Taxing Matters
September 20, 2007
Now we come to the income tax part of the governor’s revenue-raising plan. He’s proposing to create new brackets that would tax wealthier taxpayers more. By doing that, he says he can lower income taxes for most Maryland taxpayers and still raise an additional $163 million to apply against the projected budget deficit.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do you have a verdict? Good idea, bad idea? Too much, not enough? Wrong approach? Whatever happened to the idea of a simple flat tax anyway?
The floor is open for discussion.
-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor
Sphere: Related ContentTimesSelect: R.I.P.
September 20, 2007
The New York Times on Wednesday pulled the plug on its TimesSelect Web subscription program, returning parts of the online Times to entirely free status.
Although the pending action was widely reported — including in our own On the Record blog on Aug. 11 — the move came exactly two years to the day after the Times began charging $7.95 a month, or $49.95 a year, for online access to its columnists, its editorials and op-ed pieces, and its archives. Print subscribers to the Times, and some students and educators, were given free access. Paid Web site subscribers will get a prorated refund.
According to the Times’ own story of the switch:
“The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.”
This leaves the Wall Street Journal as the only major newspaper in the country to charge for access to most of its Web site. And Rupert Murdoch, the soon-to-be new owner of Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Journal, has talked openly about allowing the online Journal to be freely available. Yet some Dow Jones executives, including CEO Richard F. Zannino, think WSJ.com should be kept at least a partially paid site, according to an article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, the Times has instituted a new service, MyTimes, which allows users to create their own personalized web pages on the Times’ site – with content from outside the Times’ domain. Seems like The Powers That Be at NYT have embraced the concept of aggregation.
It’s a brave new world.
-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWhere everyone (at the designer-discount store) knows your name
September 19, 2007
A Filene’s Basement opened Wednesday morning in Columbia.
In yet another area where many of the residents seemingly can afford to pay full-price, the new designer-discount store will offer Ralph Lauren sweater sets and the like for just $29.99.
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Although it’s been six years since I lived in Howard County, when I visit now, it looks like a rival sibling of a Montgomery County town.
You know what I mean — how you can’t walk 25 yards without passing a Panera Bread or seeing a little kid decked out in Crocs.
It used to be a refuge, with less traffic, less development, less pressure, less people.
Anyone love the new Columbia?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentOffice killers? Cheap alternatives to Microsoft
September 19, 2007
Still running Microsoft Office 2003? ’95? Or, maybe even working off of the Works programs that came pre-installed on the machine because it would cost too much to upgrade everyone’s machine?
Microsoft’s suite of productivity programs has long held the lion’s share of the marketplace even though upgrades can cost hundreds of dollars. But, if you’re looking for a low-cost, or even free, alternative, the time has never been better. A growing number of companies, including IBM and Google, are releasing free products in an effort to wean people off of Microsoft Office.
Tuesday alone saw the release of two new, would-be Office killers. First up is Google’s Presentation, a take on the popular Microsoft PowerPoint, which joined the Document and Spreadsheet programs of the search giant. And, IBM rolled out Lotus Symphony, a free suite of programs drawing on the venerable Lotus name.
Additionally, OpenOffice, another free, open source suite of office programs, released a major upgrade this week. Or, you can always get Sun’s Star Office, which used to run for $70 or so, for free as part of Google’s “Pack” of essential software.
What’s your favorite freebie software?
-BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWhat now for same-sex marriages?
September 19, 2007
Now that Maryland’s highest court has upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, where should we go from here?
Should the legislature act, and if so, how?
Should we have civil unions in Maryland for same-sex partners? Should there be a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage?
Should we do anything at all?
Join the debate and let us hear from you.
-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor
Sphere: Related Content‘Audacious ideas,’ anyone?
September 18, 2007
Want to know who has the most “audacious ideas” to improve Baltimore? If so, you might want to connect with Audacious Ideas, a new blog launched by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore that was created to stimulate ideas and discussion about solutions to difficult problems in Baltimore.
The George Soros-funded institute launched the blog only a week ago, on Sept. 10, with a posting by OSI-Baltimore Director Diana Morris laying out the parameters of the site.
