Casualty

The medical questions about the Army's use of Factor VII, its one-time wonder drug, have largely been resolved by the scientific evidence: Yes, it is potentially dangerous. No, it doesn't seem to work. But to critics of the drug's use, some practical questions remained. Such as: Why was an obscure and extremely expensive hemophilia drug embraced by Army leaders as a treatment for combat injuries? And why was it injected into thousands of wounded troops and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan despite a near-complete lack of evidence that it was safe or saved lives?

As the most highly visible and destructive terrorist organization of our time, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida has done more to shape concerns and fears about terrorism than any other terrorist organization in at least the last 50 years. What impact will bin Laden's death have on terrorism in the future? Is his brand of indiscriminate and brutal violence at an end? Of course, al-Qaida was never the only terrorist threat out there. More than 600 other groups have been engaged in terrorism worldwide since al-Qaida claimed its first attack in 1998.

When 6-year-old Connor Johns visits Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens on Monday, he will be wearing the combat fatigues that his half-brother, Jordan, picked out for him before he was deployed in Afghanistan. "He wears that outfit constantly," said Kandy Poole Johns, the boys' mother. "Connor loved Jordan, looked up to him as his hero and will always remember him as a Marine." Twenty-four-year-old Lance Cpl. Jordan Chrobot of Frederick, who died last Sept. 26 during a firefight in Helmand province, was one of 10 Marylanders killed in Afghanistan since last Memorial Day. The state's 12-month toll is the highest since the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the attacks of Sept.

Federal criminal investigators are exploring the Army's use of a controversial and expensive blood-clotting drug injected into wounded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The drug, called Factor VII, was hailed as a lifesaving breakthrough by military leaders and administered to hundreds of soldiers and Marines earlier in the wars. It has since proved largely ineffective in clinical trials and been the subject of safety warnings by U.S. and European regulators, who say it can cause potentially deadly blood clots.

Destinee Alicia Parker was an aspiring artist who loved animals, Lil Wayne and scary movies. She and her two sisters were known as the "Parker Posse" at Montebello Elementary/Middle School. And although she was healthy, she died of swine flu Tuesday night. She became the state's first youth with no apparent underlying medical condition to succumb to the virus. The death comes a week before the state expects to begin vaccinating students and other people at high risk of contracting the H1N1 virus.

Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair left this world under tawdry circumstances, which might help some people come to grips with another senseless, violent death, but you know it's not as simple as somebody just being in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. Whatever his sins were, he has surely paid a greater price for them than most, which makes this less of a lesson in morality than another cautionary tale about the perils of wealth and fame. Why do so many big-time athletes and big-time celebrities get themselves into situations that end tragically?

Musical worlds collided Thursday night when rocker Trey Anastasio took the stage with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop. There were no casualties. Anastasio, founding member of Phish and a songwriter with a refreshing avoidance of conventional chord progressions, has been collaborating with traditional classical ensembles for several years now. His most ambitious effort in this field is a half-hour piece called Time Turns Elastic that he co-wrote with Don Hart, composer-in-residence of Orchestra Nashville.

Bosses at Avatech Solutions thought they had to slash payroll after sales cratered, but when it came down to it they didn't want to lay off 35 or 40 people. So the Owings Mills company let half that many go and achieved the balance of the savings with a kind of cost-cutting not widely seen since the Great Depression: a pay cut for all remaining employees. Many facets make this downturn unsettling and different: the collapse of Wall Street, the taxpayer dollars laid on the line, the depth of employment loss - underscored by Friday's report that in March the economy shed 663,000 more jobs.

The dog scampered back and forth in the small room, true to its name. "I call her Frisky," said the man at the other end of the leash. Typing into a computer, the intake employee at the Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter went through the litany of questions, from age (2 1/2 ) to breed (Doberman) to spayed (no), before getting to the question of why he was giving up the dog. "I lost my job," he said. As the economy goes to the dogs, the dogs - and the cats and the guinea pigs and the ferrets and seemingly every kind of other pet - are going to the pound.