Kiosko.net Les quotidiennes

baltimoresun.com

Informing more than 1 million Maryland readers weekly in print and online
Price $1. Our 173rd year, No. 70

THURSDAY March 11, 2010

Bat-killing fungus may be in Md., experts say
Evidence of ‘white nose’ found near Cumberland
By Frank D. Roylance
FRANK.ROYLANCE@BALTSUN.COM

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2010 SESSION

Higher fees, fines sought to help poor
Court services such as marriage licenses, divorces, other civil actions, traffic
violations would cost more to pay for shelters, free legal aid

Biologists have found what they believe is the first evidence that Maryland bats
are now infected with white nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease that has killed
more than a million hibernating bats since 2006, devastating colonies from New England
to Virginia. A state biologist conducting a bat survey Friday found dead and weakened
bats in a cave on private property near Cumberland, the Department of Natural Resources
reported Wednesday . About three-quarters of the winged mammals had the telltale
white fungus on their muzzles and other exposed skin. “It’s likely going to kill
a majority of them before spring,” said Dan Feller, the western region DNR biologist
who found them. Typically once the disease , is established in a colony 90 percent
of , the bats are gone by the second year. The dead bats, and samples of the fungus,
have been sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., for tests.
Results are expected in several weeks. The discovery was no surprise. White nose
syndrome has been creeping steadily south, east and west from caves near Albany N.Y.,
where it was first seen , in 2006. Scientists aren’t sure how it is being transmitted.
Bat-to-bat contact is an obvious possibility but the fungus’ rapid , spread has
also implicated human cave explorers, who might carry the fungal See BATS, page 8

Marriage & Divorce
A Baltimore marriage license could rise to $85. A petition to divorce in Prince George’s
County would cost $45 more.

Courts
Some fees would rise between $5 and $45. Filing a small-claims action would rise
$10, to $30. Details, PG 17

Tickets
Traffic fines could rise by $7.50 to help pay for state police helicopters and volunteer
firefighters’ equipment.

Lawmakers considering cuts in state aid to city
By Annie Linskey |
ANNIE.LINSKEY@BALTSUN.COM

By Julie Bykowicz |

JULIE.BYKOWICZ@BALTSUN.COM

SUMMARY OF THE NEWS
SPORTS

WR Mason still a Raven
Joe Flacco’s top target and the most consistent wide-out in team history agrees
to two-year, $8 million deal. SPORTS, PG 1

TODAY’S WEATHER
SPOTTY RAIN

HIGH LOW

A new General Assembly analysis of Baltimore’s transportation spending has reopened
a debate over state aid to the city — and is leading some lawmakers to consider
multimillion-dollar cuts. The city receives more state funding than any county ,
and nowhere is that discrepancy more apparent than in the distribution of gas tax
and titling fee revenues. Baltimore is to receive $130 million from that fund in
the next fiscal year; the state’s 23 counties will split the remaining $10 million.
“In the rural areas it is hard to explain that to people,” said Del. Murray D.
Levy a Charles County Democrat. , “People back in some of the rural districts are
saying, ‘We pay taxes, too.’ ” That sentiment was echoed in the state Senate.
“We have to make some changes,” said Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr., an Anne Arundel
County Democrat on the Budget and Taxation Committee. “I believe you have to make
it fair and balanced throughout the state.” A study by General Assembly fiscal
analysts is fueling the debate. It showed that in the current budget year Baltimore
allocated less than two-thirds of its $241 million in highway money to maintaining
roads — spending the rest on items such as crossing guards, tree planting, traffic
police, student transportation to city schools and alley cleaning. “I think it
undercuts the city’s argument that they need the money for roads,” Levy said.
Warren Deschenaux, the state’s top fiscal analyst, has proposed removing $30 million
from Baltimore’s allocaSee FUNDING, page 17

Getting married in Baltimore, divorced in Prince George’s County and suing someone
across Maryland could soon cost considerably more as state lawmakers get creative
in their search for money to support programs for the poor. A half-dozen fee increases
on court services are moving through the General Assembly at a time when the state
is facing its own $2 billion shortfall and has little to give struggling social causes.
The most sweeping change — a 50 percent jump in some civil case filing charges
— unanimously passed the Senate this week and is being debated by a House of Delegates
committee. Other proposals include allowing local governments to impose a $75 surcharge
on marriage applications in Baltimore and $70 on divorce petitions in Prince George’s
County . Money raised from the increased fees would go to domestic violence shelters
and to lawyers who provide free assistance in See FEES, page 17

JED KIRSCHBAUM/BALTIMORE SUN PHOTO

Rainy and windy on Friday PG 3

Maryland Legal Aid’s Christina Sawyer, right, conducts an intake interview with
Melvin Williams of South Baltimore and a friend, Bernice Johnson, to determine how
best to help him.

2 coats with a notable past go on sale as part of Dixon deal
By Julie Scharper
JULIE.SCHARPER@BALTSUN.COM

KARL MERTON FERRON/BALTIMORE SUN PHOTO

An official in the state prosecutor’s office removes two furs that once belonged
to former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon so they can be placed up for bid on eBay.

The coats — one fashioned from lustrous mink, the other from whorls of sable-colored
Persian lamb — rest on hangers from a high-end furrier. A tag is looped around
each fur, marked with the name of the woman who once owned them and, in bold, black
letters: “EVIDENCE.” One would not normally expect to find a pair of luxurious
coats hanging in a conference room in the Office of the State Prosecutor. But these
furs have a remarkable past: Gifts to former Mayor Sheila Dixon from a developer
and then-boyfriend, they were seized by investigators after Dixon failed to disclose
them on city ethics forms. Dixon surrendered the furs to the state last month as
part of a plea deal to settle criminal cases that led to her resignation.

Now begins the next chapter in the coats’ history: The state prosecutor’s office
is selling them on the online auction site eBay . “This is a first for our office,”
said State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, who led the years-long City Hall corruption
investigation. The coats, and the former mayor’s camcorder, were posted Wednesday
afternoon, joining an Xbox gaming system seized from Dixon’s home that was offered
for auction earlier this week. Bids on the Xbox have soared to $800, more than seven
times the going rate for comparable equipment. “I never in a million years would
have thought the price would go up that high,” said Rohrbaugh. “But the higher
the better.” The proceeds raised by the coats, the gaming system and a camcorder
that prosecutors say Dixon bought with gift cards inSee FURS, page 8

inside

lottery news 4 ● crime & courts news 6 ● business news 12 ● deaths news 16
● opinion news 14 classified sports 6 ● puzzles health&style 5, sports 9 ●
tv health & style 5 ● comics health & style 4

Cataract surgery at Krieger Eye Institute helps patients see clearly.
See page 3 of Health & Style section