Metro

That percentage is an improvement over 2001, when the Department of Transportation finished 20 percent of projects on time.

This fiscal year, which began July 1, VDOT is aiming for a 60 percent on-time rate and completion of more than 100 projects. For the first time, the agency is requiring that all contracts have a fixed completion date, rather than a certain number of days for a project.

MARYLAND

Dispute Continues Over Displacing Media

The Maryland attorney general's office sided with legislative leaders yesterday in a dispute with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) over planned renovations to the State House that would dislocate several media offices.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) argued in a letter to Ehrlich last week that such decisions are subject to approval by the State House Trust, a four-member group that includes both legislative leaders. In a letter yesterday to Miller and Busch, representatives of the attorney general's office agreed.

In June, the Ehrlich administration notified television, radio and newspaper reporters, including those at The Washington Post, that they would have to move out of the State House for three years because their space was needed for gubernatorial staff displaced by renovations to water pipes and air conditioning.

Bipartisan Offering on Malpractice Law

A pair of legislators from Baltimore County presented medical malpractice legislation yesterday designed to break a stalemate in Annapolis.

The bipartisan plan pushed by Sen. James Brochin (D) and Del. John G. Trueschler (R) would effectively freeze Maryland doctors' malpractice rates, leaving the state to pick up the cost of increased premiums. The plan would be funded by a $15 increase in vehicle registration fees every two years. The legislators also called for merging several task forces studying the issue and suggested a special session to enact their legislation.

Maryland doctors' insurance costs increased 28 percent last year and could rise 40 percent at the end of this year.

THE DISTRICT

Mayor Goes to Bat in Houston for Expos

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday that he met with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig during All-Star Game festivities this week in Houston, adding that he hopes baseball officials "make the right decision and bring baseball here."

Selig has said that team owners could decide where to move the Montreal Expos for next season during meetings Aug. 18 and 19 in Philadelphia. Williams said he and other D.C. officials made the rounds in Houston but got little sense of the owners' intentions.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There's no question it is lawful to carry a gun on the street. So we've had to ensure that all of our officers are updated on the nuances of Virginia law that allow citizens to carry firearms in public places."

-- Fairfax police Lt. Col. Charles K. Peters on a Virginia law that allows residents to carry guns, as long as the weapons are fully visible. -- Page A1

Compiled from reports by staff writers David Nakamura, Maria Glod, Darragh Johnson, Jerry Markon, Chris L. Jenkins, Allan Lengel and John Wagner and the Associated Press.