Bullets

A plan to build UMBC's defense around the return of two starters was nearly derailed in the fall. Junior Sam McKelvey, who accumulated 16 ground balls and four caused turnovers in 11 games (eight starts) last season, underwent ankle surgery in the fall. Such an operation would usually require months of rehabilitation, but not for the Davidsonville native and South River graduate. “[W]e thought we lost him for the year after ankle surgery,” coach Don Zimmerman said Wednesday.

The state's second-highest court has overturned a murder conviction for a man who police say participated in a drug deal that ended in gunfire, which killed a Baltimore County grandmother hit by a stray bullet. Donald S. Kohler did not shoot Shirley Worcester, 58, outside her Middle River home in January 2009. Police said Kohler had cheated a dealer out of four pounds of marijuana by handing over fake money and was running away when the dealer shooting at him hit the victim instead.

A 21-year-old woman who was inside her Northeast Baltimore home was struck by gunfire that came crashing through her patio door Monday evening, Baltimore police said. The shooting, which occurred in the 2200 block of Pinewood Ave., near the Mount Pleasant Golf Course, happened around 6 p.m., police said. The bullets grazed the woman in the back of her head and shoulder, police said. She was taken to an area hospital, where her condition is stable, police said. Investigators did not immediately have additional details to release, and could not say whether the victim was struck by a stray bullet or targeted.

NBA Pollin's widow wouldn't mind return to Bullets name Wizards: Abe Pollin 's widow and former team co-owner said recently that she wouldn't object if the new owner Ted Leonsis decided to return the team name to the Bullets. "I respect my husband's wishes. I love him very much. I miss him terribly. If the fans want to change it back — hey, why not?" Irene Pollin said. "To me, it's what do the fans want? What's going to please them? To me, they're the ones who support, care.

"The past is obdurate. It doesn't want to change. " The past is also a dangerous, fickle place - and woe to anyone who dares alter it. That's the mantra coursing through "11/22/63. " Stephen   King's  mammoth, generous and thrilling novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He is Jake Epping, a divorced, 35-year-old high school English teacher from Lisbon, Maine, who discovers a time-travel portal in the pantry of a neighborhood diner.

City police were investigating the shooting death of a man found early Monday near the North Avenue District Court building. An officer in the area of Harford Road and Bonaparte Ave. at about 1:30 a.m. heard gunshots, then saw a vehicle with visible bullet holes pass by, said a police spokesman. The vehicle came to a stop, and the officer saw that the unidentified driver was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:30 a.m. Police believe the shooting occurred several blocks south at the intersection in the 1700 block of Harford Ave., when a man on foot approached the victim's vehicle and opened fire.

James F. McDonald, a retired federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent, died Sunday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The former longtime Bel Air resident was 76. The son of a machinist and a school teacher, James Franklin McDonald was born and raised in Chester, W.Va., where he graduated in 1953 from Chester High School. He served in the Army for two years in Germany with the 86th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Infantry Division.

Eighttofasttocatch was just that Saturday at Laurel Park, as he ignored the rain, mud and closinghorses to win the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic and set off a joyous celebration in the winner's circle. Owned by Arnold Heft and his wife Sylvia, Eighttofasttocatch represented the couple's longtime search for a champion. "Though I owned the Bullets and the Capitals with Mr. Abe Pollin, we never really had a champion," said Arnold Heft, who named the horse after Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who wears the No. 8. "This has to be the biggest thing for my wife and me. This is my first real champion, and I'm 92 years old. " Sylvia Heft, couldn't stop smiling, and she kissed everyone who wished her congratulations.

A 38-year-old woman was shot through the arm and upper body Saturday evening at an intersection in West Baltimore, Baltimore police said Sunday. Police said the woman, who was not identified, was hospitalized and was in stable condition after the 6:30 p.m. shooting, which occurred at West Lafayette Avenue and Ashburton Street. Police said a bullet went through one of the victim's arms and then entered her torso. Police said they had no motive or suspect in the shooting.

An article in the Sept. 14, 1961 edition of the Herald Argus and Baltimore Countian reported on a startling discovery made at a Catonsville dry cleaners. The finding of a .38 cal. copper coated lead bullet touched off quite a lot of excitement in this area last Thursday. It all started when Anthony Crisaufille, who operates a cleaning establishment in the 6300 block Baltimore National Pike, came across the bullet wrapped in a napkin in one of the seven pairs of pants that someone had sent to be cleaned.