Emergency

On Thursday, the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, a 47-year-old Baltimore woman went to the drugstore, and pulled out her debit card to pay for a prescription refill. But she didn't have enough money in the account to cover the $425 charge. So she asked the pharmacist and staff for a favor. "I asked them to break up the prescription to give me one-third," says the woman, who would not allow her name to be published because she didn't want to disclose her medical conditions.

The colt was a knucklehead, really. He had speed and endurance in his pedigree, but if you had polled his owners and his trainer a year ago, none would have predicted that he'd gallop in the same steps as his great-grandsire, 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. When the gates dropped on his first race, Orb did not even break. Second race? Same thing. He did not win until the fourth and final race of his two-year-old campaign. But where other colts might level off or become erratic, Orb seemed to get better every day. “I've never seen anything like it,” said his trainer, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, who has been in the thoroughbred game more than 40 years.

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

Now that Salisbury secured one of the few coveted at-large berths in the NCAA tournament, Jim Berkman feels secure enough to stand on a limb and proclaim that the team can win the national championship for the third consecutive year and the 11th time in the program's history. Sounds crazy? Maybe, but aside from SUNY-Cortland, the top seed in the North region, and Dickinson, the top seed in the South, no other team in the field has less than two losses. “The crazy thing about this is, I really believe that we can still win the whole tournament,” the Sea Gulls coach said Monday morning.

Editor: It is with dismay that I read your June 15 editorial "Cutting Through," concerning the proposed emergency- only connection between Tollgate Village and Bel Air Acres Your statement "Such a link, no doubt, would turn into a shortcut, possibly an irritating one," completely misses the truth and focal point of the issue, namely that the Harford County government, the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, other emergency groups and the overwhelming...

Emergency roadwork has closed the two southbound lanes of York Road between Greenmeadow Drive and Timonium Road in Lutherville-Timonium. Traffic is being routed through the center lane.

Before Gov.Martin O'Malleytook office, he said he considered casino gambling morally bankrupt. Despite that statement, he announced last week that a special session of the General Assembly will be held to address the expansion of gaming to National Harbor in Prince George's County ("O'Malley calls special session on gambling," July 27). In a previous letter to the editor, I expressed my opposition to expanding gaming to National Harbor which has become a very attractive destination in its own right without the need for a casino ("Don't gamble with National Harbor," June 3)

The County Council last week sent a letter to Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Joe Hairston asking him to change a policy that closes school athletic fields from use during school emergency closures — even if the emergencies don't affect the fields. In a letter to Hairston sent March 20, the council pointed to the days after Hurricane Irene, when the lack of power forced the cancellation of school for a week. "Even though the fields were free of debris, all outside activities were forced to stop because of this superintendent's rule," said the letter, which was signed by all seven members of the council.

Maryland is under a state of emergency as a winter storm that forecasters described as "extremely dangerous" brought potentially record-breaking snow totals and gale-force winds to the region. Accumulation rates as high as 2 to 3 inches an hour were expected to bury the region in up to 2 feet of snow by daybreak Saturday. If the forecasters are right, another 5 to 9 inches of snow is possible before the precipitation ends Saturday evening, with total accumulations of 20 to 30 inches, or more, predicted.

A Baltimore Police Department's helicopter made an emergency landing in Reedbird Park Friday night after facing technical difficulties, police said. No one was injured in the landing, which was made as a precautionary measure, according to police spokesman Det. Vernon Davis. No details were immediately available about what caused the incident. The helicopter was able to fly back to its helipad shortly after making the landing, Davis said. The Baltimore police aviation unit, which is known as Foxtrot, got four new helicopters with better surveillance tools last year . iduncan@baltsun.com twitter.com/iduncan

In the United States of 2013, any youngster can walk into a store and buy a bottle of aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or some other pain reliever without showing any identification, parental consent or a doctor's order. They don't have to be 15 or 17 or even old enough to know how to make exact change if the cashier will help them out. So what's the big deal about a bottle of a common analgesic, you may ask? Well, it may be the most dangerous over-the-counter drug available. Each year, poison control centers across the nation get thousands of calls from people who have overdosed on painkillers, particularly acetaminophen, which some people deliberately take to commit suicide, as it can cause acute liver failure if consumed in sufficient quantity.

