At today’s Public Service Commission meeting, a strange thing happened: Chairman Steven B. Larsen called for a 45-minute lunch break.

The utility company representatives and energy efficiency experts stood around awkwardly, not quite sure of what to do.

That’s because recently the commission has rarely taken more than a 15-minute lunch break – just long enough for someone to get down to the lobby of the William Donald Schaeffer building, with its elevators that move at the pace of molasses.

Word around the PSC is that the commissioners run on energy bars. Insert your own joke here.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer

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I received an e-mail the other day from Baltimore-based ETC Information Inc. that released a survey looking at how people from different ethnic groups use different types of media.

The survey, conducted by Ohio-based BIGresearch, found some pretty stark differences in what types of radio stations each racial group listens to and some differences in what types of new media people use the most.

I have to admit, I’m not entirely shocked to see that whites most often listen to rock, oldies and country music; blacks listen mostly to R & B, hip-hop and religious radio stations; Latinos listen to rock, Latin/Hispanic or hip-hop; and Asians listen most to rock, top 40 and news.

But something I wouldn’t have guessed on my own was that all three minority groups reported using text messaging, instant messaging and iPods more than whites did. (Whites reported they were more likely to use TiVo.)

The survey’s methodology wasn’t included, but I’d imagine that this information might be relevant to marketers looking to create more targeted advertising. With the down economy and the need to find cheaper, effective advertising, will people be looking at not just cell phone marketing but also using iPods and TiVo to tailor demographic-specific ads for air?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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Mayor Sheila Dixon announced Wednesday that she plans to add three free bus lines around downtown. One would go north to south; another east to west, and a third would loop from downtown into Fells Point and up to Johns Hopkins Hospital. These runs are supposed to start by the end of the year.

Lots of people were touting the plan at a news conference yesterday to formally announce the service. It’s going to reduce downtown congestion, help tourists get around and cure Dutch elm disease, they said (OK, they didn’t say the last one).

But there are some questions. First, the city wants to pay for this through an increase in the parking tax, which is levied at garages. If you park, the mayor’s office points out, you can take the shuttle around without having to move your car and park again. This could actually save people money, by Dixon’s calculation. But if people are saving money on parking, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the tax might decline as a revenue source? Just a thought.

The Maryland Transit Administration says the buses won’t interfere with their service downtown, but the plan is for the free buses to come once every 10 minutes. We’ve all been behind an MTA bus on these relatively narrow downtown roads, and it’s no picnic. Are you worried about that?

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

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The Maryland Department of Agriculture has spoken on the issues that stemmed from a Humane Society video of a downed cow at the Westminster livestock auction house.

The agency says it will “tighten” its inspection policies, and has charged the owner of the auction house – James Horak of Hanover, Pa. – with four counts of violating state animal health regulations.

From the AP story:

The agency says the revisions require inspectors to report and track downed animals; inform operators of what action they must take; and follow up to ensure that the action has been taken.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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In 1999, Maryland prohibited lobbyists from buying meals for lawmakers as part of an ethics reform law. Pretty simple, right? Well, not according to Tuesday’s Washington Post.

The Post reports that Maryland lobbyists spent nearly $1 million during the course of this year’s General Assembly session on meals for groups of lawmakers. The practice is allowed for delegations and committees, but not for individuals.

Some lobbyists argue that the meals are a valuable (and definitely legal) way to get some time to discuss their key issues with the people who are making decisions on them. Still, it takes a lot of juice to be able to drop $3,700 at an Annapolis steakhouse. Not just anyone can do it.

Let’s not forget, though, that lobbyists are also allowed to make campaign contributions so long as they report them.

It’s certainly an interesting debate. Are the group meals OK by you? And if so, would you support allowing lobbyists to buy meals for individual legislators again?

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

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I try to listen to NPR podcasts regularly. I admit, it’s partly because I feel obligated as a Web-based journalist – but it’s also because the content is top-notch.

I’m a fan of This American Life, a weekly radio program (and cable TV show, now) out of Chicago. (It airs locally on WYPR, Sundays at 4 p.m.) The show excels at what the radio medium is best suited for: storytelling.

But this blog post isn’t about how great TAL is, it’s about a podcast I listened to last weekend (on the treadmill, no less) that knocked my socks off.

A couple weeks ago, TAL did a show entitled “The giant pool of money.” It was in collaboration with NPR news, and it explains the mortgage crisis by talking to the actual people who got everyone into this mess. Or, as they put it, “the human beings who accidentally created the international financial crisis.” You can listen to a promo here.

Now, most – if not all – of the readers of this blog probably understand what a NINA loan or a mortgage-backed security is better than I do, but there’s more to be reaped from the 60-minute episode than a global understanding of how the foreclosure crisis came about.

