Towson professor fired for using the N-word: his real offense

by  R. DARRYL FOXWORTH

Last week, Towson University professor Allen Zaruba was dismissed from the school after characterizing himself as a “nigger on the corporate plantation” during classroom discussion.

His firing stirred intense debate about whether the use of the word – self-referentially, by a white man in an academic setting – was right. But all the attention on the word Zaruba used is distracting attention from his only meaningful offense: the glib analogy he was making.

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Scaling back I-95 widening to pay for Maryland road repair: finding fat instead of raising taxes and tolls

by GERALD NEILY
 
    Shrinking highway revenue and cost overruns have accomplished what the Maryland Department of Transportation has been unable to do, until now, on its own. It’s made them plan smarter.
    They’ve pared the I-95 express lane project back by $500 million to $900 million so they can spend the money to fix the existing deteriorated infrastructure.
    What today’s Sun coverage didn’t explain is that this city-to-White Marsh widening is a sprawl-promoting project (see Brew story from February ‘09) with cost overruns of close to half a billion dollars. Read the rest of this entry »

Gansler introduces ban on arsenic in chicken: ‘Order of wings, hold the poisonous metalloids!’

Who knew?

The poultry industry uses chicken feed containing arsenic. Yum.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Delegate Tom Hucker (D-Montgomery County) and other lawmakers think this is not such a great idea and have introduced a bill to ban the practice in Maryland.

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Baltimore students protest in front of “Baby Booking” to demand “Jobs, not Jails”

Videographer William Hughes shot this video and posted it on YouTube, along with this report:

On Thursday morning, March 4, 2010, a spirited protest action was held in front of the “Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center,” on north Gay Street, not far from the City Hall, in Baltimore. The demonstrators demanded “$100 million (in Maryland’s state budget) be converted from youth jails to youth jobs and education,” according to their press release.

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EPA declares victory over Sparrows Point pollution projects actually mired in delays

by MARK REUTTER

Mission Accomplished? Sure sounds that way if you read the latest Sparrows Point “Corrective Action Progress Report” issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 The document trumpets the progress of the waste minimization projects at the Sparrows Point steel mill and, as evidence, cites the completion of two recycling facilities.

Meanwhile, a Brew posting yesterday highlighted the lack of progress in opening these facilities – 13 years after the company promised to install the equipment.

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Featured Story


The John Waters interview:

At his first art show in Baltimore since 2002, Waters talks with the Brew about art, the suburbs and “haunted asses”

brew crew

Shout outs

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Tom Sutton: Say what you will about Baltimore, it's never boring!!

Alaskans: Certain young folk in AK think it is funny you call yourselves "Baltimoreans" but mostly they are jealous that you got "Thundersnow" AND school closures....remarkably [...]

Barbara Hall: Hi Fern, Great photos. Loved the word "snowcopalypse". I've heard about this blog and it is GREAT!!!!

Kevin Quinn: I like checking in here every day; never know what you'll find.

Quinn: Looking forward to more RDarryl Foxworth; he makes us think.

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