Hazing

The University of Maryland athletic department is investigating allegations of hazing and underage drinking by members of the men's and women's lacrosse teams, The Diamondback, the student newspaper, reported in yesterday's editions. An athletic department official told the paper that an e-mail had been received, saying violations had occurred. Athletic department officials questioned players and coaches on both teams last week, executive senior associate athletic director Kathy Worthington told the paper.

THE ALLURE of more state-sanctioned gambling descends like a patchy spring fog, obscuring vision and concealing dangers. Our new governor says the General Assembly should legalize slot machines, allowing Marylanders to make "adult decisions." We won't have desperate losers shooting themselves in parking lots after gambling away the mortgage money. We won't have an outbreak of prostitution. We won't suddenly decide there's no need to pay more taxes because slots heal all deficits, fund all programs and exempt all from taxes.

FOR FIVE YEARS nothing was done about a federal law that was supposed to herald an attack on smog. From 1997 until last Wednesday, that law was tied up in legal wrangling. Finally, the "preliminary" jousting has concluded and now the U.S. government can begin thinking about putting it into effect. It's great news, but don't hold your breath. Well, if you can hold your breath, that's not such a bad idea, because smog is a killer. But the next thing that happens is that the Environmental Protection Agency has until April 2004 to decide what areas of the nation fail to meet the new standards.

WILMINGTON, N.Y. - Whiteface Mountain is a tourist trap in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. It is the only mountaintop that can be reached by car. In the winter, it is a ski resort; in the summer, it is a mountain bike center. As such, Whiteface is the only peak of the 46 highest Adirondack Mountains not designated as pristine wilderness. But the threats facing Whiteface (elevation 4,670 feet) confront many of the more strictly protected peaks of the Adirondack Park, and some are coming from afar.

A haze smelling like burning wood blanketed much of Maryland yesterday as summer winds carrying smoke from forest fires raging in Canada moved over the state. The ashen shroud from central Quebec is expected to linger over Maryland through today, when, the National Weather Service predicts, winds will shift and push the smoke over the Atlantic Ocean. The unusual phenomenon does not pose serious health problems, though people with asthma and other respiratory ailments were advised to be cautious and limit time outdoors.

BIG MEADOWS, Va. - John and Stephanie Young have some advice for travelers to Shenandoah National Park: If you want a great view, get a postcard. After battling eight hours in traffic to get here from Middletown, Conn., the Youngs were eager to take in a majestic vista from an overlook in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But as they stared across a hazy expanse, they got nothing of the sort. "We were expecting blue skies," Stephanie grumbled. "We got gray smog." Beyond the perch where the Youngs stood on their recent family vacation lies a panorama that, when the park was created in 1926, was said to offer views of 100 miles all around.

REMEMBER the purple glow that bathed Charm City for weeks? The auto antennas, city sidewalks and fire hydrants that sprouted purple banners? It seems a lifetime ago, though it was just last January. Baltimore leapt back onto the national sports map. The disparate reaches of this community coalesced around a bunch of men in thick padding and shiny helmets. The Ravens were champs -- and so were we all. "This is the greatest city in America, and we have the greatest football team in the world," exulted Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, hailing "our conquering heroes."

A man has been awarded $312,000 by a jury for the brutal hazing he received six years ago as an undergraduate cadet at a college in Vermont that specializes in turning out officers for the Navy and the Coast Guard. Keith Briscoe, 23, of Islip, N.Y., had sued Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., for the pain and suffering that he said he endured during about 100 incidents of hazing in the 2 1/2 months he was at the private school in 1995. The university, founded in 1819, is one of the oldest schools in the country specializing in training military officers.

An eye-drop solution that aims to assist the healing process after laser vision correction surgery is the latest innovation to spring from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, and apparently the best project the lab had to offer for 2000. The drops - and their APL creator Dr. David M. Silver - were named invention and inventor of the year at an APL awards ceremony last month at the southern Howard County campus. The plasminogen activator drops, which stimulate an enzyme that helps the eye to heal itself, are not in clinical trials, but a Salt Lake City medical company has grabbed the option to license the technology.

A day so hot it feels like summer prompts the question: When does school let out? Nance B. Spiece, a receptionist at Baltimore County's school system headquarters, wishes she knew. She's spent the past week on the telephone with parents who want to know when summer vacation will begin. "Oh, yeah, it's been busy," Spiece said yesterday. "I've had so many calls, I've lost track by now. But it's been every day, all day." The school calendar says the year ends June 22, but that includes seven snow days built into the schedule.