Calvert County

COLLEGE PARK -- Northeast's bid to add to the softball program's nine state titles fell one game short last night in a determined effort against a Huntingtown team that was primed to defend its Class 3A crown. Up against the two-time defending state champions from Calvert County, the No. 8 Eagles weren't able to solve senior pitcher Kerry Hickey, who threw a one-hitter and also provided the game's big blast - a two-run homer - to lead the Hurricanes to a 4-0 win at the University of Maryland's softball complex.

An Annapolis man was killed in a single-car accident that occurred between Saturday evening and yesterday morning, according to Howard County police. Richard Michael Banks, 49, of the 1100 block of Green Holly Drive was in a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that went off the end of a parking lot in the 7300 block of Coca-Cola Drive, police said. The truck traveled down an embankment and landed on its roof. Police said no one saw the accident, which they believe occurred between 7:20 p.m. Saturday and 8:45 a.m. yesterday.

When a group of Carroll County librarians launched the Aha! Science at Your Library series last fall, they were driven by a desire to encourage science literacy among young children. More than a year later, the program has mushroomed into lessons focusing on the workings of the Earth, planets and solar system - and has even spilled over into other branches and surrounding areas. Now Carroll County children can learn about the universe through American Indian stories in the SkyTellers series, help determine where astronauts should land on the dark side of the moon in the Explorer program and discover the volcanoes on Jupiter's moons in the new program Heat from Within next year.

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele was standing in a Calvert County parking lot, telling a small group of supporters that his campaign for United States Senate was about "listening to the people of Maryland." Not only that, it was about hearing "the needs of the community." Hardly memorable rhetoric, but now preserved on videotape at the Maryland Democratic Party headquarters, thanks to the work of a campaign tracker. The party had sent a young staffer to tail the lieutenant governor, to record his every word and action.

"For the first time in Maryland, you can vote in person before Election Day!" reads the message on postcards sent to every registered voter in Baltimore this week - more than 300,000 people - informing them about the city's three early-voting sites for the September primary. There's just one problem: As of now, there is no early voting in Maryland. The Court of Appeals - the state's highest court - will hear arguments on Friday over whether voters should get an extra five days at the polls this fall or the concept of early voting fails to meet constitutional muster.

Calvert County is Maryland's fastest growing county and has a median household income almost $20,000 higher than the state average. So does it really need to throw $300 million at Constellation Energy Group to entice the big corporation to build another nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs? Is the county that desperate for development that it has to give away so much tax money to a company that made more than $600 million in net income last year? The answer, say the county's economic development officials, is that it's not a matter of desperation but of striking a prudent bargain - and they have a good point.

Trying to jump ahead of perceived competition, Calvert County approved yesterday a tax break worth an estimated $300 million to Constellation Energy Group as an inducement to expand its nuclear power complex in Southern Maryland. Baltimore-based Constellation, the largest wholesale provider of electricity in the country, wants to build at least five reactors nationwide with a partner and hopes to put the first at its Calvert Cliffs plant. The company formally requested the tax break in a recent letter, county officials said.

Anne Arundel County prosecutors settled for what might be as little as five years in prison for a man who admitted causing the death of his girlfriend's toddler, after his statement to Annapolis police was thrown out because detectives arrested him in a neighboring county without a local law enforcement officer present. In a plea agreement that ended the case yesterday, Gerald E. Parker, 25, the live-in boyfriend of an Annapolis mother, accepted a 10-year sentence in the death Jan. 6 of 18-month-old Azakia Tynadra Mitchell.

Ailene W. Hutchins, a former educator and Orphans' Court judge who wrote widely about her native Calvert County, died in her sleep June 23 at her home in Prince Frederick. She was 86. Ailene Williams was born and raised on her family's farm near Barstow, and graduated from Calvert County High School. At 19, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1939 from Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College. She taught French, English and drama at Calvert County High, and was the school's guidance counselor from 1951 to 1963.

AILENE WILLIAMS MOHLER HUTCHINS, 86, of Prince Frederick, Calvert County, MD on June 23, 2006. A beloved former school teacher, guidance counselor (then Ailene Mohler) of Calvert County High School and a Calvert County historian, genealogist, author, columnist, speaker and community volunteer passed peacefully at her Patuxent River home. Mrs. Hutchins was a 1939 graduate of Western Maryland College and a 1956 Master's graduate of the University of Maryland. She formerly served as Chief Judge, Orphans Court of Calvert County.