Florida

Albert Lord doesn't like to wait - not in business or on the golf course. The colorful chairman of student loan behemoth Sallie Mae, who's embroiled in a nasty fight over the failed sale of the company, has spent 40 years in the accounting and banking industries. He said that experience should have instilled in him a measure of patience, but it hasn't. Whether in traffic, at the office or on the links, Lord said, he just doesn't like to wait. He can't do much about the first two, but he's got a sure-fire solution for the last one: He's building his own, an 18-hole golf course on land he's acquired amid shuttered tobacco farms and grazing horses in southern Anne Arundel County.

When Sam Farrell visited the University of Florida on her women's lacrosse recruiting trip three years ago, there wasn't much to see. No lacrosse facility. No locker rooms. No team. No tradition. Coach Amanda O'Leary didn't even have an assistant coach. Nevertheless, the Severna Park graduate did see a bright future for lacrosse in Gainesville. "They had a plan and a dream, and they just asked us to trust them," Farrell said of O'Leary and Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, "so seeing their plan and having faith in them and trusting that that was going to happen was all we had to do. We all just came in and trusted them, and we exceeded our expectations, for sure.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.

NCAA semifinal No. 1 Florida vs. No. 4 Syracuse Friday, 5:30 p.m. At Stony Brook, N.Y. No. 1 Florida advanced to its first NCAA semifinal after topping Penn State, 15-2, at Dizney Stadium on Saturday. "It's a tremendous accomplishment, one I'm incredibly, incredibly proud of," Gators coach Amanda O'Leary said. Top-seeded Florida (19-2) will face No.4 Syracuse in the national semifinal Friday at 5:30p.m. in Stony Brook, N.Y. The Gators are averaging three more draw controls per game this season thanks in part to Shannon Gilroy, a freshman draw-control specialist who scored twice against the Nittany Lions (12-7)

Shannon Gilroy, Florida Freshman, Northport , N.Y., midfielder In Saturday's American Lacrosse Conference tournament final, Gilroy single-handedly matched Northwestern with seven goals in the Gators' 14-7 victory that earned the third-year program the No. 1 ranking and its first No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. The defending national champions had allowed an average of just 7.3 goals, and Gilroy matched or exceeded the offensive output of 12 Wildcats opponents.

This is my story about Spring Training.

Renee Foose, the deputy superintendent in Baltimore County, is one of three finalists for the superintendent's job in Orange County, Florida, a school district that is larger than Baltimore County's. The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that the Orange County school board will meet this Thursday to make a selection after interviewing Foose on March 15. Foose is the only external candidate. The other candidates include a John Edwards, an area superintendent and longtime administrator with the district, and Deputy Superintendent Barbara Jenkins.

Back in May, we reported on a 47-year-old attorney and magician who ran an entertainment company in Baltimore County, was charged with flying to Florida to have sex with a 14-year-old boy. The Essex man, Howard Scott Kalin, ran Funhouse Entertainment on York Road in Lutherville, and was known for making balloon animals for children. Police said that he met the boy over the Internet. The only problem was that the "boy" was an undercover police detective with theLake County Sheriff's Office cybercrime division.

We have heard the lyrics of the rap group 2 Live Crew's album, "As Nasty as They Wanna Be," and they are indeed disgusting, appalling and, yes, even obscene. But obscene or not, we reject the idea that anyone, anywhere, should be prosecuted and convicted for writing songs, singing songs, selling records -- or doing anything else that falls within the ambit of the freedom to speak or perform.This week in Florida, a record store owner was convicted, and faces a jail term, for selling 2 Live Crew's records.

After a German tourist was murdered in Miami and before a British tourist was murdered near Tallahassee, the Miami Herald editorialized, "Fighting crime against visitors is only a partial answer to the problem . . . . We must also stop the daily savagery against each other." A Herald columnist wrote, "We should be less concerned about how others view us and more concerned about how we view ourselves." Sure, but precisely because the victims were visitors, no recent crime story has so highlighted the direct link between crime and a community's overall well being.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge on Thursday set bail at $50,000, cash only, for two operators of the Healthy Life Medical Group, on York Road, in Lutherville, who were arrested Tuesday evening. Gerald Wiseberg, 78, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Michael Jacob Reznikov, 51, of Brooklyn, N.Y., have been indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury on charges of conspiracy to distribute "schedule II" narcotics after a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into alleged distribution and sale of Oxycodone and other prescription drugs.

