Degree

Two Baltimore County women asked Maryland's highest court yesterday to overturn their convictions for murdering 9-year-old Rita Denise Fisher, saying that child abuse should not have triggered second-degree felony murder charges. In a case that could ultimately call for intervention from legislators and change how child abuse cases are prosecuted, Court of Appeals judges asked Assistant Attorney General Ann N. Bosse whether abuse was a serious enough crime to make any resulting death a felony murder.

For Blast forward Giuliano Celenza, December was filled with wonder, delight and love, and it had nothing to do with Christmas. As Celenza heads into 2004 and tonight's game at Kansas City, he is something of a new man - a new college graduate with a new fiancee and a soon-to-be holder of a new job at 1st Mariner Bank. "The degree was very important," said Celenza, the team's second-leading goal scorer with 10. "I have a big family - two sisters and a brother. They got good jobs out of high school.

Aggressively pursue your education, but take time to appreciate life. That's the message a number of speakers delivered to nearly 350 students who received their degrees from Howard Community College yesterday during a ceremony at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. "If we make time to cherish and enjoy our family and friends... we will find the journey even more enjoyable," said commencement speaker H. Mebane Turner, president of the University of Baltimore, who is due to retire within a month.

Enrollment in Carroll Community College's new weekend degree program has exceeded the college's goal, and registration is still open.The popular Saturday program gives students a chance to earn the equivalent of a two-year degree by taking courses on Saturdays for four to six years. Students can earn the degree sooner if they also take a course during the week or over the Internet. Only two online courses are available, but more are coming next semester."There are 85 or 86 students enrolled now [in the Saturday courses]

A Baltimore inmate charged with robbery and second-degree burglary walked off a work site Wednesday in the Clifton Park neighborhood. Travis Lee Wildes, 25, was last seen at 12:15 p.m. in a gray jumpsuit with "DOC" written on the back, according to the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Wildes, who is serving 23 months at the Baltimore City Correctional Center, was on an outside detail that was supervised by a correctional officer. On such details, the inmate are considered a low risk to society and are near the end of their sentences, officials said.

Deborah Ricker Skelly played basketball for the University of Maryland Terrapins from 1972 to 1976. Last Sunday, she graduated."I always wanted to complete my degree," she said. "This program made it possible."Skelly was referring to the Academic Support for Returning Athletes Program, the university's version of a national outreach effort intended to counter the failure of many college players to finish their educations.Since 1989, half of Maryland's 34 participants have graduated. Among them: basketball players Larry Gibson, Cedric Lewis and Derrick Lewis, football players Rick Badanjek, Alvin Blount and Warren Powers, baseball player David Mysel and soccer player Russell Payne.

She doesn't look it, but neither did Clark Kent. Jean Silver-Isenstadt, an unassuming Columbia wife and mother, has an alter ego that can hold its own against the fictional likes of Spider-Man and Wonder Woman. But her super-human strength isn't brawn; it's brains. Silver-Isenstadt, 34, is a superstudent (but don't call her that to her face; she gets annoyed), dedicated to lifelong learning and garnering degrees the way some people collect stamps. On Friday, decked out in her ignorance-obliterating outfit (a black graduation cap and gown)

A 19-year-old woman from Joppatowne has been charged with murder in connection with the death last week of her 9-month-old daughter, who police say was repeatedly injected with insulin. Quecelia Yvette Baldeo, 19, aka Qucelia Baldeo, of the 900 block of Scannell Court, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in death and first-degree assault in the death of Selena Olivia Weber, according to Maryland electronic court records. According to the Harford County Sheriff's Office, Baldeo was served with an arrest warrant upon her release from Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air late Friday afternoon.

A 31-year-old Baltimore man has been charged in the killing of one man and the wounding of another in a hail of gunfire at a city intersection early Saturday morning, following a dispute at a night club, according to Baltimore police. Tion Bolden, of the 5200 block of Reisterstown Road in the city's Woodmere neighborhood, faces 10 charges in the case and remains in police custody. Police announced his arrest Sunday, after saying Saturday that they were questioning a person of interest.

Just a week ago, Elizabeth Conway Nass sat down with her father, Eric, to plan out a semester abroad in Norway. She wanted his advice on how she would spend the second half of her junior year overseas while staying on track to earn a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary liberal studies from James Madison University. Her family said Ms. Nass dreamed of becoming a special education teacher, except for a brief stint when she decided she wanted to be a firefighter after seeing "Ladder 49. " Ms. Nass had expected to return to college in Harrisonburg, Va., in a few days.