Fall

AROUND THE AREAPreseason Top 151. McDonogh1998 record: 22-5-1Skinny: The Eagles finished No. 1 after capturing last fall's Catholic League title. With 10 starters back, they will now try to conquer the newly formed Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.2. Severna Park1998 record: 18-2Skinny: Last fall's 2-1 loss to Wootton in the state championship gave the Falcons a mission this season. With 16 players back, they have plenty of strengths and no glaring weakness.3. John Carroll1998 record: 16-2Skinny: After maintaining the top spot for much of last season, the Patriots were stunned by St. Mary's in the Catholic League semifinal.

The one constant in TV's annual new prime-time lineups is that network executives, oriented toward Hollywood and New York, almost never have their hand on the public pulse -- except by imitating past hits.In the fall of 1984, for instance, three hits emerged from ideas the networks thought dead: "The Cosby Show," at a time when comedy was out of fashion; "Murder, She Wrote," a soft mystery with an older woman as a crime-solver; and Michael Landon's "Highway to Heaven," which had a do-good, religious theme.

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury has awarded more than $5 million to the family of a 68-year-old woman who died after suffering a fall at Harbor Hospital in 2001. Anna Mae Bussey of Baltimore fell and broke her hip while she was a patient. The fall precipitated a chain of events that resulted in Bussey's death a month later, said the attorney for her family, Alan J. Belsky. Bussey, who was taking blood-thinning medication at the time of the fall, had to stop taking the medicine to undergo surgery.

A 3-year-old Scaggsville girl was hospitalized Tuesday after jumping on a bed and falling 24 feet from a third-story apartment window onto a concrete patio below, Howard County rescue officials said.Allison Abel, of the 8200 block of Spring Branch Court, received head injuries and was taken to Children's Hospital in Washington. She was in good condition yesterday and could be released as early as today, a family member said.About 5: 40 p.m. Tuesday, the girl was hopping on a mattress in a bedroom in her home.

An 18-month-old child was apparently uninjured yesterday afternoon after falling from a third-story window of an apartment building onto concrete in Harper's Choice village in Columbia, fire officials said. Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services personnel raced to the 6100 block of Turnabout Lane about 3:30 p.m. after the fall was reported. "There were no obvious injuries," said M. Sean Kelly, fire department spokesman. Because of the nature of the incident, the child was taken to Johns Hopkins Children's Center for observation, Kelly said.

THIS FALL, THE BIGGEST FASHION NEWS FOR men should send them straight to the gym. Suits have a narrower silhouette. Dress pants and jeans are slimmer, while jackets are trimmer and shorter. Padding is disappearing, along with that third button on sports coats. "Everybody's in such good shape now, and they want to show it off," says Stephen Watson, fashion director of the high-end magazine Men's Vogue. And what about the government's discouraging figures on obesity? "The bigger guys should keep it simple," he says diplomatically, "and stay away from double-breasted jackets."

There is a yin and a yang to fashion -- a balance that becomes predictable after successive seasons. Minimalism one year begets extravagance the next. Basic black one fall will burst into a kaleidoscope of colors the following spring. So it is no surprise then that this fall -- one year after the omnipresence of all things ladylike -- that menswear has crept back into the fashion landscape. And it makes sense that a spring of all things boho and peasant has evolved into a fall of structure and luxury.

PASADENA, Calif. - The major broadcast networks began their presentations Monday at the Television Critics Association's annual summer press tour. They were facing a tough audience anxious about the economy and terrorism but more deeply disappointed by the mediocre new programs coming in the fall. Mediocre and thuddingly familiar. "Everything seems like a repeat," said Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic. He was referring to a slate of new shows that has been unanimously branded as uninspired, but he could have been riffing on the event itself, arranged mutually by the critics and the networks as the most efficient mass method for interviewing stars and executives.

Name: Hank Ferrero Job description: Second year as president, Western Howard County Soccer Inc., which has more than 2,200 rec-level soccer players, girls and boys ages 5 through 17, on 144 teams in fall; also a "selecte" travel program - not intended to be as competitive as Premier and Classic travel teams - with about 250 players on eight teams that play fall and spring. Rec program, second-largest in county in the sport, is just that; no standings are kept. League was formed about 1978 by county Department of Recreation and Parks, incorporated in 1994.

Jason Santucci made quite a first impression last year at Westminster.After transferring to Westminster from Virginia, Santucci quickly displaced the team's No. 1 runner, Greg Fisher, and turned in some memorable performances in helping the Owls win their second straight Class 4A state cross country championship.Santucci hit his stride around mid-season and won the county, Central Maryland Conference, region and state titles and also was picked as the All-Metro team's Runner of the Year.The question now -- what to do for an encore?