On the Record

WaPo published a piece designed to shock the metropolitan masses yesterday with news of median new-home prices in Montgomery Co. “rocketing” to more than $1.1M.

The article quotes Karl Moritz, a research chief at Moco Planning Board:

“What we see when we look at the data, though, is not so much that all the houses are becoming more expensive, but that in the current market, builders stopped building middle-of-the-market houses. What they continued to build was the most expensive.”

It doesn’t seem that we’re comparing apples to apples here. Moritz says what’s at the root of the upswing is larger, affluent homes cost more money, and since the wealthy are the only folks who can afford new homes right now, builders are playing to that market.

The rich keep getting richer? You don’t say.

Heck, just last week we reported that Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people had a $1B minimum for the first time (look for #204 and #220 - John and Richard Marriott, of the Montgomery County-based hotel chain).

A few months ago, the AP reported that CEO compensation had also risen exponentially: half make more than $8.3M each year.

Really, is anyone surprised by this latest, closer-to-home development?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

I stumbled across an interesting post this morning (thank you, Google Alerts!) that questions whether federal health insurance laws should pre-empt state ones.

The State Policy Network, which blogged on the topic, bills itself as the “professional service organization for America’s state-based, free market think tank community.” The post centers on the federal ERISA, or Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

From the post:

Organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are concerned that some legislators want to punch holes in ERISA. Most of these legislators are on the wrong side of things: they are unhappy that a court found that a Maryland law that would oppress Wal-Mart’s ability to freely negotiate health benefits with its workers violated ERISA.

Nevertheless, such federal intervention unsettles free-market activists. After all, if your state government is messing up health insurance, vote them out and get better lawmakers. If you can’t do that, and Wal-Mart bails out of Maryland, go to one in Virginia or Pennsylvania. Eventually, the state will feel the economic pain and improve its policies.

What, ideally, should Maryland do — legislatively or otherwise — on this issue?

And is there a viable compromise between state and federal regulation?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

So, the Attorney General’s office has apparently decided that $400,000 is $143,000 too much to pay Alison Asti to go away.

If you thought that call belonged to the governor, comptroller and treasurer — collectively, the Board of Public Works — think again. First, the deal needs the attorney general’s blessing.

(And as a short aside, how is it that the Attorney General himself, Douglas F. Gansler, has managed to keep himself out of this entire episode? Check back on all the stories in our paper and in Brand S Major Metropolitan Daily … his name doesn’t appear.)

Maryland Stadium Authority board member Howard J. Stevens Jr. is none too happy that the AG’s office has decided not to forward the deal that was worked out between the board and Asti on to the Board of Public Works for approval.

Physician discipline cases are rarely a laughing matter, but did anything about Salerian v. Md. State Board of Physicians (PDF), Wednesday’s opinion by the Court of Special Appeals, strike you as a little funny?

No, I don’t mean Judge Peter B. Krauser’s choice of “irrefragably” when “undeniably” or even “irrefutably” would have done just as well. I’m talking about the court’s painstaking refusal to name the patient, or rather, the “Evaluee,” when he is clearly one of the most infamous figures in recent history.

So, rest easy, “spy of the century” Robert P. Hanssen: You may be an admitted turncoat; you may be the subject of countless stories, several books and even a major motion picture now out on DVD; but your secret identity is safe with the Court of Special Appeals.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission heard last week that none of the $15 million in research grants it approved four months ago had been awarded because scientists were late submitting paperwork and university review processes were slow.

Now, they are hearing a different story. Karen Buckelew reports today that University of Maryland officials have refused to sign grant agreements because they are burdensome, onerous and unsuited to this kind of research.

What’s going on here? Why can’t we lock a couple of assistant attorneys general in a room and tell them not to come out until they have an agreement everyone can live with?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

Trust the New York Times to link some of the coolest cats around and nine of the traditionally “un-coolest” cats around.

The cover of this week’s book review snappily boasts a clever takeoff of the Ocean’s Eleven (and Twelve, and presumably Thirteen) movie posters, with nine Supreme Court justices coolly walking across an elongated number “9”.

The review is for CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s latest book, “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.”

The article touches on the difficulties covering the closed vault of the Supreme Court and praises Toobin’s “engaging” writing. But it also criticizes him for not digging deeper into the secrecy of the court and for taking too long to get to the newest recruits, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Anthony Alito Jr.

Call me a sucker for Supreme Court gossip (I’m in the middle of reading Jan Crawford Greenburg’s “Supreme Conflict” right now) but even with a not-quite-glowing review, I still plan on checking out Toobin’s latest dish.

If anyone has read The Nine already, or wants to read it too, I’d love to hear from you. Keep in mind, if I don’t like it I’m not above another post blaming you all for not warning me, so speak up!

-LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer

Strolling downtown (PDF), I’ve often marveled at the way the crowds thin out as I make my way away from the Inner Harbor up Charles Street. Sure, the area around City Hall — and lately the area around Charles Center — seem to be busy at lunch time, and Mount Vernon is busy at night.

Still, it seems like tourists and others who aren’t familiar with Baltimore are reluctant to travel north of Pratt Street, let alone Baltimore Street. I saw something different last night at the recently-updated Center Plaza, where the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. brought together hundreds for its annual meeting.

Guests described an area with the potential for growth in retail and entertainment where flat, somewhat uninviting concrete and several empty storefronts stood as recently as a year ago.

Is it possible that Center Plaza, once a key piece of Charles Center’s 1960s redevelopment effort, could begin to draw visitors northward? What do you envision there, and is there any value to keeping tourists by the water so we locals can have the rest of the city to ourselves?

-ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments next year on whether voters can be required to show photo identification at the polling booth. The court is expected to decide the cases (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita) by next summer, in plenty of time for the November 2008 elections.

Maryland’s General Assembly has taken up this issue each year since 2005, but the legislation never made it out of committee. (Current law requires voters to state their name and birth date for identification at the polls.)

What do you think: is a photo ID necessary to combat voter fraud? Should the General Assembly take it up for a fourth time, or wait until the Supreme Court rules?

-LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer

I was on Route 175 in Columbia last week when I saw an odd bumper sticker on the car in front of me: “Choose Civility in Howard County.”

At first, I thought it was imploring Columbians to be more racially tolerant.

Since the (albeit small) sample of Howard County residents I asked didn’t know, I turned to the local blogosphere.

Sure enough, Hometown Columbia was able to point me in the right direction: Choose Civility is an initiative led by the HoCo Library that “intends to enhance respect, empathy, consideration and tolerance in Howard County.”

Their strategy for doing so? Recommended reading (“Choosing Civility” by P.M. Forni of the Johns Hopkins Civility Project), a Facebook group and car magnets.

At least they’re aiming near and far.

Anyone out there involved in this initiative care to comment? Are people in Hoco becoming more civil, or are those involved already the pillars of civility?

I, for one, will honk for joy if area drivers truly mend their ways.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Baton Rouge rapper Webbie and his Trill Entertainment label mate Lil Boosie are the latest Louisiana lyricists to find themselves in the crosshairs of a Baltimore lawsuit.

Webbie, born Webster Bradney Jr., and Boosie, born Torrance Hatch, were slated to perform at two popular city clubs last winter but never showed up, Baltimore-area promoter Tracye Stafford alleges in a lawsuit (subscriber-only link) filed Sept. 20. Entertainment lawyer Paul Gardner is representing Stafford.

New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne has been sued twice recently by students who were injured when loose cash was thrown from the stage into the audience at his concert at Morgan State University last year.

What’s with Baltimore’s bad legal blood with hip-hop artists from the Bayou?

-BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer