Congestive

The lives of many people suffering from congestive heart failure could be prolonged by an experimental drug, researchers announced yesterday.The risk of death decreased 62 percent among patients who took the drug for six months, said Dr. Arthur Feldman, associate professor of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a director of the study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine."

Bad roads and congestion cost Baltimore-area drivers nearly $1,800 a year in lost time, vehicle repairs and wasted gas, according to a study released Thursday by TRIP, a national transportation industry group. The report says two-thirds of the region's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition while the remaining third are in fair or good condition. A quarter of the major bridges in the state show significant deterioration or do not meet modern design standards. TRIP obtained the information from the Maryland Department of Transportation.

S. Bladen Yates, owner of the oldest business on Ellicott City's historic Main Street, died of congestive heart failure at his home Wednesday. He was 84. A sign taped to Samuel J. Yates & Son Grocery's front door yesterday said it will be closed temporarily because of Mr. Yates' death. "As he would want, we will reopen Tuesday, Dec. 17." His grandfather started the store in 1885. Until July, the grandson, Bladen Yates, made sage sausage from the family recipe. Now the famous secret - and the shop itself - will live on with Mr. Yates' daughters, Pauline Elizabeth "Betty" Jacobs, 51, of Ellicott City and Cheryl Libertini, 57, of Cooksville.

UPDATE (Feb. 23, 4:42 p.m.): Terrel Dishon Taylor, aka Smash, was discovered dead due to congestive heart failure in his Baltimore home 5:30 p.m. Friday, according to a family press release. Funeral arrangements are not yet set, but there will be a vigil on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at City of Gods (1118 Hollins St.) from 6-10 p.m. Donations to the family can be mailed to 8420 Governance Bradford Lane, Ellicott City, Md. 21043. ------------- Baltimore rapper Smash, born Terrel Taylor and also known as T-Mac, died Friday due to heart failure, according to his aunt, Arlette Thomas-Fletcher and long-time manager Swen Brock.

Los Angeles -- Harriet Nelson, whose transition from Ozzie Nelson's band singer to his wife and then mother to their two sons transformed her into the matriarch of one of television's most wholesome and beloved families, has died. She was 85.Mrs. Nelson died of congestive heart failure Sunday afternoon in her Laguna Beach, Calif., home with her son David, and his wife, Yvonne, at her bedside."David was holding her hand," her daughter-in-law said. "She fell asleep and passed away peacefully."

Erica Morini, about 90, a violin virtuoso described as the foremost woman violinist of the time, died in New York City on Wednesday of congestive heart failure.

HERMAIN STEIN, 91 Movie composer Herman Stein, whose music helped define the soundtracks of 1950s science fiction and horror movies, died of congestive heart failure March 15 in Los Angeles. Mr. Stein has been recognized for writing or co-writing music for It Came from Outer Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Shamus Culhane, 87, a pioneering animator who made the Seven Dwarfs march home singing "Heigh Ho" in Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," died Friday of congestive heart failure in New York.His career, which spanned more than 60 years, began before movies could talk and was accelerated in the sound era by his talent for synchronizing facial movements with dialogue.

Angelo D'Anna, president of Mars Supermarkets, the family-owned, Baltimore-area grocery chain, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at University of Maryland Medical Center.He was 71.Mr. D'Anna built the 12-store chain from a grocery store that opened in 1946 on Holabird Avenue in Dundalk.Obituary on 3B.

Clinton House made medical history in 1987, becoming the nation's first living organ donor when his healthy heart was transplanted by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital into the chest of John Couch, a Philadelphia accountant.Mr. Couch, who later retired and moved to Punta Gorda, Fla., died Monday of heart failure at his home there. He was 48.Mr. House, a 28-year-old Essex refrigeration mechanic who had cystic fibrosis, became a heart donor and a heart-lung recipient when he was given the heart and lungs of a brain-dead accident victim.

