Two months ago the Clarke American check-printing company merged with the John H. Harland check-printing company. As often happens in mergers, they're looking at ways to consolidate and cut costs. Managers have said there will be layoffs. One obvious way to save money is close plants. Each company has about a dozen check-printing facilities across the country. The Harland plant in Glen Burnie has 270 employees, says the company.

"We're still very much in the planning and review process" to determine job cuts, Harland Clarke spokeswoman LaRhesa Pollock told me. "It could be as late as the end of this year before we really know."

What's mildly encouraging is that Clarke has no printing plants on the East Coast, so there is no obvious duplication with Harland's Maryland facility. The closest Clarke plant is in Charlotte. Harland has printing plants in Harrisburg and Atlanta.

I called Robert Hannon, Anne Arundel County's economic development chief, to make sure he's on the case. "We're aware of the merger," he said. "We'll start talking to the company and find out what might be done to help them."