Early Today

An East Baltimore man was hospitalized in guarded condition early today after being shot in the chest last night by a city policeman.Police said Officer Michael McGee of the Eastern District and another officer, whose name was not available, were in the 1500 block of Bethel St. shortly after 10 p.m. when they were stopped by two people who told them that a woman on a nearby street was carrying a gun.The two officers went to the 1600 block of E. Federal St.,...

Sagamore Farm's Monzon arrived at Belmont Park early today and after getting a bath was resting in a stall until the race, according to posts on Facebook by the horse's connections. Although made a 30-1 longshot on Wednesday by the Belmont handicapper Eric Donovan, Sagamore Farm's officials are very optimistic and confident that Monzon will run a good race. Monzon drew the No. 7 post position in the 12-horse field. The other Maryland-based horse, Animal Kingdom, was made a 2-1 morning-line favorite on Wednesday.

A 46-year-old Anne Arundel County man was unaccounted for early today after a fire in a Severn farmhouse, authorities said. Firefighters called to the 7600 block of Plumbers Pasture Lane about 10 p.m. found a two-story house engulfed in flames, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. Two members of the household made it to safety, but the status of the third was unknown, a department spokesman said.

All Baltimore County public schools are closing two hours early Wednesday due to the heat. Afternoon pre-kindergarten classes are also canceled.

A Baltimore City police officer was shot and a stolen car suspect killed by another police officer early today in the Highlandtown section of Southeast Baltimore. The name of the wounded officer and that of the dead suspect were not immediately available. Details early today were sketchy, but police said an officer assigned to the Southeastern District stopped a car in the 600 block of S. Highland Ave. near Foster Avenue about 12:35 a.m. The officer believed the car was stolen and was attempting to remove the driver from the car when the driver pulled a gun and shot the officer at least once in the leg. Other police who had arrived on the scene as back-up units pulled their service semiautomatic weapons.

Bear hunt on in Patapsco parkMaryland wildlife officials were searching for a young, wayward black bear today in the Patapsco Valley State Park area in western Baltimore County.The bear, thought to have strayed from its normal haunts in Pennsylvania or Western Maryland, was last spotted early today, said Carol Anders, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources. Officials were trying to capture it and move it to Western Maryland, where as many as 200 black bears are thought to live.

HIBBING, Minn. -- A Northwest Airlink passenger plane has crashed in foggy, rainy weather just east of Hibbing, killing all 18 people on board.The plane was on its final approach to Chisholm-Hibbing Airport when it tore into a hill of taconite waste last night, said Hibbing police spokesman Bill Allegrezza.The cause of the crash wasn't known early today, but other pilots reported heavy icing in the area at the time. Weather forecasters said planes landing in Duluth at the time were heavily iced.

Two brothers were stabbed, one fatally, early today in their home in West Baltimore, police said.The attacks took place about 5:30 a.m. in the 2800 block of W. Lafayette Ave.Police said that Derik Strickland, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene of stab wounds. His brother, David Strickland, 23, was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he was in critical condition with a stab wound in the back.Investigators said Derik Strickland and an unnamed friend had gone out to purchase transmission fluid when Strickland saw a man on a bicycle who stopped and talked to him.Strickland then took the bike rider back to his house, where an argument and fight ensued and Derik Strickland was stabbed, investigators said.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed who was killed with Princess Diana in an automobile crash in Paris in 1997, is being treated for an unspecified illness at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said early today."

Time changes for the last three days of the school year in Anne Arundel County are as follows:* All county public schools will close two hours early today and tomorrow. Senior high schools will open at 7:30 a.m. and close at noon.* All junior high schools and the Magothy Middle School will openat their regular times and close two hours early today and tomorrow.* All other schools will also open at regular times and close twohours early on those days.* Afternoon sessions for kindergarten and early childhood classes are canceled today and tomorrow.

The packed West Baltimore funeral was unsettled before the shots rang out. At 12:15 p.m. yesterday, the Rev. Napoleon Rush was preaching on the need to stop the violence that had brought 300 mourners to Unity United Methodist Church to view the body of Anthony Lamont Izzard Sr., 26, killed April 11 in a triple shooting. "I noticed a lot of things that was out of order," Rush said of the overflow crowd, many of them young and, according to him, "in the drug life." Instead of sitting quietly in the pews, many mourners were walking in and out of the church, according to Rush, and not abiding by his calls for order.

Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she is "disturbed" and "upset" by reports that fire commanders ignored safety standards in a live-fire training exercise in which a recruit died, and she plans to announce changes in the department as early as today. Backing away from a previous statement in which she supported Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr., she declined at her weekly news conference to say whether she still has confidence in his leadership. "At this point I'm reviewing information, and there are a lot of concerns that I have," she said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- For the second straight day, a pair of highflying hardhats will labor outside the International Space Station this morning to prepare a $372 million set of solar arrays for operation. Space walkers Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean will have a tough act to follow during a planned 6 1/2 -hour excursion set to begin at 5:15 a.m. Yesterday, shuttle Atlantis crewmates Joe Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper breezed through one of the most complex space walks ever with relative ease.

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge heard arguments yesterday in a case that could decide whether Marylanders will have an additional five days to cast votes this fall - a General Assembly effort that two Baltimore attorneys with close ties to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. say violate the state's constitution. M. Albert Figinski, who is married to Ehrlich's budget director, and Christopher R. West, the former legal counsel to the Maryland Republican Party, filed suit against the state elections board and its administrator, Linda H. Lamone, after the Democrat-controlled General Assembly overrode two Ehrlich vetoes and authorized early voting.

With white water crashing over their 70-foot yachts, Volvo Ocean Race sailors are closing in on Baltimore. The first of the six sailboats is expected as early as today. While the yachts are docked for three weeks in Maryland, race organizers expect a half-million tourists to see the boats and pour $50 million into the economy. "We have a U.S. boat in the race. We're hoping for two nice sunny weekends," said Lee Tawney, the secretary of Ocean Race Chesapeake, the group hosting the boats here.

WASHINGTON -- Racing to adjourn for the year, the House was poised to pass a final package of budget cuts early this morning and was expected to consider other key legislation before sunrise. After lengthy negotiations over the weekend, lawmakers reached deals on several measures, including the spending cuts - worth $41.6 billion over five years - and defense spending that included a provision to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Senate is expected to vote on the measures this week.

Police sub-station burns in DentonDENTON -- A fire that gutted a neighborhood police station early today may be related to a fire-bombing attempt and a disturbance that had occurred 24 hours earlier, a state fire official said this morning.Deputy Chief Allen Ward, of the State Fire Marshal's office, said the disturbance occurred early yesterday in a predominantly black neighborhood.Last year, members of Denton's all-white police force were charged with using excessive force against black teen-agers when they broke up a melee at a dance in January, a charge not supported by a State Police investigation.

Police were trying early today to sort out an incident in East Baltimore last night that left a man fatally shot, a teen-age boy critically burned, and a woman and her child injured in an auto accident. According to Detective Dennis Raftery, Robert Owens, 16, was in the first block of N. Patterson Park Ave. about 8:10 p.m. when the driver of a passing southbound Chevrolet Impala threw a flammable liquid on him and set him on fire. As the car sped off, gunshots were fired at it, hitting the driver, Trunell Owens, 19, several times in the back, Raftery said, adding that he was not related to Robert Owens.

CHICAGO -- With its purchase of AT&T Corp. nearing final approval, SBC Communications Inc. said yesterday that it will adopt the AT&T name, a brand steeped in historic glory but one that also carries some baggage. San Antonio-based SBC, one of the nation's largest phone companies, is buying long-distance provider AT&T in a $16 billion deal that was approved yesterday by the Justice Department, which also gave its blessing to Verizon Communications Inc.'s $8.44 billion purchase of MCI Inc. For both deals combined, regulators required the divestiture of some fiber-optic lines in 19 metro areas.

Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone will interview with the Orioles in the next couple of days, perhaps as early as today, and team officials are confident about the possibility of him joining manager Sam Perlozzo's staff. "As far as our relationship is concerned, I think we have a real good shot," said Perlozzo, one of Mazzone's closest friends and the best man in his wedding. "But if we were able to get him, [executive vice president] Mike Flanagan and [owner] Peter Angelos are the ones that are going to do it. They are the ones that will seal the deal."