Backups

Maryland highway planners have been given $2.5 million in federal money to try to make life easier for the 70,000 commuters who daily brave rush-hour traffic between Baltimore and Washington.A spokesman for Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski said the money, included in the current federal budget, will be used to help ease traffic congestion along Interstate 95, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and U.S. 1, using what engineers call Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS).These systems will include electronic monitoring loops embedded in roadways to monitor the volume and speed of traffic passing overhead, and surveillance cameras and automated signs to warn drivers of backups and redirect them.

A motivational seminar at the Baltimore Arena is getting much of the blame for forcing rush-hour traffic to a crawl on three major highways yesterday morning, making many unsuspecting commuters late for work.While 10,000 people headed to the Baltimore Arena for an 8 a.m. seminar on "success with integrity," thousands of commuters trying to enter the city from the south got stuck in miles-long backups on portions of Interstate 95, Route 295 and the west side of the Baltimore Beltway. The delays lasted from roughly 7: 30 a.m. to 10 a.m."

Who knew Marc Bulger was a hero-in-waiting? Or that Chad Pennington was ready to ace his first test in the NFL? Or that Tommy Maddox was able at last to cash in on his misspent potential? Backups all until October, those three quarterbacks offer the latest primer in how fickle NFL fate can be. Bulger, an obscure sixth-round draft pick in 2000, served up a controversy in St. Louis by leading the Rams back from oblivion. Pennington and Maddox, a pair of former first-round picks, sparked revivals for the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers with unexpected proficiency.

Delaware happens. If you're traveling by car along Interstate 95 north of Baltimore this holiday weekend, you are likely to run headlong into that inescapable fact. Once you cross the Cecil County border heading north on I-95, you are in the grips of a tiny state with a healthy appetite for tolls and a leisurely system for collecting them. As many motorists in the Baltimore-Washington area learned - or relearned - at Christmas and Thanksgiving, traffic backs up for miles so that Delaware can collect a toll it recently raised from $2 to $3 per car for the use of its turnpike.

COLLEGE PARK - Two years ago, he made his mark as a backup shooting guard who possessed one of the best three-point shots on the team. Last year, he made an unorthodox switch to point guard, because the team needed help for Steve Blake. As for the coming season with Maryland, junior Drew Nicholas could find himself collecting additional playing time as part of a three-guard alignment coach Gary Williams is considering. That essentially would make Nicholas one of the backups to small forward Byron Mouton.

NATIONAL General extends Iraq tour Gen. George W. Casey Jr. is extending his assignment as the top allied commander in Iraq to a third year, senior Pentagon officials said late Friday, ensuring that the U.S. military-diplomatic team there remains in place well into 2007. pg 3a Actress Shelley Winters dies Shelley Winters, a blond bombshell of the 1940s who evolved into a character actress best remembered for her roles as victims, shrews and matrons, died yesterday. She was 85. pg 6a WORLD Pakistan challenges U.S. attack Pakistan's government demanded an explanation yesterday for a U.S. airstrike on a remote village that Pakistani officials said killed a number of women and children.

THE EVENTS of the past few weeks have been a forceful reminder that all sorts of things that support ordinary life can go wrong. The blackout in the Northeast, the gasoline pipeline shutdown in Arizona, the virus that surged across the nation's computers - the list of American systems subject to Murphy's law could just go on and on. Toss in the arrest of a man for trying to sell a surface-to-air missile, and you begin to get an idea of just how vulnerable the...

Starting strong The Ravens went 93 yards on their first offensive series and finished it off with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Steve McNair to tight end Quinn Sypniewski. McNair was 6-for-8 for 73 yards on the series. Short run New Ravens running back Willis McGahee was limited to one series, gaining 20 yards on four attempts. He did break a 16-yard run. Olson wins Round 1 In the battle for the No. 3 quarterback job, Drew Olson was the clear winner over Troy Smith. Olson was 7-for-9 for 84 yards and a touchdown, and Smith was 3-for-11 for 34 yards.

This week, tens of thousands of Marylanders will take off Wednesday or early Thursday and head northward on Interstate 95 to New Jersey or New York or New England or wherever Mom stuffs her turkey. Last year, these same people ran into nightmarish backups at the toll plazas in Delaware -- especially on the Sunday evening drive home. They reported to the office the following Monday with stories of woe about hours-long backups with the kids screaming for a bathroom. This year, with the benefit of amnesia that 12 months can bring, many of the same people will take the same route at about the same time and get the same result.

With just under six minutes to play Sunday, Denver Broncos fans began bailing out of Mile High Stadium, convinced there was no coming back from an eight-point deficit against the New York Jets.They were right. The Broncos would lose their fourth in a row, 21-13, with a late collapse. And the interesting thing is that while the home of the comeback king has gone quiet, the rest of the NFL is alive with fourth-quarter heroics.Led by Brett Favre and Drew Bledsoe, there have already been 20 fourth-quarter comebacks in the season's first four weeks.