Taxes, taxes, taxes

When reporter Andy Rosen was preparing for the weekend ahead on Friday, no doubt he knew it would be a long one.

And it was.

From Annapolis, he filed updates from the Special Session for the web on Saturday and Sunday; an updated story, which he filed at 2:45a.m. this morning, was posted to our Web site today.

The conclusion of the marathon session? Lawmakers agreed to raise $1.4 billion in new taxes, including sales tax expansion, a rise in the corporate income tax, and increased personal income taxes for the wealthy.

Reactions?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Too busy for the holidays?

Pretty soon many of us will be opening our Christmas presents with a Bluetooth headset in our ears, barking orders at office assistants and settling lawsuits under the mistletoe.

That seems to be the way things are headed, at least if you believe a recent poll by staffing firm OfficeTeam.

It found that four out of ten of us won't take any additional days off around the holidays - only the ones our employers provide. Another one in six will only take an extra day or two off.

Is this because we've all already used our vacation time (boy, that camping trip in June was worth it), or because we're simply too busy to detach from work?

WaPo writes: "Research shows that one-third of people who don't use up their vacation think they're too busy to get away."

Are you too busy to enjoy the holidays?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Where the women judges aren’t

U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis hosted five Egyptian jurists Thursday morning at the federal courthouse in Baltimore as part of their tour of the American judicial system.

The visiting judges were among 30 women who were named to Egypt’s bench in April in an acknowledged quest for diversity by a country that saw its first female judge less than 5 years ago.

Their crash course in the workings of U.S. courts began in a conference room where Davis and his colleagues meet every Wednesday to videoconference with their peers in Greenbelt.

The contrast between the seminar participants (a black American man and five Egyptian women) and the portraits on the wall (of four white men — three federal judges and a chancellor from centuries past) was stark.

The United States has certainly come a long way since the days of all-white, all-male benches and bars — far enough to teach Egypt a thing or two.

But wait: of Davis’ peers on the U.S. District Court in Maryland, how many are women? Two, out of a total of 10 judges, or two out of 13 if you also count the senior judges.

There are also only two women on the seven-member Maryland Court of Appeals, and four on the 13-member Court of Special Appeals. And needless to say, there’s only one woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seems the teacher must keep learning, too.

-BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer

An unconventional Thanksgiving feast

Today’s Maryland Business cover story is about Marylanders who plan to turn to restaurants, grocery stores and catering companies to handle the cooking chores of a Thanksgiving feast.

For the first time in my life, I’m set to be one of them. Only I won’t be in Maryland. Another person in our editorial department is in the same situation. So as helpful as the story is to those who plan to stay in state, where should the rest of us look to guide our holiday plans?

The answer just might be OpenTable.com.

Want steak in Manhattan? Sushi in Fort Worth? Fusion cuisine in Boise? There’s a good chance the site can find you the restaurant and make you the reservation. I’m already searching for my Thanksgiving dinner. I’m in the mood for a good fettuccini carbonara – just like the Pilgrims would have had if they’d had more options.

So whether you’re looking for a hassle-free holiday – or you’re just a glutton with diverse tastes – check it out. Let us know what you find.

-JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

Superheroes Online

It’s the increasingly classic story of old media trying to reach out to a new media world – only this time the characters have capes and spandex.

Marvel Comics – they of Spider-Man, the X-Men and Captain America – this week announced thousands of its old comics would be made available online. Just $59.88 annually will get you into the archive.

So why are you reading about this on a business blog?

Because comics are big business these days. The Marvel movie “Spider-Man 3” pulled in $885 million at the world-wide box office, according to IMDB.com. The X-Men franchise has also pulled in a few hundred million dollars for the company. The death of Captain America earlier this year was front-page news across the country. Front page news – for the death of a fictional character.

Brad Meltzer, author of novels and assorted comic books, says the Web site is what the industry needs right now, according to a Washington Post story:

"They're building the next generation of readers; they're creating geeks as we speak," Meltzer said. "This is how you, potentially, save comics in a world where kids just want to sit in front of a glowing computer.

