Alive

They are not so much alive as undead. Open for business, but only to take rather than give. Lumbering, blank-eyed and soulless, they only want more and more of our flesh - or at least the federal government's bailout money. Zombie banks - when there is no more room in hell, they walk on Wall Street! When did George Romero get hold of our economy? The man behind all those zombie movies, from Night of the Living Dead to the multiple Dawn of ... and Day of ... follow-ups, seems to have scripted the current meltdown, what with entire industries lurching about on their last legs.

Fatal Song Choices: "Stayin' Alive" and "Run to Me" What Went Wrong: Alas, our quasi-hometown Idol has fallen. The former Millersville bank teller peaked early and had struggled for weeks to revisit the halcyon days of the semifinals. On Tuesday, she turned one of the best soundtracks for sauntering ("Stayin' Alive") into a dull death march. Poor Paula Abdul was crouched like a cheetah, poised to boogie down, but the fun never arrived. Jones' second outing was an improvement but on the last note, her voice -- run ragged by weeks of oversinging -- betrayed her. Shining Moment: Jones dropped an atomic bomb on the competition with a fierce rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in the semifinals.

On the night of Tuesday, Oct. 19, Sun columnist John Steadman sat in his room at the oncology wing of Johns Hopkins Hospital, hemorhaglng. He had attended every NFL game played by a Baltimore team since 1950, home and away, preseason, regular season and postseason. Finally, it appeared his remarkable streak was about to end."I accepted it," Steadman said. "You know that things can't go on forever."But Steadman. 72, wasn't about to quit.He stopped bleeding Wednesday -- "miraculously,' according to his doctor, William Sharfman -- and left the hospital Thursday afternoon.

SOME years ago I had to decide whether to ask that th respirator that was keeping my 85-year-old mother alive be turned off. I did ask. She died. The decision was painful. It was not difficult.Mom had made her wishes clear in a living will, and her body's systems were misfiring randomly and shutting down one by one. Postponing death meant needless, if only subconscious, torment for her.As unpleasant as all that was, I can't even imagine how much more traumatic it would have been if a grandstanding governor and state legislator had forced me to fight in the courts for the right to make a decision that state law permits.

Thirteen-year-old Steven Bennington was enjoying a Christmas vacation benefit: staying up late to watch television. But just before 2 a.m. yesterday, he smelled smoke, so the Holabird Middle School eighth-grader tore himself away from the movie "Glimmer Man" and went downstairs to investigate.His late-night inquisitiveness saved his family, including two dogs. Most of their two-story rowhouse in the 7400 block of Lansdale Road near Essex was ablaze."The whole living room was up in flames -- it was moving so fast," Steven said yesterday afternoon.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening is scrambling to salvage key parts of his legislative agenda as the General Assembly enters the final month of its 90-day session.The governor's proposed doubling of the state's 36-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes faces an uncertain future. His HOPE scholarship program for middle-income Marylanders hangs by a thread. And his plan for redirecting state spending to curb suburban sprawl has run into major problems.To save all or some of them, the governor seems determined to bargain for as many votes as he can, using school construction funds, road projects and other state favors as currency.

CLEVELAND -- It was a game the Orioles never should have lost.A game they absolutely had to win.Everything went their way in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series yesterday at Jacobs Field.Mike Mussina gave one of the best pitching performances in club history.A stunning fluke play enabled them to tie the score when they were on the verge of losing in the top of the ninth.A blown call snuffed out a potential game-winning rally for the Indians in the bottom of the ninth.A near-impossible escape by closer Randy Myers kept the game alive in the bottom of the 11th.

THE DISAPPEARANCE of Nancy Riggins remains a mystery. No one knows for sure whether the Elkridge woman is dead or alive. But her co-workers have done almost everything within their power during the past year to keep her memory vivid and to determine what happened to her.LeeAnn Kotler, who worked with Mrs. Riggins as a cashier at the Burtonsville Giant grocery, wears a reminder of her friend and colleague every day. Her purple ribbon has grown tattered over...

CARL O. SNOWDEN is mistaken if he believes that a letter from the Secretary of State's Charitable Organization Division clears up questions about the finances of his yearly event, the "Keeping the Dream Alive/Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Awards Dinner."The letter confirms a fact already known. The organization is not a charity. The question remains: What happens to the thousands of dollars collected each year in the name of the slain civil rights leader?The Annapolis alderman, who plans to formally declare his campaign for mayor in Maryland's capital city this month, maintains the organization that sponsors the dinner is "an ad hoc" group that donates to community groups.

NONVIOLENCE WAS the credo of Martin Luther King Jr. He taught his demonstrators to resist the curses and blows of their oppressors. He spoke out against a war he believed to be immoral in Vietnam. And yet, as much as Dr. King stood for passive resistance, he also served as a symbol for certain truths -- one of the most important being that all people should be equally rewarded for their good deeds.As we celebrate Dr. King's birthday today, it is appropriate that we also honor men of good deeds who, for too long, were inadequately recognized.