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. With Dez Wells, Jake Layman and Nick Faust returning next season, each still an underclassman, Maryland's in no great need of small forward types. But regardless of roster make-up, you never stop looking for potential impact players, and Terry Larrier may be one such example. It's unknown if the Terps have officially offered Larrier, a fast-rising 2014 forward from the Bronx, N.Y., but there's no question they're interested.

Baltimore's Emerging Technology Center will relocate from Canton to Highlandtown when its lease expires this fall. The city's technology incubator announced Friday that it chose new digs at 101 N. Haven St., a former King Cork and Seal Co. facility. The recently renovated building boasts easy access to I-95 and is within the Enterprise Zone and a HUBZone. "ETC moved to Canton in 1999 in an effort to spur growth in this part of the city, and it is time to say job well done and do it again," said Deb Tillett, the center's president, in a statement.

An emergency drill at the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration is likely to cause traffic delays Friday near Security Boulevard and Woodlawn Drive. Most employees from the Security West building will be evacuated from the facilities during the drill. The public is encouraged to take a different route to avoid delays. The drill will take place in the afternoon, but Social Security declined to announce a specific time. The exercise is required in accordance with federal, state and local requirements to prepare employees for any future threats they may encounter.

Emergency roadwork in Harford County on North Union Avenue east and west at Congress Avenue has closed all eastbound traffic at 8:42 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation. DOT also reported a collision in Baltimore County on the inner loop of Interstate 695 at the Interstate 95 exit at 8:58 a.m., but offered no additional information. Morning long delays on the Metro subway continued through 9 a.m., according to the Maryland Transit Administration. Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

In the wake of the deadly bombings in Boston and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, the Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday approved new emergency planning guidelines meant to help local school systems better prepare for disaster. "It's very timely that we're here today, given the events that occurred last week," said Chuck Buckler, executive director of the student services and strategic planning branch of the Maryland State Department of Education. The 218-page document updates safety guidelines developed a decade ago and emphasizes the creation of individualized plans that address multiple hazards, from school shootings to tornadoes.

After hearing hype that rivaled the Super Bowl, after sweeping the supermarkets clean and stockpiling enough food for a winter's hibernation, the Washington region braced Friday for a storm that was expected to leave at least 20 inches of snow on the ground by late Saturday. The District of Columbia declared a snow emergency, ticketing cars parked on emergency routes and changing traffic signals to handle an early evening rush hour. The school systems that bothered to open at all - in the District and the Maryland counties of Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel - sent everyone home early.

With mounds of snow making Baltimore sidewalks impassable Saturday, many pedestrians took to the middle of the streets, following paths carved by plows or trucks. And that drove Don Dziwulski a little nuts. A 12-year-veteran of the Baltimore Fire Department and one of its supervising paramedics, Dziwulski has about all he can handle on a normal day, when calls for assistance - and life-and-death decisions - come thick and fast. Saturday afternoon, driving an ambulance around the snow-covered city was made even tougher by having to slow down, and even stop, for pedestrians who just wouldn't get out of the way. "I'm trying to be a gentleman right now," Dziwulski said at the wheel of a red-and-white Ford F-450 truck, its siren blaring and lights flashing, as he carefully maneuvered his way around a man on Harford Road who appeared to be too busy talking on his cell phone to consider stepping aside.

Niko Amato tried his best to downplay the importance of No. 6 Maryland's 8-7 decision against No. 14 Yale at Byrd Stadium in College Park on Saturday. But even the redshirt junior goalkeeper acknowledged that the Terps may have been fortunate to emerge with the victory. “It's just another steppingstone for us,” he began. “Yale's a Top 10 team and a really good opponent, and we haven't really seen much of them before this year. I thought we could've played better and to come out with a win is always good when you didn't play your best game.” Maryland should have plenty of material to review this week as the team prepares to meet No. 19 Virginia in one semifinal of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.