Malibu

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

The Preakness means more to Marylanders when there's a Marylander in the race, and this year we have the obvious connection in Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner owned in part by Stuart Janney III, chairman of Bessemer Trust and resident of Butler, in the heart of horse country north of Baltimore. But the other connection is to Orb's daddy. Let's go over this because there's a good story in it. It involves two Maryland brothers who made a bet in California nearly 14 years ago on a racehorse with a screw in his knee.

Two Howard County police officers were injured yesterday when their patrol cars ran into each another at the start of a high-speed chase. Pfc. Richard Cumby and Pfc. Bonita Linkins were treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and released. Police said the crash was part of a chain of incidents that began about 1 a.m. Two other Howard officers, Stephen Crawford and John Mould, were patrolling Tarbay Drive, near Jessup, when they spotted a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu lurching up the street, slowing and braking and speeding up again.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Trainer Shug McGaughey came to his barn Sunday morning before the sun had cleared the horizon, as he has done most days for more than 35 years. Dozens of people were gathered there, under the roof, dodging the rain and trying to get a look at Orb, who won the 139th Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The colt munched on hay and observed the scene. He let some girls come pet him and get their picture taken. Orb came out of the mile-and-a-quarter Derby, run over a drenched Churchill Downs track, with no signs of injury or fatigue and will officially begin preparing for a run in the 138th Preakness Stakes on May 18. McGaughey was shuffled from interview to interview, often saying that he still had trouble describing the feeling of winning his first Derby.

MALIBU, Calif. -- Grateful Malibu residents gave weary firefighters free showers, steak dinners and lots of gratitude yesterday.Hand-painted signs on bedsheets billowed "thanks" on the day 900 crews from around the state got their first rest after a week fighting Southern California fires."

Callused palms and bandaged fingers; broken fingernails stained black with dirt - Hollywood actor and director Emilio Estevez proudly shows off his vineyard worker hands as he walks the vine rows. Four years ago, Estevez planted this half-acre pinot-noir vineyard around his Malibu, Calif., home. Today, wine labels featuring a pen-and-ink drawing of his front-lawn vineyard - a wink to the ego satisfaction of bottling his own wine - are ready to be slapped on his first serious vintage, the 2007 pinot noir aging in a single half-sized oak barrel in his wine cellar.

After training horses for nearly three decades, John Walters, 50, of Dundalk decided a few years ago to breed them. He thought he might have hit the jackpot on the first try, producing a promising son of Malibu Moon and broodmare Wishing Star. "I've been around horses long enough to know this wasn't just an average horse," Walters said of the gelding he named Malibu Star. Last June, when Malibu Star was 2, Walters brought him to the racetrack - as his only horse at Pimlico. He developed a small chip in his left knee.

MALIBU, Calif. -- The air off Malibu was thick and nearly unbreathable. Red-hot cinders rained on the roiling waves. The fishing boat Derek Sherman and Mark Stevens had chartered out of Marina del Rey at $250 a hour couldn't get any closer to shore.They had a decision to make. Should they give up and turn back? Or should they do what they came to do?And so Mr. Sherman, the graying, 39-year-old owner of a cellular phone company, and Mr. Stevens, a 26-year-old former swimmer for the British Olympic team, donned life jackets and plunged into the dark sea. "We're going to regret it later if we don't," Mr. Sherman said before jumping.

General Motors Corp.'s worst-case labor scenario came true yesterday when workers at a Kansas City, Kan., factory that builds the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu walked off the job. GM had hoped to avoid a strike at the Fairfax Assembly plant, which is one of two U.S. factories that have been scrambling to keep up with the demand for the Malibu, arguably the automaker's most critical vehicle on the market. The United Auto Workers launched the walkout yesterday morning after a strike deadline passed with no new labor deal for the plant's 2,600 workers.

MALIBU, Calif. -- One of the most large-scale firefighting efforts ever undertaken in California succeeded early yesterday in saving thickly populated areas of Los Angeles from a stubborn wildfire, but not before more than 200 homes and 35,000 acres in the wealthy beachside enclave of Malibu and nearby canyons were destroyed.All night, fires of suspicious origin raged out of control, until the Santa Ana winds from the desert abated yesterday morning. As winds changed, black and orange banks of smoke parted a bit, revealing a scene of terrible desolation to those in a helicopter above.

