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Disclosure Bill on Taxes Worries Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents are worried about a proposal by County Council member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville) to require sellers to disclose future property taxes, which often increase after a sale. The usual practice is to list current taxes on fliers describing the property, but Andrews says...

New School Lesson In Md.: How to Get A Security Clearance

Maryland public schools will soon establish "security clearance" educational programs for students as part of the state's effort to capitalize on new jobs anticipated as part of the Pentagon's base realignment, school officials say.

30-Year Mortgage Rates Drop

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage rates fell sharply this week with rates on 30-year mortgages dropping to the lowest level in more than two years.

United Way Fundraising Rises After Scandal-Induced Plunge

The embattled United Way of the National Capital Area will report today that its fundraising drive collected $35.8 million in the last fiscal year, a 1.7 percent increase from the year before, when it recorded its lowest total in at least a decade.

Signs of Change Line the Shelves

For nearly a decade, residents of Washington's poorest ward have yearned for that most basic of community institutions, a place to buy vegetables and milk and bread and gossip with friends and neighbors over shopping carts.

Would-Be Parents Fret Over Looming Changes

A year after Guatemala's emergence as the second-largest foreign source of babies for adoption to the United States, a new push by the Guatemalan government to wrest control of the process from private agencies has stirred an emotional backlash from thousands of prospective adoptive parents in th...

Splurging to Impress Buyers

Linda and Jose Rahona created a master bathroom with floor-to-ceiling tile, custom glass shower doors and sleek fixtures. It took three months of dust, tilers, electricians, plumbers and glaziers -- and $25,000 -- to finish.

Targeting Bias, if Not the Bottom Line

A l Szekely and Dawn Henderson, an unlikely pair, are regulars at the tables in front of the Tenleytown Starbucks. Dawn gets the coffee. Al provides the stories. Together, they haven't yet solved the world's problems, but they're working on it.

'Checkbook Math' Increasingly Rare

In her final year at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Amber Rountree chose to take consumer math, a course designed to teach students how to balance a checkbook and shop for a home loan. She rates it the easiest math class she has taken in high school but also the most useful.