Infractions

Even after their unsightly 27-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Monday night, the Ravens still have a shot at the playoffs because they don't face a team with a winning record the rest of the way. The Ravens' biggest opponent over the final four weeks of the regular season might be themselves - or the officials, depending on your perspective. Penalties have dogged the Ravens throughout the season and have cost them a chance to keep pace in the AFC wild-card race. The Ravens' 12 penalties at Lambeau Field were the most in the 31-game John Harbaugh era. Their five pass-interference penalties (four of which were on the defense)

The owners of a popular Columbia nightspot were fined $500 for serving alcohol to minors after a fight in the parking lot led police to two underage men who had been drinking inside before the altercation. The incident at 2 a.m. May 10 brought several officers to Nottingham's, in the 8800 block of Stanford Blvd., where they found a semiconscious man in the parking lot and three people in a silver Honda trying to drive away. The Honda driver sped in reverse at high speed after seeing the patrol car, hitting a curb, Officer Timothy Kane testified.

A little past 3 on a sunny afternoon, Natural Resources Police Officer Chris Morris steered his 19-foot Boston whaler around Baltimore's Inner Harbor and then worked his way to the outer edges of his patrol area. He sped by the cans stacked at the Dundalk Marine Terminal and over the Fort McHenry and Harbor tunnels, checked under the Key Bridge, looped around Sparrows Point and Fort Howard, skirted the choppy waters off Hart-Miller Island and ended up in the middle of Middle River. Without stops, the one-way trip took 31 minutes, cruising along at up to 36 knots, or 41 mph. Usually, Morris' "police post" is not so expansive.

Tens of thousands of students are being suspended in Maryland for relatively minor infractions each year, the result of zero-tolerance discipline policies that critics say are harming some of the most vulnerable children. One in 11 students in the state was suspended last year - enough to fill every seat in Anne Arundel County's public schools. The rates were much higher for African-Americans, special-education students and boys - who were twice as likely as girls to be sent home. "What we see is that suspension and expulsion are overused and actually push kids who need education the most out of school," said Jane Sundius at the Open Society Institute, a nonprofit that has studied suspensions and expulsions in Baltimore schools . The rate of suspensions in Maryland has risen over the past 15 years, as school systems responded with stricter discipline codes to rising violence in their communities and the fear fanned by the shooting deaths at Columbine High School in 1999.

End racing mayhem What more incentive do Maryland State Police and local law enforcement need to step up efforts to stop illegal road races than the deaths of eight spectators last weekend on a rural stretch of a Prince George's County road? More patrols, speed cameras and other deterring tactics should be implemented. But police also need more information and cooperation from the public. The crowd of 50 or 60 at the race must have known that it was an illegal activity. And anyone hearing loud racing noises could have called the police.

College Basketball Michigan State @Indiana 9 P.M. [ESPN] Both teams are in the top 15, but each is trying to bounce back from a loss. The Spartans (20-4, 8-3) are coming off a defeat at Purdue, and the Hoosiers (20-4, 9-2) lost by two points to Wisconsin. But the overriding story is the developing scandal involving Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. The allegations against Sampson revolve around recruiting infractions and statements to Indiana and NCAA officials.

WASHINGTON -- With swelling prison populations cutting into state budgets, lawmakers are exploring ways to ease overcrowding beyond building expensive new correctional facilities. Though the construction of prisons continues as states struggle to provide enough beds for those behind bars, legislators increasingly are looking at other ways to free up space and save money, including expanded programs to help prevent offenders from being incarcerated again, earlier release dates for low-risk inmates and sentencing revisions.

Annapolis Academy has rise in alcohol infractions The Naval Academy has recently seen what a high-ranking midshipman called an "unacceptable" increase in alcohol rules infractions, despite the launch last fall of a strict policy that put the school at the forefront of efforts at colleges nationwide to curb binge drinking. In a memo sent Wednesday to all 4,400 midshipmen and obtained by The Sun, senior Rachel Barton, the drug and alcohol education student officer, said that in the past six weeks, midshipmen had violated the new rules as much as they did in the previous six months.

The Naval Academy has recently seen what a high-ranking midshipman called an "unacceptable" increase in alcohol rules infractions, despite the launch last fall of a strict policy that put the school at the forefront of efforts at colleges nationwide to curb binge drinking. In a memo sent yesterday to all 4,400 midshipmen and obtained by The Sun, senior Rachel Barton, the drug and alcohol education student officer, said that in the past six weeks, midshipmen had violated the new rules as much as they did in the previous six months.

Howard County police will notify parents if their children are pulled over or cause an accident while driving with a provisional license under new rules announced yesterday. The policy, which mirrors one Maryland State Police adopted in 2003, goes into effect April 17. Officers will try to contact the parent by phone. If that is unsuccessful, a form letter will be mailed including the time and location of the incident, type of violation, the vehicle, punishment and number of people in the car. Baltimore County and city police leave such notification decisions up to individual officers.