The Baltimore Sun reports that support is building among lawmakers to raise Maryland’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to at least $10 an hour. Why now? Donald F. Norris, professor and chair of public policy at UMBC, says, “People are running in a primary election for governor, that’s what’s different.”

In addition to citing the support some candidates hope to get from labor, Norris says he also senses a legitimate concern among politicians about the growing number of workers who have been struggling, since the recession, to survive on $7.25 an hour. Whether or not this support translates into the legislation that will pass may also depend on legislators from the more conservative districts who are facing re-election, Norris notes.

Norris also commented in the recent Baltimore Sun story “O’Malley kicks off ‘Better Choices’ tour.” He suggests this series of policy forums will serve three purposes: promoting the governor’s record in advance of a possible presidential bid, supporting Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in his gubernatorial bid, and preparing for the governor’s final legislative session.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is expected to decide on a site to propose for the 2024 Summer Games in September 2015. Under the plans DC 2024 — the group exploring a Washington, D.C. bid — Baltimore-area venues would stage Olympic events and Baltimore would support the games with transit and hotel infrastructure. Critics are asking what benefit this would bring to the city and region, and if the costs could outweigh the revenue.

Econimcs professor Dennis Coates told The Baltimore Sun that the Olympics are a financial boon to the International Olympic Committee, but not necessarily to the host cities. “The question is: How much do we have to pay?” Coates said. “Just putting together a bid is an expensive proposition. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Even with his misgivings, however, Coates, shared, “This could generate an enormous amount of pride and an enormous amount of happiness among the population, particularly if you pull it off well.”

In the Calling Servlets Using Ajax article, we learned how easy it is to bind an Ajax call to a Java Servlet to a button. In today's follow-up, we'll be writing the Java code, modifying the web.xml, and trying out our new Web app.

In his latest Baltimore Sun opinion column, political science professor Thomas Schaller suggests that persistent and growing dependence on federal subsidies like food stamps, unemployment insurance and Medicaid “implies that economic inequality is worsening” in the U.S., in contrast to “preposterous warnings about creeping socialism.” Schaller cites data indicating that between 2009 and 2011 overall household incomes grew by 14%, but while wealth rose by 21% for the wealthiest 13% of Americans, it actually declined for every other wealth category in the bottom 87%.

In time for Labor Day, the New Republic has highlighted another of Schaller’s Baltimore Sun columns, this one on the discrepancy between increases in U.S. worker productivity and flat-lined compensation.

“First The New York Times; now the Canton Kayak Club?

The website for the group of urban paddling enthusiasts was the victim of an apparent hacking Wednesday and Thursday, bearing an image of a man on a horse with a spear and the messages “NO WAR!” and “All Hail the Islamic world, we’re here!,” wrote Scott Dance of the Baltimore Sun.

Dance interviewed UMBC’s Rick Forno for the piece. These days cybersecurity is more than just technology.

“In cyber security nowadays having a good situational awareness of world events is crucial,” said Rick Forno, assistant director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Center for Cybersecurity.”

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/technology/blog/bs-bz-canton-kayak-club-website-hacked,0,5296086.story#ixzz2dr99CXuU

Forno was also recently interviewed by SpiderOak University about the topic of cybersecurity.