Florida

Two-time All-Metro quarterback Bobby Sabelhaus of McDonogh School called a press conference today to announce his acceptance of a football scholarship to the University of Florida, a source close to the family confirmed.Sabelhaus said he will sign officially on Feb. 8, the first day of the NCAA seven-day early signing period for football players. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound Sabelhaus, who was The Baltimore Sun's 1994 All-Metro Offensive Player of the Year, has already notified the other programs in the running for his services -- Duke, Boston College and Michigan -- that he will be playing for Florida coach Steve Spurrier, the source said.

KEY WEST, Fla. -- A Florida law prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children has been ruled unconstitutional by a Monroe County judge.Key West resident Ed Seebol sued the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services last year after he was barred from adopting a son because of the state law.Judge Ignatius Lester decided in Mr. Seebol's favor, ruling Friday that the statute violated Mr. Seebol's right to privacy and denied him equal protection under...

Representatives and players from predominately white Florida State and historically black Florida A&M met yesterday to try to put an ugly basketball court fight behind them."

Led by second-term Gov. Lawton Chiles and Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay, twin proponents of reinvented government, Florida has launched the 50 states' most ambitious effort yet to expunge unneeded and intrusive regulations from the law books.Neal R. Peirce writes a column on state and urban affairs.

Aquenda Clark scored 19 points and Shantell Jackson added 13 to power Florida A&M past Coppin State, 71-55, in women's college basketball last night before 842 at the Coppin Center.Celena Falline and Liani Adair scored 15 points each for Coppin State (2-3). The Eagles shot 14 percent from the field in the first half as Florida A&M took a 34-22 lead. The Rattlers (4-3) shot 50 percent in the first half and 42.9 percent in the second half.Pub Date: 12/17/97

INDIANAPOLIS -- From Wisconsin to Florida. From stifling half-court defense to suffocating full-court pressure. From one extreme to the other. Michigan State, the most versatile offensive team in the country, will face its most difficult challenge tomorrow night in the final of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Florida. Youthful, relentless, exhausting Florida. "The on last night. They rallied from an 18-3 deficit for a 50-46 lead with 13: 32 left. But again, the Gators were just getting started.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- It had happened all year, and evenyesterday, despite it being late in the fourth quarter, one knew Alabama's defense would make a play that would change the game.Call it Team Destiny, or simply call it luck, but No. 2 Alabama seems to have a New Year's Day date with No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl to decide college football's national championship.Alabama cornerback Antonio Langham stepped in front of a Shane Matthews pass intended for receiver Monty Duncan and returned it 27 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown with 3:16 left in the game as the Crimson Tide defeated No. 12 Florida, 28-21, in the first Southeastern Conference championship game before 83,091 at Legion Field.

An 81-year-old Florida woman was fatally injured yesterday when her car collided with a pickup truck, state police said.The woman, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was westbound on Old Liberty Road in a Cutlass Ciera station wagon about 4 p.m. when it entered the intersection with Route 97.Mark Edward Hartman, 35, of Westminster was northbound on Route 97 in a Ford Ranger pickup truck when the two vehicles collided, pushing the...

ANNAPOLIS -- The wife of a near-comatose Army veteran is taking her request to regain custody of her husband to the Maryland Court of Appeals.In November Deanna V. Mack lost a custody fight for her husband, Ronald W. Mack, 30, in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Mrs. Mack, 29, intended to move Mr. Mack to Florida, where she would petition to have his feeding tubes removed under that state's right-to-die law.Judge John F. Fader transferred guardianship of her husband from court-appointed attorney Edward Gillis to Mr. Mack's father, Ronald E. Mack.

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. -- On one side of the football field, 26 people rooted for the De Laura Junior High School Scotties. On the other side, 150 fans cheered for the home team, the Edgewood Junior High Indians -- and 65 of them were in the school band.The crowds were sparser than usual because many working parents could not make it to the game Thursday afternoon. Officials had moved the contest up an hour to avoid a mosquito that transmits St. Louis encephalitis, a viral infection that can cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.