Parents

Angie Miller and her steely-eyed focus transmitted into the homes of 10-plus million American Idol viewers won her 50,000 followers in the Twitterverse the week of the show's Top 10 reveal -- nearly 18,000 more social media fans than her next highest competitor. More than two months later, the 18-year-old  Beverly, Mass., native tripled her followers, effectively blowing away the other wannabes on the cyberspace portal. Why then didn't the magic of the 140-character phenomenon carry her into Thursday's finale?

A Baltimore County parent who stepped in to bring warmth and cheer back to the high school that had a chilling cafeteria shooting was recognized Friday during the state's annual Parent Involvement Matters awards. The Maryland State Department of Education awarded Mary Kavanagh with the JoAnne L. Carter Memorial Award, in recognition of her special work with Perry Hall High School, according to a news release from the department. Kavanagh received the award, named in honor of Carter, a former deputy state superintendent who lost her battle with cancer in 2009, for a mural project she launched after a student opened fire at Perry Hall on the first day of school.

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing. Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles — a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs. "The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

The world recently learned of the astounding story   of the three women who were found alive in a house in Cleveland after being kidnapped on the streets about 10 years ago. Two of the women were teenagers when they disappeared.   I've never been one to let sensational news guide by parenting. I send the kids off to school each day without thinking of the terrible Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I try not to think of all the people who die in car accidents when I hand the car keys to my 16-year-old son.   But every now and then I stop and wonder if I'm making the right decisions in the freedom I give my kids.

Nicole Stall boarded the first plane to Maryland she could catch when she heard of Benjamin Boniface's death last June. She was there to grieve the death of a boy she had known since his birth. But also to work. In the days after the 20-year-old's death in an early-morning car accident on the farm, she went to the barns where she had fallen in love with horses as a teenager. “I was completely out of it,” said William K. Boniface, known to most as Billy. “She just went out to the stallion barn, kept it running.

Lawrence J. Swartz, who gained national notoriety as a teenager in the killings in 1984 of his adoptive parents at their Cape St. Claire home, died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday in Florida, where he had lived the past several years, his lawyers said. He was 38. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served nine years in Maryland penal institutions. The killings occurred Jan. 16, 1984, and became the subject of a national best-selling book, Sudden Fury, and a 1993 NBC movie, A Family Torn Apart.

There's a local boy making good on CBS tonight."Second Noah" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- From the ABC press release: "Ben's first experience in pre-school gets him in trouble with his teacher and his new girlfriend's parents." Sounds like he must have kissed her; I say let's throw the kid in jail. ABC."Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Towson State alum Joseph Dean Vachon is among the guest cast tonight, as a baby dies while under Dr. Quinn's care and the parents threaten to sue. Vachon plays the father.

They likely won't recognize each other Saturday as they go to the gate for the 138th Preakness. Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Departing, a horse some believe could be the only one capable of ending this year's Triple Crown chase in Baltimore, will be thinking of nothing but running. They will be two of nine horses trying to get to the front. Before they ever officially became racehorses, they were just two of eight horses in a field on the Kentucky farm where they were born.

The stereotype of the lazy, irresponsible "deadbeat dad" who won't cough up the cash for Pampers and formula has been a fixture in the debate over why states have such a hard time collecting delinquent child-support payments from absent fathers. Every few years, lawmakers decide to get tough on the alleged miscreants by stiffening the penalties for missing a support payment, revoking their professional licenses or certifications and even, in some cases, throwing them in jail. Then they sit back and wonder why, despite the righteousness of the cause, nothing much seems to change.

Your editorial, "Invisible lives" (April 11), is a perfect example of the circular logic that further dooms the unfortunate children you want to help. The article describes the various abnormal, frightened and selfish behaviors of characters in the Lamont Davis trial and very properly identifies those as self-defeating, self-inflicted wounds. In my opinion you go off track when you express frustration that "most Americans refuse to take any responsibility for" the actions of this "frustrated and despairing underclass."

We share the editorial view that outgoing Baltimore City Schools CEO Andrés Alonso created a strong platform to sustain ongoing improvement in our schools ("School reform 2.0," May 12). But the editorial's call for more standardization around the system is off the mark. Instead, we urge the system to use this moment to engage parents, school leaders and others in a discussion about how we define a high-quality school. What does a good school look like and how do we measure it? In some ways, we know a good school when we see it: children are loved for who they are and challenged to be their very best.