This week’s entry is by Baltimore City School CEO Andres Alonso; in it, he urges schools to rethink themselves as “part of a supportive, connected ecology that embraces innovation and a rethinking of what cities, neighborhoods and schools offer a citizenship in need of a reinvention of teaching and learning.”
Deborah Rubino, OSI-Baltimore’s director of communications, says the blog “is by invitation at this moment. But my feeling is that this is really going to be an evolving thing.
“OSI believes in the idea of discussion and debate, and that all members of our society should be able to be participants,” Rubino said. “At this point, we want for people to go to the blog and comment on what’s there.”
Future bloggers who will post their ‘Audacious Ideas’ include Dr. Josh Scharfstein, Baltimore City health commissioner; Hathaway Ferebee, director of Baltimore Safe and Sound; Victor Capoccia, program director of OSI’s new national initiative to close the drug treatment gap; and Jane Sundius, director for the education and youth development program at OSI-Baltimore.
Then, too, you can always come to The Daily Record’s blog to see what’s on our mind. We, also, invite your comments to any of our postings.
What are some of your “audacious” ideas?
-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWhat’s BRAC mean to you?
September 18, 2007
BRAC is coming. No, this big, ugly acronym is not the newest nemesis of Godzilla. Though, Mothra has got to be collecting mothballs by now (yes, a sad pun, but I couldn’t help myself).
BRAC, translated from governmental jargon, is the Defense Department’s base realignment and closure process. And the areas near Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground are set to reap the bounty of defense workers who will soon be flooding into our state from the soon-to-be shuttered Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.
Yes, it means more jobs for Maryland, which will be a boost to the state’s economy, along with more people looking to buy homes and possibly more home construction to accommodate the new residents, which could boost a slumping housing market. All positive things, I admit.
But to me, and further confirmation that I’ve slowly morphed into a grumpy old curmudgeon, BRAC just means more traffic and more profanity-laced rides to work. Yes, I’m happy for the state of Maryland, but I’m full of fear and loathing for the state of commuters who already seem to suffer from declining motor skills and mental capacity in larger and larger numbers.
Barring my rage-fueled roadside rant, what does BRAC mean to you?
Montgomery menus
September 18, 2007
Undeterred by the legal setback of similar legislation in New York City, Montgomery County officials are moving forward with a proposed bill that would require chain restaurants to post nutritional information on menus.
For example, Ruby Tuesday locations in the county would be forced to disclose that its “Handcrafted Classic Cheeseburger” weighs in at a whopping 1,074 calories and 78 grams of fat.
The next step is a public hearing at the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. Do you think the law should move forward?
—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
Sphere: Related ContentMolded in their image
September 17, 2007
Bob Woodward and Marion Barry will soon be rubbing (wax) elbows.
Figures created for a new D.C. wax museum are being readied for an Oct. 4 opening.
Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, Robert E. Lee, J. Edgar Hoover, Bob Woodward and Marion Barry will be among the attraction’s more than 50 figures.
Once the museum opens, the sculptures - which are painstakingly researched and designed - have to be touched up every day after close.
“Sometimes we have to remove lipstick marks from some of the more popular figures,” Lisa Partridge, the museum’s hair color artist, told the AP. “The George Clooneys get a lot of attention from women who touch them and kiss them.”
While Woodward was a frontrunner, his reporting partner Carl Bernstein will have to wait. Bernstein is on the waiting list for future museum additions.
Which other local figures should be on the list?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Above: The wax heads for Thomas Jefferson, left, Johnny Depp and Beyonce Knowles, wait for installation at the newest Madame Tussauds wax museum in Washington.
Sphere: Related ContentDoctors to roll up their sleeves
September 17, 2007
According to a report by the Associated Press, British hospitals are revising their dress codes — and making doctors dress down. Physicians will be banned from wearing neckties, long sleeves and jewelry, and even the ubiquitous long, white coat.
Why, you ask? It’s an effort to curb the spread of hospital-borne infections.
Think it will work? And would you trust a dressed-down, short-sleeve wearing doc more than a traditionally attired one?
-BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
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