Personally, I think it’s just a great way to re-live some of my pre-teen geekdom. What do you think? Will online comics – or online versions of any popular print medium – ever replace paper and ink?

-JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

Was that a strip search?

The venerable SCOTUSBlog (Can a blog be venerable? If so, this one is) has put the Maryland buttocks-search case on its list of cases that have a good chance of getting cert. It’s the fifth one down.

If you recall, back in June, the Court of Appeals voted 4-3 to reverse the conviction of John Paulino, whose upper buttocks were spread and searched at a car wash by a police officer looking for cocaine. (A tipster had told police that Paulino routinely hid his drugs between his cheeks.) The majority, led by Judge Greene, said that the police failed to protect Paulino’s privacy when they reached into his exposed undershorts. The dissenters, led by Judge Battaglia, said the search was reasonable; in a separate two-paragraph dissent, Judge Cathell said that if Paulino wanted privacy, he should not have worn his pants so low.

The state is asking the Supreme Court to clarify what constitutes a strip search and whether the Court of Appeals has now outlawed “entirely reasonable police conduct,” according to its cert petition.

Do you think SCOTUS will take this one? Did the Court of Appeals go too far here?

-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Does the IRS owe you dough?

According to the Internal Revenue Service, there are 115,478 people out there who are due tax refund checks. The missing checks were ones returned to the IRS as undeliverable.

The IRS says the average check is $953 and a claim can be filed online or over the phone after you update your address.

Follow the link to the IRS Web site and check for yourself.

To update your address you will need to give them your Social Security number, how you filed (married filing jointly, single, etc…) and the exact refund amount from the tax return. You can also call 1-800-829-1040.

-BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor

Should newspapers own TV stations?

There is a new sheriff in town at the FCC - Chairman Kevin Martin - and he has a new approach to relaxing the cross-ownership rules for newspapers and television stations.

After the FCC tried and failed four years ago to eliminate the cross-ownership prohibition in all but the nation's smallest cities, Martin is offering a compromise in which newspapers in the 20 largest media markets (Baltimore is not one of them; Washington is) could buy one radio or TV station in their cities as long as the station was not one of the four most-watched or listened to in the market.

So far, according to The Washington Post, no one besides Martin seems to like the idea. Newspaper publishers (including Tribune Co., owner of The Sun) say it doesn't go far enough and anti-media consolidation folk say this is a big step in the wrong direction.

What do you think? Should newspapers own TV stations, or with the growth of the Internet and cable television, does it even matter any more?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

Fourth circuit settles canine couture fight

Score one for the little guy (or pooch).

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling today that kept Las Vegas-based Haute Diggity Dog and Ashburn, Va.-based Woofie’s Pet Boutique in business.

Luxury handbag maker Louis Vuitton had claimed Haute infringed on its trademark with “Chewy Vuiton” dog toys, but – as the AP puts it – the court “refused to bite.”

The AP reports:

Judge Paul V. Niemeyer found that Chewy Vuiton is "a joking and amusing parody" that "pokes fun at the elegance and expensiveness of a LOUIS VUITTON handbag."

Read the full opinion here. (PDF)

And take note of some of Haute's other parodies: Chewnel perfume and The Bark Street Journal.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Pew research highlights struggles of middle-income African Americans

For many of us, success means exceeding our parents’ accomplishments in income, class and education.

But a WaPo story that’s getting a lot of attention today highlights the struggle of African Americans to transfer the benefits of middle-class life to their children.

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to reports today from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Highlights from Pew:

-Two out of three Americans who were children in 1968 had higher incomes than their parents.
-Women’s incomes have contributed greatly to growth in family incomes.
-In 2004, black women earned a median income of $21,000, almost equal to that of white women.
-Black men had a median income of $25,600, less than two-thirds than that of white men.

A sociologist from Columbia University listed potential factors contributing to the findings, including the increase in the number of single-parent black households, continued educational gaps between blacks and whites, and the racial isolation that exists for many black Americans.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor