California

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

Anne Arundel County police have charged a 19-year-old California woman with prostitution, operating a prostitution ring and human trafficking. Shkoyia Michelle Lomack of Sacramento was arrested Tuesday evening and remains in custody with a June 19 trial date. Officers received an anonymous tip that a woman was using hotels in the Linthicum area to house prostitutes and profit from their activities. Investigators say Lomack had used an Internet advertisement as a front for the prostitution ring that involved other women from California.

"What's in California?" quizzed Don Worsham, the self-proclaimed Mayor for Eternity of Glen Ridge Drive. "Just a lot of congestion and pollution, from what I've heard. And phony actors and singers. Betcha there's not even an American Legion post there. " Well, dear friend and neighbor, you're right on the first two points, but a bit off base on the last. During our eight hotel tour de force, I saw dozens of Legion posts. And all of them, like most of the Golden State, were draped in fragrant red, yellow and white roses, all wild.

Another bit of the increasingly oddball John Waters hitchhiking mystery has been revealed. We knew the filmmaker started his cross-country adventure in Baltimore. And we knew a touring indie band had picked him up in Ohio. We also knew a married couple helped ferry him to from Kansas to Denver. But we had no idea -- until now -- how Waters made it from here to the Buckeye State ... and beyond. The Frederick News-Post helped clear that up today with a crazy story that details how a Myersville, Maryland councilman named Brett Bidle spent four delicious hours in the car with Waters in Maryland, dropped him in Ohio, and then, defying belief, hooked up with the director again further west.

It certainly would seem that way. One calamity after another has hit the Golden State. Earthquakes. Firestorms. Prolonged drought. Intense smog. Unreal traffic gridlock. Recession. And now massive urban rioting. California seems to be under a perpetual state of siege.Yet for millions, California remains the land of opportunity. A vast tidal wave of Asian and Latino immigrants has swelled the population to 30 million, with another 650,000 people arriving each year. They are placing a strain on a state government already on the verge of breakdown.

CHICAGO -- Part of becoming an adult is accepting responsibility for the consequences of your actions. That's one tempting argument for arrested adolescence. It's much more satisfying to congratulate yourself for everything good that happens to you while blaming someone else for everything bad. Judging from his recent conduct, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has been watching too many reruns of Peter Pan. His is the latest bid for membership in the Have Your Cake and Eat It Too Club.

LOS ANGELES -- Christo unfurled his latest environmental artwork yesterday as a lush green countryside in Japan blossomed with 1,340 blue umbrellas, and the California portion of the project was poised to open just after dawn today.The Japan umbrellas -- each is almost 20 feet tall and weighs 488 pounds -- started opening at 5 a.m., Japan time, Wednesday. Four hours later, almost all were open."So far, the Japan umbrellas are going up without mishap," said Augie Huber, general contractor for the project, which has been six years in the making and will cost more than $26 million.

LOS ANGELES -- A large rooftop billboard looking down at the Bill Clinton state campaign headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard proclaims: "A Race Even a Democrat Can Win."The sign does not, however, refer to this year's presidential race, but rather is an advertisement for the Hollywood Park racetrack -- an ad that mocks the Democratic reputation for losing, as in the string of five defeats in the last six presidential elections.Mr. Clinton hopes to demonstrate he has the support to buck that sorry record by winning the final major primary on the 1992 political track here in California on June 2. Ordinarily a candidate so far ahead in delegates at this time -- 1,824.

Have no fear that California ever will become "normal" or "boring" -- at least so far as its tourism advertising is concerned.Recently the state kicked off a $3 million nationwide television-and-print ad campaign geared to polish California's tarnished image as a vacation destination. Developed under contract with the J. Walter Thompson agency in San Francisco, the campaign includes as a component a new, toll-free telephone number -- (800) GO-CALIF ([800] 462-2543) -- that consumers can call to receive any of four "travel tip sheets" within minutes via fax machine.

Evidence that California no longer occupies the special place it once held in the American psyche can be found in the state's declining suicide rate. Two decades ago, Californians committed suicide at a rate 50 percent higher than the rest of the country. The explanation was that California was the end of the line for those searching for the frontier that was so central to the American character. People seeking that elusive goal just beyond the horizon could go no further. So, they ended the journey.

In another time, Maryland was a hotbed for horse racing, its history rich and its purses comparable to other states. It was a place where jockeys could make a career and not have to contemplate leaving for New York or California. Since the late 1980s, and maybe longer, being an up-and-coming rider at Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park has been akin to being a burgeoning major league star at Camden Yards. Bigger markets — with longer racing seasons and more lucrative purses — beckon.

Baltimore-based Under Armour Inc. is accusing Beverly Hills sports drink maker Body Armor Nutrition LLC of trademark infringement for using a brand name and logo that confuses consumers, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. The sports apparel maker filed the case in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on April 26, seeking an injunction banning the California company from using the name Body Armor, a logo that resembles Under Armour's interlocking U and A, or the tagline Protect + Restore, which Under Armour says is similar to its tagline, Protect This House.

A blogger from California who helped police link a suspect to a viral video of a downtown Baltimore beating says he thinks the story got out of hand and the suspect shouldn't do prison time.  "I actually take no pleasure in his arrest," Mandich said. "... I genuinly feel some empathy for his situation and I certainly hope he learns from this. He doesn't seem to be 'beyond help.'" Anthony Mandich told The Sun two weeks ago that he had been outraged by the video and watched one night as users of the popular 4chan message board worked for hours one night to pinpoint Parsons' as a suspect.

Maryland native Dawn Lindsay, who has been serving as president of Glendale Community College outside Los Angeles since 2009, said she would have gladly remained at the school until she heard that the presidency at Anne Arundel Community College, a position she referred to as "her dream job," became available. AACC has named Lindsay as its new president, allowing the McDaniel College graduate with extensive experience at local institutions the chance to return to the area after being away for 18 years.

Anne Arundel Community College has hired Maryland native Dawn Lindsay, who now heads Glendale Community College in California and has an extensive background in local academia, as its next president. Lindsay, 52, will be the sixth president in the school's 50-year history, replacing Martha A. Smith, who will retire from the position after 18 years on Aug. 1. AACC officials said that Lindsay has signed a three-year contract worth $234,500 annually, with required annual evaluations.

No. 17 Navy proved its resilience Wednesday night. Coming off a 20-8 loss to top-ranked Northwestern on Sunday, the Mids women's lacrosse team (11-2) opened with a big run and won, 15-5, over California. After trading goals in the opening six minutes, the Mids scored four straight to take a 5-1 lead. Jess Fellows scored on a free-position shot to end the spurt with 5:48 left in the first half. The Golden Bears (4-5) scored the next two before Navy went on an 8-0 run that spanned both halves.

THE STATE of California made its bed. It enacted partial electric power deregulation - wholesale but not retail - in the hope that a permanent supply surplus would always keep price down. California grew its economy, increasing power use by one-fourth in the past five years while building no generating capacity in a decade. California was legally, structurally and emotionally unprepared for a shortage. Then the rains stopped in neighboring states, on whose hydroelectric power generation California arrogantly depends.

LOS ANGELES - In the 40 years since Sen. John F. Kennedy was nominated for president by the Democratic Party here, California has played an often critical role in the politics of both major parties. It is doing so again this week as Vice President Al Gore is chosen as the Democratic standard-bearer and his party strives to win the state for the third presidential election in a row. Most polls show Gore holding a lead over Republican nominee George W. Bush in California. But with Green Party nominee Ralph Nader registering support among Democratic liberals, the Gore campaign can't take California for granted, as President Clinton was able to do the past two times out. With 54 electoral votes at stake, the largest single share available and one-fifth of the 270 required for nomination, Gore needs California.

Gov.Martin O'Malley said a federal court's ruling that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional could buoy his push to legalize the unions in Maryland. O'Malley, a Democrat, said that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision Tuesday will impact the debate in Maryland. "I think there are some who - even given their opposition today - understand that over the long term the principle of equity, of civil rights, will ultimately prevail," O'Malley said.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a lower court's ruling that California's Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage, was unconstitutional is surely a good outcome and an advance for equality. Already backers of same-sex marriage in Maryland, including Gov.Martin O'Malley, are expressing optimism that it will provide a boost to their efforts here. But the 2-1 opinion is so narrowly drawn that, even if it is upheld by theU.S. Supreme Court in an inevitable appeal, it may have little bearing on the situation in Maryland and elsewhere.