Select

Five Baltimore area boys basketball players were recently selected to participate in the U.S. Elite Select Basketball Tour in Italy this week. St. Frances senior forward Tevon Saddler , The Baltimore Sun's All-Metro Player of the Year, will be joined by Glenelg Country junior forward Chancellor Barnard , St. Vincent Pallotti junior center Tariq Owens , Calvert Hall sophomore guard Drew Edwards and Mount St. Joseph sophomore guard-forward...

PHOENIX -- The Ravens were awarded four compensatory picks for next month's draft, bringing their total number of selections to 12. Because of their free-agent losses last offseason, they were awarded extra picks in the fourth (130th overall), fifth (168l), sixth (203) and seventh (247) rounds, the NFL announced Monday at its annual meetings at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. The Ravens already had picks in all seven rounds and an extra sixth-round selection courtesy of the trade that sent veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers.

Here's a look at the 2012-13 Anne Arundel County Coaches All-County boys basketball teams: First team Delaszo Smith  (SR)- Annapolis Ryan Hill   (SR) - Arundel Aaron Terry (SR) - Chesapeake Corey Martin (JR) - North County Eric Lindsey (SR) - Southern   Second team Juan Brown (JR) - Annapolis Austin Carroll (SR) - Arundel Jerrin Ball (SR) - Old Mill Jahair Jones (JR) - South River Keaton Mack (SR) - Arundel Clay Smith (JR)

As their church's cardinals gathered in Vatican City to select a new pope, Catholic schoolchildren in the Baltimore area joined the worldwide buzz over the secret balloting process in an online chat with a fairly well-placed source: Archbishop William E. Lori. "I'm not going to predict who the Holy Father is going to be," Lori told eighth-grade students at 20 schools in the Baltimore Archdiocese on Monday. "But what we can't miss is that at least two of the American cardinals have been spoken about as possible candidates.

Since the resignation of Pope Benedict, we have been treated to the truly tawdry spectacle of life in the Vatican at this time in history. There are stories of Papal shoes, rings, palaces and castles. We see pictures of old men dressed in ecclesiastical finery sitting in palatial rooms at the Vatican. There are stories of corruption and jockeying for position among the cardinals. We are informed of the number old men who will have voting rights at the conclave called to elect the new pope.

The Anne Arundel County Council on Thursday night appointed as its new county executive Howard County Economic Development Authority chief Laura Neuman, whose drive and business savvy got her a master's degree in business when she hadn't completed high school or college. Neuman, of Annapolis, is to be sworn in at 10 a.m. Friday, succeeding John R. Leopold, who resigned this month after a conviction for misconduct in office. "We live in an extraordinary country where a person like me from East Baltimore can have this opportunity," said Neuman, an Annapolis resident for more than two decades.

The Anne Arundel County Ethics Commission says County Council member Derek Fink should not participate in the selection of a new county executive because of his business relationship in Greene Turtle restaurants with Del. Steve Schuh, who is seeking the position. The commission opinion, released Wednesday, said Fink has a conflict of interest, and "the law prohibits you not only from voting for the applicant, but from any participation in the selection process. " The council is scheduled to interview a field of 16 candidates and vote tonight on a replacement for John Leopold, who resigned as county executive this month.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts replaced the head of the department's training academy Monday, as the agency seeks to address safety lapses and restore public confidence following the accidental shooting last week of a trainee. Batts returned former academy director Maj. Joseph Smith to the job. He replaces Maj. Eric Russell, who was suspended last week after the training accident. Police say an instructor mistakenly fired his service weapon and struck a University of Maryland police trainee in the head, critically wounding him. Smith, a 25-year veteran, had been working on an initiative to improve crime reporting.

A development team has been selected for a vacant 1.1-acre lot in Charles Village owned by the Johns Hopkins University. Armada Hoffler, a real estate construction and management firm based in Virginia Beach, Va., will lead the development of a mixed-use complex on the site at the southwest corner of 33rd and St. Paul streets, according to a recent statement by the university. Johns Hopkins bought the land in 2009. Beatty Development Group LLC and Skye Hospitality LLC, both based in Baltimore, will be working with Armada Hoffler on the project, the university said.