David Mitchell

No fatalities or serious accidents were reported during the long holiday weekend on rural Maryland interstates where the speed limit was raised on Saturday to 65 mph.But state troopers handed out 828 tickets to drivers who wanted to go even faster.State Police spokesman Mike McKelvin called it "a very successful beginning" to the higher speed limits, "especially when you look at the serious and fatal accidents. We didn't have any" on the interstate highways. Six people died in noninterstate holiday accidents -- three of them on motorcycles, Mr. McKelvin said.

Baltimore officials hired a design team yesterday to develop plans for a $32 million expansion and renovation of the city police headquarters.Amid some lingering questions, the city's Board of Estimates awarded a $2.6 million contract to a joint venture between RCG Inc. of Baltimore and HOK of Washington, a division of the firm that designed Oriole Park at Camden Yards.City Council President Mary Pat Clarke, who chairs the board, expressed reservations over building a 100,000-square-foot annex adjacent to the headquarters at 601 E. Fayette St. She asked if money could be saved by simply leasing office space while renovating the existing building, which is saddled with heating, ventilation and asbestos problems.

A Baltimore circuit judge yesterday dismissed first-degree murder charges against a man accused in the beating death of his girlfriend's 20-month-old son, ruling that prosecutors had failed to give him a speedy trial. On the day his murder trial was scheduled to begin, Timothy Horne was ordered released from jail by Circuit Judge David Mitchell. The judge ruled that prosecutors had acted inappropriately in postponing Horne's trial without giving proper notice to his defense lawyer. The city state's attorney's office plans to appeal the judge's decision, a spokeswoman said.

COLLEGE PARK — Police arrested a Kensington man early Wednesday in the stabbing of four men near the Thirsty Turtle bar, in what police are describing as a worsening trend of alcohol-fueled incidents in College Park. Prince George's County police charged Leonardo Alonso Ramos, 21, with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and four counts each of first-degree assault and intent to injure with a dangerous weapon. One of the stabbing victims is Leonardo Ramos' older brother, Jose Ramos, 23, police said Wednesday.

Police reported few leads Friday in the fatal shooting of a teenager Thursday night on a sidewalk in a public housing complex in West Baltimore, the fourth youth killed in the city this year. David Mitchell, 16, was pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center shortly after being shot at least once in the upper body in the 800 block of W. Lexington St. a few minutes after 11 p.m., according to police. Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman, said officers responding to 911 calls for a shooting found Mitchell lying on the sidewalk at the Poe Homes public housing complex.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has denied a new trial for a man who claimed that his lawyer should have done a better job of arguing that he was too addled by the drug PCP to have purposely killed a Baltimore police officer.Leonard P. Cirincione, 40, was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and related charges in the 1986 slaying of Officer Richard Miller, who was run down while directing traffic outside Memorial Stadium before an Orioles game. Cirincione is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years.

A yearlong multiagency investigation has disrupted a drug network that stretched from Mexico to Maryland and brought 2,000 pounds of marijuana and cocaine into the state over the past year, authorities announced yesterday.Among the 15 people arrested in the investigation, which is continuing, were a Texas couple who police say ferried the drugs -- some wrapped like Christmas gifts -- in their convertible Cadillac from the Dallas area to an interior design shop in Pikesville.From there, police said, the drugs were sold in Baltimore, Carroll and Howard counties.

On August 19, 2005, HARRY DAWSON, III, of Finksburg; beloved husband of Jean L. Mitchell (nee Link); devoted father of James D. and David B. Mitchell; dear father-in-law of Judy L. and Barbara Mitchell; loving brother of Robert L. Mitchell and his wife Barbara; dearest grandfather of Kyle J., Carly J., Kenneth D. and Krista E. Mitchell. The family will receive friends at the Haight Funeral Home & Chapel (6416 Sykesville Road) Sykesville from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. on Sunday. A Graveside Service will be held at Woodlawn Cemetery at 1 P.M. on Monday.

Beginning today, state police in Westminster and across the state will be working overtime to patrol highways, looking for speeders and drunken drivers during the Labor Day holiday weekend, said 1st Sgt. Dean Richardson, a barracks spokesman."

The Carroll County Drug Task Force, a cooperative effort involving the sheriff, the state's attorney and Maryland State Police, is expected to be approved today when the agencies meet with the county commissioners to sign a contract.By mutual agreement, the state's attorney will serve as the seizing authority in any drug raid, and the sheriff will act as the seizing agent.With the state police, they will sit as a three-member advisory board with voting authority to determine how seized money and property will be used, Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said yesterday.