Sinai Hospital

Two young men were fatally shot in separate incidents early yesterday and Tuesday night, and a 17-year-old was arrested in one of them, as the pace of homicides in Baltimore reached an average of one a day in May. The latest reported killings brought to 124 the number of homicides in the city this year, compared with 111 for the same period in 2006, police said. Law enforcement officials attribute at least part of the violence to drug turf battles and an increase in gang rivalries. In many cases, police and prosecutors complain that victims and witnesses are reluctant to cooperate with investigators and instead settle scores outside the city's criminal justice system.

Jean E. Small, who co-owned and ran a Lexington Street pharmacy and was later honored for thousands of volunteer hours at Sinai Hospital and Meals on Wheels, died of Monday of complications from old age at Levindale Hebrew Convalescent Home. The Village of Cross Keys resident was 96. Born Esther Jeanette "Jean" Taylor in Baltimore, she attended city public schools and began working alongside her father at his Gay Street furniture business. She joined the Miriam Lodge and United Order of True Sisters, a Jewish charity organization, and delivered food baskets on the High Holy Days to the needy.

Dr. Brian Cornblatt has been appointed manager of the Oncology Research Office at the Cancer Institute at St. Joseph Medical Center. Cornblatt earned his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University. His work has been published in Cancer Research and Biochemical Pharmacology. Dr. Elliot McVeigh has been named the new director of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. Howard County General Hospital has appointed Sharon P. Hadsell as senior vice president of patient care services.

Dr. Harold Seymour Farfel, a pediatrician, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. He was 82. A doctor who prided himself on making house calls, Dr. Farfel continued until his recent illness to attend pediatric rounds at Sinai Hospital, where he was a resident from 1950 to 1952. One of the patients at his practice in Catonsville, which he opened in 1955, was a boy who would grow up to be governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said Dr. Farfel's son, Dr. Mark Farfel of New York City.

A 31-year-old man who was beaten with a tree branch Tuesday morning in Northwest Baltimore has died of his injuries, and police added his name yesterday to the list of this year's homicides, bringing the total to 268. The victim was identified as Quentin Reddicks-Flowers of the 2400 block of Francis St. in West Baltimore. Police said two witnesses saw him get tackled, punched and beaten about 11:45 a.m. in the 4000 block of W. Rogers Ave. Officers found a bloody tree branch nearby. Police said Reddicks-Flowers died at Sinai Hospital at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday That same day, police detectives arrested Jermaine Cornish, 17, of the 5500 block of Gist Ave., and charged him with first-degree murder.

The death of a man who was severely beaten outside a West Baltimore store Oct. 23 has been ruled a homicide, city police said yesterday. The victim, Lonnie E. Foote, 58, of the 6000 block of Park Heights Ave., died Nov. 6 at St. Agnes Hospital, according to his former wife, Arlene Clark. Police said an autopsy was performed Nov. 7 and, after an investigation, his death was ruled a homicide by blunt-force trauma Dec. 2. The case was turned over to the city homicide investigators the next day. But the homicide ruling was not revealed until yesterday.

Dr. M. Larrie Blue, a retired Baltimore pediatrician whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at Sinai Hospital. He was 77 and had lived in Stevenson. "It was fitting that he died at Sinai Hospital, where he spent most of his professional career," said his wife of eight years, the former Sima Rosenthal. Dr. Blue was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a 1948 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1952.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore and Baltimore County. Baltimore Northwestern Shooting -- A 42-year-old man from Division Street in West Baltimore was standing outside a house in the 4400 block of Groveland Ave. with several other men about 4 a.m. yesterday when he became involved in an argument with one of the men and was shot. Police said the bullet grazed the man's head, and that he was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Sinai Hospital.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 194 THE VICTIM An unidentified man was found shot several times yesterday afternoon in the 3400 block of Dupont Ave. in the Central Park Heights neighborhood and died a short time later at Sinai Hospital. He was the city's 194th homicide victim this year. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Overcome by a roaring fire in her Roland Park home, an 11-year-old girl died at Sinai Hospital yesterday after being pulled from the flames by Baltimore firefighters, while her 16-year-old brother clung to life in the same medical center. Their father, Stephen A. Young, a deputy copy desk chief at The Sun, was found outside the front door. Choking, he managed to tell firefighters that his children were trapped inside, a city Fire Department spokesman said. Young was rushed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was in critical condition and stable last night, recovering from a broken hip and suffering from smoke inhalation.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was shot Thursday night in the abdomen outside his Northwest Baltimore home in the Glen neighborhood in what appeared to be an attempted robbery by two young males, during which gunshots were exchanged. His name and assignment were not released. Police said a teenage boy walked into the emergency room at Sinai Hospital bleeding from a bullet wound to a leg shortly after the officer was shot about 10 p.m. outside his home in the 6000 block of Highgate Drive and told police he was shot at Park Heights and Spaulding avenues, many blocks from where the office was shot.

