Amass

MIAMI -- U.S. diplomat Thomas P. Carroll apparently had no clue that he was a target of an investigation when he landed in Miami last month on a flight from the Caribbean nation of Guyana, where he had been posted for two years. When he met that day at Miami International Airport with his successor as chief of the U.S. Embassy's nonimmigrant visa section, it was unlikely that Carroll knew he was being taped. His pitch to his replacement, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, was as simple as it was chilling: "Carroll asked [his colleague]

No shots are fired in anger or scalps taken in Arthur J. Phelan Jr.'s Old West. Buffalo are not hunted to near extinction; neither the frontier's westward advance nor its blue-eyed pioneers are celebrated as heroic. Phelan, raised and still living in Montgomery County, has his Old West, as Hollywood has its versions, as the National Museum of American Art's curators had theirs. For 30 years Phelan has been hunting paintings, drawings and photographs of what one authority on the subject called "a moving target": the American West.

On game days in the town of Union Bridge, students at Francis Scott Key High School seldom have difficulty figuring out which of their classmates play varsity softball, even if they're not carrying gloves.They're the ones making a fashion statement.As a symbol of team unity, players dress alike during the school day, sometimes a bit outlandishly. In an effort to stand apart from the crowd, they've been known to wear uniform socks with shorts or wear their hair in pigtails."It's that link that kind of unites them," said Eagles coach Joe Linthicum.

A former Justice Department lawyer spent two years amassing 500 fraudulent credit card accounts, federal prosecutors said yesterday.Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Eugene Martin Frese, 64, sat in federal court in Baltimore yesterday, fiddling with his gold Harvard Law School class ring and tie, loudly criticizing the government's portrayal of him as a swindler who hoarded a "treasure trove of assets."Frese was arrested Friday on charges of credit card fraud after a three-month investigation by U.S. postal inspectors.

IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. -- In the early 1900s, one of America's first black millionaires set out to build a country mansion in this exclusive New York neighborhood. It was to be grand and opulent -- and positioned near a major thoroughfare for all to see.Her soon-to-be neighbors were incredulous."Impossible," one resident told a newspaper in 1917. "No woman of her race could afford such a place."Madam C. J. Walker, the ambitious daughter of slaves who helped pioneer African-American hair-care products, ignored them.

America's leading rider passed another milestone this week.Edgar Prado scored his 400th victory of 1998, leading his agent, Steve Rushing, to establish 1,000 over two years as the next career challenge."

A controversial campaign committee formed by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to protect Democratic control of Maryland's upper chamber has more than $430,000 on hand to defend against Republican challenges, campaign finance records show.In a report filed this week, the Maryland Democratic Senatorial Committee reported that it has raised $636,298 and has spent $200,387 -- most of it on polling.That leaves a campaign fund of about $436,000 from which Miller can direct large sums to the most embattled of his party's incumbents.

It seems you can't write a piece about basketball these days without mentioning Michael Jordan. This article, however, does not discuss Jordan's scoring titles, his NBA championships or his status as the best player ever to step on the court. It celebrates the economic phenomenon of his celebrity while noting that his huge economic footprint has failed to change the lot of other African-Americans who would love to be like Mike.The point here is not to criticize Michael Jordan for "forgetting where he came from."

Scattered among Jennifer Toth's belongings are an exercise bike, a Brad Pitt movie poster, dried roses reminiscent of proms past and seven shelves of epic fantasy books.Six days a week, Toth is herself -- a 22-year-old, blond-haired, blue-eyed computer trainer living in Cockeysville. But come Sundays, she becomes "Rohan," a warlock vampire roaming the streets of "Chicago" in search of knowledge.Toth and six other faux bloodsuckers meet at her apartment every week for vampire sessions that run five to six hours.

OVER THE PAST WEEK, the titillating story of a president in crisis has far outpaced the substantiated facts. What is known is that the Whitewater special prosecutor is investigating allegations that a young woman who worked as an unpaid White House intern had a sexual relationship with President Clinton and was asked to lie about it. This gives rise to legitimate questions, along with sordid speculation.The speculation includes a melange of indiscretions, most of which are unconfirmed. These reports come in an atmosphere in which competition fuels the pressure to advance a story that has moved only incrementally since it broke early last week.