Essex

Due to the potential inclement weather coming, Archbishop Curley has moved Thursday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference soccer semifinal against Gilman to CCBC-Essex, with the game time now set for 4 p.m.  The game was originally scheduled to be played at Curley at 3:30 p.m.    The No. 1 Friars (14-3-2) earned the top seed in the playoffs and received a first-round bye.  The No. 5 Greyhounds, seeded fourth and 13-4-4 overall, advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 win over No. 6 Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday.    In the regular season, Curley defeated Gilman, 3-1, in the first meeting early in the fall, and then the teams played to 2-2 tie.

A New York man was convicted Wednesday of murdering an Essex man who was having a romantic relationship with his wife, according to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's office. A jury convicted Quincy Jackson, 42, of Brooklyn, N.Y., in the death of Nathan Bowles, 41, who had been shot six times at an apartment complex in the 9800 block of Langs Road on Jan. 8, 2011, prosecutors said. Police said Bowles had been involved romantically with Jackson's wife and that Jackson had previously threatened to kill Bowles if he did not end the relationship.

Baltimore County police charged an Essex man Monday with stabbing his girlfriend after officers found her body wrapped in a blanket on his kitchen floor. Police say John W. Falkenstein Jr. of Essex stabbed Janet Palasik, 48, after the two got into an argument. Palasik's daughter had called 911 Monday to have officers to check on her mother who had gone to Falkenstein's home in the 700 block of Myrth Ave. on Nov. 4, police said. Officers spoke to Falkenstein at the home, and found Palasik, of the 1100 block of Maple Road in Essex, on the kitchen floor covered with a blanket.

Six employees at an Essex haunted house were taken to a local hospital after they became sick from spilled formaldehyde Friday night, Baltimore County police said. The chemical was used in the display at Kim's Krypt Haunted Attraction on Eastern Boulevard, police said. Firefighters were called around 9:15 p.m. to clean up the spill. The haunted house was closed for the evening, police said. Nov. 3 is the attraction's last scheduled day for the season. jkanderson@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Police arrested a 22-year-old Essex man in connection to three fires set early Friday. Justin Karmasek of the 800 block of North Marlyn Avenue was charged for setting on fire a carport in the 100 block of Wiltshire Road, a vehicle in the 100 block of Riverside Drive and a garage attached to a vacant home. Police and firefighters were called to the scene of the fires at 4:11 a.m. Friday. Two vehicles and a boat were damaged in the fire on Wiltshire Road. Police located Karmasek in the area and placed him under arrest.

A 27-year-old Joppa man was killed Saturday after he was hit by a car after a fall from his bicycle landed him in the middle of the street, Baltimore County police said. Jason David Leonard, 27, whom police found lying on Right Wing Drive in Essex at around 3:34 a.m., was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said in a release that an intitial investigation found that Leonard was sitting in the middle of Right Wing Drive after falling from his bicycle, when an Oldsmobile Cutlass traveling north struck him. The Cutlass was driven by 25-year-old Brandon Maurice Cook of Essex, who remained at the scene and was taken to an area hospital.

A shooting and a double stabbing early Tuesday in two eastern Baltimore County neighborhoods have left three victims hospitalized. An unidentified man remains in critical condition after he was shot multiple times in Dundalk. In Essex, two unidentified men were stabbed during a fight. Police responded at 2:34 a.m. to reports of a confrontation in the 100 block of Kinship Road, near Dundalk Avenue. They located one victim, whose name and age were not released. He had sustained several gunshot wounds and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital.

The Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre is in the midst of its 40th anniversary season, a significant milestone for a company that has tackled a sizable breadth of repertoire, from "Lysistrata" to "Hairspray," and maintained wallet-friendly ticket prices the whole time. This year, the troupe, based at the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex, has offered productions of "The King and I" and "Steel Magnolias," as well as a children's show, "Dr. Dolittle. " An eager, if uneven, production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Sunset Boulevard" opened last weekend on the main stage; "Laura," a play version of the hit 1940s film, opens Friday in the cabaret theater.

(Tim Wheeler is away this week. The following is a guest post by Laurel Peltier, who publishes the down-to-earth "eco-glancer" www.greenlaurel.com ) Many Marylanders like to think of themselves as pretty green. But are we? If you peeked at curbside recycling rates, you may be surprised to find that we're a lighter shade of green than we thought.  When it comes to recycling, the state Department of the Environment says we're diverting 41 percent of our trash statewide from landfills and incinerators - well above the 34 percent national average, as figured by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Michael and Sherrie Kaiser, of Churchville, announce the engagement of their daughter, Heather Lynn Kaiser, to Matthew Brandon Schnell, son of Michele Schnell, of Joppa. The bride-to-be is a 2004 graduate of C. Milton Wright High School and works at Point Breeze Credit Union in Bel Air. The prospective groom is a 2004 graduate of Joppatowne High School and works at Alban Tractor in Essex. An October wedding is planned.