing sites and designing a connector bridge from a garage to the newly proposed Silver Spring Library at a forum hosted by Montgomery County Building and Design Thursday Feb. 5.
