Plan

I hope everyone has taken a few moments to collect themselves after that spectacular finale. Midway through, I was a bit worried as the episode was beginning to seem more like a series finale than a season finale. However, the last 15 minutes provided everything a good finale should: suspense, murder, a love triangle (quadrangle!), a drug overdose, break-ups (bonus points for calling off an engagement), a conniving friend, heart break, a parent finding their child unconscious, unplanned pregnancy, a declaration of “never speak to me again” followed by a quick hang up, an engagement, a serious accident (plane instead of car, way to go big!

The vision is this: At a six-acre wooded campus in Pasadena, Hospice of the Chesapeake has its headquarters, counseling program, a conference center and hospice facility. But the setting includes services, including tutoring and transportation, offered by others. The organization is about to start making that a reality. Ailing trees are being removed in preparation for a $2 million renovation of the offices of a defunct engineering company on a site tucked off Ritchie Highway.

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - SpaceX for short - will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.

Your editorial on the restoration of historic Mt. Vernon revealed The Sun's lack intimacy with this issue ("Restoring Mount Vernon," May 14). The Mount Vernon Conservancy's plan for removing the site's trees is out of touch and ignores the environmental problems we face. No one disputes that the first designated historic site in the country needs help. The conservancy's work on the Washington Monument is a structural necessity, and the hard surfaces need to be refurbished as well.

All along, they had been so relaxed. So when it came time for Team O'Neill's horse to make his charge -- a historic one -- the colt moved forward almost nonchalantly. I'll Have Another glided past Bodemeister to win the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, setting up a chance at the first Triple Crown since 1978. The California-based horse is the 12th to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed edged Alydar in all three races.

Ed Reed being non-committal about his future is an annual rite of spring here in Baltimore, and he kept the tradition going Thursday by telling Sirius/XM NFL Radio he isn't 100 percent committed to playing in 2012. Citing concerns about his health and long-term future, the Pro Bowl free safety told hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon that he isn't sure if he will play this season. He said that he has considered retirement during the past three offseasons -- this one included. It's also worth noting that Reed is in the final year of his contract.

I read your editorial about former Gov. Bob Ehrlich's plan to help small business ("Small business agenda, details TBD," June 9). I attended his meeting this past Monday. Bob gave out plenty of details. He wants the state of Maryland to be more "business friendly," requiring state officials to help rather than stymie business development. With Solo Cup and ESPN Zone closing, more than 700 more Marylanders will be out of work. Even if some of them have the financial wherewithal to start a small business, the permitting, licensing, and taxation systems make starting a business difficult, if not impossible.

After a nomadic 2011 campaign that included stops with the New York Jets and Houston Texans, Derrick Mason has concluded that it is time to end his 15-year career. “Right now, I'm just doing some analysis and spending time with my kids,” the former Ravens wide receiver told The Sun's Mike Preston from his home in Nashville. “Physically, I feel fine and I can still go play. Mentally, I've had enough. I know it's my time to get out and I plan to retire.” Mason, who was waived by the Ravens in the offseason, did not encounter much success, catching just 19 passes for 170 yards with the Jets and Texans.

The Laurel Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Saturday, Sept. 17, in an effort to raise the level of public awareness and inform citizens about the efforts that are being used to identify and apprehend impaired drivers. The sobriety checkpoint will be held between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. at Eighth Street and Talbott Avenue (Route 198 westbound). For more information, contact Laurel Public Information Officer James Collins at 301-725-5300 ext. 2244.

I have reviewed the plans for Mount Vernon Place, and they are amazing. I am a community resident who believes the benefits of having a world-class, drop dead gorgeous park in the historic heart of Baltimore will go way beyond just Mount Vernon. This project will impact the entire city. Finally, these squares will get the upgrades and restoration they deserve. As someone who has been fortunate enough to see some of the most beautiful squares in Europe, I've long thought that Mount Vernon Place had the "bones" to equal them, and this plan will make that happen.

The Baltimore County Council unanimously approved Thursday the spending plan proposed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for the coming fiscal year, a $1.65 billion operating budget that includes no furloughs, layoffs or tax increases. The lean budget, which goes into effect in July, relies heavily on savings from retirements, attrition and reorganizations in county agencies. The county will have 7 percent fewer employees than in the previous year. The council emphasized that local government would have less to work with as employees try to deliver the same level of services.

A proposal to expand equal-pay protections for women, long championed by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, was thrust into the national political spotlight Wednesday in a Democratic effort to court female voters — a crucial demographic in this year's election. The Paycheck Fairness Act has languished for years and faces tough odds again this year. But Democrats hope that by advancing the bill now they can send a compelling message to women weighing presidential and congressional candidates in the fall.

There is a saying that "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. " That seems to sum up the Republican approach to all issues. The latest example is the GOP-controlled House, which just passed a budget bill that bans the use of military facilities for gay marriages. Gay discrimination in the military has ended. Gay marriage is legal is many states. Yet the Republicans have used a religious approach to everything and now have applied it the budget. There is medical condition in which fluid builds up in the wrist, causing swelling that looks like a small knot on the skin.

With residents being bombarded by fliers, robocalls, even a telephone opinion survey, the fight over the future of the former Solo Cup site in Baltimore County is taking on the trappings of a political campaign. As the debate continues about whether the county should allow a Wegmans supermarket and other development at the former manufacturing plant on Reisterstown Road, two other developers in the area are fighting the project — and each side is trying to rally community support.

As a child, Kathryn Manion used to sit on her father's lap late into the evenings and read with him. That, said her father, Jim Manion, didn't last long. "She quickly began to read on her own," he said, adding jokingly, "I guess we weren't reading fast enough. " Not nearly. Tuesday night in New York City, Washington College senior and Clarksville native Kathryn Manion received Washington College's Sophie Kerr Prize for her body of short stories and other creative work. At more than $58,000 this year, it is considered the most lucrative undergraduate literary award in the country.

The trustees of the Contemporary Museum announced Monday that they have voted unanimously to suspend operations May 31. That will be the last day for the executive director and four part-time staff members. Plans to secure a new home for the museum have been scrapped. "We are solvent," said board member Barbara Portnoy Levine, who announced the board's decision Monday. "We are not in debt. The board just decided that the model was not serving us properly. We were not getting the commitment in terms of fundraising and participation we feel we should be getting.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and legislative leaders announced Wednesday an agreement to raise taxes on 16 percent of the state's earners and reverse a series of so-called "Doomsday" cuts the General Assembly enacted last month when a budget deal collapsed. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, both Democrats, said they have lined up the votes to approve the plan, including the super-majority needed in the Senate to break any Republican filibuster attempt.

Re "O'Malley calls for economic transformation," April 15: Sounds like something from the past, from another failed state — the ex-USSR. F.P. Cordell, Lutherville

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - SpaceX for short - will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.

Visitors to Baltimore's downtown on summer weekends will see up to 50 additional police officers, a show of force aimed at preventing a repeat of St. Patrick's Day, when hundreds of youths battled and a tourist was beaten — scenes the mayor described as "a black eye for the city. " Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake toured the streets around the Inner Harbor and downtown for two hours Friday, the first night of increased police presence. During the late-night walk, she made her first public comments since reports that the disturbances on March 17 were far more extensive and more violent than police had initially described.