Free Republic

ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers voted yesterday to overturn Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of the Democrats' energy plan that will postpone a 72 percent rate increase by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. but forces customers to pay interest on the deferred charges. The company's 1.1 million residential customers will see their bills increase 15 percent on July 1 -- not the 72 percent increase to market rates set earlier this year in a wholesale electricity auction overseen by the utility-regulating Public Service Commission. However, the money customers save will still be owed to the company, and the customers will...

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday it is looking increasingly unlikely that he will try to block a United Arab Emirates company from taking over port operations in Baltimore. Ehrlich (R) said he is continuing a crash review of the security concerns raised by the proposed purchase by Dubai Ports World of the British company that currently oversees the movement of cargo containers at the busy mid-Atlantic port. But when asked yesterday if he now agrees with President Bush and supports the sale, Ehrlich said, "Clearly, the facts are moving in that direction."