Capitol

A battle of historic proportions is shaping up in the Maryland General Assembly. On one side: admirers of Harriet Tubman, the Eastern Shore woman who famously helped slaves travel to freedom on the Underground Railroad. On the other: fans of John Hanson, a son of Southern Maryland and president of the Continental Congress, a precursor to the government of the United States. Maryland, one of the original 13 colonies and rich in history, typically embraces all of its notable figures.

They practiced speed drills, studied films of their opponents and outlined strategies — all to ensure that when the tournament began, they would be ready to perform. That is why the Howard County-based Capitol Debate team is one of the best nationally in a contest that is just as intense and competitive as any sport. They're hosting their fourth-annual Fall Classic Tournament at Centennial High School, starting Saturday and ending Sunday. The contest matches teams from Maryland as well as those from seven other states — including Florida, New Hampshire and Alabama — and Washington, D.C. It features policy debate, with more than 60 two-member teams competing.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings has been one of the most ardent voices for homeowners throughout the country's foreclosure crisis, particularly in recent days, when revelations of slipshod practices at major lending companies have prompted moratoria and investigations into the process of evicting people from their houses. For the Baltimore Democrat, foreclosure is not just a political issue, it's also a personal one. In 1997, the year after he entered the House, Cummings fell six months behind on the mortgage on his West Baltimore home, and foreclosure proceedings were launched.

Madeleine Houck, a 15-year-old freshman at River Hill High School, had a good feeling going into the Novice National Debate Championship at Woodward Academy in Atlanta. She spent close to five hours a week preparing for the three-day competition with fellow members of Capitol Debate, a nonprofit based in Ellicott City that coaches students in debate techniques and strategies. "I was a little nervous, but I knew I put in a lot of hard work," she said. Houck and her teammate, Michael Koo, an eighth-grader at Ellicott Mills Middle School, went 6-0 in their preliminary debates during the recent contest.

- State transportation agencies have spent more than $130 million for snow removal this winter, more than double the budgeted amount, members of Maryland's congressional delegation were told Thursday. Federal aid to recoup some of the costs of snow removal is "critically important," Gov. Martin O'Malley said during his annual meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington. Final figures won't be known until officials tally the expense of the latest storm in Western Maryland, where more than a foot of snow is still on the ground.

Abby Cahalan , 13, of Baltimore, who had to give up soccer after suffering a concussion last year, participated in a Capitol Hill news conference to support a bill calling on the federal government to develop concussion management guidelines. The Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act, or ConTACT Act, would also establish a grant program to states to come up with ways to prevent, diagnose and treat sports-related concussions in schools. Cahalan said she hasn't done much since suffering her soccer concussion, after having been a very active kid. "This [bill]

House Democrats ought to be embarrassed by the anti-abortion amendment grafted over the weekend to their landmark health care legislation. As ugly as the health care debate has gotten, the last thing the women of this country likely expected was that a Democrat-controlled Congress would want to limit their ability to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion. But that's exactly what happened when the House adopted the last-minute anti-choice amendment. It goes far beyond the established practice of banning Medicaid funding for abortion and makes it difficult for anyone buying insurance with any form of government assistance to get abortion coverage.

Nikitia Datta, 11, did not know what to expect when she headed to San Antonio late last month for the 2009 Middle School National Debate Championship. Sure she had practiced for hours each week since September, and she knew that she had a passion for debate - especially the rebuttal - but she was still slightly intimidated by the competition. Datta, a rising seventh-grader at Lime Kiln Middle, and her partner, Viveka Advani, who just completed eighth grade at Burleigh Manor Middle, quickly got over their initial anxiety and became the first Howard County students to win the competition in its 10-year existence.

One simply wanted to be present. Freezing cold or not, a crowd of 2 million, whatever - solemn warnings about tight security, long lines, traffic jams, cell phones not working. In the end, one wanted to be there on the Mall before the Capitol on Tuesday at noon amid the jubilant throng and see the man take the oath of office - our first genuine author-president. So I hitchhiked a ride in the middle of the night on a jet heading to Baltimore and got to the train station at 5 a.m., and already the platform was packed.