Bust

The two houses are across the street from each other on Camrose Avenue in Brooklyn Park — a two story bungalow and a one-story ranch. The lawns are mowed, flowers fill the planters and one has a plastic toy basketball hoop. The narrow street starts at a cemetery on busy Ritchie Highway, sandwiched between two used motorcycle shops. But it quickly becomes typically suburban, lined with small but comfortable and well-kept homes with neatly trimmed hedges. Anne Arundel County police announced Wednesday that two weeks ago they raided the bungalow and the ranch, along with six other homes, as part of a six-month investigation into the sale of cocaine and prescription medicines.

In November, voters approved a major expansion of Maryland's gambling program on the promise that allowing table games and eventually building a sixth casino would ensure that the gambling dollars state residents spend would go toward funding education here and not in states like West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. This week, we got the first preliminary snapshot of how that bargain is working out, and it should give us some pause. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission reported its first set of figures since the Maryland Live Casino in Anne Arundel County added table games.

Has Harford's BRAC boom gone bust? Way back when it first came to light that the U.S. Base Closure and Realignment Commission (known by the curiously jumbled acronym BRAC) would take action resulting in a net expansion at Aberdeen Proving Ground, the first reaction locally was a sigh of relief. After all, there had been concern that APG could be one of those military installations that would end up being closed. Relief gave way to near jubilation, especially in local government circles, as BRAC became synonymous with feast locally, even as it has come to mean famine in places where military installations have been mothballed.

A strong odor of marijuana in a Joppa home where Harford County sheriff's deputies had responded to settle a domestic dispute on Sunday has led to the arrests of a young couple and the seizure of about eight pounds of marijuana, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Deputies responded to the home in the 800 block of Chatfield Road about 12:15 p.m. for a report of a verbal altercation between Michael Allen Brandt, 26, and Julia Michele Leonard, 24, the sheriff's office said.

P rogress, outfitted with stainless steel, granite, roof decks and parking pads, marched into such working-class bastions as Canton and Locust Point. The decorator appointments cracked the neighborhoods' Formstone-encrusted hearts and lured a new breed of city dweller: younger, ambitious, professional. Longtime residents shook their heads at the endless parade of yuppies and U-Hauls and watched, bewildered, as microbrew pubs replaced corner bars and boutiques moved onto Broadway and the Avenue - our Main Streets.

No. 6 Boise State uses a 30-yard pass on a fake punt from its 33-yard line to set up a tie-breaking fourth-quarter touchdown and lead the Broncos to a 17-10 victory over No. 3 Texas Christian in a battle of unbeaten teams that were denied a spot in the Bowl Championship Series title game. Article, PG 14

From Jay Hancock's blog: A column about BGE's smart meters last month had a throwaway line about how digital meters could blow the whistle on your marijuana grow lights. I hadn't thought much about it, but that's what people seem to believe will happen on a large scale in British Columbia, which is to pot what Texas is to oil. It's not that pot growers are using metered kilowatts to grow their weed. Rather, they're pirating electricity by tapping the lines and routing it, unmetered, to their nurseries.

I secretly dread trying on swimsuits because I have a flat chest and heavy thighs.When I went shopping recently, the saleswoman insisted I try on a padded top to "fill me out."I left the store empty-handed. Any ideas about enhancing my bust without padding. Any ideas?There are ways to use design to your advantage. Look for suits with draping or shirring across the chest. Both give a natural roundness. Bold patterns or prints are also effective. A brilliantly colored, eye-catching pattern on the bust will visually build it up and give the illusion of fullness.

A strong odor of marijuana in a Joppa home where Harford County sheriff's deputies had responded to settle a domestic dispute on Sunday has led to the arrests of a young couple and the seizure of about eight pounds of marijuana, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Deputies responded to the home in the 800 block of Chatfield Road about 12:15 p.m. for a report of a verbal altercation between Michael Allen Brandt, 26, and Julia Michele Leonard, 24, the sheriff's office said.

Former Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller never came close to touching the lofty expectations that came with being one of the team's first-round picks in the 2003 NFL draft, which is why last month I labeled him as the biggest draft bust in franchise history . Matt Zenitz, a writer for PressBox , recently tagged Boller as an all-time bust , too. But one man is willing to stand up on a soapbox and defend Boller: Joe Platania. In a response to his PressBox colleague, Platania wrote a lengthy post in defense of Boller , who is still in the NFL today as a backup quarterback for the Raiders.

