March 10, 2005

CAPTEL is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of the 2006 Baltimore-Annapolis Stopover of The Volvo Ocean Race -- one of the world’s premier sporting events spanning eight months and covering 31, 000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous oceans. CAPTEL joins the State of Maryland, the Port of Baltimore and such leading area companies as Constellation Energy and Brown Advisory in supporting the event.

Established in 1973 as The Whitbread Round the World Race, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier global yacht race which makes its third appearance in the Chesapeake Bay region since 1998.

The race will follow the traditional route of the old clipper ships, sailing around the world with the prevailing winds in nine separate legs:

Leg 1 Vigo, Galicia to Cape Town
Leg 2 Cape Town to Melbourne
Leg 3 Melbourne to Wellington
Leg 4 Wellington to Rio de Janeiro
Leg 5 Rio to Baltimore/Annapolis
Leg 6 Baltimore/Annapolis to New York
Leg 7 New York to Portsmouth
Leg 8 Portsmouth to Rotterdam
Leg 9 Rotterdam to Gothenburg FINISH

Leg 1 of the race will start on November 12, 2005 from Galicia, Spain, with Leg 5 finishing in Baltimore on or about April 20, 2006. The start of Leg 6 will take place in Annapolis on May 7, 2006 at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

August 12, 2004

Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. of Maryland appointed CAPTEL President & CEO Phil Smith to a four-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Smith took the oath of office in Annapolis today and will serve through June of 2008.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust was created as a nonprofit organization by the General Assembly in 1985 to promote public awareness and participation in restoring and protecting the water quality and the aquatic and land resources of Chesapeake Bay.

To accomplish its mission, the Trust seeks contributions from the business community and private citizens which it distributes to groups undertaking projects to help the Bay. Grant recipients are nonprofit organizations, civic and community groups, schools, and local public agencies that have conducted stream cleanups, tree and marsh grass plantings, erosion control projects, water quality studies, and habitat restorations. The Trust also has supported enhancement of environmental education centers and development of educational materials to inform people of all ages about the Bay.

In addition to grants from businesses and private citizens, the Trust receives the proceeds from sales of the commemorative Chesapeake Bay license plate. Voluntary donations to the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund, via the tax check-off on the Maryland State income tax return (line 37), also support the Trust. The tax check-off, created in 1989, enables Marylanders to contribute for Bay cleanup and programs that aid endangered species.

Although established as an instrumentality of the State, the Trust operates with independent financial and policy-making status. It is not subject to the legislative appropriation process and receives no public tax dollars.

March 29, 2004

CAPTEL employee Anna Sebenova and her husband Radoslav were invited guests at the White House today for the NATO expansion ceremony on the South Lawn with President Bush and the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

President Bush welcomed the seven former Soviet-bloc nations into NATO, saying the 55-year old Western alliance would be strengthened because "tyranny for them is still a fresh memory". The President said the new members "earned their freedom through courage and perseverance and today they stand with us as full and equal partners in this great alliance".

February 10, 2004

CAPTEL congratulates Doctors for Medical Liability Reform (DMLR) on their launch today of a Campaign for Federal Liability Reform Legislation. DMLR is a coalition of 230,000 practicing medical specialists dedicated to protecting patients’ access to healthcare by promoting the passage of federal legislation to put a cap on non-economic damages awarded in medical liability cases. DMLR’s membership includes several CAPTEL specialty medical association clients.

“People are dying because of politics,” said Dr. Gail Rosseau, national spokesperson for DMLR at today’s press conference in Washington. “Not because we don’t have the technology, not because we don’t have the doctors, but because astronomical medical liability insurance rates are taking doctors away from our patients at an alarming rate”.

CAPTEL is encouraging its employees to get involved in this “life-and-death” fight at the grassroots level, and suggests that other businesses concerned about the issue will click here to find out more on how to take action now.

September 26, 2003

CAPTEL opened its new Baltimore call center in historic Fells Point just two weeks before Hurricane Isabel struck the Chesapeake Bay on September 18. Although the facility’s first floor was flooded, operations resumed the following Monday, September 22. Located directly on the Inner Harbor, CAPTEL’s new call center boasts state-of-the-art technology combined with the best view in town. CAPTEL purchased and renovated the historic building during the summer of 2003, which once served as a steamship ticket office and more recently, appeared in the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.