Hope

In the stop-and-go world of Baltimore-area traffic, there's a lot more braking than commuters and transportation officials would like. Take Russell Allen, a Federal Hill resident who gets in his silver Ford Edge every weekday morning before 7:30 and steers south toward Fort Meade and the region's biggest bottleneck: Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Route 175. The trip starts fine. But around Route 100, Allen's windshield relfects a dazzling array of red taillights. "And it stays that way until I get to work - four miles and 20 minutes later," said Allen, 52, who works for the Army.

No. 13 Johns Hopkins wrapped up the regular season with a 9-4 victory over Army Friday night and improved to 9-5. But the program's hopes for a 42nd consecutive NCAA tournament  appearance absorbed another sustained hit that same night. No. 2 Cornell was upended, 14-13, in overtime by No. 12 Princeton in one semifinal of the Ivy League tournament at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. The Tigers (9-5) will meet No. 14 Yale (10-4) in Sunday's title game after the Bulldogs defeated No. 18 Penn.

Final exams begin Monday for students at Washington College and the upcoming weekend is a prime opportunity for them to review and study for the tests. But the members of the men's lacrosse team may find it difficult to look at a book as they await word from the NCAA selection committee about their postseason fate. The No. 10 Shoremen own a 12-4 record and are sixth in the South region rankings. But they got bounced by No. 2 Dickinson from the Centennial Conference tournament semifinals on Wednesday and will learn whether they have earned an at-large spot from the Pool C candidates when the 26-team field is unveiled late Sunday night.

A new marine terminal could bring 9,000 jobs to the Sparrows Point peninsula, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Friday as he laid out the county's vision for remaking the land around its closed steel mill. A terminal in the peninsula's Coke Point area could take 10 to 12 years to become a reality, he said, and plans depend on the Maryland Port Administration's negotiations with the land's private owners, among other factors. The area has complicated environmental problems, but county leaders say the peninsula offers an exceptional location and the infrastructure to attract new investment.

New York Rangers forward Taylor Pyatt initially thought the team's equipment managers might not like him as much as Rick Nash. Each day, Pyatt would glance over to Nash's adjacent locker at the team's practice facility and notice long socks, wristbands, ankle braces and other assorted gear neatly arranged and folded — etiquette rarely seen within hockey dressing rooms. Pyatt figured it was at the request of New York's newest superstar, not the quirk of a meticulous neat freak. "I thought he was getting special treatment," Pyatt said this week, after watching Nash carefully fold and place every piece of equipment along a bench in front of his stall.

In a perfect world, Randy Edsall can envision the day when the Maryland football team plays before packed crowds at Byrd Stadium, when the Terps challenge perennial powers in their league, when he and his staff attract most of the top high school talent in the state as well as from other parts of the country. Then Edsall quickly snaps out of that world and gets back to reality. And back to work. This is Edsall's reality right now: the Terps have won just six games in his first two seasons since he replaced Ralph Friedgen, four of the victories coming in the first six games of last season before injuries decimated his team, particularly at quarterback.

Saturday's 8-4 loss to No. 7 and reigning national champion Loyola weakened No. 13 Johns Hopkins' profile for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. But the program's bid for a 42nd consecutive appearance in the postseason could depend on what happens with other teams. Half of the 16-team field will be filled by teams that win their respective conference tournaments and capture the automatic qualifiers associated with those victories. If conference tournament favorites like No. 3 Notre Dame (Big East)

The state's hospitals would absorb all of the 2 percent Medicare cuts required by federal sequestration under a proposal released Thursday by the state panel that sets hospital rates. The recommendation by the staff of the Health Services Cost Review Commission would mean that state hospitals would not get rate increases for the last three months of fiscal year 2013, a decision that prompted intense criticism from medical institutions that say they already operate on slim margins.

Maura Imel , 22, showed off what she calls her "simple, elegant" style at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's fourth annual Hope in the Harbor Gala at the American Visionary Art Museum . The Rollins College senior wore a navy chiffon Lush shift and a white and brass chunky necklace that she found at a boutique in her college town of Winter Park, Fla. The Ellicott City resident added a pair of light gold strappy wedges that she picked up...

When Heat Press last ran in Maryland, he finished third in a three-horse race. Yet his owner - the same man who managed to turn the idea of quick-drying fabric into an athletic apparel empire that brought in nearly $2 billion in revenue last year - spent much of Monday touting the horse's chances against the best 3-year-olds in the country. Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank has never been one to pay the odds much mind. On Monday, he bounced from interview to interview, assuring each camera and recorder of his faith in the inconsistent colt.