Room

An incident at St. Frances during Friday night's boys basketball game against Archbishop Spalding resulted in the game being suspended at halftime after the visiting Cavaliers alleged some electronic items were stolen from their locker room. “Two phones were missing and [Spalding coach] Derrick [Lewis] said his kids didn't want to play the second half,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said on Saturday morning. St. Frances had a 17-15 lead going into halftime when the game was halted.

CBS Super Bowl broadcasters Jim Nantz and Phil Simms say they see a lot more than just Ray Lewis when they look at the Baltimore Ravens. And come Sunday, the conversation they do have about Lewis in the biggest broadcast booth in popular culture is going to be primarily about his play on the field and inspirational power in the locker room - not what happened in Atlanta. "I would just say, Ravens?" Nantz said Tuesday when asked for his sense of the team's image during a teleconference.

It was standing room only Thursday as family, friends and admirers of Robert Francell Chew said goodbye with a spirited and moving celebration of life ceremony for the actor known as Proposition Joe. More than 100 persons crowded into the chapel at the Calvin B. Scruggs Funeral Home in east Baltimore on a cold, snow-dusted morning. They ranged from other Baltimore actors who had won featured roles in HBO's "The Wire," like Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, to Raymond Parker, the high school music teacher who rook Chew under his wing at Patterson High, taught him to sing Italian opera and helped him get an audition that led to a four-year scholarship at Morgan State University.

New Orleans may be the Big Easy, but for Ravens fans following their team to the Super Bowl next month, it's also likely to be a Big Expense. "I think we got the last hotel room in the city. It has a full two stars, and it's $600 a night," Ravens fan Neal Moorhouse said with a laugh. "Beggars can't be choosers. " Moorhouse, who wears a Mexican wrestler get-up to attend games as his alter ego, "Carne Cabeza," was among the fans who immediately started making travel arrangements to New Orleans for the Feb. 3 game once the Ravens won the AFC championship Sunday night.

Do you begin inside, with the airy rooms, chef's kitchen and four fireplaces? Or outdoors, with the sculpted gardens, rolling green hills and tranquil riding trails on 78 acres? If you can't make up your mind about 16835 Gerting Road in Monkton, choose something in between: the screened-in sleeping porch and the poolside cabana. Designed by local architect Faith Nevins Hawks and built in 2001, the 1812 replica farmhouse "is timeless," said Realtor Heidi Krauss, who represented the seller.

Bryan Johnson didn't know he had bipolar disorder until he ended up at the emergency room, where he assaulted a police officer. His family had taken him to the University of Maryland Medical Center because he was acting strangely, staring into the distance and constantly pacing as he struggled with the death of his brother and the loss of his job. He was sent to Central Booking as soon as he was released from the hospital, and wound up with a...

Area hospitals are coping with a surge of patients with achy bodies, fevers and sore throats as the nation grapples with a flu season that has hit earlier and harder than usual. The flu virus is unpredictable, so no one knows when the outbreak will peak or how bad the season will be, but a doctor said the pieces are in place to potentially make it one of the worst influenza seasons in recent years. The principal strain infecting people this year is one generally associated with more severe symptoms, said Dr. Andrea Dugas, an emergency room physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital who is leading research on the flu virus.

Here they are, the greatest generation, looking pretty ordinary: armed now with carts and canes, bragging about their grandchildren, complaining about their doctors and relishing their deserts. Every other Monday night I visit my father at the Annapolis retirement community where he lives, and I have come to know the dinner menu as well as a bit about his friends from the World War II generation. At 90 my father doesn't say so much, but he and his dinner companions like the company of younger people (at 53, I count as younger)

They're calling it the fitting room of the future, an enclosed kiosk in a mall common area that shoppers step into for a free, full (and fully clothed) body scan. After 10 seconds, a shopper emerges, then gets printed recommendations on size, style and brand and a list of stores offering the apparel. Me-Ality, the New York-based company behind "Measured Reality" body scanning stations, says the days of trying on four different sizes to find the best fit could be over.  Inside the scanning station, a vertical wand moves around a person's body, emitting low-power radio signals - not X-Rays or radiation  - similar to, but weaker than, signals sent by a cell phone.

It's holiday party time. The Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley sent along some information about their rentals and party menus. We were going to package them up with information about facility rentals at other restaurants, but we never did.  So, instead, we've opened up a thread on the Baltimore Diner Facebook page. If you know of a good setup for holiday parties, tell us about it, even if it's yours. The Oregon Grille told us that their facilities include the Golf Room, which holds up to 12 guests, The Patriot Room (15)