Oregon

Some think of art as a way to engage with life, to learn something about themselves and/or the world. Others want art to be an escape from personal problems and the contemporary hurly-burly. The second group will probably be drawn to Anne Marie Fleming's pastels of the Oregon countryside, now showing at the Steven Scott Gallery. Their feathery foliage, soft colors, placid waters and gentle, silvery light constitute an invitation to walk into their scenes, sit down under a tree and just daydream the afternoon away.

After Saturday's contest at No. 11 Maryland, Colgate will retire to the offseason, and senior attackman Peter Baum will graduate and begin the next stage of his life. One of his pursuits would be to help continue the growth of lacrosse in his native state of Oregon. The Portland native refined his talent at Lincoln High School and with the West Coast Starz. The first player west of the Mississippi River to win the Tewaaraton Award, Baum is one of several Division I players from Oregon, including Drexel senior midfielder Aaron Prosser and Syracuse redshirt sophomore midfielder Henry Schoonmaker.

Almost three years ago Devon Branch was working at a Holiday Inn in Harford County and playing pickup ball occasionally. The former Aberdeen shooting guard said that at that point in his life, he “never thought” he'd end up playing basketball for a high-major school. But after his post-graduation hiatus from the game, Branch resurfaced at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan., and developed into one of the most wanted JUCO shooting guards in the country.

The Oregon Grille will host a Heavy Seas beer dinner with brewer Hugh Sisson on Wednesday night. The evening will begin at 6 p.m. on the restaurant's popular bluestone patio with an “Exploring Beer Styles from Around the World” tasting and seminar.  Then guests will join Sisson for a four-course dinner featuring pairings with Heavy Seas beers. The menu includes beer cheese soup with prosciutto flakes; pan-fried oysters over baby field greens with shaved Gouda; bacon-wrapped fillet glazed with Peg Leg Stout, served with seasonal ratatouille, and, for dessert, peach Melba crisp topped with Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

After Saturday's contest at No. 11 Maryland, Colgate will retire to the offseason, and senior attackman Peter Baum will graduate and begin the next stage of his life. One of his pursuits would be to help continue the growth of lacrosse in his native state of Oregon. The Portland native refined his talent at Lincoln High School and with the West Coast Starz. The first player west of the Mississippi River to win the Tewaaraton Award, Baum is one of several Division I players from Oregon, including Drexel senior midfielder Aaron Prosser and Syracuse redshirt sophomore midfielder Henry Schoonmaker.

Ducks superior, but … Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times It might be the most exciting and high-scoring game in BCS title-game history. Auburn would have the two best players on the field in quarterback Cam Newton and defensive lineman Nick Fairley, but Oregon is the more balanced team. Oregon might score 60 on Auburn's defense, but Auburn might push 50 on Oregon. A turnover here or there and we could be looking at 55-55 headed into overtime.

Ed Dickson said he's looking forward to seeing former University of Oregon teammate Patrick Chung in Sunday's AFC championship game, but that doesn't mean that the Ravens tight end wants the New England Patriots safety to be the catalyst to push his team to victory. "I like seeing guys from my university do well, but not against us," said Dickson, who spent three seasons (2006-08) with Chung playing for the Ducks. "So it's going to be nothing personal, but I'm going to go at him as if he never played on my team and after the game, hopefully, we're still friends.

Kicked off the team at Oregon, Jeremiah Masoli has found a new football home at Mississippi. The former Ducks quarterback, dismissed from the team after two run-ins with the law, visited the Ole Miss campus in Oxford this weekend and coach Houston Nutt offered him a place on the team as a walk-on. Masoli, a California native, posted on his Web site Sunday that he intends to take up the offer. He can play immediately under NCAA rules because he has earned his undergraduate degree and is enrolling in graduate school.

On January 2, 2005, OREGON "MICK" T. NEIGHOFF, JR., of Glen Burnie. Beloved brother of Kenneth D. Neighoff and his wife "T" and loving uncle of David T. Neighoff. The family will receive visitors at the family owned Singleton Funeral Home, 1 Second Avenue, S.W. (at Crain Highway), Glen Burnie from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., on Wednesday. The funeral ceremony will be held at 1 P.M., on Thursday at the funeral home chapel. Interment Glen Haven Memorial Park.

Many Americans have lamented the state of public education. Few have proposed reforms as radical as those in Oregon, whose legislature has endorsed a plan to install European-style apprenticeships and job training for all students not headed to college. All students will have to show competence in mathematics, science and other academic areas by the 10th grade, then choose between pre-college studies or any of several vocational, professional or business curricula. Primary schools are to be ungraded from kindergarten through third grade, with students grouped by ability instead of age.Educators promoted these changes.

