Ed Gunts writes about the installation of former Gov. William Donald Schaefer's likeness at the Inner Harbor. And Gov. Martin O'Malley jumps in front of Obama's Recovery Act jobs report, which was released this morning.

Schaefer statue larger than life
7-foot statue at Harborplace honors William Donald Schaefer's 52 years of service to Baltimore and Maryland; unveiling Monday

He flew through the air like a modern-day Mary Poppins or a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Over Harborplace, over the Baltimore Visitor Center, a 7-foot-2-inch bronze statue of William Donald Schaefer was lifted by crane and touched down on the west shore of the Inner Harbor Thursday in preparation for its official unveiling on Monday, Schaefer's 88th birthday.

Stimulus created or saved 4,460 jobs, O'Malley claims
Most federal money not yet spent, governor says

More than 4,460 jobs have been created or saved with the infusion of federal stimulus dollars into Maryland, according to an initial accounting that Gov. Martin O'Malley released Thursday showing how some of the money has been spent.

That level of job creation is far smaller than the 25,800 jobs lost in Maryland during the same time frame, but state officials caution that they have spent only 6 percent of more than $4 billion in anticipated federal funding. They also note that while the state was the first to funnel money into roads projects, many grants for health care programs and home weatherization have only recently been received.

The state report and a national one to be released Friday are expected to reignite the debate over the $787 billion in recovery dollars aimed at averting a longer and deeper recession. As unemployment continues to rise, Republicans have argued that the stimulus program failed. But Democrats are seizing on a just-released report that the economy is officially growing again.