What's a Valentine's Day without burlesque fire dancing? Not a holiday we want to be a part of. Thankfully, D.C.-based Tilted Torch's Tassels and Champagne show fills the sexy/dangerous quotient of a day mostly about ooey-gooey love. The show at the Creative Alliance (8 p.m. Thursday; 8 and 10 p.m. Friday; $15-$20; creativealliance.org ), will feature belly dancing, boylesque, and "blazing poi spinning" by co-founder Malibu, as well as burlesque and fire dancing by Miss Joule.

It can't hurt to be shopping at a surf shop and hear the crash of the waves right behind you. Malibu's Surf Shop at 8th Street and the boardwalk has been an Ocean City staple for years and with its location, it is exactly what a surf shop should be like. Malibu's has a great selection of board shorts, clothes, hats, sunglasses, but what really sets it apart is the feeling the location and decor brings to the shop. The sun, sand, breeze and sounds of the ocean accent the shop and lead you into a store that fits perfectly with its location.

Coming up this Saturday is the 18th Annual Malibu's Classic. We've already told you that Malibu's Surf Shop is one of the best surf shops around. Well, this contest is one of the best surfing competitions around. The week leading up to the contest, all of Ocean City is talking about it. And the event is really spectator friendly- just come down to the beach on 8th Street and check it out for free. The annual contest, sponsored by the Delmarva chapter of the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA)

OCEAN CITY - With his shoulder-length hair, hip board shorts and a tan betraying the number of hours he has spent in the sun, Lee Gerachis looks like a California surfer. But this long-boarder also has a degree in biology and spent a year doing cancer research at the National Institutes of Health before deciding to open Malibu's Surf Shop. In Ocean City. The beachfront store - tucked into the house where Gerachis grew up - attracts a menagerie of surfers, from similarly minded, middle-aged professionals and retirees who often gather over coffee, the morning newspaper and games of dominoes to shaggy-haired teenagers looking for the next cool thing.

Callused palms and bandaged fingers; broken fingernails stained black with dirt - Hollywood actor and director Emilio Estevez proudly shows off his vineyard worker hands as he walks the vine rows. Four years ago, Estevez planted this half-acre pinot-noir vineyard around his Malibu, Calif., home. Today, wine labels featuring a pen-and-ink drawing of his front-lawn vineyard - a wink to the ego satisfaction of bottling his own wine - are ready to be slapped on his first serious vintage, the 2007 pinot noir aging in a single half-sized oak barrel in his wine cellar.

General Motors Corp.'s worst-case labor scenario came true yesterday when workers at a Kansas City, Kan., factory that builds the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu walked off the job. GM had hoped to avoid a strike at the Fairfax Assembly plant, which is one of two U.S. factories that have been scrambling to keep up with the demand for the Malibu, arguably the automaker's most critical vehicle on the market. The United Auto Workers launched the walkout yesterday morning after a strike deadline passed with no new labor deal for the plant's 2,600 workers.

MALIBU, Calif. -- A day after a wind-whipped blaze destroyed 53 homes in Malibu and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, fire officials were cautiously optimistic yesterday, reporting calmer winds and gains made overnight. "We're getting a pretty good handle on it," Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said. "The temperatures are cooling, and winds have died down considerably. We're in pretty good shape." The fire was 70 percent contained yesterday afternoon, with full containment expected as soon as late today, Haralson said.

DETROIT -- Gary Kovacic was putting the finishing touches on plans for the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu two years ago when his boss raised the bar. What would it take to make the car better than the competing Camry that Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. had just put on sale, General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer G. Richard Wagoner Jr. wanted to know. The question forced Kovacic and his engineering team to put two months into a part-by-part comparison of their car with the Camry and to propose hundreds of design upgrades.

MALIBU, Calif. -- A day after a wind-whipped blaze destroyed 53 homes in Malibu and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, fire officials were cautiously optimistic yesterday, reporting calmer winds and gains made overnight. "We're getting a pretty good handle on it," Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said. "The temperatures are cooling, and winds have died down considerably. We're in pretty good shape." The fire was 70 percent contained yesterday afternoon, with full containment expected as soon as late today, Haralson said.