Arundel Digest

Busch to seek re-election in 2010

Annapolis - House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Annapolis, will seek re-election in 2010, an aide confirmed today.

Mr. Busch, who has served in the House of Delegates since 1987 and as speaker since 2003, held a fundraiser this morning in Baltimore for the 2010 election, said Alexandra Hughes, a spokesman. Tickets to the breakfast were reportedly $500 for guests and $1,000 for hosts.

Members of the General Assembly typically hold such events in the last few weeks before the start of the legislative session.

The event at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was among the annual crush of fundraisers that lawmakers hold right before the General Assembly convenes. Fundraising is prohibited during the 90-day session, which starts Jan. 14 this year.

The speaker has never publicly wavered about future political plans, but rumors have been circulating in the past several years that Mr. Busch was considering stepping down.

State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, also had earlier stated he had plans to seek re-election.

Probation for woman who left child in SUV

Annapolis - A Bowie woman who left her toddler inside a hot SUV during the summer at Annapolis Harbour Center was sentenced yesterday to six months unsupervised probation.

A county judge also gave Lorraine Fortlage, 36, a probation before judgment in the June 29 incident.

"I'm absolutely convinced this was out of character for you," Circuit Court Judge Paul F. Harris Jr. said after hearing several of Mrs. Fortlage's friends and family members gush about her abilities as a mother.

Prosecutors said in November Mrs. Fortlage left the 14-month-old girl in the vehicle for more than 40 minutes.

It was 89 degrees outside that day and much hotter inside the Chevrolet Suburban.

A passing shopper noticed the crying baby in the back of the SUV shortly before 3 p.m. and called for help.

Firefighters eventually broke one of the vehicle's windows and rescued the child.

Avery Fortlage, the child, was not permanently injured.

Gregory Swain, Mrs. Fortlage's defense attorney, told the court his client didn't realize what she had done until after paramedics had saved her child.

Man tries to rob BGE workers

BROOKLYN PARK - A man tried to rob two Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. employees yesterday morning and then unsuccessfully attempted to steal their work van, county police said.

The employees were on Ruth Street near Alley 9 in Brooklyn Park at about 9:30 a.m. when a man pulled a semi-automatic handgun from his pants pocket and demanded their wallets and money.

When the employees told him they didn't have wallets on them, the robber then jumped into the BGE work van and tried to steal the vehicle, police said.

The robber was unable to steal the van and ran away empty-handed on Doris Avenue toward Baltimore City.

The workers were not injured.

The man is black, in his late 30s, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, 175 pounds, with short hair and a short goatee, police said.

He was wearing a black winter coat with a fur collar and black jeans.

- From staff reports