The General Assembly has nixed a study of a D.C. United soccer stadium in Prince George's this year, but here's something they've given the go-ahead to study: A possible law school in the Washington area.

Del. Justin D. Ross (D-Prince George's) worked with Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-St. Mary's), the chair of the education subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, to insert language in the state budget authorizing the study. The budget now asks that the University system study the "feasibility and logistical costs and benefits" of launching a branch of the University of Baltimore's law school in the D.C. area. The report is to be submitted to the legislature by Sept. 1.

Ross said his goal is to look at creating a law school in Prince George's County, a reasonable place for a law school, he said, because of the University of Maryland's undergrad campus in College Park and the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. U-Md.'s law school is located in Baltimore.

"I think it could be a great success for the University of Baltimore law school and the county," he said.

Top Prince George's officials may be running out of options to expand the county's taxing authority before the completion of the General Assembly's legislative session Monday.

Montgomery County delegates this morning rejected a bill proposed weeks ago by Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson that would have allowed the Washington Suburban Transit Commission, a bi-county mass transit group, to fund county school buses.

The goal would have been to relieve pressure on the Prince George's County budget, by pushing the multimillion line item off county books.

Plus, because the group is regional, the Prince George's County Council could have voted to raise the property taxes that fund the WSTC without running afoul of the county's stringent tax cap. The tax is now set at 2.6 cents per $100 of property value, but the council could vote to change it.

Johnson has been making a push to get the bill passed in the waning days of this session. The Prince George's House delegation voted 13 to 7 to recommend passage of the bill.

But because the WSTC also represents Montgomery, that county's delegation approval is also needed. The measure got 11 votes, and it needed 13 to pass muster. Word is that the delegation might reconsider, but if it does not, the effort will be over. Even if Montgomery signs off, the bill must also be passed by a House standing committee, the full House and then follow a similar process in the Senate.

"It has a ways to go and not a lot of time to get there," said Prince George's delegation chair Del. Melony Griffith, who voted against the bill.

Still, Johnson chief of staff Michael D. Herman has been lobbying hard for the provision and several county senators have told house members they are on board. The county council is also backing the idea.

Several readers have already asked for the vote count in the Prince George's delegation. Here it is:

In favor: Barnes, Benson, Braveboy, Davis, Frush, Holmes, Hubbard, Ivey, Levi, Pena-Melnyk, Ramirez, Turner, Vaughn

Opposed: Healey, Howard, Niemann, Ross, Valderrama, Walker, Griffith
Absent: Gaines, Proctor, Vallerio

The Maryland General Assembly is in full-on fanboy mode today, as Olympic swimming champion and Towson native Michael Phelps visited lawmakers and picked up a proclamation in his honor. Delegates gave Phelps a sustained standing ovation, as the visitor's gallery filled with a decidely female crowd.

"It's an honor and a privilege to be back home," Phelps told delegates, flashing his famous toothy grin.

Phelps is honored on the floor of the Maryland Senate. (AP)

Crossing briefly through the statehouse's lobby from the House chamber to the Senate, Phelps was mobbed by reporters. In reponse to a question, he weighed in the Preakness, the horse race the assembly is hoping to ensure remains in Maryland.

"To have it leave Baltimore, I can't really see that happen," he said.

Phelps said he's never attended the race but hopes he still has the opportunity to do so.

Prince George's senators are pushing their attempts to force the county's Board of Education to give up office space leased last June as a new school system headquarters.

The group agreed Friday to amend a bill that would extend health benefits to school board members with a clause that would also require the board to spend no funds to lease, acquire or purchase administrative offices.

Some school board members believe new office space is needed to replace the aging former school that now serves as the system's administrative headquarters. They say such offices are key to professionalizing the system--and believe the move will ultimately save money by allowing for the consolidation of other scattered offices.

But the 10-year, $36 million lease has proven highly controversial, coming as the economy unraveled and the board also voted to close schools and cuts jobs. Senators last week agreed to amend the state budget to eliminate $36 million in funding for Prince George's schools unless the board finds a way out of the lease. That item may not survive a conference committee with the House, which did not include a similar amendment in its budget.

Under the bill approved by the county's senators Friday, the school board would have no choice but to discontinue the lease. An internal school system memo written in October and obtained by The Washington Post predicted "severe adverse financial consequences to the school system" if the lease is broken.

The bill will now be considered by the Senate's Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee but because it is a "local bill" that applies only to Prince George's, chances are that other senators will go along with it.

Oh what a difference a day can make in the Maryland General Assembly.

On Wednesday night, a bill to authorize the use of cameras to catch speeders in highway work areas and school zones across the state died in the senate on a 23 to 24 vote.

On Thursday, the bill was quickly revived and passed, on a 27 to 20 vote.

So what gives?

The key to the quick turnaround might have been foreseen in a scene that played out on the Senate floor, just after the conclusion of Wednesday night's floor session.

Supporters and opponents of the bill had been surprised when the bill failed. Senators let out an audible gasp. No less an authority than Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) had a day earlier predicted its passage.

But after a vigorous debate on the issue, where supporters argued the cameras make roads safer and opponents called them an intrusion of privacy intended as cash cow for local governments, Miller voted against the bill. So did Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), a top Miller ally.

As the session concluded, Sen. James N. Robey (D-Howard) buttoned-holed Miller as he descended from senate chamber's dais.

Robey, a former Howard County police chief, had been one of the measure's strongest proponents. He had sponsored an amendment a day earlier to broaden the Senate proposal to include school zones, the passage of which had been seen as an indication of the bill's likely success.

Now, he was visibly distraught. Miller could be heard telling Robey that his "no" vote had not been intended as a slight and that no one would think less of Robey because the bill failed.

Miller then put his arm around the loyal Democrat and led him out of the chamber, to a more private location.

Did the conversation make a difference?

After the bill's revival the next day, Miller specifically said he had been disheartened by the ribbing Robey took from his colleagues after it failed Wednesday night.

"Rather than have him disrespected, we resurrected the bill," Miller said.

Miller said he was willing to support the bill after reaching an understanding with other

Senate leaders that no bills authorizing individual counties to have speed cameras would be approved this year.

-- Rosalind S. Helderman and John Wagner