Bright Spots

The Twins have had a tough start to camp, with Francisco Liriano experiencing tendinitis in his shoulder and Joe Mauer still moving gingerly after knee surgery. Japanese newcomer Tsuyoshi Nishioka , however, has looked great, flashing a swing that resembles Mauer's more than countryman Ichiro Suzuki 's. … Like the White Sox's Chris Sale , the Reds' Aroldis Chapman will start 2011 in the bullpen, with his anticipated move into the rotation to be determined later.

Mercy Medical Center is converting a former Giant grocery store in Lutherville into a hub where patients can go for lab work, minor surgeries and to visit primary care physicians. Urgent care centers such as Patient First and Doctors Express are taking over retail spaces in high-traffic areas, including where a Roy Rogers fast-food restaurant was once located. And Thomson Reuters this summer opened its first branch dedicated to health care research in Woodlawn office space, where more than two dozen employees will provide data and analysis to the federal government.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — An evening that began with fireworks ended in tears of joy for Spain, which erased decades of frustration Sunday by finally hoisting the World Cup. Andres Iniesta's goal 28 minutes into extra time, mixed with a spectacular game from keeper Iker Casillas, gave La Furia Roja an ugly but hard-fought 1-0 win over a shorthanded Netherlands squad before a raucous, vuvuzela-tooting crowd of 84,490 at Soccer City Stadium....

A stunned Jordan Williams sat on the floor for a few moments after Korie Lucious nailed his buzzer-beating, kidney-punching three-pointer Sunday -- Williams' sizable rear end parked in the paint, like always. As the less-than-impressive Michigan State cheerleading crew stormed the Spokane Arena court and celebrated the Spartans' 85-83 win a few yards away, the future face of Maryland basketball gazed dead ahead. Only Williams knows what was on his mind. Perhaps the freshman big man was looking back on his first season in College Park.

E verybody knew the recession would cut demand for energy. But some power executives have been surprised at how much. Electricity use in the region plunged 5 percent last year after falling 3 percent in 2008, according to PJM Interconnection, the company that manages the Mid-Atlantic electric grid and is based outside Philadelphia. Grid congestion and other factors that raise costs for consumers have fallen even more. The result is that power prices are declining more than experts were expecting even a few months ago. That means decent rate relief is arriving for customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric - in a year or so, for those who stick with BGE's standard product, or right now if you're willing to buy electricity from an alternative supplier.

Day after day following the 2007 season, Brandon Erbe arrived at Twin Lakes Park, got dressed and headed out to the bullpen to meet Orioles minor league pitching instructor Dave Schmidt. For more than a month, they worked under the hot Florida sun, doing the same drills and retracing the same movements. Erbe never threw a single pinch. "We had three or four drills that we'd do over and over, just dry work. It's not exactly fun. It's rather mundane, just boring stuff over and over again," Schmidt said.

Hermine Duebsie needs this job. She holds her application and I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form in hand and waits for a proctor from the U.S. Census Bureau to administer a basic skills test. The test, meant to be fairly simple - gauging skills in reading, basic math, map reading and following instructions - is a deciding factor in securing a part-time, six-to-10-week interviewer's job with a flexible schedule and $18.50 an hour, a rate that varies by location. "The pay is great, and it's a government job. I think this job is most important," said Duebsie, a Montgomery County Community College student with no other source of income.

- With Maryland losing its fifth game in a row, at least Terps fans could focus Saturday on the achievements of Torrey Smith , the star of this season's team. Smith had already broken his own Atlantic Coast Conference mark earlier this year for single-season kickoff return yardage. On Saturday, the sophomore wide receiver needed just 35 yards to break LaMont Jordan 's single-season school record of 1,840 all-purpose yards. He broke the record by catching a 21-yard pass from Jamarr Robinson in the second quarter.

COLLEGE PARK -- With Maryland losing its fifth game in a row, at least Terps fans could focus Saturday on the achievements of Torrey Smith, the star of this season's team. Smith had already broken his own Atlantic Coast Conference mark earlier this year for single-season kickoff return yardage. On Saturday, the wide receiver needed just 35 yards to break LaMont Jordan's single-season school record of 1,840 all-purpose yards. He broke the record with a 21-yard reception from Jamarr Robinson in the second quarter.