Drought

In a span of three years between 1973 and 1975, Maryland brought two national championships back to College Park. Since then, nothing. If the Terps hope to end the drought, they will do so away from the friendly confines of Byrd Stadium. They will open the upcoming tournament on the road against No. 7 seed Lehigh, the Patriot League champion that is 14-2 thus far. It's a daunting task for a Maryland team that concluded the regular season on Saturday by dropping a 13-11 decision to Colgate, the team that Lehigh beat for the Patriot League crown.

A developing drought across the eastern half of Maryland could worsen without a few periods of soaking rain, and drizzle like that seen Wednesday won't be enough to cut the rainfall deficit. At Carter and Draper Farms on the Eastern Shore, John Draper is used to dealing with a summer drought once every few years. But rarely has he been in his current predicament: There has been so little spring rain, he fears if he plants 225 acres of corn as planned, it quickly will die. A few inches into the sandy soil, there is moisture.

The Eastern Shore is under a drought watch, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Below-normal snow- and rainfall has the MDE closely observing precipitation, stream flow, groundwater levels and reservoir storage. But there are no restrictions being placed on water usage -- at least not yet. MDE encourages people to be aware of their water use and to use less water. Local water jurisdictions could place restrictions, but haven't yet, according to the department.

When Bryce Dabbs collected a pass from sophomore midfielder Erik Hoffstadt and stuck a shot in the top right corner of the net to give Navy a 2-0 lead just 4 minutes, 8 seconds into its contest with No. 4 North Carolina Saturday, the junior midfielder ended the team's 0-of-7 drought on extra-man opportunities. But the Midshipmen's struggles continued as they misfired on three more man-up chances for the remainder of the game, which was won when the Tar Heels scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to escape with a 9-8 decision.

The saying “silence is golden” usually doesn't apply to Terrell Suggs, whose colorful personality makes him one of the most sought-after media requests in the locker room. But after compiling six sacks in his first seven games, the Ravens outside linebacker had gone three contests without a sack. That all changed on Thanksgiving night when he tied a career best by sacking quarterback Alex Smith three times in the Ravens' 16-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Suggs moved into a three-way tie for seventh in the NFL with New Enbgland Patriots defensive end Andre Carter and Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley with nine sacks this season.

Ravens free safety Ed Reed is dealing with an eight-game streak of zero interceptions, but the seven-time Pro Bowler insisted that he has no concerns about this current drought. “No, man. I've been playing ball, being where I'm supposed to be,” Reed said Wednesday. “To be perfectly honest, they haven't thrown my way. That's the game plan that some teams come with. So plays will come. I'm not worried about that. We have a winning record, we've been winning, and if me not making a play [means]

Steven Grossman's op-ed ("Hurricane Irene: an almighty wind? Sept. 1) should be savored, but, of course, Hurricane Irene did carry a message. That message is conveyed most clearly if it is combined with the evidence carried by other phenomena such as recent wildfires in Texas, the flooding of much of Pakistan, drought in the American Southwest, drought in Russia leading to a rise in food prices worldwide, melting glaciers, the disappearance of the...

In a game of two halves, the Bayhawks picked the wrong half. Chesapeake doomed itself with its worst first-half performance of the year Saturday night, letting up 11 unanswered goals before halftime. While the Bayhawks outscored Denver 8-3 after intermission, it was too little, too late. The Outlaws held on to defeat the Bayhawks 15-9 in front of an announced 8,517 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, bumping Chesapeake down to the fourth seed in the upcoming Major League Lacrosse playoffs.

The world has been slow to react to the growing specter of famine in Somalia, despite repeated warnings by the United Nations and aid organizations that millions of people are at risk. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that nearly 4 million Somalis - half the country's population - were in imminent danger of starvation. Unless the international community takes immediate steps to address the crisis, the loss of life there could rival that of the humanitarian emergencies in Sudan in 1998, Ethiopia in 2001 and Niger in 2005.

When Ted Wycall started his organic farm in Salisbury five years ago, scarce rain was not a part of his calculations. But after surviving a serious drought last year, Wycall and his 200-acre Greenbranch Farm, and his fellow farmers across the Lower Eastern Shore, are battling severe heat and drought again this summer. "It's a very unpleasant surprise," he said. "Just when you think you've got all the expenses covered, you're seeing the vegetables just wilt down and die. I've tilled [under]