Week in review: 12/9/11

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City swears in Rawlings-Blake

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake delivers her inaugural address Tuesday as Baltimore mayor’s after being elected to a full four-year term in November. The former City Council president has served as mayor since February 2010, when she replaced Sheila Dixon, who resigned. In her speech, Rawlings-Blake said she wants to attract 10,000 new families to Baltimore. City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and council members were sworn in on Thursday.

St. Joseph deal awaited

MedStar Health, the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, St. Agnes Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical System are contending to merge with or buy St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. The four medical institutions reportedly are studying St. Joseph’s financial records, with two of them to be selected by the hospital’s board of directors as finalists for the deal in early January.

Election robocall conviction

Within minutes of Tuesday’s election-fraud guilty verdicts concerning a 2010 Election Day robocall on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the lead defense attorney for political operative Paul E. Schurick vowed to appeal on the grounds that the law is an unconstitutional restraint on free speech.

PSC OKs Constellation deal

As long as conditions including a $200 rate credit to consumers are met, the staff of the Maryland Public Service Commission is backing the planned sale of Constellation Energy Group Inc. to Exelon Corp.

County’s ex-leader sentenced

Jack Johnson, the former executive of Prince George’s County, was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for collecting more than $1 million in bribes and gifts during a tenure that prosecutors say was rife with greed, corruption and an unchecked pay-to-play culture.

Physician’s punishment backed

A doctor’s willful failure to disclose to the Maryland State Board of Physicians that he had been sued for malpractice entitled the board to sanction the physician for misconduct “in the practice of medicine,” the Court of Appeals ruled unanimously.

Mayor seeks State Center deal

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called representatives of both sides of the State Center lawsuit to her office Monday to attempt to reach a compromise on the proposed project. No agreement was reached, and little was said afterward by those in attendance, although the plaintiffs’ attorney called the meeting cordial in tone.

Jewish Times extension sought

Alter Communications Inc., publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times, is seeking a second 30-day extension from the court in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, saying that a new group of investors has entered the picture.

UMUC professor gets settlement

Maryland’s Board of Estimates approved a $430,000 settlement Wednesday with a man who said his supervisors at the University of Maryland University College discriminated against him because of his heritage.

Harris Teeter opens store

The Harris Teeter grocery chain held the grand opening on Wednesday of a 61,000-square-foot store in the McHenry Row development in Baltimore’s Locust Point.

High court declines Taser case

A jury will decide whether a Somerset County police officer’s shooting of a suspect was an innocent mistake or one worth $1.2 after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The officer said he reached for his Taser but instead grabbed and fired his .40-caliber Glock, wounding a man wanted for failure to pay child support.