Jessup

A 26-year-old inmate at a state prison in Jessup died Friday after he was found with severe head injuries on Thursday night, Maryland State Police said. Javaughn A. Young was found lying on a walkway in a wing of the Maryland Correctional Institution about 7 p.m., after another inmate alerted correctional officers that an inmate needed assistance, police said. More than 60 inmates are housed in the wing. The officers found Young with severe head trauma and called for medical assistance, police said.

If you ever find yourself looking for an excuse to eat more cupcakes, 11-year-old Krissa Hillman has a good one. The fifth-grader from Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup is the creative mastermind behind Cupcakes for Literacy, a business that sells baked goods to benefit local schools, libraries and reading programs. "Literacy is a big part of life. You have to read everything," Hillman said. "So what better way to help people understand than though something everyone likes?"

One day last summer at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, a prisoner named Dennis Wise took a seat at the back of the tiny cubicle where I hold forth each week as a volunteer writing instructor. It's a loosely structured class and it isn't unusual that prisoners wander in for a session or two and then drift away. While always a possibility that such drifting is a commentary on the quality of the instruction, it is also true that writing is a painful business. The core of regulars who turn out every week come not because they want to, or because someone else wants them to, but because, in the true writer's motivation, they simply have to. Buried inside is something terrible, something wonderful, something that absolutely must come out. All their lives they have tried either to unlock long-imprisoned feelings or to escape them; that they have failed is as evident as their bleak existence in this ancient, decaying prison, far removed from the commerce of the normal world.

A dozen inmates at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup have been working for months to help bring back the American chestnut tree, and in the process give themselves a bit of a comeback as well. This week inmates and administrators at the prison handed over 603 chestnut seedlings, grown in a greenhouse on the institute grounds, that they have raised from chestnuts to 12-inch sprouts. The seedlings were accepted by representatives from the American Chestnut Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring the tree species.

A Jessup seafood processor that had been ordered by the Food and Drug Administration to stop operations because it wasn't complying with federal safety laws will resume normal business Thursday with a new food handling plan. The agency said Congressional Seafood Co. Inc. did not document that fish were refrigerated at correct temperatures, failed to keep fish species separate to avoid cross-contamination and did not keep sanitation records. The company delivers seafood in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Basketball A new men's basketball league will be held at the Maryland Juniors Sports Center, 8221 Preston Ct., Jessup. The league begins Aug. 15 and runs Monday nights (7, 8 and 9 p.m.) through Oct. 3. Cost: $525 per team. Register by Aug. 12 by calling 443-602-4441.   Field hockey   The Howard/Carroll Officials Association is looking for individuals interested in officiating high school field hockey.

Vorbeck Materials, a Jessup firm, won a national competition by the Department of Energy that highlighted startup companies willing to launch new products from technology developed within the country's national laboratories. Vorbeck specializes in developing products with graphene, a variation of the graphite that's used in pencils and one of the strongest and most conductive materials available. Vorbeck was one of three firms across the country who won the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge" by the DOE. The company is using a method developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in laptops, mobile devices and electric vehicles.

Howard County and Anne Arundel County firefighters extinguished an early-morning blaze Sunday in an RV camper near a home in Jessup, fire officials said. The Howard County Fire Marshal's Office said it was investigating the blaze, which occurred at about 6:30 a.m. in the 7200 block of Wye Avenue in Jessup. Officials said that it took 15 minutes to get the fire under control, and that six people from the nearby home had evacuated before firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported.

A 35-year-old Baltimore woman died Friday after running a red light on Telegraph Road in Jessup and crashing through a six-foot chain link fence after losing control of her vehicle, police said. Christina Marie Tobash, of the 3700 block of Piedmont Ave., was ejected from the 2002 Ford Explorer she was driving after she swerved to avoid vehicles stopped at red light on Telegraph Road at Annapolis Road at 2:54 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Tobash was driving north on Telegraph Road when she approached vehicles stopped at the traffic signal.

Firefighters battled heavy flames at a liquor store blaze in Jessup early Monday, a county fire spokeswoman said. No injuries were reported in the predawn fire at Mel's Liquors, spokeswoman Jackie Cutler said. Firefighters called to the store in the 7900 block of Waterloo Road just after 4:30 a.m. arrived to find heavy flames and smoke, Cutler said. They brought the fire under control in 10 minutes and extinguished it completely within an hour, she said. Twenty-nine county firefighters and paramedics responded to the call, as did Howard County police, BG&E and firefighters from neighboring Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties.