Denver's Jill Remenapp had no idea she was on her way to a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record when she handed out nine assists in the No. 15 Pioneers' 20-9 win over St. Mary's (Cal.) on Sunday afternoon. “I didn't realize I was on such a roll,” the Century graduate said. “At halftime, Josie Owen, our grad assistant coach, said, 'Jill, you have six assists.' I was like, 'What?' because when I'm in the game I'm not thinking, 'Oh I had another assist.' Plus, you don't know whether you're going to get recorded for it. But [the St. Mary's defenders]

The Maryland men's basketball team will play Oregon State at Comcast Center next season, an athletic department source said Thursday. The Beavers are coached by Craig Robinson, President Barack Obama's brother-in-law. The Pac-12 school played at Towson in November of 2011.

Erik Brown, the wine and beverage director at the Oregon Grille, wants you to forget any preconceived notions you may have when you set foot into his bar. Forget the Hunt Valley restaurant's fine dining reputation; the scenic, horse country setting; the "jacket-required-after-5-p.m.-in-the-dining-room" rule. No, when you belly up to his bar, you're among friends and family. Friends and family who want to make you ridiculously strong, delicious hand-crafted cocktails. Brown's approachable bartending style is responsible for the Grille's cocktail renaissance - a program of seasonal, fresh specialty drinks intended to create "that wow factor.

I travel a good deal. For better and worse, I take a bit of Baltimore with me wherever I go. During one trip to New Jersey, after stopping at a Chinese carry-out, I was shocked to see no bulletproof glass and all the condiments on my side of the counter. And I've caused minor interstate dance floor scandals after DJs cued up a Baltimore club beat. So it was as an unreconstructed Baltimorean that I recently found myself touring Portland, Ore. A harbor city of approximately 600,000 with a great music scene, a strong hipster culture, and a reputation shaped by a television show with a cult following (in Portland's case, the satirical "Portlandia")

The Oregon Grille is turning 15 this fall, and the Hunt Valley restaurant is celebrating with a dining promotion. A bastion of conservative dining, the Oregon Grille is not normally a restaurant given to coupons or gimmicks. But through Nov. 9, diners who spend $50 at the Oregon Grille can receive a complimentary bottle of cabernet or chardonnay. Or they can spend $50 and get their next $15 free. Coupons for the offer are on the restaurant's website and Facebook page. One coupon per table, of course.

EUGENE, Ore. - Tracktown USA has always been an incubator of running talent. Tradition, pine-lined trails and cool rain make this a haven where endurance athletes thrive. Bill Bowerman, the legendary University of Oregon coach, invented the waffle sole in his Eugene kitchen and teamed with one of his runners, Phil Knight, to create Nike. The latest in a long line of Duck greats won the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Thursday in commanding and symbolic style.

If Speaker Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" gets the come-down it deserves, don't put all the credit or blame on the Democrats. Oregon's two Republican senators are using extraordinary positions of power -- Mark Hatfield as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Bob Packwood as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee -- to obstruct the Gingrich Contract.Mr. Hatfield has already cast the lone GOP vote against the Balanced Budget Amendment -- a vote that caused the one-vote defeat of Mr. Gingrich's centerpiece proposal.

Will it be another good day for Ducks?Can the Irish rediscover their luck?Can the Crimson Tide give the national championship debate another perfect team?For the second straight week, the college football schedule is bereft of blockbuster matchups, but there is still plenty of ground to be won and lost in the bowl picture and the fight over who's No. 1.Top-ranked Nebraska (10-0) faces winless Iowa State. The challenge is bigger for No. 2 Penn State (8-0), which plays at Illinois (6-3), a team that has lost only to Michigan in its past five games.

No. 18 Navy (17-2)@Oregon (14-4) Saturday, 4 p.m. Outlook: Navy won its third straight Patriot League title, but its first one at home, and now the Midshipmen will take the road for the first time in an NCAA tournament play-in game after winning their past two. In their first-ever meeting with the Ducks, the Midshipmen take on a team that ended Stanford's seven-year hold on the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, 13-10....

Almost three years ago Devon Branch was working at a Holiday Inn in Harford County and playing pickup ball occasionally. The former Aberdeen shooting guard said that at that point in his life, he “never thought” he'd end up playing basketball for a high-major school. But after his post-graduation hiatus from the game, Branch resurfaced at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan., and developed into one of the most wanted JUCO shooting guards in the country.