Chesapeake

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.

The vision is this: At a six-acre wooded campus in Pasadena, Hospice of the Chesapeake has its headquarters, counseling program, a conference center and hospice facility. But the setting includes services, including tutoring and transportation, offered by others. The organization is about to start making that a reality. Ailing trees are being removed in preparation for a $2 million renovation of the offices of a defunct engineering company on a site tucked off Ritchie Highway.

Navy Lt. Mark Tedrow has no problem reconciling an air show with a commemoration of the War of 1812, an era that precedes flight by almost a century. The Blue Angels pilot said he looks forward to flying over the Inner Harbor, Middle River and Fort McHenry - birthplace of the national anthem - during a bicentennial celebration in June. "It will be outstanding to perform multiple maneuvers over Fort McHenry," he said. "It will show just how far we have come. " Tedrow and his co-pilot flew into Martin State Airport in Middle River on Thursday to give a small preview of what the Navy's renowned flight team will do for the bicentennial maritime and air festival that kicks off June 13. "Stake out your places on the waterfront so you don't miss a thing," said Lt. Cmdr.

The first time Frank Moraff entered his chocolate Labrador retriever Cali in aquatic competition at 8 months old, she stopped short at the edge of the 40-foot dock and stared as the toy he'd flung, and that she so desperately wanted, went sailing into the air without her. After considerable urging, "she finally slid off the dock and did a belly flop," he recalled, shaking his head and smiling. But in her second attempt that same day, she redeemed herself and jumped 17 feet. "I was thrilled," said the longtime Columbia resident, who is a member of Chesapeake DockDogs, a canine dock jumping club formed in 2003 that has 60 families as members.

Affordable-housing provider Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake said its new chief executive — who brings a construction and finance background — will come on board this month. Mike Posko, a principal with real estate consulting firm Cross Street Partners in Baltimore, replaces longtime CEO Mike Mitchell at the helm of the nonprofit after Mitchell's resignation in November. Before Cross Street, Posko worked at developer Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse and at the Federal Reserve.

Chad Farley had a hat trick to power North County (6-5-2) past No. 2 Chesapeake-AA (13-1) in a 4a East Regional soccer game at Chesapeake. North County faces visiting Annapolis 5 p.m. tomorrow.

STATE FINALS BASEBALL Class 3A La Plata 8, Patapsco 2 Class 2A Kent Island 6, Marriotts Ridge 5 Class 1A St. Michaels 4, Harford Tech 3 SOFTBALL Class 4A Chesapeake-AA 7, Sherwood 0 Class 3A Northern-Calvert 7, Atholton 0 Coverage, PGS 9-10D

Tom Wisner has taught James Michener, but has never quoted him much in his work, preferring the poems of watermen for his classes, songs and stories about the Chesapeake Bay.But he was saddened yesterday to learn of the death of Michener, whose 1978 book "Chesapeake" was among the most popular of the late author's many epic novels."

It's 1943. First light colors the summer Chesapeake Bay off the fishing village of Rock Hall, revealing a 6-year-old boy rowing a wooden skiff, struggling to do it quietly, so not to scare the blue crabs his great-grandfather dips as they run their trotline. The crabs back then came up "thick as mosquitoes at dark," several at once attacking the eel baits tied along the trotline. As they work, the old man teaches the boy skills he'd need in the water business; he also speaks with sadness about how the state arbitrarily changed the fishing rules, ending his long career as a top bay captain.

The 3,000-mile water and land trail network created to relive the Chesapeake Bay's 17th century exploration by English colonists is about to grow still larger. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis are slated to visit Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis this afternoon to celebrate the addition of four new river river trails to the existing Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail .  The federal officials are to be joined by Gov.Martin O'Malley, local officials, Native American tribal leaders and conservation group representatives.

Backup goaltender Mike Gabel put forth one of the finest performances of his seven-year professional career to anchor a strong defensive effort as the Rochester Rattlers knocked the Chesapeake Bayhawks from the unbeaten ranks with a 12-8 victory in front of an announced 7,853 on Saturday night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Gabel, a backup appearing in just his fourth game for Rochester, recorded 27 saves to stymie a Chesapeake offense that scored 23 goals against the Ohio Machine the previous Saturday night.

The Chesapeake Charge, which is in its third year and has moved up to the Women's Premier Soccer League's newly formed Elite Division, will open its season tonight against the visiting Boston Breakers.  Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Anne Arundel Community College. Many of the area's finest players will be in uniform for the Charge, including newcomers Christine Nairn (Archbishop Spalding/Penn State/U-23 National Team -- pictured below left), two-time All-Metro Player of the Year Ashley Spivey (McDonogh/Maryland/U-18 National Team -- pictured bottom)

Right-hander Austin Clark worked wonders in the rain and visiting Archbishop Spalding took the lead in the fourth inning and stayed ahead to upset No. 2 Calvert Hall, 5-4, in a rain-shortened baseball game Wednesday. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cavaliers (17-13) led 7-5 and the Cardinals (25-5) had two runners on and two outs when the umpire called the game because of sloppy field conditions. The rules state that the score reverts to the last complete inning, the sixth.

The selection committee's decision to award the No. 1 seed to Loyola Sunday night was the first time the program had earned that seed since 1999. That year, the Greyhounds went 12-0 as the only undefeated team in Division I, but fell to No. 8 seed Syracuse, 17-12, in the quarterfinals. The coach of that squad was Dave Cottle, and the current coach of the Chesapeake Bayhawks of the Major League Lacrosse relived the memory of that loss during a phone interview Tuesday. “I know in '99, we were devastated that we were the only undefeated team in the country and we had to play the winner of Syracuse-Princeton at Princeton,” Cottle said.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, best known for its summer productions outdoors on the hilltop grounds of the 19th-century Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City, has purchased a historic site for its second home — the 1885 Mercantile Trust & Deposit Co. building in downtown Baltimore. That distinctive red building, currently the home of the Club Dubai, was purchased for the nonprofit theater company's use by the Helm Foundation at a price of $1.25 million, the first step in a project with an estimated total cost of about $6 million.

Environmental groups are appealing a federal judge's ruling that the owners of the Sparrows Point steel mill need only do a limited search for offshore pollution from the plant. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and its legal partners, including the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, have filed notice with the U.S. District Court in Baltimore of their intention to appeal a decision by Judge J. Frederick Motz accepting a plan by the steel plant's current owner, RG Steel, to test for contamination no more than 50 feet into the Patapsco River and Bear Creek.