WBAL-AM’s Steve Davis is reporting that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti fired head coach Brian Billick this morning.

After writing today’s feature on Montgomery County’s Gang Prosecution Unit, I had a chance to speak with 18-year veteran Capt. David Gillespie, director of the county police department’s special investigations division, about the police perspective on the prosecutor office’s new approach to gang crimes.

This fall, arresting officers were required to fill out a special alert form that is sent to the prosecutor’s office whenever a known gang member is arrested and charged with a crime.

He said the extra work has “not had much impact,” and in fact, he believes that most officers “are happy to do it” because they know the case will be sure to get attention.

“It’s imperative that we track those active gangs and the crimes these gangs are committing so that we are knowledgeable in both the crime activity and what motivates them,” he said.

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To those of you who cringe at the holidays’ blinding consumption of precious energy, you’ll be glad to hear that the 100 year-old Times Square ball is celebrating its centennial by going green.

Almost 10,000 energy-efficient replacement bulbs will use only about 10 toasters’ worth of electricity – and they are twice as bright as the previous lights.

And that’s not all: in the spirit of collaborative content, this year you can submit a wish to a Web site and have it printed on the multicolored confetti that is released at midnight.

Maybe Marylanders will ask that the jump in sales tax scheduled for Tuesday will magically disappear?

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

How’s this for a housing slump story?

After their four-bedroom farmhouse sat on the market for a year and a half, a Hagerstown couple has decided to take a gamble: they’re selling raffle tickets in a joint effort with a local charity with the grand prize being their home.

The raffle offers five prizes, several donated by local merchants: the home to the grand prize winner; a 2008 Toyota Camry; a Persian rug; furniture; and $1,000 cash, reports the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.

The winners will be drawn at an annual dinner for the San Mar Children’s Home in Boonsboro, which will receive any extra money raised through raffle sales.

The farmhouse was listed at $425,000 in 2006; it’s now valued at $390,000.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor