Wages and Pensions

Game change: For longtime journalist, a very different role

2011-06-13 03:00:00

After a long time wandering in the wilderness, with no movie or TV production under way in Maryland, local actors, technicians, caterers, drivers, set builders and hospitality professionals are back to work with the production in Baltimore of the HBO...

Tackling consumer crises in Maryland

2011-09-25 00:00:00

Civil Justice might be small — you can count the full-time attorneys at the nonprofit legal assistance group on one hand — but its impact is anything but. The Baltimore organization has trained more than 1,400 lawyers in foreclosure law so...

Irene Helen Alexander

2011-09-23 21:26:50

Irene Helen Alexander, who owned and operated a beauty shop and later worked at the Social Security Administration, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Sept. 16 at Sinai Hospital. She was 89 and lived in West Baltimore. Born Irene Helen Lee in...

Boyfriend, brother sentenced in bank frauding scheme

2011-09-27 15:50:37

Two men were sentenced last week in connection with defrauding credit unions where a woman worked who is the sister of one of the men and the girlfriend of the other. Christopher Houston, 34, of Edgewood, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge...

Postal workers protest layoffs, closures in Md., across U.S.

2011-09-27 17:03:00

With rain coming down Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings picked up a bullhorn and looked toward more than 100 people protesting proposed U.S. Postal Service cutbacks in Catonsville. "I refuse to take you for granted," he told the cheering crowd,...

Baseball's frugal clubs hit paydirt

2011-09-28 00:00:00

The Yankees and Phillies are in the playoffs, again. The Royals and Pirates are not, again. Same teams, same big money, same October story? Not so fast. The Diamondbacks just went from last to first. The Tigers won a division championship for the first...

Retirement isn't what it used to be

2011-09-17 05:00:00

For some time, I have been reading about the problems created by the vast number of baby boomers reaching retirement age. This week, I became part of the problem. After almost 34 years writing for The Baltimore Sun, I am saying so long. I applied for a...

Social Security is not a 'Ponzi scheme'

2011-09-17 12:30:00

Letter writer Iver Mindel calls Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" because the scam invented by Charles Ponzi, for whom the fraud is named, collapsed when he could no longer find enough new investors to pay of his previous victims ("Ponzi would be jealous...

Enough with the Social Security scare tactics

2011-09-29 04:45:00

I was shocked on Sept. 22 to see the headline in the Baltimore Sun commentary section, "Yes, Social Secretly is a Ponzi scheme." Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, the author of the article is unfamiliar with how the Social Security...

Voters rule — even in Towson

2011-09-29 14:29:34

Last year, 171,733 voters in Baltimore County endorsed a referendum granting binding arbitration to more than 2,500 county employees, including emergency call dispatchers and health inspectors. That was more votes than any candidate for county office...

People aren't poor because they're lazy

2011-09-30 04:30:00

Poverty is caused by a number of issues, primary among them unemployment or low-wage employment — not laziness or lack of personal responsibility. Far from it. Those exist, but it's safe to say the "working poor" work long hours often at two or more...

City's police overtime pay is up 40%

2011-09-30 18:34:00

The Baltimore Police Department has increased overtime spending over the past year amid a struggle to fill vacancies, according to data obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The city spent 40 percent more in the fiscal year through June compared with the year...

After weeks of discussion, Meyersdale Borough Council on Tuesday approved an earned income tax resolution for all local and out-of-state residents working within the borough.

2011-10-12 20:17:28

Every employee on the Charlevoix County payroll received a 25 cent raise per hour for the next fiscal year, save those under employment or labor contracts. That amounts to $520 per year for everyone, whether it's the sheriff or an administrative assistant.

2011-10-04 08:51:09

GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are taking turns accusing each other of scare tactics on Social Security. But the truth is, the problem isn't that hard to solve, and the sooner we make some adjustments in the system, the less drastic the overhaul will need to be.

2011-09-13 10:50:30