Possible Enzyte trouble for Venable?
August 29, 2008
It’s a fun day at The Daily Record when we get to write about sex-enhancement potions, especially when there’s a connection to a law firm with roots here.
You’ll probably recall that earlier this week, the founder of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, maker of the “male enhancement” supplement Enzyte, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and other charges.
Today, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Berkeley’s in-house lawyer, Paul Kellogg, was sentenced to one year for obstruction and money laundering. He apparently advised the company to hide its money from the government by setting up trusts. That’s where the local connection comes in:
[U.S. District Judge S. Arthur] Spiegel asked prosecutors whether they would investigate a Baltimore-based law firm, the Venable firm, because two of its lawyers advised the company about the trusts. [Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne] Porter said that was unlikely but she would be willing to consider any evidence Kellogg could provide.
She said Kellogg has refused to cooperate so far.
A spokesman for Venable did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Late in the afternoon before a holiday weekend, I couldn’t get any comment from a Venable PR rep either.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentRavens fans are the (17th) best
August 29, 2008
At Thursday’s preseason Ravens game against Atlanta, I was struck by the number of fans not only showing up, but tailgating and cheering like it was their job. After all, it was a game that didn’t count and — being the last game before the regular season starts — one that was unlikely to feature many starters.
I’ve been to a preseason Redskins game and the atmosphere wasn’t nearly as energetic. That stadium seemed to mostly be filled with people that couldn’t sell off their season ticket seats. And that game was even on a weekend, versus a weeknight.
I asked several fans what they thought made Ravens fans so die hard and many used the opportunity to take shots at ‘Skins fans, who some said were more of the “suit and tie” variety than the stuff real football fans are made of.
Friday, however, I was alerted to an article on ESPN.com that ranked all 32 NFL teams’ fans. If you’re a Ravens fan, the results aren’t pretty. Taking into account stadium and tailgating atmosphere, notoriety of fans, how they take a loss, loyalty, and home fans’ creativity, ESPN had Redskins fans ranked No. 6 and Ravens fans ranked 17th (right behind the Jets, Saints and Colts). Steelers fans were ranked No. 1.
Ouch. I can think of a few people I spoke to last night that would strongly disagree.
Check it out and let us know what you think. The article has Steelers, Packers and Browns fans ranked 1, 2, 3. Did the ESPN bloggers totally miss the boat? What didn’t they get about Baltimore?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentEiswert, Sherbin seek Garrett bench seat
August 29, 2008
Garrett County, currently functioning without a district court judge, moved one step closer Friday afternoon to getting one.
Friday was the deadline for new applications for the seat that belonged to Judge Ralph M. Burnett before his death last May. Burnett was Garrett’s only district judge, so the rural county has gone without one for more than a year now. Garrett’s circuit court judge and the two district court judges in neighboring Allegany County have been picking up the slack.
The Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission that covers Western Maryland advertised the vacancy last year and received four applications, but they only deemed two of the candidates qualified enough to forward on to the governor.
After that, O’Malley said in an executive order that commissions have to give him at least three choices. The Western Maryland commission took a second look at the two candidates they originally rejected but again passed them over.
The commission readvertised the vacancy and now has two additional candidates to consider, Oakland lawyers Leonard J. Eiswert and Linda S. Sherbin.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentHow much is your pet worth?
August 29, 2008
Our family cat, a Maine Coon who’s a svelte 18 pounds and 15 years old, was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism this week. He’d grown a benign tumor and lost three pounds in just three months by the time we brought him to the vet. We’re hoping his condition can be controlled through medication, but our veterinarian suggested radioactive iodine treatment if it doesn’t - a big procedure that comes with a big price tag ($1,400).
We’re not alone in having an awkward debate about the price of our pet’s life. Neal Templin at the Wall Street Journal wrote about his beagle’s astronomical medical bills earlier this month, and devoted a second column to the subject after getting an overwhelming number of responses to the first.
So how much is a pet’s life worth?
