Lieutenant Governor Packing His Bags -- for China Trade Mission

Maryland's first high-level overseas trade mission since Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) took office is scheduled for next month. But O'Malley won't be making the trip to China himself.

The governor is instead dispatching Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) to lead a delegation of a half-dozen state officials, who plan to visit businesses in China with investments in Maryland, as well as some in which Marylanders have invested, and to look for prospects.

On the second leg of the two-week trip, which starts Sept. 16, Brown will head for Taiwan on what is being billed as a cultural and educational mission as part of his duties with the National Lieutenant Governors Association.

Economic development is one of several areas O'Malley has asked Brown to oversee, and aides say Brown's trip is consistent with that job. O'Malley will make future trips, they added. Late September might also be a pivotal time in making choices about Maryland's structural deficit.

-- John Wagner

O'Malley Goes for a Spin

It is not often that Gov. Martin O'Malley gets behind the wheel. One of the perks of both of his current job and his old one, mayor of Baltimore, is a sport-utility vehicle driven by a law-enforcement officer.

So O'Malley, it seemed, made the most of his freedom last week on a test drive of a solar-powered vehicle donated to the state. At an event staged on the boardwalk of Ocean City, where O'Malley was attending the conference of the Maryland Association of Counties, the governor was offered the chance to take a spin in the overhauled, open-air hunting vehicle that features a solar panel on its roof.

O'Malley took the wheel of "this cool new car," as he put it, with a representative of BP Solar, the company that donated it, riding shotgun. A state trooper was perched on the back, and O'Malley looped around the roped-off event site, with some curious beachgoers and a modest media contingent looking on.

The trooper hopped off, and then the fun began. Before anyone realized it, the four-wheel-drive solar vehicle had disappeared into the streets of Ocean City, with only O'Malley and the BP representative on board, navigating traffic.

The troopers assigned to guard O'Malley appeared shocked and slightly amused. Radio communication ensued, and one trooper soon moved in the direction of the street to look for the governor. O'Malley returned a few minutes later, unscathed.