High sustained winds and rain damaged homes in Finksburg and knocked out power Friday afternoon to more than 40,000 Baltimore Gas & Electric customers in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties. Sinai Hospital in the city was one of the customers affected. Three homes in the 2900 block of Constellation Way of the Star View Estates community near Gamber were condemned after significant damage to roofs and structures, and several nearby homes were also damaged, said Brian Horton, spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.

Sinai Hospital opens $55 million expansion Sinai Hospital at 2401 W. Belvedere Ave. in Baltimore opened an "eco-friendly" addition Thursday that includes a 29-bed intensive care unit, a 36-bed intermediate care unit, a helipad and an atrium with a 40-foot waterfall. Hord Coplan Macht of Baltimore designed the $55 million, four-story building called the South Tower Expansion. According to the hospital, the new 87,000-square-foot building features "the area's first hospital roof garden," with low-maintenance plants that are expected to mature in two to three years.

At least eight people were injured in an accident Tuesday morning in Pikesville involving eight vehicles, including a school bus headed to Pikesville Middle School, according to Baltimore County authorities. Sgt. Vickie Warehime, a county police spokeswoman, said the chain-reaction collision was reported about 7:45 a.m. at Park Heights Avenue and Brooks Robinson Drive south of Interstate 695. Six of the vehicles were waiting in the left-turn lane on southbound Park Heights Avenue to go onto Brooks Robinson Drive when they were struck by the bus, according to Warehime.

Murray Steinberg, a Baltimore-area gynecologist who nurtured a lifelong passion for physics by attending college-level science classes for decades, died of pancreatic cancer Tuesday at his Pikesville home. He was 87 and had stopped auditing courses at the Johns Hopkins University just last year. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Steinberg was a 1940 graduate of New York University, receiving his undergraduate degree at age 18 after being selected for Phi Beta Kappa and membership in biology and chemistry honor societies.

Three men were shot and killed in apparently separate incidents Monday night and early yesterday in Northwest Baltimore, city police said. Yesterday morning's slaying happened shortly before 7:30 a.m. in the 5100 block of Palmer Ave., about one block south of Pimlico Race Course. The man, whose identity had not been confirmed as of last night, appeared to be in his early 20s, according to Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman. The man was pronounced dead at Sinai Hospital shortly after paramedics took him there, police said.

Smoke-free zones boost public health Almost 16 years ago, my first son was born at Sinai Hospital. As we exited the hospital to our awaiting car, his first breaths of fresh air were actually a haze of cigarette smoke. I wrote the CEO of Sinai Hospital at the time to complain. I never heard back. When my second son was born years later, again at Sinai, the same scenario occurred. I applaud City Councilman Robert W. Curran's efforts and hope the City Council approves the bill to limit smoking outside hospitals ("Smoke-free zone," editorial, Nov. 30)

Salary: $70,000 Age: 38 Years on the job: 18 How he got started : After serving in Desert Storm, Walden took a job as a technician in the central sterilizing department of a hospital in the Philadelphia area. While working full time, he completed his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and health care administration at Temple University. He later moved to Maryland and took a job at Johns Hopkins Hospital in its central sterilizing department. He switched to his job with Sinai Hospital five months ago. He's certified by the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management and the Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution.

A former Sinai Hospital patient is suing the hospital and a security guard for $77 million after he says he was assaulted in the emergency room on Labor Day. Felony assault and attempted-murder charges had been filed against the guard, Timothy Hough, but the state's attorney's office intends to reduce those charges to misdemeanors, the patient's attorney, Quinton M. Herbert, said yesterday. The case goes to trial Monday. "What's most astonishing is that it appears this decision was made without reviewing the medical records, without reviewing the photographs," Herbert said.

Four people were shot - three fatally - within 40 minutes last night, in three apparently unrelated incidents, a city police spokesman said. The victims' identities were not immediately available. Police said they knew of no motives or suspects. The first of the shootings was reported at 9:23 p.m. at East North Avenue and North Wolfe Street, where an assailant shot a 24-year-old man in the chest and a girl in a leg. The man died shortly before 10 p.m. at Johns Hopkins Hospital's trauma center.