Presence

A woman in a red bikini danced giddily on a big floating trampoline in the Magothy River, at one point turning a graceful back flip — without losing her straw hat. Her apparent carefree delight captured what fans consider the true spirit of Bumper Bash, a yearly convergence of boat-borne revelers. But on Saturday, the men in blue were no less a part of the story at the party's fifth-annual installment. Spurred by multiple fights and drunken rowdiness last year, authorities stepped up the police presence considerably, both along the Dobbins Island beach and in the river.

Far from clinging to their daughter, Rose He's parents urged her to pursue an art degree 7,500 miles from home. Like many Chinese families, they thought an American diploma could lead to a better job. He, a Shanghai native, could not be happier with her decision to enroll at the Maryland Institute College of Art . "In China, you keep drawing and drawing, but you don't have your own ideas," she says. She recently exchanged emails with a prospective applicant from Beijing.

The balding guy with a shy way about him would always sit in the back of the church, usually by himself, and silently slip out after Communion and before the final hymn. Congregants at Old St. Paul's in downtown Baltimore recalled one-time vestryman William Donald Schaefer on a glorious Easter Sunday, just three days before the former mayor and governor will return to his old church one last time. Services for Schaefer, who died at 89 a week ago, will be held at the historic church Wednesday after he lies in state at the State House and in City Hall Monday and Tuesday.

Kenneth D. Perry, who was found guilty in February of killing two women 12 years ago in the presence of two children — one of them his infant son — was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole, plus 50 years. As he was led out of the courtroom, he grinned and began humming a tune. Judge Stuart R. Berger said that in his 13 years on the bench, he had not seen a more "horrific, callous and senseless act of violence," and called it "tragic and gratuitous. " The 45-year-old defendant, notorious for his contentiousness in court, had been convicted in the case once before, in 2001, and given the same sentence, but a judge later determined that a prosecutor had failed to turn over crucial materials to the defense.

When Stephen Gewirtz, a retired math professor, scans the list of the recently arrested in Charles Village, he's looking for people like Jerome Owens. He's a twice-convicted burglar who escaped serious prison time with suspended sentences and is now back in court, charged with trying to break into yet another home. The 68-year-old Gewirtz volunteers as a community court watcher, and it's his job to track Owens and others through hearings and trials, get prosecutors to take cases seriously and persuade judges to hand out prison time.

— Ed Reed cracked a wide smile as he listened to running back Willis McGahee, whose locker neighbored Reed's in the visiting locker room at Arrowhead Stadium, recount to the media his 25-yard touchdown dash through the heart of the defense that cemented the Ravens' 30-7 thrashing of the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC wild-card playoff game Sunday. Moments later, when it was Reed's turn to talk to reporters huddled around his locker, the mood was discernibly sadder. It was the first time Reed had spoken publicly since news emerged late Friday that his younger brother had gone missing in Louisiana after jumping into the Mississippi River while eluding police.

Chemical company W.R. Grace & Co. said Friday it has opened a new manufacturing facility in China as part of its efforts to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. The facility, in the city of Chongqing, will manufacture cement additives and concrete admixtures. It will also have a quality-control lab and administrative and personnel offices. The additives are used by cement producers to improve grinding efficiency and enhance the quality of cement. They are also more environmentally friendly, reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Toward the end of Thursday's morning practice, several young autograph seekers at Ravens training camp tried to get Dawan Landry's attention by calling him "Mr.Landry." The strong safety is beginning to get accorded a similar level of respect by his teammates. Landry's ferocious tackles have revalidated his nickname, "Whop" -- the sound his pads make when he barrels into a ball carrier -- and earned a couple of teammates a brief stay on the sideline. Last Friday morning, Landry split Willis McGahee's bottom lip, and the running back missed the rest of the session before returning in the afternoon.

T. Rowe Price Group is expanding its Australian business by adding investment management and research professionals at its Sydney office. The move continues the Baltimore money manager's push to increase its global footprint. In January, the company closed a deal to buy 26 percent of India's oldest mutual fund firm. Price has hired Australian portfolio manager Randal Jenneke to build its equity team there, and the firm expects to hire four analysts over the next year, said Bill Stromberg, Price's director of global equity.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One not-so-subtle sign that it takes more than one week to think anything regarding Tiger Woods might be getting back to normal, even on the golf course: Three uniformed police officers on the Quail Hollow practice green. For a pro-am round. At 7:20 a.m. Not just plain-clothes officers walking inside the ropes, each with a badge attached to his belt. We're talking full Charlotte-Mecklenburg police attire — pistols in holsters, handcuffs hanging off the belt in back, flashlights, walkie-talkies.