Ineligible

Wayne Bristol, a 6-foot-1 junior guard who appeared in 21 games last season, is academically ineligible for the fall semester and will miss at least Maryland's first six games. If Bristol makes sufficient academic progress this fall, he'd be able to return to the Terps on Dec. 15.Bristol, of Beltsville, averaged 2.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in a reserve role last season.

A top aide to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake received more than $14,000 in homestead property tax breaks on an East Baltimore rental property he owns, records show, even though only owner-occupied homes qualify for the subsidy under Maryland law. State officials recognized the issue several months ago, and in January the city sent a bill to Khalil Zaied, the mayor's deputy chief of operations, demanding repayment of more than $5,000 for the tax...

Northeast's third-ranked heavyweight wrestler, James Taylor, a favorite to win this year's 3A-4A state title with a 23-0 record that includes 18 pins, has been declared athletically ineligible, his father, Scott Taylor, said last night. The elder Taylor said he was informed yesterday by Northeast athletic director Roger Stitt that his son was ineligible because this is his fourth season of wrestling since his sophomore year. The elder Taylor said he has retained an attorney to contest his son's case based on the contention that he was informed by Northeast principal Roy Skiles and Stitt last spring that Taylor still had one season of eligibility left.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission upheld a decision Monday preventing a French company from building a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in southern Maryland, but it offered glimmers of hope for the project's proponents. The commissioners directed their staff "to review issues relating to foreign ownership" — the sticking point for the Calvert Cliffs proposal — and recommend whether changes to agency rules or practice are appropriate. The five-person commission would not overturn a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that UniStar Nuclear Energy is ineligible for a new-reactor license because it is wholly owned by French energy group EDF. Federal law bans foreign ownership or control of nuclear plants.

COLLEGE PARK -- In what it says is a formality that shouldn't affect their status for Saturday's season opener, Maryland has declared superback Mark Mason and four other players ineligible.The five players were involved in a summer jobs program in which players were overpaid because of a clerical error that didn't note time spent in classes.Athletic director Andy Geiger said that any extra money the players received has been repaid. Any possible rules violation must be reported to the NCAA, and in an attempt to close the matter quickly, on Monday Maryland declared the players ineligible and asked the NCAA eligibility staff to reinstate the players.

Jack Jordan, the assistant basketball coach at South River High School couldn't believe how many boys tried out for his team this month. And he couldn't believe how many were ineligible because of their grades."

MIAMI -- Nebraska fullback Omar Soto, who was ruled ineligible for last night's Federal Express Orange Bowl because he violated NCAA rules in 1986, defended himself yesterday.Soto was deleted from the roster when it was discovered that he had participated in a preseason scrimmage at Mount San Antonio College in 1986 before leaving the school. Combined with two years at Arizona Western Junior College and three years at Nebraska, Soto exceeded the number of seasons allowed by the NCAA."I was told there would be no problem, so I never brought it up because I thought I was in the clear."

Maryland forward Jin Soo Kim, a 6-foot-8 freshman from South Korea, has been declared academically ineligible, effective immediately. The basketball program is appealing the decision through university channels and the NCAA. The ruling means Kim was unavailable beginning with last night's game against Boston College. He can still practice with the team. Kim, popular with fans, is averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds. He has played sparingly off the bench, recording highs in points (six)

MIAMI -- Nebraska fullback Omar Soto was looking forward to tonight's Federal Express Orange Bowl game against Miami. It was going to be a part reunion, part redemption.But now it won't happen.Soto, a fifth-year senior from Miami, was ruled ineligible yesterday by Nebraska and the 9-1-1 Cornhuskers likely will have to forfeit two league victories as well as their share of the Big Eight championship.Soto admitted yesterday that he played briefly at Mount San Antonio Junior College during the 1986 season before playing two seasons at Arizona Western and the last two at Nebraska.