The good news is that, in seven years of umpiring amateur baseball games in the Baltimore area, Frank Handley has had to give the thumb to only five adults. The bad news is he had to do it again a couple of weeks ago. But we're going to turn a negative into a positive today. We're going to get the message out - a reminder, really - that parents need to keep the ugly under control and set a good example for children. And parents who see and hear another behaving badly need to speak up. The story comes to us from Nancy Turner, who was so upset at what she saw during a Baltimore County recreational baseball tournament that she wrote me a detailed email about it. The game, on a Sunday morning in May, was for 11- and 12-year-olds.

For a decade, 1st Mariner's name adorned the Baltimore arena, but now the bank's parent company says it does not plan to bid for naming rights that expired last year. The bank's parent company has talked about the price for naming rights with Legends Sales and Marketing, a New York-based company hired by arena manager SMG Holdings to manage the sale. "We talked some numbers. We weren't close to what they're suggesting," said Dennis Finnegan, executive vice president of retail banking at First Mariner Bancorp.

As he stood in front of hundreds of kids last year at his football clinic at Calvert Hall, Ray Rice made a promise to those in the crowd. “When I make promises, I like to keep them,” the Ravens running back said today. “I made a special promise. We said that we were going to bring a Super Bowl back to Baltimore.” The comment was met with loud cheers by those who attended the second annual Ray Rice Day in Baltimore. “Being involved in the community is just something that, winning the Super Bowl or not, I know I'd be out here doing Ray Rice Day again and I'd be telling the kids the same message every day,” Rice said.

When first-time mom Sarah Dorman has a parenting question, she often turns to a Facebook group of Baltimore women before her own mother. Her mother's probably not available at 3 a.m., and not familiar with the latest rules regarding infants and organic fruit or fretting over the contradictions in all those advice books - unlike some of Dorman's online peers. "It all goes through fads of what's the popular thing. What was really popular when our parents were doing it might now sound psychotic," said Dorman, 31. Three decades ago, for example, parents were told to place babies face-down to sleep, a distinct no-no today after doctors realized it increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Parents who lick clean dropped baby binkies instead of sanitizing them may be doing their kids some good by warding off allergies and skin issues, according to a Swedish study published today in the journal Pediatrics. The study , which followed 184 infants, claims kids whose parents "'cleaned' their pacifier by sucking it" were less likely to have asthma or eczema at 18 months of age than children of parents who used another cleaning technique, like soap and water. Researchers suggested that oral microbes transferred to the children through their parents' saliva may have stimulated the kids' immune systems and reduced the risk of allergy development.

While I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject of education, the commentary by Larry Schmidt and Dallas Dance ("What kids need to compete," March 2) is yet another in the series of opinion pieces by "experts" appearing in The Sun overlooking the essential ingredient to any plan hoping to build a better education for our children. That essential ingredient is the parents. Boring perhaps, but as with most things, start with the fundamentals first. Get parents on board, improve those that are already on board, and you'll probably get to skip past half of the hurdles you currently have in the classroom and finally enjoy the pie in the sky which makes up the bulk of these expert opinion pieces.

Andrés Alonso doesn't get it - as evidenced by his decision to demote principals because their students had poor test scores ("Principals union head protests demotions," Aug. 24). Well, here was his chance to reach out to parents and ask for help. Why not? As a leader, Mr. Alonso lacks the foresight and intestinal fortitude to bring into the equation the parents of underperforming students. Here was his teaching moment. Isn't he considered the lead teacher of our school system? Can't he and his staff think this through and try another tactic?

The necessity of a two-income family today often leaves parents scrambling for child care and juggling countless responsibilities. It is no wonder that young parents today may feel overwhelmed. There is good news, though, and a place to go to find some much-needed guidance. Jewish Community Services is offering a new parent discussion series that addresses some of the challenges of parenthood. These groups are free and open to the public once a month on Tuesdays, meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center at 3506 Gwynnbrook Avenue.

Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland recently met with the family of Sergei Magnitsky. The reasons for the meeting: In 2009, Mr. Magnitsky was jailed in Russia for exposing governmental corruption. While in prison, he died after allegedly being tortured. In December, with the energetic legislative support of Senator Cardin, Congress passed a statute, the Magnitsky Act, forbidding those accused of human rights abuses in Russia from traveling to the U.S. This month, the Magnitsky family came to Washington to thank Senator Cardin for his efforts.