District Judge

The Supreme Court left in doubt Monday whether gun owners have a Second-Amendment right to carry a firearm in public, declining to hear a case about concealed-carry laws that is similar to a Maryland suit that still has life in federal courts. Without a comment or dissent, the justices turned down a gun-rights challenge to the New York law, which strictly limits who can legally carry a weapon on the streets. To obtain a concealed carry permit, New Yorkers must convince a county official that they have a "special need for protection" that goes beyond living or working in a high-crime area.

Maryland is attempting to renege on its obligation to provide sufficient funding to make its historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) comparable and competitive with other public universities in Maryland in terms of mission, academic program offerings, library services, information technology infrastructure, and other facets of their operations. For five years, the state has vigorously opposed a lawsuit by HBCU students and alumni that seeks to dismantle remnants of the formerly segregated higher education system.

Antonio Fulgham can barely read or write. The 21-year-old from West Baltimore has been deemed "mentally retarded," with bleak job prospects. He blames his plight on lead poisoning he suffered as a toddler while growing up amid flaking paint in two Baltimore public housing units. Last fall a city jury agreed, and ordered the Housing Authority of Baltimore City to pay him damages that amount to $1.27 million. Although nothing can undo his brain damage, Fulgham says the money will mean "a better change in my life.

Among the questions on tomorrow's ballot will be one asking whether legislators or judges ought to be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.For Baltimore County District Court Judge Lawrence Daniels, the question is not theoretical. He's already on active duty, serving in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf standoff.Daniels, 43, a 17 1/2 -year Army veteran from Glenarm, was called to active duty Sept. 11. He flew out, his wife says, "combat ready.""He went out there fully armed," said Beverly Daniels, 34. "And chemical warfare ready."

As a federal judge handed down a sentence that will virtually ensure Perry Roark spends the rest of his life behind bars, the founder of Maryland's largest home-grown prison gang renounced his association with the group. Roark, a hulking man known as "Rock," was sentenced to life in a prison Monday for his role in creating Dead Man Inc., an organization of white inmates that prosecutors said has since spread to other states and led to street violence throughout the Baltimore region.

A federal judge has frozen the assets of a Baltimore man who is accused of bilking investors of $630,000 in an illegal commodities-trading venture and using part of the money to pay his mortgage and his daughter's college expenses. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett acted Thursday in the case of Andrew Silberstein, who is facing civil charges filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Maryland securities commissioner. The civil complaint, filed March 5, charges Silberstein with nine counts of violations of the federal law regulating commodities, and violations of Maryland securities laws.

GREENBELT - Josephine Gray, who is accused in the deaths of three men and feared by some for her practice of voodoo, was ordered held without bond yesterday by a federal judge after prosecutors said that she has a history of threatening witnesses. Gray, 55, of Upper Marlboro is charged with mail and wire fraud in collecting life insurance benefits on policies for two husbands and a boyfriend after she was "involved in" their killings, prosecutors said. "We have very strong and compelling evidence that Ms. Gray was involved in all three murders and as a result, she profited," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Wilkinson told U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow.

For many Howard County parents, a child's senior year in high school is one of the most proud and exciting times in their lives. It can also be one of the scariest. What many teen-agers call rites-of-passage and coming-of-age events that "everyone" does can be wild, unchaperoned, risky activities. That's why the PTSA at Oakland Mills High School and the Centennial High School Parent Support Network put together a program this week called "Everything a Parent Ever Wanted to Know About Prom, Graduation and Senior Week, But Was Afraid to Ask."

Prosecutor Megan Beth Johnson was appointed an Anne Arundel County District Court judge by Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday."Ms. Johnson has a wealth of experience in domestic issues as well as criminal law," Glendening said. "She is highly competent."In her new post, Johnson will fill a vacancy created when Judge Michael J. Loney was elevated to the Circuit Court. She competed with six other candidates for the judgeship.Johnson, 45, is a 1979 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law. She joined the Anne Arundel state's attorney's office in 1981 and was chief of the civil division from 1983 to 1993.

Judge Roszel C. Thomsen's obituary yesterday described him as the longest-serving U.S. District Court judge ever. He served longer than any other federal judge in Maryland.The Sun regrets the errors.Judge Roszel Cathcart Thomsen, described in a published history as the longest-serving U.S. District Court judge ever, died yesterday at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 91.Judge Thomsen had been sick with pneumonia for two weeks but had apparently recovered from that illness and was about to be released from the hospital, a family member said.