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This year's Extreme Rules pay-per-view event left us with some unanswered questions but also some new beginnings. In the main event (a rare moment in WWE history where all wrestlers in a final match on PPV weren't on a full-time WWE schedule), Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a cage match. Lesnar went up 2-1 on "The Game" and is likely poised for another future match in WWE (not against Triple H), perhaps at Summerslam or Wrestlemania 30. Questions coming out of this match are: will Triple H wrestle again?

My periodic "Did You Know" columns tend to raise the blood pressure of more conservative readers who are embarrassed/angry/frustrated by the increasingly aggressive counter-cultural policies of the hard left and their allies in Hollywood, on campus, and in Washington, D.C. Yet, some of this stuff is so looney and/or outside what should be mainstream views and opinions that I can't help myself. So, with due apologies to the aforementioned, did you know: •The Defense Department continues to insist the deadly Fort Hood murders (which killed 13, including a pregnant soldier, and wounded 32 others)

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

As far back as Robert Lewis can remember, he has been fascinated by what he heard on the radio — he would even sneak a receiver under his pillow when he was younger so he could listen to music late at night. Decades later, he's still feeling that joy of radio. As the executive director of the Radio Reading Network of Maryland, he's bringing it to others who need it: fellow blind people in Maryland. "I enjoy going to work every morning," says Lewis, 63. "I've always loved radio, so I'm blessed to be able to come back to where I've started.

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

The Howard County Library System's biggest fundraiser is this weekend. What: Evening in the Stacks: Sparkle and Spurs When: Saturday, Feb. 23, 7-11 p.m. Where: Howard County Library System's Miller Branch, 9421 Frederick Road, Ellicott City Cost: $125 per person Details: Live music by Dave Chapell and the Lone Stardusters; presentation by bestselling author Mary Doria Russell; silent auction; gourmet fare; celebrity bartenders include...

Lots of folks are probably suffering symptoms of Colbert-withdrawal due to the sudden -- and unexplained suspension of the Colbert Report's taping. The Washington Post noted : Comedy Central's “The Colbert Report” suddenly canceled taping Wednesday night, telling ticket holders that episodes of the show for the rest of the week had been scrapped due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Meanwhile, here are some suggestions of comic dystopia to keep you busy: -- "I Am America (And So Can You!

All of us have let that message with an error in it get away from us. All of us have submitted texts bearing typos or the wrong homonym. All of who edit have overlooked gross blunders or, worse, inserted them in someone else's text. All of us are fallible mortals deserving of sympathy, even forgiveness. And yet, some blunders are too delicious to ignore. Such a one flew over the transom today in a news release from the office of Baltimore City Councilman Robert W. Curran proclaiming:  Attached please find a copy of a press release and accompanying resolution declaring domestic violence to be a fundamental human right.

Our bookshelf is looking a bit sad lately. So we enlisted some of the young staff at Enoch Pratt Free Library branches to give us their picks for books they're loving right now.

As a person who as a teenager marched alongside people like Rep. John Lewis and Diane Nash to successfully integrate lunch-counters in Nashville, Tenn., the issue of whether Read's drugstore in downtown Baltimore's West Side, which was the site of historic civil rights sit-ins, should be preserved is a poignant one for me. ( "Seeking guidance on west-side project," Jan. 25). I view the current controversy from several perspectives. During the more than one-third of a century that I have lived in Maryland, I have been given multiple gubernatorial appointments to serve on this state's Commission of African-American History and Culture and am a past chairman of the Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration and Impact of Slavery's History and Legacy in Maryland.

Before Lauren Preston opened the cover of the book "Spring" to read to her pre-kindergarten class at Mary Ann Winterling Elementary School, her students excitedly told her why, and showed her how, the season was underway. Daffodils - not just "yellow flowers" - were appearing from beneath the soil, they said. Hyacinths were blooming, they demonstrated with the slow unfolding of their tiny fists. And butterflies were emerging, the students showed by flapping their curled arms. In pre-K classrooms around Baltimore's school system, subtle changes like interactive reading are having a substantial effect in helping prepare 4-year-olds for elementary school - addressing an achievement gap that city schools have faced for years.

