MARYLAND BRIEFING

Friday, January 18, 2008

HOME LOANS

State Examines Baltimore Lawsuit

The Maryland attorney general's office is examining the lawsuit that Baltimore filed against Wells Fargo bank last week to determine how the city developed its legal claim against lenders that sold higher-interest subprime loans to blacks more often than whites.

"Reverse redlining is an issue we're interested in," Steven A. Silverman, chief of the consumer protection division in the attorney general's office, told a Maryland House committee Wednesday during a briefing on the subprime mortgage crisis in Maryland.

The state office is looking at how the city collected its data and arrived at its legal theories.

Thomas E. Perez, secretary of the labor, licensing and regulation, said statewide numbers show that African Americans and Latinos are disproportionately affected by foreclosures. He said he was glad to hear that the attorney general's office was interested in reverse redlining. "It's undeniable in my judgment that people qualified for better loan products, and that's a civil rights issue," Perez said.

Maryland is also gathering information about a lawsuit filed against 21 banks by the city of Cleveland. The city is suing almost two dozen banks over the effect of the subprime mortgage crisis.

-- Ovetta Wiggins

U-MD. MEDICAL SCHOOL

Tissue Transplant Funding Received

The University of Maryland medical school has received $3 million in federal funds for groundbreaking work on tissue transplantation, officials announced yesterday.

Researchers at the school are trying to develop techniques for composite tissue transplants -- massive transplants of skin, muscle and bone -- that would not trigger the body's immune system. Their success would free many recipients from a lifetime of taking high doses of powerful drugs, and risking serious side effects, to keep transplanted tissue from being rejected.

-- Susan Levine

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Life Term for Baseball Bat Slaying

A Hyattsville man was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for his role in the slaying of a Silver Spring man who was bludgeoned with a baseball bat, Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said.

Nelson Noel Ventura, 24, was one of two men convicted in the slaying of Luis Jovel, who was attacked in the 1000 block of University Boulevard in Takoma Park on Sept. 1, 2006.

"This is the most brutal murder I have ever seen in over 40 years as a lawyer and judge," Circuit Court Judge William J. Rowan III said in announcing the sentence, according to a statement McCarthy issued.

-- Ernesto Londo¿o

Shower-Curtain Burns Prove Fatal

A 60-year-old Hillandale area man died last night from severe burns he suffered Tuesday night when a shower curtain ignited and fell on him in his bathroom, Montgomery County fire officials said.

Firefighters found William McFarland with second- and third-degree burns over half his body in his apartment in the 1500 block of Heather Hollow Circle about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, said Pete Piringer, a fire department spokesman. McFarland's wife suffered minor burns trying to help remove the burning shower curtain from her husband.

Both were taken to Washington Hospital Center, where McFarland died last night, Piringer said.

-- Clarence Williams

HOWARD COUNTY

Health Care Program to Be Delayed

Howard County health officials said the start of the county's universal health care program will be delayed for three months because state legislation is needed to distinguish Healthy Howard as a private, nonprofit corporation, not an insurance company.

Insurance companies are required to have millions of dollars in a reserve fund. Officials say a small fee, combined with donations and existing health programs in the county, would provide 20,000 uninsured Howard residents with comprehensive medical care.

-- Associated Press

ENVIRONMENT

Costs of Carbon Cap Worry Officials

Even as more than 200 environmental activists gathered yesterday outside the State House to call for action to confront global warming, state officials indicated that a proposal to adopt a carbon emissions cap faces a tough road in the legislature.

More than a dozen lawmakers plan to sponsor a bill slashing carbon emissions 90 percent by 2050. If adopted, it would be the nation's toughest goal for reducing greenhouse gases. But many others say that plan would be way too expensive for the cash-strapped General Assembly to adopt this year.

-- Associated Press