ANNAPOLIS – Clear Skies, a new federal air pollution initiative, would mean $3 billion in health and other benefits for Maryland, Environmental Protection Administrator Christie Whitman told Maryland officials Tuesday

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration this week unveiled a fiscal 2004 budget that cuts funding for wastewater treatment plant upgrades in Maryland to $20 million, down from about $32 million in fiscal 2002

WASHINGTON – Maryland lawmakers vowed Tuesday to preserve funding for a Food and Drug Administration complex at White Oak, after President Bush failed to include construction funds for the project in his fiscal 2004 budget

ANNAPOLIS – Abortion opponents in the General Assembly are putting all their energy into one bill this session: a measure to require minors to get a judge’s permission when seeking an abortion without their parents’ knowledge

WASHINGTON – Maryland law says that prisoners without high school diplomas have to take classes toward their GED — but nothing in the law says the state has to make it easy for them

ANNAPOLIS – Cigarettes already go for about $5 a pack in Maryland, but that didn’t prevent Sen

ANNAPOLIS – The Prince George’s County General Assembly delegation got a hard sell from House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, who appeared at their meeting to detail his opposition to legalizing slot machines

ANNAPOLIS – Proposals to scale back Head Start in Montgomery County – which operates one of Maryland’s largest preschool programs for low-income students – have child care advocates worried about how families will cope with planned shorter class periods and fewer social services

WASHINGTON – Recruiter Richard Rabicoff has told students for years that accounting can be “sexy,” but it took corporate scandals at Enron and Arthur Andersen to make them listen

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland Legal Services Corp