The rate increases would have a direct effect on customers in Baltimore and the surrounding counties that use city water, including Howard, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties.

Also today, Lorraine Mirabella has a story about the new condo market. Figures from Delta Associates suggest that condo developers are feeling the effects of borrowing restrictions and nervous buyers:

Contract cancellations have begun to show up in the sales numbers in metropolitan Baltimore, which had a net gain of just 13 condo sales in the city and Baltimore, Harford, Howard and Anne Arundel counties in the first three months of the year, Delta said.

And you know -- I completely forgot to mention that I had a story yesterday about the new "State of Downtown" report, which had interesting statistics about the pace of construction. Though market conditions have stalled some major projects in the planning stages, there's lots of construction activity:

Developers finished nearly $550 million in downtown Baltimore construction projects in the first four months of the year - more than twice the value of developments completed in all of 2007.

That's according to the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, which detailed a continuing boom in activity in its newest "State of Downtown" report being released today. About $2.7 billion in construction is under way now, despite the housing slump, credit crunch and economic slowdown, the group said.