Junior tailback Amp Lee, Florida State's leading rusher, is academically ineligible to play in the Mobil Cotton Bowl, coach Bobby Bowden said yesterday.Lee, who rushed for 977 yards and caught 26 passes for 336 yards this season, failed to meet Florida Board of Regents academic standards, Bowden said. He did meet NCAA standards, which are less stringent.The fifth-ranked Seminoles (10-2) play No. 9 Texas A&M (10-1) in the bowl."This in no way should be construed as my making a decision to leave school and turn professional," said Lee.* Athletic directors of the Big East Conference heard details about an offer from the Blockbuster Bowl and an alliance of bowls that could lead to a national football championship game.

Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney has denied former Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold's request for a new trial, saying the appeal was "without merit. " Leopold, 70, was convicted last month of misconduct in office. Sweeney, who presided over the trial, said Leopold broke the law when he ordered his taxpayer-funded police security detail to put up campaign signs, collect contributions and compile dossiers on perceived adversaries during his 2010 re-election campaign, and when he required county workers to drain the urinary catheter bag he used after back surgery.

The Aberdeen boys basketball team forfeited 11 wins after learning it had been playing with an ineligible player this season. Harford County supervisor of athletics Ken Zorbach said the school did its own investigation and reported the findings to his office on Monday, along with notifying the other schools who were involved in the games and the Class 3A East regional chairperson in the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association....

There isn't any word yet on whether the 49ers intend to stick with kicker David Akers for the Super Bowl. However, it's clear that they can't turn to Billy Cundiff again if they opt for a change. League rules stipulate that players cut during the postseason are ineligible to sign with another team until after the Super Bowl. The 49ers waived Cundiff on Friday, the day they departed for Atlanta, where they played the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game two days later.

Even if Towson basketball coach Pat Skerry can pull off the most drastic turnaround in college basketball history, his team will not play in the postseason next year. Towson, which finished 1-31 in Skerry's first season, was one of 10 Division I teams - three-time national champion Connecticut was another - banned from NCAA tournament play because of an unsatisfactory score in the Academic Progress Rate report released Wednesday. Maryland football, meanwhile, compiled a single-year 972 APR for the 2010-11 school year, pushing the Terps ' four-year average above the 925 penalty line (to 931)

New Town's football team has had to forfeit its season for using an ineligible player, ending a promising run in the regional playoffs. The Titans, who were 10-1 heading into Friday's Class 1A North regional championship, fielded a player who has used up his four years of eligibility at Milford Mill before transferring this fall, New Town coach Joe Holland said. According to Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association rules, the Titans must forfeit every game in which the ineligible player competed, which was all 11. Although they beat Northwestern, 40-12, in their first-round regional playoff game last week, Northwestern will advance to play Overlea Friday night for the regional championship.

Going into Friday night's final regular-season game, Westminster's football team figured to hold only a slim hope of making the regional playoffs. Now, the Owls may have no chance at all. Westminster may have to forfeit last week's 57-7 win over Manchester Valley for using an ineligible player - a junior varsity player Owls coach Brad Wilson said was approved to play by the Carroll County supervisor of athletics. Wilson said he used a quarterback who had also played in that week's JV game for three snaps in the second half of the Manchester Valley game, which is a violation of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletics Association rule prohibiting football players from participating in more than one game in a single week.

Old Mill's girls soccer team (6-2), ranked No. 10, had to forfeit Tuesday's 2-1 win over Arundel because it mistakingly used an ineligible player, said coach Bruce Sponsler.Sponsler said the player had received a red card during last Friday's game and should have sat out the next game. A new state rule says that a player receiving a red card for any reason must miss the next game. In the past, that only applied to players ejected for fighting.Sponsler said in a statement yesterday: "I accept full responsibility for our forfeit loss to Arundel.

Baltimore, where thousands of buildings contain lead-based paint that can poison young children, has lost federal funding for abatement programs due to mismanagement of its most recent grant, officials said Monday. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials told The Baltimore Sun that the city health department failed to fix up enough homes under the latest $4 million grant, which expired in January, and as a result the city was deemed a "high-risk" grantee ineligible to receive more funds.