A 26-year-old inmate at a state prison in Jessup died Friday after he was found with severe head injuries on Thursday night, Maryland State Police said. Javaughn A. Young was found lying on a walkway in a wing of the Maryland Correctional Institution about 7 p.m., after another inmate alerted correctional officers that an inmate needed assistance, police said. More than 60 inmates are housed in the wing. The officers found Young with severe head trauma and called for medical assistance, police said.

A Jessup family is safe Wednesday morning after hiding from an armed man who broke into their home, according to Howard County Police. Police do not believe the home invasion was random, and are searching for a suspect in the area, said Mary Phelan, a police spokeswoman. "We do believe that he was armed, but don't know the type of weapon," Phelan said. A woman in the home in the 7300 block of Montevideo Road called police about 2:19 a.m. and said she heard footsteps on the first floor, Phelan said.

The memories are usually fuzzy, clouded by decades of other diversions or simply by the fact that, even back then, you'd already forgotten by the next day that you'd played. Once thought to be the beer pong of its time, foosball is now more hardcore than fraternity chic, more a competitive sport than simply a reason to hoist a few. For those who play the game professionally, it is their life, if not quite their livelihood. For those looking to rediscover the game, this is not your father's (or mother's)

Foosball State tournament scheduled for Friday through Sunday The Maryland State Foosball Championships will be held at the Holiday Inn Columbia in Jessup from Friday through Sunday. More than 150 players are expected to vie for the $12,000 prize. Competitors who wish to participate should arrive before 10 a.m. Saturday. Admission for spectators is free. For information, go to mdfoosball.com, call 410-905-5074 or email Marylandfoosball@gmail.com . College lacrosse Former Gilman standout Holman gets ACC award North Carolina senior attackman Marcus Holman (Gilman)

An alligator was seized from an alleged Jessup gang member's home after Anne Arundel County police executed a search warrant in a drug investigation. The three-foot American Alligator, along with $3,000 worth of marijuana, cash and other items were taken from a home in the 7500 block of Gleneagle Drive on Friday. Alligators are not permitted in a residence and animal control was called to the home. Police said the alligator was healthy and was taken to a facility for exotic animals.

A two-alarm fire burned through an auto shop and affected traffic along Route 1 in Jessup on Sunday evening, according to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Firefighters from Howard and neighboring Anne Arundel County were dispatched to the blaze in the 8100 block of Jenmar Road just before 5 p.m., said Jackie Cutler, a fire spokeswoman. When they arrived, the intensity of the fire forced them to work to contain the flames from outside the building only, she said.

A Jessup family is safe Wednesday morning after hiding from an armed man who broke into their home, according to Howard County Police. Police do not believe the home invasion was random, and are searching for a suspect in the area, said Mary Phelan, a police spokeswoman. "We do believe that he was armed, but don't know the type of weapon," Phelan said. A woman in the home in the 7300 block of Montevideo Road called police about 2:19 a.m. and said she heard footsteps on the first floor, Phelan said.

Construction workers in Jessup found a body lying in woods in the 8900 block of Good Harvest Court Thursday morning, according to Howard County police. The decomposing body of a man had no identification when found behind a house about 10:22 a.m. Police are working to find out the man's identity and whether his death was the result of foul play. Anyone with information may call 410-313-STOP. The body, which was too decomposed to identify the man's race, was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.

A 35-year-old Baltimore woman died Friday after running a red light on Telegraph Road in Jessup and crashing through a six-foot chain link fence after losing control of her vehicle, police said. Christina Marie Tobash, of the 3700 block of Piedmont Ave., was ejected from the 2002 Ford Explorer she was driving after she swerved to avoid vehicles stopped at red light on Telegraph Road at Annapolis Road at 2:54 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Tobash was driving north on Telegraph Road when she approached vehicles stopped at the traffic signal.

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Thursday to be mostly cloudy, with a high near 82 and a 40 percent chance of showers in the afternoon. Thursday night is expected to be cloudy, with a 60 percent chance of precipitation. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT NFL, NFL Referees Association reach eight-year deal : The mistake-prone replacement officials can go back where they came from.