Death

As officers lingered outside his Northwest Baltimore home for three hours, Anthony Todd was busy inside trying to cover up evidence of a marijuana-growing operation, police say. His pants had fresh dirt on them from squeezing through a crawl space to hide what police say was a pound of loose marijuana, and he told officers he had spent the time before they entered the home tearing apart the marijuana plants and flushing them down the toilet....

As a strong proponent of abolishing Maryland's death penalty, I was pleased to learn that the General Assembly recently voted to eliminate the practice ("Reason over revenge, at long last," March 17). I oppose the death penalty because it is an inhumane act that serves no purpose and because it has led to wrongly convicted individuals being sentenced to death. I encourage skeptics to read the compelling story of Kirk Bloodsworth, a Marylander on death row who became the first inmate in the nation ever to be exonerated by DNA evidence.

Heart disease killed a 64-year-old passenger on a cruise ship out of Baltimore, the FBI said Thursday, ruling out foul play and ending a brief mystery as to how the Virginia woman died last weekend. "It's considered a natural death," FBI Special Agent Rich Wolf said. The FBI identified the woman as Katherine Kennedy of Midlothian, Va. Kennedy and her husband were on a six-night, seven-day cruise that began March 18. Among 2,409 passengers, they were aboard Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas, a 989-foot ship with 11 decks that had stopped in Port Canaveral, Fla.; Nassau and CocoCay, Bahamas.

Anyone who wants to know why health care costs continue to soar need look no further than the recent recommendation by the American Cancer Society that current and former heavy smokers discuss lung cancer screening with their doctors. The guidelines were based on the National Lung Screening Trial, which found that three spiral CT scans given over three years reduced lung cancer deaths by 20 percent. The New York Times called the finding "an enormous advance in cancer detection. " A 20 percent reduction in deaths sounds pretty good.

Robert Ethan Saylor didn't like to be touched, and suddenly an off-duty deputy had his hands on him. Within moments, two more deputies would grab him, the four men would fall in a heap on the floor, and Saylor, who had been shouting and resisting their attempts to restrain him, would grow quiet and still. More than two months after a man with Down syndrome died at the hands of three off-duty Frederick County sheriff's deputies, these details about his death emerged in an autopsy report released this week.

The woman who died onboard a cruise ship that originated out of Baltimore was 64 years old and from central Virginia, the FBI said Tuesday as the agency continued to investigate her death as "suspicious. " The passenger from Midlothian, Va., outside of Richmond, was found dead in her cabin aboard the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas on Sunday. She was on a six-night, seven-day Bahamas cruise that left Baltimore March 18, the FBI said. "It's a death of undetermined causes," said FBI spokesman and Special Agent Rich Wolf.

A bill that I worked on with my Democratic colleague, Delegate Mary-Dulany James, was recommitted back to committee. HB 1395 promoted tourism and economic growth in Harford County and would have given the Harford County Council the authority to impose a hotel rental tax, up to 6 percent. Many local businesses in the Route 40 corridor contacted me, as well as: County Executive David Craig, Mayor Mike Bennett, of Aberdeen, and Mayor Wayne Dougherty, of Havre de Grace, to support legislation for tourism and economic growth for the County. Because this is not a tax on the citizens of Harford County, but a way to support local development, I helped to get it out of committee by co-sponsoring the bill. Today, after one of our Harford County Delegates asked questions about the bill, it was sent back to the committee, where it is buried for another year The hotel rental tax would not have affected Harford County residents or individuals of lower income who usually stay in hotels with less than 25 or fewer sleeping rooms that are three miles off of the interstate.

The FBI is investigating a suspicious death aboard a cruise ship that sailed from Baltimore, the agency said Monday. Agents are unsure when the death occurred, but a spokesman said it was reported late Sunday. The deceased was a 62-year-old woman who sailed with her husband on the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas, the FBI said. Details of what led to the woman's death, or whether she was from Maryland, were being investigated. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwells

Eight U.S. Marines died as a result of an explosion on a U.S. Army base in Hawthorne, Nevada Monday night while on a training exercise. This tragic story has been carried extensively by The Washington Post as well as national electronic and broadcast media outlets. The Sun mustered no mention of this incident until Thursday ("Severna Park Marine dies in Nev. accident," March 21). A front-page story on a flower fungus was deemed more newsworthy by the editors of your once-respected publication.

Outside observers must wonder what goes on in our state legislature. On one hand, the majority restricts citizens' ability to defend themselves against multiple armed assailants, thus implying the executive branch's competence to protect us. On the other hand, the same majority eliminates capital punishment, thus implying the incompetence of the judicial branch to arrive at accurate verdicts. Perhaps now victims of multiple armed assailants can mount a class action lawsuit against the legislators who voted to give the advantage in firepower to criminals.