It's one thing for a letter that you thought was kind-of private to go viral . A letter where you ask your fellow sorority sisters at the University of Maryland if they are "_____ retarded" and in which you say "I WILL _____ ASSAULT YOU!" because you believe them to be "awkward" and "weird. " But you know you're a true Internet sensation when a Real Hollywood Star jumps into the fray. So, congratulations to the Delta Gamma whose nasty and profanity-laced letter to her sisters exploded on the web recently: Michael Shannon of "Boardwalk Empire" has helped you arrive with a dramatic reading on Funny or Die ( Warning: The video contains explicit language )

Local authors share the titles they're enjoying right now. Madison Smartt Bell, whose most recent novel is "The Color of Night": "Noble Savages," by Napoleon Chagnon, back to back with "Triste Tropiques" by Claude Levi-Strauss. Sort of a bookend pair of anthropology texts, both fascinating. "Les Cloches de la Bresilienne," a magical mystery by Haitian author Gary Victor. I have a project with some other people to publish this book in the U.S. Jessica Anya Blau, author of the forthcoming "The Wonder Bread Summer": I'm reading "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter.

Imagine a classroom where math is taught through the works of Matisse and reading is learned through a dramatic skit instead of a textbook. That's the scenario at several Anne Arundel County public schools that use the practice of arts integration. "Arts integration strategy gets students to work with creativity. It gives them a chance to work with critical thinking," said Suzanne Owens, a visual arts coordinator for AACPS, where administrators believe a fusion of arts and core objectives gives students a better — and longer-lasting — learning experience.

The search warrant for the home of Adam Lanza , who went on a murderous pre-Christmas rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., included some chilling items, including a New York Times articla about a 2008 school shooting. It also mentioned some books, which could have been Adam's or his mother's. Here's the list: -- "Train Your Brain to Get Happy" (with pages tabbed down) -- "Look Me in the Eye -- My Life with Asberger's" -- "Born on a Blue Day -- Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant" -- "NRA Guide to the Basics of Pistol Shooting"

Veteran Baltimore County teacher Helen Zeitzoff may have retired from her day job, but these days she keeps busy writing books that help elementary-school teachers enhance their students' reading skills. Upon her retirement, Zeitzoff, who taught third grade for 32 years, introduced a school-based tutorial program for first-graders to reinforce their developing early literacy skills. In addition, Zeitzoff started her own private tutoring practice where she has worked with children from first to sixth grade.

Today's story selection, "The Girl, the Fish and the Crown" helps children understand the importance of making predictions and thinking critically when they read or listen. The episodes in this story are easy to identify. Before you read the story, explain to your child that good listeners and readers think a lot about the story before they begin to read. This helps them understand the story better and anticipate what might happen. In this way, they are really listening to what the author has to say to us. First, read the Editor's Note at the top of the page, and then ask:* What do you think is going to happen?

Robbery Incident (4800 Blk Roland Park) Baltimore, MD / February 1, 2012 - The Baltimore Police Department is investigating a robbery that occurred last night within the Roland Park Community of Northern Baltimore. Just before 8:00 p.m. within the rear of the 4800 Blk of Roland Avenue, as two women entered their vehicle they were approached by the suspect who demanded the victim's purses. Threatening to shoot if they did not comply, the suspect reached in the vehicle and removed a purse.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter hasn't announced the winner of the team's No. 5 starter competition, but this week's pitching schedule, which was announced Saturday, would indicate that right-hander Jake Arrieta appears to be in line for the spot. Arrieta, who was initially slated to start Tuesday's game against the Twins in Fort Myers, will now pitch in a minor league game at Twin Lakes Park on the same day. Pitching prospect Kevin Gausman will now start against the Twins. Over the past few weeks, Showalter has sent most of his entrenched starters to minor league games so that they won't be overexposed facing a bevy of AL East opponents and the Twins, who is the Orioles' home opener opponent.

A few weeks ago I received a plaintive letter from a reader, not for publication, who expressed disappointment that I sometimes stray from grammar and usage to write about politics. The reader finds The Sun befouled by liberalism and painful to read. The letter is a plea for me to stay away from political subjects altogether.  It does not come as news that some of my readers are conservative. Gary Kirchherr, a fellow editor, has never been shy about filing sharp comments on my woolly-headed views.