Growing Pains

Hilary Swank rushes into a hotel suite, all sharp angles and big bones, plops down on a seat and dazzles with a toothy, very attractive smile. She's lanky and friendly and looks All-American smashing in a black dress and heels. A tomboy with sex appeal, Swank is the totally hot jock girlfriend you took (or wish you did) to the senior prom. The 32-year-old actress is in town to publicize Freedom Writers, a new film in which she plays real-life high school teacher Erin Gruwell, who turned her Long Beach, Calif.

Hawaii floats in the Pacific amid the splendid isolation only distance can afford. Nearly 2,400 miles from the nearest continent, the Polynesian kingdom of eight tropical islands and 124 islets saw explorers, capitalists and missionaries, but few visitors.Until the 1900s.The turn of the last century brought territory status (1900), Pearl Harbor (1941), statehood (1959), James Michener (1959), Don Ho (1962), surfers and a namesake TV show that intoned, "Be there. Aloha."And tourists did. Like the golden plovers that fly nonstop from Alaska to winter in Hawaii, vacationing Americans flocked there.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-- Veteran right offensive tackle Orlando Brown's week started with a poor performance against Philadelphia on Monday, and things didn't improve much for Brown last night in the Ravens' 14-6 win over the New York Giants.He drew three penalties during a shaky first half, helping stop the Ravens as much as the Giants' defense did.Midway through the first quarter during their second possession, the Ravens had put together an eight-play drive to move from their 37 to the New York 37. That's when Brown committed a holding penalty to push the Ravens back to the 47. The drive ended with a punt.

THEY WERE the tigers of economic development. Many investors were caught when sharper ones bet against the Thai baht, the Philippine peso, the Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah. Thailand had tied its currency to the U.S. dollar too long, and should have let it float earlier. The baht went down one-fifth.Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir blamed "rogue speculators," particularly George Soros, the Hungarian-born American hedge-fund tycoon whose charitable arm is underwriting democracy in Eastern Europe and clean needles in Baltimore.

One of the more pointless remakes in recent movie history airs on Fox tonight. Of course, it's still more interesting than watching the Democrats in Chicago."

For a malady that's been recognized for almost 200 years, it's a little surprising that no one has been able to figure out what causes growing pains in children.Doctors know enough, however, to have established that the term "growing pains" isn't really an accurate description of the sporadically achy limbs that so many children, ages 6 to 12, complain about. But, given no clear understanding of the phenomenon, the term has stuck around for better or for worse."The term is a great misnomer," says Colin Macarthur, a Canadian researcher who recently studied the problem while working at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The 500 block of Orchard Street felt a world away from the Chesapeake Bay yesterday. People sat on their steps in the baking sun, looking up and down the line of brick rowhouses at children who, lacking a green expanse, made do with the sidewalk as a playground.But there, on the western edge of downtown Baltimore, inside the restored old Orchard Street church that is now the headquarters for the Baltimore Urban League, inner-city activists were teaming up with Maryland's largest environmental group, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, to talk about how desperately people who love the city and the bay really need each other.

The recent nasty spat over which state Senate candidate in Anne Arundel County had the purest Republican credentials leaves the Maryland GOP with a delicate question:Was all that sniping a case of growing pains in a single county or was it the symptom of a potentially crippling statewide affliction for the party?Three-term legislator and former County Executive Robert R. Neall was chosen Saturday by the county Republican Central Committee to complete the term of Sen. John A. Cade, who died on Nov. 14. His opponent was first-term Del. Robert C. Baldwin, a politician with 14 years less experience in elected office.

On the field: Cal Ripken slumped after breaking Lou Gehrig's record last year, and broke out in a September series against Detroit. He went into last night's game in a prolonged slump, but doubled in his first at-bat.In the dugout: The Orioles have 32 active players and injured outfielder Mark Smith in their traveling squad, which made for a tight squeeze in the visitors' dugout at Tiger Stadium, which is made for about 10 players 5 feet 6 or shorter. "We're going to have to rotate guys in the dugout with all these call-ups," said hitting coach Rick Down.

If there's a phrase that captures 1994 for the Howard County record books, it may be "growing pains."Although the rapid development of the 1980s has slowed, the county spent the past year struggling to adapt to an increased -- and still increasing -- number of people, homes and businesses."

In an effort to resolve what he and others have described as "growing pains," Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston met Friday with the leadership of the national nonprofit behind the district's first public charter school. Hairston sought the meeting with Virginia-based Imagine Schools to clarify several issues that emerged in the first year at the Woodlawn-area charter, which did not make adequate yearly progress this year. County and charter school officials have acknowledged challenges in establishing how Imagine Discovery fits in the system and how the district can provide support to a school it authorizes but doesn't control.

Maryland's unemployment rate is creeping higher, though still trailing the national average. The state's struggling with a budget deficit, and many agencies, including the Department of Business and Economic Development, face sharp funding cuts. Yet Christian S. Johansson, the agency's new secretary, is bullish about Maryland's position in the recession. The 36-year-old Harvard MBA was tapped by Gov. Martin O'Malley in January to lead the agency, He knows that past governors have typically chosen DBED leaders with more experience, but Johansson said he believes he'll be judged more on the results he can deliver to businesses and workers across Maryland.

A new day for the Transportation Security Administration is nearly upon us, and I couldn't be happier - or more concerned. The founding president of the nationwide union local for transportation security officers, I worked for 5 1/2 years at BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport. As the first airport in the nation to be staffed by the TSA, we saw more fits and starts and growing pains than any other airport. We adapted to turnover in leadership, changes in standard operating procedures and endless construction work.

TORONTO - When the Orioles inserted two rookies into their starting rotation this season, they knew there would be some rough times ahead. Those times have arrived. After rookie left-hander Garrett Olson allowed seven runs in 3 2/3 innings Wednesday night, the club's starters' ERA jumped to 5.08, worst in the American League. "Probably four of the five guys starting now have less than a year and a half worth of starts," pitching coach Rick Kranitz said. "We can't lose sight of that. When they stumble, hopefully they learn from it and can keep moving forward."

Mary J. Blige purportedly loves the woman she sees in the mirror these days. She's newly svelte and outfitted in designer gear from head to toe. She's strong with a bulletproof heart, reinvented - but still, she rarely smiles. Growing Pains, the title of Blige's new album, suggests that the hip-hop soul queen is still trying to find herself. But while chronicling her struggles in song, the artist is unshakably serious. She seemingly bulldozes through life's struggles, a little scarred but unbreakable.

Having lost some key players from last season's Class 1A state semifinalist team, Harford Tech boys soccer coach Andy Bleichfeld isn't too upset at the Cobras' 3-4 start. He is confident the team is just experiencing growing pains. "We know we have a tougher schedule this year," said Bleichfeld, whose team went 14-4-1 last year and earned the school's first trip to the state semifinals. "We know it's going to be toughening us up for the regionals. It's really going to help us." Although they lost their top scorer as well as anchors at midfield and defense, the Cobras do have experienced players in seniors Kyle Ramsel (goalie)

Hilary Swank rushes into a hotel suite, all sharp angles and big bones, plops down on a seat and dazzles with a toothy, very attractive smile. She's lanky and friendly and looks All-American smashing in a black dress and heels. A tomboy with sex appeal, Swank is the totally hot jock girlfriend you took (or wish you did) to the senior prom. The 32-year-old actress is in town to publicize Freedom Writers, a new film in which she plays real-life high school teacher Erin Gruwell, who turned her Long Beach, Calif.

Well before anyone brought out the scissors to cut the ribbon at Anne Arundel County's first dog park on Dec. 1, 2001, a line of patient pooches and their people had formed outside the gates. By the time it opened at Quiet Waters Park, recalled John Marshall, chief of county park operations, there were 80 dogs. The area surrounded by 6-foot fencing allowed the new park patrons their first unrestrained public romp and enabled their owners to meet other canine aficionados. "They were coming and going all day," Marshall said.

COLLEGE PARK - More than two months ago, Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen stood before a throng of media and gave a speech that seemed to be full of coaching cliches. We're a young team, he said. There are going to be growing pains. We're faced with a tremendous challenge, he added, and it's impossible to predict how we'll react to adversity. This season could be the biggest challenge I've faced in my thirty-plus years as a coach. For the most part, Friedgen's words were met with a collective yawn.

Joe Dougherty jokes that his title is "the boss of all bosses," but he's not kidding - the responsibilities of his organization would leave a business executive trembling. As director of the Howard County Lacrosse Program, Dougherty oversees a program that has 1,722 boys and girls playing lacrosse on fields throughout the county. From a small beginning about two decades ago, the club has grown into the largest youth lacrosse organization in the Baltimore area. HCLP operates almost year-round - counting spring, fall and indoor play - with a budget of about $185,000, generated mostly by the $110 fee to play.