Gain

After accepting the head coaching position at Florida Gulf Coast University in March 2011, Andy Enfield called his parents, Bill and Barbara, both of whom had seen their son achieve academic, business and athletic successes in high-profile places. Had they ever heard of the school? "No," Bill said. "No," Barbara said. "I mean, it's so new. " Now, though, sports fans are becoming familiar with a college located in Fort Myers, Fla., that enrolled its first student in 1997 and didn't begin playing Division I basketball until 2007.

Downtown Baltimore gained 10,000 jobs in 2012 — after losing the same number of jobs in 2011, according to the annual State of Downtown report to be released Thursday by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. "At the very least, this is a correction," said Kirby Fowler, the organization's president, who was skeptical of the loss reported in 2011. The same firm, Nielsen Co. LLC, calculated both this year's and last year's job numbers for the Downtown Partnership. There are 113,100 workers within a one-mile radius of the intersection of Pratt and Light streets, according to the report.

Maryland employers added 6,700 jobs in January, picking up the pace from the end of last year, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday. Businesses added 5,300 jobs in December, according to the agency's revised estimates. In both December and January, all gains came from the private sector as government agencies cut back — eliminating 1,500 jobs in each month. January's uptick wasn't large enough to lower the unemployment rate, which held steady at 6.7 percent. The U.S. jobless rate was 7.9 percent that month.

College lacrosse is beginning - albeit slowly - to regain its reputation as the fastest sport on two feet. New rules implemented in the offseason to accelerate the pace of play aren't showing up in the numbers. But anecdotally, what had devolved at times into a slow-plodding, low-scoring slog is turning into a fast-paced, action-packed thriller. "I think they're the best thing to ever happen to the game, to be honest with you," Denver coach Bill Tierney said. "The [NCAA] rules committee took charge of their charge, so to speak, and realized that the game was not getting any better.

Baltimore, coming off six decades of population decline, grew by 1,100 residents in 12 months, according to government estimates released Thursday. "It's such amazing news. … It's huge psychologically," said Seema D. Iyer, a former research chief for the city's planning department now with the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute. For years, the U.S. Census Bureau's annual calculation delivered to the city disappointing news of a falling population, but now it seems to be turning around.

A little more than a month ago, the Washington Capitals called a players-only meeting in search of a wake-up call. Off to the fourth-worst start in franchise history at 2-8-1, they sat in last place in the NHL, five points out of a playoff spot. They've gone 8-5-0 in the 13 games since the meeting, at times showing enough noticeable improvement to suggest that things were finally starting to come together under first-year coach Adam Oates. But after losing to the Islanders and Rangers this weekend, the Capitals have little to show for their modest progress.

The Federal Transit Administration has given its blessing to the environmental impact assessment for Baltimore's proposed Red Line, clearing the way for final design but adding new urgency to finding the means to pay for the $2.5 billion light rail project. In a decision released Tuesday afternoon, the FTA said the Maryland Transit Administration had satisfied all environmental requirements laid out in the federal law. "This is a milestone," said Henry Kay, the MTA's executive director for transit development and delivery.

Milliner rose, Moore fell Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times The biggest winner at the combine was Alabama's Dee Milliner, who ran sizzling times of 4.31 and 4.37 in the 40, cementing his position as the top cornerback in this class. Coming into the combine, there were questions about whether he has elite speed. Answered. The Lions will have a difficult time passing on him with the fifth pick. At the opposite end is Texas A&M's Damontre Moore, who came in as a top defensive end prospect but ran just one 40 - a lumbering 4.95 - then passed on a second because his hamstrings were tight.

There were two odd things about Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's presentation Wednesday at the Walters Art Museum to introduce "Change to Grow," her ambitious plan to put Baltimore's budget on a sustainable path, cut taxes and increase investments in infrastructure. First: the trivial. As her PowerPoint ended, music swelled in the background, specifically the opening guitar riffs to U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," which includes the lines, "City's aflood/And our love turns to rust/We're beaten and blown by the wind/Trampled in dust.

Gay Lynn Diffenderffer had no idea that her husband was growing marijuana at their Baltimore County home, her attorney says, until state police investigating his mysterious disappearance discovered about 100 plants in a locked basement. Two weeks later, investigators found Michael Diffenderffer, 52, dead in his car - an apparent suicide that meant he would never face the drug charges brought against him when the marijuana was found. But that didn't close the book on his 2011 case.