Remember last week on "The Amazing Race," when John had a few extended moments of crazy and got eliminated? That's still funny. But now it is time for the teams to leave Bali and head to Vietnam. "Word on the street," tweets Phil, "is that Hotel California by the Eagles is the #1 karaoke song in Vietnam. "   What happens at the travel agency stays at the travel agency Father and Son Dave and Connor are planning to leave the Race. Dave's surgeon at home has recommended surgery within seven days, so they plan to fly to Hanoi and be eliminated.

The longer snowflakes were kept at bay, the faster the wisecracks started coming in on Twitter and Facebook. "I remember when I was a kid in the 70's and they predicted storms accurately 7 days in advance," Havre de Grace resident Jason Falkenstine tweeted. "It would be nice to have an apology from meteorologist for being totally wrong," Baltimore resident Jason Sellers wrote. Meteorologists offered a mea culpa for predictions of Baltimore's biggest snowfall in two years.

A hot topic among Ravens fans this week is this: how well will Ray Lewis do in his new role next fall as an ESPN talking head? According to reports, Lewis will appear on the network's "Monday Night Countdown," "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "SportsCenter" shows. But apparently some fans on sports talk radio and message boards are worried he'll come off either as too intense, too preachy or too rambling. Personally, I don't see that at all. Just as Lewis was the consummate pro for 17 seasons with the Ravens, preparing for every game with an astonishing attention to detail, he'll prepare the same way for life behind the microphone.

An expected snowfall overnight could have brought fourth and fifth consecutive days of snow at BWI Marshall Airport, but it wasn't to be. After a series of fast-moving light snowfalls, the weather is expected to quiet through the weekend. While various models showed at least a dusting of snow, and maybe a few inches, in the Baltimore area, the precipitation did not make it out of the mountains. Some in western Allegany County reported to the National Weather Service's Baltimore/Washington forecast office as much as 5 inches of snow out west, while in Hagerstown, snow totaled 0.8 inches.

Randy Moss returned to the NFL for games like this, not performances like Sunday night's. Five days after Moss proclaimed himself the best wide receiver of all time, he spent most of Super Bowl XLVII as an on-field spectator for the San Francisco 49ers, unable to make the plays necessary for the first championship of his 14-year career. Moss left the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after a 34-31 loss to the Ravens with just two catches for 41 yards. His biggest impact came on a 32-yard gain early in the fourth quarter - a great catch, but not enough for one of self-proclaimed greatness.

If you gotta go, you gotta go. To Super Bowl XLVII, that is. And Ravens fans have got to go to New Orleans, getting there any which way they can. Direct flights from Baltimore to the Big Easy have long since sold out, leaving fans to come up with creative travel plans. Some are going for fly-and-drive combinations, like flying into Panama City Beach, Fla., - and making the roughly four-hour drive to New Orleans. Others are taking flights to Jackson, Miss., a relatively short drive of less than three hours.

Police seized more than $15,000 in counterfeit money after chasing suspected drug dealers to a home in West Baltimore Thursday morning. Ten people were arrested and raw heroin was also seized in a bust that netted more than $22,000, including the counterfeit funds, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He declined to release the names of the suspects, saying that the U.S. Secret Service was involved and the investigation is continuing. At about 6:45 a.m., the Central District operations squad observed a gold Pontiac Grand Prix, which they believed to be involved in drug activity, in the 600 block of McCulloh St. and conducted brief surveillance.

The Ravens' decision to replace quarterback Trent Dilfer with Elvis Grbac after Dilfer steered the team to its only Super Bowl title was arguably one of the biggest follies in franchise history. And according to Adam Rank of NFL.com, Grbac was one of the biggest free-agent quarterback busts in NFL history, too. In a list published yesterday on NFL.com , Rank ranked the Ravens' acquisition of Grbac in 2001 as the second worst free-agent quarterback signing in league history.

Somewhere in the third year of Tribune Co.'s marathon Chapter 11 proceeding, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey looked out at a Delaware courtroom packed with high-priced attorneys and conceded the case had broken down into what he called a "multiconstituent melee. " "The parties are represented by some of the best lawyers in the field," he said. "You know how to fight well ... but nobody ends up the better for it, really. " Carey was trying to make a point about the foundation of bankruptcy law, which recognizes that a company and its creditors are better off hammering out a settlement than fighting endless court battles.

A 34-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for his role in a heroin and gun distribution ring that netted police more than a dozen weapons, $8,000 in cash and two ounces of heroin when they busted it earlier this year, according to police and the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. Keith James, 34, of the 5000 block of Harford Road, will also have to serve three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty Monday to possession of heroin with the intent to distribute it and possession of a firearm that he was prohibited from having because of a previous conviction, prosecutors said.