Darden

One man was killed and eight others injured when they were struck by lightning yesterday afternoon while at a rugby match at Annapolis Middle School - just minutes after they debated whether to stand under a tree. Five Norfolk City Blues Rugby Football Club players and four spectators, all from Virginia, were struck shortly after 2:30 p.m. when the intense thunderstorm rolled over Annapolis during a mid-Atlantic tournament. The father of one player, identified as a 58-year-old man from Centreville, Va., went into cardiac arrest after he was struck.

Fresh graffiti found on the side of a shopping mart in Aberdeen wasn't flashy or colorful, but it made a big impression. Scrawled in big black marks were the letters "R.I.P.", followed by the names of three Aberdeen police officers. It wasn't just vandalism, police said, but a threat. "When you see 'R.I.P.,' you associate that with death, so we're looking at it as threatening," Sgt. Fred Budnick, spokesman for the Aberdeen Police Department, said yesterday. "We don't know whether this is an organized issue or if it's just kids who have had contact with these officers."

Jill L. Mottus, a marathoner who was a prominent member of the Baltimore running scene for more than 30 years, died of cancer March 21 at Roland Park Place. She was 71. Jill Louria Ross was born in New York City and raised in Scarsdale, N.Y. After graduating from high school in 1955, she attended Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. She worked for a personnel agency in New York City before marrying Stephen J. Mottus in 1958. A Pikesville resident since 1964, Mrs. Mottus enjoyed entertaining family and friends.

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Here in the middle of the Bible Belt, a Democratic congressman has been airing a campaign commercial in which his opponent uses the word "scumbags," language sure to offend any God-fearing Georgian.Which is exactly the point.Like Democratic candidates around the country this fall, Rep. George "Buddy" Darden is trying to demonize his challenger. His goal is to scare away the Republican's fundamentalist Christian backers, whose votes could make the difference in this closely fought race.

Each week, they cram into a dark, hazy cinderblock gym in Aberdeen, bobbing their heads to hip-hop beats and exchanging high-fives. Amid machine-made fog and the frenetic flickering of strobe lights, a blur of limbs and dreadlocks flies in all directions as dancers shake and shimmy the night away, climaxing in a midnight krump showdown. Patrons pay $6 to enter through a garage door into the dingy building, which has no bathrooms, no bar and no drinks. Most of them aren't old enough to buy alcohol anyway.

Home has been where the wins reside for the Navy basketball team. That point was driven home again last night when the Midshipmen concluded a perfect three-game Alumni Hall stand with a 90-71 victory over Coastal Carolina before 1,530. Navy's only loss in six games in Annapolis was to a strong Ohio University team; otherwise the team is 0-7. "It helped to have this team get back here and regroup after three losses in Hawaii," Navy coach Don DeVoe said. "It makes all the difference in terms of confidence.

Emily Sullivan always believed her strong Anne Arundel County soccer background would serve her well at the college level. However, the former Archbishop Spalding forward never expected such fast success as a freshman at York (Pa.) College. It has taken Sullivan just 18 games to establish the school's single-season goal-scoring record of 14 and lead the team in overall scoring with 37 points. On Saturday, Sullivan scored her 14th goal in a 3-1 victory over Goucher in the quarterfinals of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament.

LOS ANGELES -- He is taken from a windowless cell in Men's Central Jail to a windowless holding room on the ninth floor of the Criminal Courts building on the gritty, northern edge of downtown L.A.There, the deputies, who laugh and joke with him (O. J. Simpson is a model prisoner, after all) unlock his shackles, and he changes out of his blue jail jumpsuit.He must wear the jumpsuit a week before it is washed, though he is allowed to change his underwear twice each week.In the holding room, one of his lawyers hands him a suit from the extensive wardrobe Simpson keeps at his home on North Rockingham Avenue.

JOHNNIE JASPER DARDEN, JR., 71, a retired General Motors employee departed this life November 9, 2009 at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C. Survivors include wife Nellie R. Darden, sons Johnny Fleming, Perez Darden and Demarcos Moore, daughters Cotrina Darden and Jacqueline Chavis, one brother, three sisters, 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. Funeral service and burial were held November 14th in North Carolina

A 41-year-old Washington woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison for her role in conspiring to steal $1.4 million from the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland announced. In imposing his sentence, U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. also ordered Tyeast "Peaches" Brown to serve four years of supervised release after her prison term and to pay the public housing agency at least $1.4 million in restitution. She earlier pleaded guilty.