Black Friday may be too late

Jan Alderton, Managing Editor

How much will you be spending on Christmas gifts this year?

If you are an “average” consumer, your spending will be $469.14 on family, $90.13 on friends, $22.79 on co-workers, and $37.45 on other people. Those amounts are based on a National Retail Federation poll earlier this month of 7,800 consumers.

The organization said high gasoline prices and a slowing economy are indicators that consumers will be looking for gift ideas way before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year....

According to an article in The Daily Record, the Baltimore architectural firm Hord Coplan Macht is hoping its $268 million hospital in Cumberland will help put it on the map as one of the major national players in the health care sector.

Although the company has worked on health care projects for 15 years, including renovations to Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, the local project is its largest to date.

The seven-story hospital here will house diagnostic and treatment centers on the first three floors, mechanical systems on the fourth and fifth, and 275 patient beds on the upper two floors.

The building will be able to handle future growth with spliced beams for vertical construction and space between walls for wiring upgrades....

Vandalism like that at St. Patrick cemetery this week when tombstones were toppled is always despicable. Especially galling is the recent destruction to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Scripps Howard News Service said the AMVETS and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the vandalism.

The National Park Service says someone used an oily substance to stain 14 of the memorial’s 140 panels, which record the names of the 58,000 Americans who died during the war. The Park Service said it will be able to fully restore the “Wall” without permanent damage....

One other war-related item: President Bush has met personally with the families of about 1,500 of the 4,200 troops who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House told Scripps Howard....

Like this mild weather we’ve been having? Well, we may see more warmer-than-usual temperatures from December through February, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic, temperatures are expected to be above average. Snowfall for the region will depend on other climate factors, which are difficult to anticipate more than one or two weeks in advance, NOAA said....

A high school for the performing arts is planned to open in Hagerstown in two years. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail said the Washington County school board voted to approve a plan to finance the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts that includes borrowing $8.3 million to be paid back over 20 years at an interest rate of 4.5 percent. The former Henry’s Theater on South Potomac Street will be renovated to house the school....

Note to Maryland delegates and senators when they consider whether to put the slot machine issue on referendum: Your counterparts in West Virginia and Pennsylvania had the courage to vote on the issue themselves, rather than foisting the matter onto voters. Just vote yes or no during the General Assembly’s special session and put the matter to rest....

Seen on the Internet — Little known facts:

• Average number of people airborne over the U.S. at any given hour: 61,000.

• The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.

• Reno, Nev., is west of Los Angeles, Calif.

• Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple and chocolate.

• “Go!” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

• Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

Jan Alderton can be reached at jpalderton@times-news.com.