Iowa

When middle linebacker Gary Brackett was lost for the season in September after requiring surgery on his left rotator cuff, many expected the Indianapolis Colts defense to suffer. True to form, the unit has under-performed this season, but Brackett's replacement has been stellar. Pat Angerer, a second-round pick in 2010, has made 111 tackles, which ranks second this season only to the Washington Redskins' London Fletcher. The 6-foot, 235-pound Angerer is averaging 9.3 tackles and is on pace to finish with 148. Angerer may have stunned many within the NFL, but his production hasn't had the same effect on Marshal Yanda, the Ravens' starting right guard who spent one season with Angerer at the University of Iowa.

An Iowa-based foundation is financing a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn Maryland's new congressional map on the grounds that it unconstitutionally splits minority communities. Christopher Rants, a Republican former speaker of the Iowa House who heads the Legacy Foundation, confirmed that the group is paying for the legal challenge, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. "When I saw the maps, I was just incredulous," Rants said in a telephone interview.

One of the U.S. Senate's most aggressive watchdogs said Thursday he has begun an inquiry into Baltimore's public housing agency, after receiving calls and emails concerning "a wide range of allegations, including possible conflicts of interest, fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers' monies. " Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, requested reams of documents from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees housing authorities around the country and steers millions of dollars a year to Baltimore.

I saw a lot of Iowa straw poll coverage this weekend, and some of it was pretty awful. But nothing made me want to gag like this exchange between Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann Saturday night on Huckabee's weekly conflict-of-interest hour that Fox tries to present as a variety/talk show. Less than 48 hours after Fox News received high praise from me and other critics and analysts for its handling of the GOP presidential candidates debate, comes this sorry exchange. And understand, the praise Fox News received for Thursday's debate efforts was a result of the tough, journalistic questions posed by Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.

I hate the unprecedented extent to which Fox News has involved itself in Republican politics, but I have to admit the channel presented a first-class, rousing and illuminating debate among GOP candidates Thursday night. Most of the credit has to go to anchorman Bret Baier and Sunday show host Chris Wallace who were superb in their prepaartion and questions. I cannot remember seeing a moderator this side of CNN's Wolf Blitzer who opened a debate with a  more focused, well-researched barrage of questions than Baier.

I disagree with the one-sided approach Ed Schultz and MSNBC have taken in covering today's recall vote of state legislators in Wisconsin, but I praise the cable channel and its host for going out to the Midwest and covering this bellwether political and economic vote today. And while I have criticized Schultz's partisan rabblerousing, I also praise him for his ability to craft a coherent (and even brilliant if overstated) narrative to help his viewers make sense of life-changing events that are being spun like crazy by both sides and several players.

Whether they look for a franchise quarterback at the top of the draft or a third-day gem in the weeds, the Ravens will start with the tape and let it direct them. Expectations are that the Ravens will take a late-round flier on a quarterback in next week's NFL draft. If they do, it'll be for a player who has passed all their reference points — just as with any other position. What does Eric DeCosta, the team's director of player personnel, want in a third-day quarterback?

It was not enough for Gilman football coach Biff Poggi to hear that his son Jim was most likely going to be fine. Some things, a father needs to see with his own two eyes, and news that your son's kidneys may have been damaged by an offseason football workout certainly isn't easily absorbed over the phone. That's how Poggi, the head coach of the Greyhounds for the past 14 years, ended up flying to Iowa City, Iowa, last week, and landing right in the middle of a story that was quickly becoming national news.

Wallace D. Loh, a Chinese native who immigrated to Iowa as a teenager and went on to become a star law professor and provost of the University of Iowa, will be the next president of the University of Maryland, College Park. Loh, 65, was appointed by the university system's Board of Regents after a six-month search to replace C.D. Mote Jr., who led the state's flagship university to new plateaus of academic prestige, research funding and student interest. "Dr. Loh is the right person to lead our flagship university to its next level of greatness," said Clifford Kendall, chairman of the regents.

A tearful former football player told Iowa police that he repeatedly shot his high school coach because he believed him to be a devil who turned students "into dead people," according to an interview with the murder suspect recorded just hours after Ed Thomas' death. The scratchy, muddled audio recording of 24-year-old Mark Becker's confession was played to a packed Butler County courtroom on the second day of his trial for first-degree murder. Becker has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.