Legislators Plan To Reduce Underage Smoking

ANNAPOLIS – The American Cancer Society provided a forum Tuesday for two Maryland lawmakers to launch an attack on underage smoking

Bill Would Make Spousal Abuse Grounds for Immediate Divorce

ANNAPOLIS – A bill brought before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Tuesday would make abuse one of two reasons a person could file for divorce in the state without a waiting period

Those Who Change Their Sex Might Get New Birth Certificates

ANNAPOLIS – Jessica Meredith Xavier, 44, had her “re- assignment of sex surgery” in September 1993

Study Finds Steady Diet of “Polluter Pork” in Federal Budget

BALTIMORE – A coalition of environmental and taxpayer groups thinks the government should stop worrying about reforming social programs and take on an even bigger budget drain — corporate welfare

Lawmakers Think Lottery May Be the Ticket for Horse Industry

ANNAPOLIS – Casino opponents who want to help the horse industry are now looking to other programs to help keep it alive

State Investigators Become Computer Sleuths

WOODENSBURG, Md

Eastern Shore Superintendents Air Concerns

ANNAPOLIS – Six Eastern Shore school superintendents told lawmakers Thursday that schools are increasingly overburdened by state regulations and social problems that take money away from education

Maryland To Sue Federal Government Over Nuclear Waste Disposal

WASHINGTON – Maryland and more than 30 other states announced Thursday they will sue the Department of Energy over its December announcement that it cannot meet a January 1998 deadline to start disposing of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants

County Officials, Unions Fight To Amend Baltimore School Bill

ANNAPOLIS – Delegates supporting the proposed $254 million settlement to the Baltimore City schools responded Thursday to the rumblings of other counties’ officials, who asked what the bill does for their jurisdictions