We know from TDR Reporter Anne Riley’s story from Aug. 10 that when the economy’s shaky, pet owners are less likely to give their vet the green light for an expensive procedure.
Anne wrote:
According to Dr. Kim Hammond, owner of Falls Road Animal Hospital …. given the economic conditions, pet owners are thinking harder about whether to give veterinarians the go-ahead for expensive surgeries.
“When your animal is really, really sick, you’re going to make a judgment call about whether to treat, when in the past, you didn’t make a judgment call — you just treated it,” he said. “When we had more expendable dollars, we might take the chance.”
Jess Townsend, who supervises admissions at the Maryland SPCA, said the organization has seen an uptick in euthanasia requests from pet owners who cannot afford the necessary vet care their pets require. “With the larger medical problems, people do bring them in to put them to sleep,” Townsend said.
But while those owners are struggling, others are treating their pets with human-grade care, such as acupuncture.
Where would you draw the line? $500? $1,000? …more?
Does it matter if your animal is a rescue (as one man told WSJ, “I paid $110 for our family cocker spaniel from a rescue organization six years ago, and I will pay no more than $110 to keep her alive”) or a purebred?
Would the state of the economy impact your decision at all?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentDMC at the DNC
August 28, 2008
Several of our fellow Dolan Media publications have joined together to form DMC@theConventions, a Web site chronicling the political conventions. It’s a good place to go if you’re interested in seeing what’s been going on but — like me — reluctant to subject yourself to actually watching the whole thing on television.
Obviously most of the current coverage is on the Democrats in Denver. However, there’s also a section previewing the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the site will feature more coverage of that shindig when the time comes.
Much appreciation to the Arizona Capitol Times, Colorado Springs Business Journal, Politics in Minnesota and the St. Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report for all their great reporting.
Also on the topic of Dolan Media/political coverage is “Politics and Profits,” a blog examining business issues in the 2008 election. It’s a complementary site to DMC@theConventions, but the current plan is to keep it updated up to the election. Check it out when you have the time.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
Sphere: Related ContentBad news for gas prices
August 28, 2008
That’s it — don’t move. Don’t even think about going anywhere, it’s just not worth it. The folks at AAA Mid-Atlantic have been busy little bees this week, first predicting massive delays on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this weekend due to emergency repair work and now are warning travelers of an expected increase in gas prices in response to Tropical Storm Gustav.
“Although the market is reacting to storm updates, there is still some uncertainty about the path of the storm,” said spokeswoman Ragina C. Averella in AAA’s press release, noting that gas prices across Maryland have dropped an average of 34 cents in the last month.
But the three G’s — Gustav, the Gulf and gas — are already having an impact on crude oil prices, to the chagrin of motorists, travelers and some oil investors, according to the release. Crude oil futures jumped to $116.26 — up $1.115 per a barrel — Tuesday and continued rising, closing at $118 Wednesday.
“Investors fear Gustav could hit U.S. waters by Sunday and could morph into a monster storm by early next week, impacting about 85 percent of the energy infrastructure on the Gulf Coast,” the press release states.
First the Bay Bridge is going to be (and probably already is) a parking lot on one of the biggest travel weekends of the year and now we’ve got another predicted gas price hike on top of it? I didn’t have any travel plans for the Labor Day weekend but if I did I’d likely consider breaking them.
Is anyone bagging their original plans for the holiday and staying home this year?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentBlogger arrested for leaking songs
August 28, 2008
“Welcome to the courtroom, we set bail set at 10K,” probably was not a variation on “Welcome to the Jungle” Kevin Cogill had ever considered. Yet those were the circumstances he faced Wednesday morning in federal court in Los Angeles.
Cogill’s alleged crime: leaking nine songs off Guns N’ Roses long-anticipated new album on his blog earlier this year.
What makes the story even more interesting is Cogill just about predicted Wednesday’s arrest and legal troubles on his blog, Antiquiet (which, be warned, does contain profanity).
