Feds go crabbing

A Crisfield seafood wholesaler, MeTompkin Bay Oyster Company, pled guilty last month to federal charges of purchasing and selling undersized crabs. The AP reports the company was hit with a $50,000 fine, and was ordered to hand over 3,200 dozen undersized crabs.

Being a regular consumer of Maryland’s most well-known crustacean, the revelation of undersized crabs on the market is no shock. Thinking back many summers, the size and meatiness of the Chesapeake Bay bottom-dwellers sold now doesn’t even compare to a bushel I would madly dig through as a 12-year-old hopped up on Old Bay. If anyone thinks I’m delusional from all the ingested phosphates and nitrates in the bay, feel free to set me straight.

The only good news out of this nefarious seafood scandal? The undersized crabs seized in the sting will be donated to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore for two North American river otters’ dining pleasure. Dinner time is today, in case anyone wants to watch and celebrate the one-time evidence disappearing.

—FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

Selling Maryland in New York

DBED went New York City today to sell Maryland. Thankfully the sales staff was calmer than the choppy water on the Hudson.

The staff welcomed about 70 high-level government and Wall Street officials to the Pride of Baltimore II. The sole mission was to pitch Maryland as a great place to do business.

Since this was more of a schmooze-fest than a hard-core closing, the execs were relaxed and enjoying themselves. They ate the crab cakes, drank the beer and seemed to have a good time being outside the office on a beautiful, cool fall day in the City That Never Sleeps.

People always talk about how jaded New Yorkers are, but they were like kids with their noses pressed up against the glass looking at puppies as they tried to sneak a peek at the tall ship.

So the ship made quite an impact. Now we’ll wait for the business to start pouring in.

-LOUIS LLOVIO, Business Writer

Who's calling US losers?

Did the Wall Street Journal just call Marylanders losers? How ironic.

"We're especially glad this month that we don't live in Maryland," writes a WSJ reporter yesterday.

Note: Through the link above, you'll only be able to access the first few paragraphs unless you're a subscriber. That is, until Rupert gets his way.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Are you picking up the tab?

I’m looking for more business owners.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax plan to end the state's budget woes will cost you more, whether your business pays its own taxes or is a "pass-through entity," in which the shareholders are taxed for their earnings.

Many small businesses and partnerships will see increases, too, through a projected rise in income tax that O'Malley has said is primarily for the wealthy.

Which one do you think will cost businesses more?

Please email me or give me a call at 443 524-8175.

-ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

Living wage law takes effect

Minimum wage workers employed by contractors working on state projects will benefit from the living wage law that went into effect Monday: in the Baltimore-Washington area, they'll now earn at least $11.30/hour. In rural areas, the minimum is set at $8.50/hour.

The Going to the Mat blog noted yesterday one of the foreseeable effects of the $2.80-per-hour difference between rural areas and cities: jobs in urban areas will be more appealing.

And you know what that means.

More traffic (and development) in Baltimore and Washington, as workers from the outlying areas commute in to a higher-paying job.

Do you think that'll truly happen?

Is there a solution out there that could address city workers' higher cost of living without this side effect?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Justice in a motorhome

Supreme Court junkies have known for some time now that Justice Clarence Thomas enjoys tooling around in a 40-foot motor home, but the news on last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” interview came as no small surprise to the rest of us.

Worse yet, since 60 Minutes prudently declined to show its exterior, we still have no idea what the big rig looks like: Winnebago or Fleetwood? Earth tones or big swooshy stripes? Until we can pinpoint the answer, we blow our horns at the behemoth ahead of us at our peril.

The best we can hope for is some sign — a Supreme Court parking decal, maybe, or a “Right makes might” bumper sticker. Or maybe a silk-screened wheel cover, like a message T-shirt for ecologically challenged vehicles: “Kelo was robbed,” say (PDF). Or “Ask me about the Framers’ intent”?

If you were Thomas, what would your wheel cover say?

-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

No questions for health

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department, is the latest guest blogger to present his "audacious idea" on the new blog of the same name.

Sharfstein centers his post on his frustration with the dearth of health-related questions raised at community meetings:

But that first question went to the Department of Transportation ....Then the second did too. As the minutes and then hours went by, I sat like a stone. No questions for Health.

According to Sharfstein, the few questions he has fielded are mostly concerning rat eradication. Reminds me of colleague Andy Rosen's post about dead pigeons.

We all know the city of Baltimore faces a host of problems, all of which are pressing; but is health really at the bottom of the list?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Help Andy Rosen with his taxes!

Many business owners know that the state personal income taxes are not always entirely personal. For example, S corporations often pay income tax on their earnings through their owners.

One of the main arguments that business groups have advanced against Gov. Martin O’Malley’s new income tax plan (to add new brackets for single taxpayers who make more than $150,000) is that business owners — not just wealthy individuals — will shoulder much of the load.

I want to hear from you for a story I will be writing over the next few days, especially if you own your own business. Are you worried about the personal income tax changes? How do you think they will affect Maryland? And will you be hurt (or helped) by the expansion of the state sales tax?

Please email (andy.rosen@mddailyrecord.com) or call me at (443) 524-8175.

-ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

Note: a nod to The Menu Pages blog for the image.

Law blog round-up

Here are a few legal links for your Monday morning:

• The Post has an update on the Samuel Sheinbein case. (Hat tip: Baltimore Crime.)
  
• James Gross at the Maryland Divorce Legal Crier has a Mickey Spillane-esque (“I knew she was in trouble the minute she walked into my law office”) post on filing a claim for dissipation.
  
• Want to know which new book about SCOTUS you should read? Stephen Griffin at Balkinization gives his recommendation here.
  
• Family lawyers may want to check out this post on fixed fees, over at the South Carolina Family Law Blog. (Hat tip: Home Office Lawyer.)
  
• The Times has this fascinating story on how DNA exonerations have changed criminal prosecutions. There’s a bit about some new laws in Maryland. (Thanks to How Appealing for the link.)

-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Site reveals law firms behind Wikipedia edits

Have you tried that cool WikiScanner tool yet?

The Web site lets you check out who — or at least what organization — was responsible for a given change to a Wikipedia entry. I tried it the other day, putting in the names of a few Maryland law firms to see what employees there had edited.

One interesting edit: someone at Ober Kaler modified an entry about Baltimore. Before this person got his or her hands on it, the entry said that Baltimore has not been represented by a Republican in Congress “in decades.”

On July 28 of last year, the Ober editor changed the end of the sentence to “since Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. stepped down fomr [sic] the 2nd Congressional District seat to run for Governor - a position he won by defeating Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.” (Our mystery poster corrected the spelling mistake two minutes later.)

It’s a pretty innocuous entry, but interesting because Ober is Bob Ehrlich’s old firm.

Also, someone at Venable realllly likes former state Sen. Paula Hollinger. Her entry was edited a few times by someone there in December of 2005. One of the edits was the addition of this paragraph:

Senator Hollinger is often noted for the surface disparity of her height, standing at 4’9”, and her stature as one of the most powerful women in the state. She is often heard calling people “honey,” and is ubiquitously known as just “Paula.” Her sometimes-maternal demeanor stands in contrast again to her position as a firm leader with a record of implementing first-of-its-kind legislation, especially in health care.

Note that by December of 2005, John Sarbanes, at the time chairman of Venable’s health care practice, had announced that he would run against Hollinger for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd congressional district race.

Has anyone else found anything interesting, Maryland law-wise, on here?

-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer