Heart

LAUREL -- Soon after Noblest Heart crossed the finish line first in last year's Davona Dale Handicap, trainer Donald Barr and friends were high-fiving and whooping and laughing.But the end to that story wasn't as joyful as you might think. A jockey's objection ultimately led to Noblest Heart's disqualification, and Barr was quite upset by the way the whole thing unfolded.So when Noblest Heart nosed out favored Local Thriller in yesterday's $55,300 Davona Dale at Laurel Race Course, Barr calmly walked to the winner's circle, swelled with a sense of triumph and vindication.

Valentine's Day is the occasion for romantic gifts. Beyond the traditional roses, scent and chocolates there other creative ways to say "I love you." Here are some suggestions from the folks at Aveda and Sears.* Create a romantic setting and "dinner for two." Fill a basket with red wine, cheeses and warm, toasty loaves of French bread. Add jellies or jams, candy, spiced apple tea and a heart-patterned tablecloth and napkins* For the woman who loves to garden, spray a large watering can with glossy, bright red paint and include a mix of garden supplies -- red apron or work gloves, seed packs of red peppers, red flowers, tomatoes.

The heart says it's true, the Orioles do have a shot at catching the Red Sox and making the playoffs as a wild-card qualifier.The head says such talk should be illegal until the club is over .500, where it hasn't been for more than two months.The heart says that doesn't matter. Look at the ground that's been gained in the past two weeks. Look at the teetering Red Sox, who tend to fold like a basket of laundry. The Orioles have a chance. You can't deny it.The head says yeah, you watch, everyone will end up lamenting the blown opportunity to trade veterans for prospects who could have made a difference down the line.

State Sen. Larry E. Haines, leader of Carroll's legislative delegation and Senate minority whip, left Anne Arundel Medical Center yesterday afternoon with a near-perfect bill of health, at least as far as his heart is concerned. Haines, a Republican, was hospitalized for almost a day after complaining of severe chest pains Monday evening. "I am doing well, and I am thankful that I have no coronary disease," Haines, 63, said shortly before he was discharged yesterday afternoon. He went to the State House infirmary about 8:45 p.m. Monday and was taken by ambulance to the hospital near Annapolis.

State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer was hospitalized this week for tests on his heart, which revealed coronary irregularities that will be treated with medication and rest, his spokeswoman said. Schaefer was expected to be released this morning, said Christine Duray, a spokeswoman in the comptroller's office. While adjusting to the medication, Schaefer will reduce his schedule, Duray said. Schaefer, 83, felt dizzy on Monday, and on Tuesday visited his doctor, who recommended that he undergo coronary tests, Duray said.

When slam poet Gayle Danley recently clutched her microphone, introducing herself to 163 eighth-graders at Folly Quarter Middle School in Howard County, I thought back to the time I first met her a few years ago, when I photographed her teaching a workshop to fourth-graders in Columbia. Slam poetry is gaining popularity as a form of self-expression among young people, who are encouraged to quickly write poems from the heart and their own life experiences and then deliver them to an audience of their peers.

Through the years, partnerships between scientists and industry have resulted in major medical breakthroughs, including a life-saving invention now used by a half-million heart patients around the country - one of them the vice president. In 2001, Dick Cheney was outfitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a pacemaker-like device that monitors heart rhythms and delivers shocks to the heart if dangerous rhythms are detected. The pager-sized device, surgically inserted into the chest, was developed in the 1970s by doctors at Baltimore's Sinai Hospital in collaboration with a private medical technology company in Pittsburgh.

BOSTON -- In every school, one discovers teachers renowned for their knowledge, pedagogic abilities, character and concern for students. They are people able to describe their intellectual deliberations, teaching styles, and educational philosophies. They speak with insight, moreover, about their students and themselves, for they have explored not merely their reasons for becoming a teacher, but the way their interior world has been shaped and how it affects their learning and teaching.

Reggie Lewis, the Dunbar High School sixth man who became a National Basketball Association All-Star with the Boston Celtics, has a cardiomyopathy, a potentially "life-threatening" heart ailment that likely will end his career, according to Celtics' team doctor Arnold Scheller."

One of the more troubling local criminal cases in recent memory is now being heard in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. It involves two male Anne Arundel Community College students who allegedly killed a 61-year-old homeless man by tormenting him until he had a heart attack and died.An Anne Arundel judge will decide whether the students literally frightened him to death or whether the victim was so sick and inebriated that it is impossible to tell what killed him. But whether or not the students actually caused Archie Baldwin's death, what was done to this man in the name of collegiate horseplay ought to leave decent people outraged.