The show asserts that the subprime crisis has connected the people facing foreclosure and the higher-up finance guys. Along the chain there were bankers, brokers and homeowners, all of whom deluded themselves. During the program, the NPR producers ask (and answer) “How did it even work?” and “What were they thinking?”

This is how you would find out what it felt like to be Mike Gardner, a former bartender-turned-mortgage broker, during the so-called “Valentine’s Day massacre” at Silver State Mortgage, when the Nevada employer defaulted on its loans and, without warning, laid everyone off.

Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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While doing the reporting for today’s story on Ocean City’s summer tourism expectations, I learned about — and experienced — something I’ve come to call the “ahhhh” phenomenon.

It’s that feeling you get when you cross the Bay Bridge and get to the Eastern Shore. (That is, unless you are sitting in beach traffic, in which case you are probably experiencing a different phenomenon I can’t repeat here.)

Maybe it’s the thrill of knowing you can top off for at least 10 cents a gallon cheaper in Easton or Cambridge. Maybe it’s the sprawl of farmland and low, unassuming buildings. Or the quiet produce stands that come to life during the summer weekends with smells of berries, fresh produce and the occasional fresh baked apple pie.

Or maybe it’s just the fact that I grew up about an hour’s drive from a beach (albeit a cold one), and it makes me think of being a kid.

Whatever the reason, there’s a sense of peace and ease that’s unique to that part of our state. People make eye contact with you as you pass by on the street, drivers on the roads suddenly keep an appropriate distance from one another other and remember to use their turn signals, and the odds of getting a tan by mid-May are pretty good.

But I’m wondering with the economic climate the way it is today, will the “ahhhh” phenomenon still be enough to draw people out this summer to let off some steam? Or will the squeeze at the pump — and at home — convince people that staying put is less stressful?

Where are you getting your “ahhhhs” this summer?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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Most of the talk about military families in Maryland these days has to do with making it easier for people to move here with their jobs as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. But Gov. Martin O’Malley took a step Thursday that could also make things easier for military families who have to move away.

At his final bill signing, O’Malley signed a bill that would make people eligible for unemployment benefits if they quit a job to follow a spouse in the military. Typically, unemployment insurance is not available to people who leave jobs by choice, but this will be a new exception in state law.

Potentially, these unemployment claims could raise premiums for some businesses that otherwise wouldn’t have seen former employees collect benefits, but on the whole it’s likely to have a small effect on the state’s unemployment system. According to the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, more than 300 people in the state were unable to collect benefits after following a military spouse in fiscal 2007.

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

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According to the Associated Press, U.S. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Frederick) has dropped his opposition to oil and natural gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Representative Bartlett says high oil prices have prompted his change of heart, and that revenue from drilling leases would generate “badly needed funds for alternative and renewable energy programs.”

If a congressperson is looking for some “badly needed” revenue, it seems to me the answer is right under their nose.

Maybe they should examine the spending on wasteful pet projects known as earmarks, or pork, that many members attach to bills to appease their local voters? Or the ongoing joke, and an expensive one at that, that the Capitol Visitor Center has been? Or the billions of dollars under the direction of the Coalition Provisional Authority in the first years of the Iraq war that simply vanished? Or how about the over half a billion dollars that’s been spent broadcasting TV Marti to Cuba despite a miniscule audience?

When it comes to government accounting, and a representative on the Hill talking about “money in the bank,” the taxpayer in me cringes. There is a major disconnect between accountability and Congress’ fuzzy math.

Is this the best idea our government representatives can come up with when it comes to generating revenue for energy programs?

Francis Smith, Special Publications Assistant Editor

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I do, I’ll admit it. And there’s really no good reason except that I’m bored in the car. My grandmother would kill me.

I’m no road safety expert, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s bad to drive without looking at the road. Apparently people around here don’t care. According to WTOP in Washington, Maryland and Virginia are ranked fourth and sixth in the country when it comes to the number of people who admit to taking their thumbs off the wheel.

In Maryland, 36 percent of people say they text and drive. It’s slightly less common in Virginia, where 35.6 percent own up to it.

WTOP said the stats come from Vlingo, a company that makes voice recognition technology for phones. The company says its product can substitute for text messaging, so they may have a dog in the fight.

South Carolina takes the top spot at 40 percent. The lowest number was in Arizona (14 percent). At first, that surprised me, given the straight desert roads and the wide open spaces. Then again, they have winding mountain roads, too. They also may not have cell service everywhere in rural states. Vermont (20 percent) was the third-lowest. I used to live there and I couldn’t text and drive because there were no cell towers outside of town.

Some lawmakers in Maryland tried to ban texting while driving during this year’s legislative session, but the effort fell short because others in the General Assembly wanted an outright ban on cell phone use and they couldn’t find a compromise. Neither proposal made it through, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see these topics again next year.

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

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