SUNDAY TRACY CHAPMAN: We'll give you more than one reason to hear the folksy soul singer at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. Chapman's a Grammy Award-winning artist with hits such as "Fast Car" and "Talking 'Bout a Revolution." Just get in your fast car and get your $40 ticket. Doors open at 7 p.m. Go to tickets.ramsheadlive.com. MODELS & THROTTLES: Custom bikes, leather-clad ladies, live music and an FMX stunt show. Sounds like a good night out at Power Plant Live, 34 Market Place, noon-6:30 p.m. The event is free.

It was both heartwarming and heart-rending to watch the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's musicians voluntarily give back $1 million in pay raises and other previously negotiated benefits last year in order to keep the institution afloat through the current economic downturn. The players' sacrifice was an expression of the fierce loyalty they felt toward the orchestra and its management, and their generosity was unprecedented. Of the 17 major symphony orchestras in the country, the BSO players were the only ones to give back previously negotiated salaries and benefits on their own, rather than in response to management demands.

Not every garden project is a raging success. If you have been a gardener for more than 10 minutes, you know that. The ladybug project is one of those not-a-raging-success stories. The cool and rainy spring brought with it plenty of garden pests, including the aphids that were chewing on my roses and the white flies that were attacking my herbs. At the suggestion of one of my colleagues, I decided to try the ladybug cure. Her husband had great success releasing ladybugs in his garden.

They are not so much alive as undead. Open for business, but only to take rather than give. Lumbering, blank-eyed and soulless, they only want more and more of our flesh - or at least the federal government's bailout money. Zombie banks - when there is no more room in hell, they walk on Wall Street! When did George Romero get hold of our economy? The man behind all those zombie movies, from Night of the Living Dead to the multiple Dawn of ... and Day of ... follow-ups, seems to have scripted the current meltdown, what with entire industries lurching about on their last legs.

No matter what Eric Washington is doing - be it catch-up work from the classes he has missed or a game of pick-up football that his doctors have forbidden - he must be home by 10 p.m. No exceptions. As he has every night for nearly three years, the Polytechnic Institute senior must hook himself up to a suitcase-sized contraption that will clean his blood as he sleeps. It's something Eric's kidneys used to do on their own, before they failed him when he was just 14. Now, as he waits for a kidney transplant, he relies on a dialysis machine beside his bed to keep him alive.

Queen Anne Ball -- The Friends of Annapolis will present the 1708 Queen Anne Ball from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday at Loews Annapolis Hotel, 126 West St. It will feature a castlelike setting with live music from Radio City, a silent auction and Colonial costumes. The gala will mark the beginning of the yearlong celebration commemorating the signing of the royal charter 300 years ago. Proceeds will benefit the city's 2008 Annapolis Alive celebration. Tickets are $150 and up. 410-280-0445, ext. 103; or www. annapolisalive.

Fatal Song Choices: "Stayin' Alive" and "Run to Me" What Went Wrong: Alas, our quasi-hometown Idol has fallen. The former Millersville bank teller peaked early and had struggled for weeks to revisit the halcyon days of the semifinals. On Tuesday, she turned one of the best soundtracks for sauntering ("Stayin' Alive") into a dull death march. Poor Paula Abdul was crouched like a cheetah, poised to boogie down, but the fun never arrived. Jones' second outing was an improvement but on the last note, her voice -- run ragged by weeks of oversinging -- betrayed her. Shining Moment: Jones dropped an atomic bomb on the competition with a fierce rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in the semifinals.

WASHINGTON -- From the clamor following the Supreme Court's ruling to ban partial-birth abortion, one might assume that American women have been robbed of choice. In fact, women can still render themselves unpregnant, in the vernacular of choice-speak, by several means. They can "disarticulate the fetus" and even "reduce" or "separate the fetal calvarium." If the vocabulary is confusing, that's the point. Using Orwellian language to sanitize the issue, so to speak, is a time-honored tactic of the "pro-choice" arbiters.

Six of 75 cats discovered in a Columbia townhouse remained alive yesterday after police responded to complaints of a "foul odor" coming from the home late last week, said Pfc. Jennifer Reidy, a spokeswoman for Howard County authorities. When animal control officers arrived at the house in the 7300 block of Swan Point Way, 17 cats were dead and 58 were taken to a local veterinarian, who determined that 50 of them were so ill that they needed to be euthanized. Two more died Sunday night.

It was another bruising episode for the news media, but this time caused not by scandalous behavior but by simple human error: Dozens of newspapers and television and radio stations reported late Tuesday and early yesterday that 12 trapped miners in a West Virginia coal mine had been found alive, only to learn later that the report was tragically wrong. "There's no getting around the fact that the news media published a falsehood here," Jane E. Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said yesterday.