Jasmine DePompeo had four goals and one assist, but Navy fell to North Carolina, 14-7, in the NCAA first round Saturday. The host Tar Heels (15-3) used a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half, and the Midshipmen (18-3) were unable to recover. No. 1 Florida 6, Albany 4: The host Gators (18-2) outlasted the Great Danes' offensive stall to push past Albany (12-6). No. 2 Northwestern 12, Notre Dame 7: Paced by a 15-5 advantage on draw controls, the host Wildcats (18-2)

Shannon Gilroy, Florida Freshman, Northport , N.Y., midfielder In Saturday's American Lacrosse Conference tournament final, Gilroy single-handedly matched Northwestern with seven goals in the Gators' 14-7 victory that earned the third-year program the No. 1 ranking and its first No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. The defending national champions had allowed an average of just 7.3 goals, and Gilroy matched or exceeded the offensive output of 12 Wildcats opponents.

Just how close is the top of this year's women's Division I tournament bracket? Well, I wouldn't bet an acre of the farm on anyone. Top-seeded Florida is the obvious favorite, of course, after beating defending champion Northwestern twice. The Gators have won 13 straight, so they've sailed past whatever cost them two early losses. Still, there could be a chink in their Gator-skin. Even though it was two months ago, they did fall to fourth-seed Syracuse and sixth-seed Loyola just beat Syracuse.

After taking a year off from school, former Forest Park shooting guard Quentin Judd has finalized his plans for a return to the classroom and the basketball court. Last week Judd, who averaged a team-high 19 points for the Foresters during the 2010-11 season, signed a letter of intent to attend Pensacola (Fla.) State College on a full basketball scholarship. “I'm proud to be a part of this moment. This sets the precedent for all of you to get through the door," Forest Park coach Greate White said to his team after Judd's signing.

Sam Darcangelo learned about lacrosse at a young age from her father, national Hall of Famer Jim Darcangelo, a two-time All-American at Towson and a U.S. national team player. She took to the sport quickly and turned into an All-Metro second-team player at Maryvale. A versatile midfielder, Darcangelo had scored 44 goals and added nine assists entering Wednesday for the No. 5 Lions this spring. She also plays for the ROME lacrosse club and for the Lions' field hockey team. She has signed to play at Florida next season.

Florida and the NCAA are investigating an allegation that former Gators offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey received $100,000 from a representative of a sports agent before last season ended, ESPN.com reported Monday. The allegation stated Pouncey received the money between Florida's loss to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game and its Sugar Bowl win over Cincinnati, according to the report. The alleged representative was not named. "We were made aware of some information in early June that we reported to law enforcement and we then shared with the NCAA and the SEC," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said in a statement.

All good things must come to an end, and today is the final day of Orioles spring training camp in Sarasota. Luggage and packed boxes are all around the Ed Smith Stadium complex. Tractor trailers started transporting players' automobiles last night. (There's one parked in front of the complex right now.) There's a relaxed atmosphere in the clubhouse. Everyone's ready to head north. But first, the Orioles will finish their exhibition schedule here with a game against State College of Florida, a junior college located here in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

The Obama administration's move to open the mid- and South Atlantic coasts to offshore oil and gas exploration is scheduled to get a public airing in Annapolis on Wednesday. The Annapolis session is one of a series being held from Florida to New Jersey to take public comments on the Interior Department's proposal to permit seismic and other testing off the Atlantic coast from Delaware Bay to just south of Cape Canaveral, FL The administration had proposed lifting the long-standing ban on Atlantic offshore exploration in 2010, but then reinstated it in the wake of the massive Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.  Last month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Atlantic testing was back on as part of President Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy strategy.

Sam Hurster got open in front of the net with 4.7 seconds left and finished off the upset as Brown beat top-ranked host Cornell, 10-9, at Schoellkopf Field. The Bears improved to 6-7, 2-3 Ivy League, while the Big Red dropped to 9-2, 4-1. The loss ruined Cornell's Senior Day celebration and ended its national-best 15-game winning streak. It also dropped the Big Red a game behind Princeton in the standings heading into next weekend's showdown in New Jersey. The winner of that game will host the Ivy League tournament.