Invasion

My mother's landscape is full of pachysandra and periwinkle ground cover, both of which are on invasive species lists. Do I need to pull all of it out this spring? These two are different from most non-native invasive plants. Yes, these popular groundcovers are invasive when they are planted adjacent to a natural or park area, where they'll expand indefinitely and crowd out native plants. However, in a typical yard, expansion can be controlled. And they do not produce berries that birds spread or seeds that blow or wash away.

They met three times at Penn Station to discuss the robbery of a cartel's drug stash house, then on Thursday, strapped with handguns, gathered at a 7-11 in Hampden for a last-minute rendezvous before carrying out the plot, according to court documents. The whole operation was a ruse, however, set up by federal agents. It's at least the second time the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has used the method in recent months to identify and arrest home invasion suspects.

A 21-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 55 years in prison — with another 30 years suspended — for shooting a convicted drug dealer and terrorizing the man's family in 2010 during an armed robbery in a Park Heights home, the Baltimore state's attorney's office said Thursday. Donte Gladden was convicted of attempted murder, assault, robbery, false imprisonment and gun crimes in October. He and at least one accomplice forced their way into Kevin Hall's home in the 3200 block of Spaulding Ave. in April 2010, looking for drugs and money, according to police records.

Paul Schlitz's letter about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction contained so many factual errors that it requires correction ("Iraq's WMD were a mirage, despite claims to the contrary," Dec. 30). First, in my letter I never suggested that The Sun was "pants on fire" when it claimed Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. In fact, what I took issue with was the contention that Iraq did not have any prospects for building weapons in the future. Second, I never attempted to rationalize the basis for the war, and in fact pointed out that the case against the war could be made without suggesting that Iraq had no potential for WMD. Third, whether or not some of Iraq's weapons came from American and European companies is immaterial to the discussion, since in addition to any weapons Iraq purchased the country also had produced its own weapons and delivery systems, thereby enabling it to produce them again in the future.

This week, the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq. After more than eight years of fighting an ill-conceived, inexcusably prolonged war made more devastating by official ineptitude and hubris, America's soldiers are coming home for Christmas. The nation that welcomes them back honors their sacrifice and the courage with which they served their country. Yet it may be years before we can fully assess the sacrifice our men and women in uniform made during America's longest and most unpopular war since Vietnam.

A man has been arrested in connection with two home invasions and robberies of elderly residents in the Pikesville area earlier this week, police said. Durante Ricco Ervin, 50, of no fixed address, faces charges including burglary, robbery, second-degree assault and theft. Police say Ervin had been to the victims' homes before. In the first case, a 65-year-old man who lives on the 3200 block of Smith Avenue said a man entered his home around 11 a.m. Sunday, implied that he had a gun and restrained him while taking his wallet from his pocket.

The vehicle accident and exchange of gunfire in South Baltimore on Monday came as agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives moved to arrest a group of men who they say were en route to commit a home invasion and robbery, documents show. Details of the operation have been scarce, and the agency did not initially disclose that shots had been fired. Documents, however, show that the men had traveled to the 1000 block of W. Patapsco Ave. to meet with an undercover ATF agent under the guise of making final preparations for a robbery.

I saw this vine growing in my trees when its leaves turned bright yellow. Now it has pretty orange berries but it's strangling my trees! I'm afraid its weight will pull them down in a blizzard. It's the very devil to remove — I hacked away with a machete, brush hook, and shears for an hour and just made a dent. What is this villain? Any environmentally friendly ways to remove it? Pull it up and you'll see orange roots, too. The vine is Oriental Bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus, an invasive non-native plant.

- Judas 760 knew just where to swim last fall after federal trappers set him free: back to his home in the marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, where other nutria lived. But true to his name, Judas betrayed members of his colony by providing a virtual road map through dense cattails and inky inlets via a tiny GPS unit on his back. Trappers followed and, in a scene played out with other Judases, exterminated a handful of the destructive rodents that have been responsible for denuding thousands of acres on the Eastern Shore.

After a recent hike through Patapsco Valley State Park, Baltimore teacher Greg Schnitzlein's jaw dropped as he watched his two dogs emerge from the woods looking, as he says, like Chia Pets, every inch of their fur slathered in sproutlike seeds. Vanessa B. Beauchamp, a Towson University biology professor who happened to be in the parking lot, could hardly believe it. Those seed-covered dogs underscored the futility of the fight she has waged for years against an odd, sticky plant called wavyleaf basketgrass.