Cogill, 27 and a huge GNR fan, posted the songs on Antiquiet in June. The rush of users caused the entire site to crash and the songs were eventually removed. “Also, we got a call from Guns N’ Roses,” Cogill noted in the same revised post, foreshadowing his future troubles. “Stay tuned.”
Three days ago, Cogill, aka Skwerl, asked his readers if they knew any good lawyers who could represent him in the copyright infringement case. The FBI had been interviewing him and collecting information, he said. “More and more each day, it looks like I may be indicted.”
It appears the site’s remaining bloggers will keep tabs on the legal proceedings. The last post noted that the judge let Cogill go home on a signature bond for the $10,000 and told him not to leave the district before his next court date, a preliminary hearing on Sept. 17.
The leaked songs are from “Chinese Democracy,” an album 10 years in the making that has reportedly already cost $13 million. Still no official word on when Axl Rose and Co. plan to release the album — nor if Cogill will be in jail or a free man the first time he hears it.
DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentBirds of a feather…finally flocking together?
August 28, 2008
The Orioles put out a press release this week announcing a “Ravens Rally” before the team’s game this Saturday against the Oakland A’s at Oriole Park. Complete with cheerleaders, mascots and the marching band, fans can “help the Orioles wish their neighbors good luck this season,” says the Orioles press release.
Baltimore Ravens President Dick Cass will also throw the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game and the first 15,000 fans age 15 and older will get a free tee-shirt with the Oriole Bird carrying a football and wearing a Ravens jersey.
Where did all the love come from? In the Ravens’ 12-year history here, the Orioles have never welcomed their neighbors to the south as warmly as this — not even the season after the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
Did somebody tell O’s owner Peter Angelos to start playing nice in the sandbox?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentMedImmune: Vote for vaccines
August 27, 2008
An interesting piece of campaigning from Maryland’s own MedImmune. The Gaithersburg-based biotech has started a new Web site to push the importance of taking the flu vaccine. More specifically, it’s pushing the importance of taking its version of the vaccine, which is delivered with a nasal spray instead of through a needle.
The “interesting” part is that the Web site is set up like a campaign Web site — campaign buttons, a call to cast your “fluvote” and a string of red, white and blue banners.
I suppose it’s a timely piece of advertising, and a good way for the company to get its message out. Still, just thinking about campaigning and politics gives me a little eye twitch — the same one I get whenever I see a political ad on television.
Thanks to the WSJ blog for seeing it first.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
Sphere: Related ContentAngelos employees backing Biden
August 27, 2008
USA Today has a story today about Joe Biden’s ties to lawyers who specialize in asbestos litigation and his votes on measures that would affect this area of the law. (Hat tip: WSJ Law Blog.) Here’s the lede (yes, that’s how we spell it in journalism) of the story:
Sen. Joe Biden worked to defeat a bipartisan bill designed to curb asbestos lawsuits at a time his son’s law firm was filing them in Delaware and a former aide was lobbying against the measure, according to public records and interviews.
The story notes that three of Biden’s largest contributors over his career have been firms specializing in plaintiff-side asbestos work. (The employees or PACs gave, not the firms themselves.)
You can probably see where this is going. The story doesn’t name the firms, but a quick trip to Open Secrets, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, shows that one of them — the one that gave the most money, in fact — is the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos. Employees of Angelos’ firm have given Biden $156,250 since 1989, making the firm Biden’s fourth-largest contributor.
As you can imagine, Angelos’ lawyers were also kind to Biden during his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president this year. Employees of the firm gave him $50,750, making them his third-largest contributor.
USA Today notes that Barack Obama has touted his vote for 2005’s Class Action Fairness Act “as evidence he was willing to stand up to trial lawyers.” I wonder if that will be enough to keep Angelos’ lawyers from directing a whole mess of money Obama and Biden’s way this fall. I doubt it, especially since, as the story points out, Obama, like Biden, voted against a series of measures that would have limited asbestos litigation.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
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