Bears

When Laura Abel was approached to join a Polar Bear Plunge team, she said what most people would say: no. After all, you're diving into water in the middle of winter. "My gut reaction was, 'That's insane. Can I just give you some money!?'" said the 25-year-old Patterson Park resident. Her friend/co-worker Matthew Mayer said that a money donation would be fine, but Abel decided to join his five person team, the awesomely named Bear Naked Bohs, anyway. "[It's] far more rewarding to jump in and get a little dirty yourself," she said.

Looking to fill their head-coaching vacancy, the Chicago Bears had interest in Ravens' assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg. However, the talks between the two sides never went beyond the preliminary stages, according to team sources. Rosburg, 57, never had a formal, in-depth interview and didn't aggressive ly pursue the opening as he was busy helping the Ravens prepare for their playoff run. The Chicago Tribune first reported today that the Bears  spoke to  Rosburg before hiring Marc Trestman, the former coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League.

Arians can help Cutler Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times Bruce Arians is the best choice for the Bears. This is a team that has the franchise's best quarterback in the modern era in Jay Cutler, an elite receiver in Brandon Marshall, a running back who's making $8 million per year in Matt Forte, yet can't consistently generate an offense. Arians is the guy who can get the most out of Cutler, just as he did with Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. The Bears want a power running game?

Alaska, a Maryland Zoo polar bear that had been rescued from a Mexican circus a decade ago, was euthanized Tuesday after suffering kidney failure, zoo officials said. The bear had been confiscated in Puerto Rico by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents in March 2002 after the circus abandoned her there. When she arrived at the zoo soon after, animal keepers found that she was deaf, overweight and had poor muscle tone, but they nursed her to health and developed a training program using hand signals and other visual cues.

"Alaska," a Maryland Zoo polar bear that had been rescued from a Mexican circus a decade ago, was euthanized Tuesday after suffering from kidney failure, zoo officials said. The female bear had been confiscated in Puerto Rico by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents in March 2002 after the circus abandoned her there. When she arrived at the zoo soon after, animal keepers found that she was deaf, overweight and had poor muscle tone, but they nursed her to health and developed a training program using hand signals and other visual cues.

The Ravens today signed guard-center Reggie Stephens to fill out their practice squad. There was an opening after the team waived outside linebacker and former second-round pick Sergio Kindle yesterday. Stephens, who played his college football at Iowa State, was a seventh-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. He has also been with the Buffalo Bills and the Chicago Bears, but he's still yet to see action in an NFL regular-season game yet. Stephens, 25, is 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds.

Alexander Kinyua, an electrical engineering student at Morgan State University, was charged with the first-degree murder of his roommate 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie. Kinyua allegedly hadn't just killed the man, but also had eaten his heart and portions of his brain. The victim's severed head and hands were found in the men's Joppa home. Additional remains were found in a nearby church's trash container. Kinyua was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and assault and had been sent to a Maryland state mental hospital.

Carrying on what's become a Baltimore tradition, hundreds of area Jews spent Tuesday up to their elbows in craft paper and care packages, working on community service projects for Mitzvah Day, now in its eighth year. At the hub of the action, the Weinberg Park Heights Jewish Community Center, about 300 people of all ages, those who don't celebrate Christmas, used their day off trying to help others, while about 300 more worked from 16 other locations across the city for Jewish Volunteer Connection's annual event.

As the federal "fiscal cliff" approaches, an important group of Marylanders with a lot on the line has been largely ignored: children. The stakes are immense, because the recession has been hard on Maryland children, with one out of every seven living in poverty. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Urban Institute found that nearly 120,000 Maryland children live with an unemployed parent - about triple the population of Annapolis. Compared to 2007, that's a 180 percent increase, and when you look at kids living with a long-term unemployed parent, the increase is 320 percent.

Elon used a late run to pull away from Morgan State, 74-54, Thursday night in Elon's final home game of the 2012 portion of the women's basketball season. After the Bears (4-6) pulled within 48-45 with 9:14 left in the second half, the Phoenix (4-4) went on a 26-4 streak. Bianca Jarrett led Morgan State with 15 points and five steals, Tracey Carrington (Dundalk) added 13 points and Whitney Southerland had 12. Freshman Jessica Farmer recorded her first career doubledouble (10 points, 10 rebounds)