An accident that killed a pedestrian along Security Boulevard in Baltimore County early Tuesday has closed the roadway between Kernan Drive and Robert Myers Boulevard and caused major traffic delays, according to Baltimore County Police. The man was struck by a vehicle in the westbound lanes of Security Boulevard while trying to cross the roadway shortly before 5:30 a.m., said Cpl. John Wachter, a police spokesman. The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene, Wachter said.

My commute to work is very simple, quick and efficient, a short drive to Broken Land Parkway (BLP) and then across Columbia to Snowden River Parkway (SRP). This is how our planned community road system was designed, with the parkways forming an efficient ring road joining residential areas to industrial and retail business areas. If the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning and Public Works have their way it will change this parkway dramatically but not for the better. Their plan for a section of Snowden River Parkway from Broken Land Parkway to Oakland Mills Road will not address the bad congestion in this area but will allow some Guilford Industrial Park land owners who back onto Snowden River Parkway "direct access" to this very congested section.  DPZ and Public Works have been planning to change SRP into an Urban Boulevard for at least two years without input from land owners in the Guilford Industrial Park or the general public.

Anyone who believes that political stalemate over raising taxes or a preference for deferring hard choices were problems unique to Congress has probably never been to Annapolis. Even when one party dominates both chambers, as the Democrats do in the Maryland State House, lawmakers are all too frequently loath to stick their necks out for anything controversial if there's any possibility it might be postponed. Witness last week's debate over Maryland's transportation finances and the possibility of raising the gas tax. Everyone seems to recognize that the status quo is wholly unacceptable.

As of 4:30 p.m., there was severe congestion on the northbound lanes of both tunnels going under Baltimore's harbor. The Maryland Transit Administration had reported no delays on public transit. For the most up-to-date traffic information,  visit The Baltimore Sun's traffic map .

I read with great consternation the Jan. 12 editorial "Fort Meade expansion a boon, but traffic must be addressed. " Studies have concluded that building more roads simply increases traffic. What an excellent opportunity we have to build a light-rail running right down the middle of Route 32 from Columbia to Fort Meade. When I first moved to Howard County in 1986, that road was being expanded. I was dismayed to see that wide expanse of median left untouched. Coming from an area with great public transit, I thought a chance at making a real difference for future traffic was being missed.

It's been a tough week for Marylanders on a tight budget (and presumably that's most of us). Just as a blue-ribbon commission recommended a 15-cent gasoline tax increase and other transportation-related fees, another called for a tripling of the flush tax to $90. Nationwide, distrust of government is running high just like the unemployment rate. Wages are stagnant, real estate values show little sign of recovering, and economic growth was a modest 2.5 percent in the most recent quarter.

Dewitt Dawson,58, once the crime "Kingpin of North Alabama" and leader of the notorious Dawson Gang, died Saturday of a heart attack in Leighton, Ala.John A. Esposito,69, a state legislator who challenged Mayor Ed Koch, died of lung cancer Sunday in New York.William R. Kellett,98, a former president of Kimberly-Clark Corp. who became an influential consultant to state government, died Sunday in Milwaukee of congestive heart failure.Sabatino Moscati,74, an Italian archaeologist who specialized in Punic and Phoenician culture, and who tried to make new knowledge accessible to the public, died Monday in Rome.

Motorists along Route 24 in Harford County will experience new traffic patterns Wednesday as the state opens a nearly $40 million overpass in Abingdon, the major part of a three-year project that included improvements to Routes 24 and 924. The changes mean less congestion and a safer ride for the more than 65,000 motorists daily who pass through one of the county's busiest intersections. The Maryland Transportation Authority began construction on a 1.5-mile stretch of Route 24 from the Interstate 95 ramp to Route 924 in 2008.

Baltimore City cuts down 139 trees, and then calls its grand prix road race "green"? Inconveniences thousands of motorists whose cars idle while they wait to get where they're going, then says the event is "carbon-neutral"? ("Race aims to be 'green,' but challenges remain," Sept. 2). The pinheads who created this monstrosity and foisted it off on Baltimore and the citizens of Maryland (who no doubt are helping pay for it) should be forced to spend a day breathing in the fumes from all the traffic backed up at the Camden Yards off-ramp.