Sleep

All the presents have been opened; wrapping paper is strewn all over the house. The dog is wearing a large shiny bow, courtesy of the kids; while the cat has one end of a piece of curling ribbon hanging out of her mouth and the other end hanging out her … elsewhere. The joyful voices of happy children emanate from the next room. They're arguing over whose turn it is to play the new video game or hollering, "Quit it! Give me back my new (fill in the blank) or I'm gonna tell!" Good times.

Dr. Lewis B. Newberg, a retired ear, nose and throat specialist who turned his personal battle with sleep apnea and snoring into a book in which he combined humor and practical medical advice for those similarly afflicted, died Oct. 22 of heart failure at his Edgewater home. He was 72. The son of a businessman and a homemaker, Dr. Newberg was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and raised in Jamaica, N.Y., where he was a graduate of public schools. After earning a bachelor's degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he earned his medical degree in 1964 from the Chicago Medical School.

Dr. Lewis B. Newberg, a retired ear, nose and throat specialist who turned his personal battle with sleep apnea and snoring into a book in which he combined humor and practical medical advice for those similarly afflicted, died Oct. 22 of heart failure at his Edgewater home. He was 72. The son of a businessman and a homemaker, Dr. Newberg was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and raised in Jamaica, N.Y., where he was a graduate of public schools. After earning a bachelor's degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he earned his medical degree in 1964 from the old Chicago Medical School.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crime. City of Laurel Ashford Court, 14800 block, Oct. 20. Entry gained through front door. Two males seen inside house by owner who was awoken from sleep. Victim yelled at males, and Dell laptop computer and Coby TV were recovered from them before they fled toward Fenwick Court into woods. Bowie Road, 14900 block, Oct. 20. Firefighter's helmet stolen from locker at Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad.

Of all the deaths that occur among infants, those caused by so-called crib bumpers — the padded, often brightly colored cushions that line the inside of babies' cribs — may be the easiest to prevent. Crib bumpers serve no real purpose other than the cosmetic, while in some case they can cause serious harm, even death. That's why Maryland health secretary Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein was right to accept an expert panel's recommendation on Tuesday to ban their sale in Maryland. Studies have shown that the pads, which are often marketed as a safety feature, have a negligible effect on reducing injuries caused by infants hitting their heads against the hard surfaces of their crib.

OK, so Wes Case and I were supposed to be switching back and forth doing these "Jersey Shore" recaps (there are only so many brain cells each of us can afford to lose) but he's all big-time and judging a competition over at WPOC, so once again my standardized test scores must suffer.  As anyone who watches "Jersey Shore" knows, this is about the point in the season when the show begins to lose its momentum. Its ratings usually dip and viewers begin reading books or something.  But maybe this year will be different?

The University of Maryland College Park campus police are investigating an assault on a female student while she was sleeping in her residence at Leonardtown Apartments. The woman awoke at about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 9 to find an unknown man in her bed and fondling her breasts and torso, police said. She screamed and he fled the apartment. The victim glimpsed the assailant through her window and described him as curly headed and wearing a striped shirt, police said. Police have released a video that shows a person of interest running from the area of the incident.

Kathy Woods tried everything she could think of to save the female red-tailed hawk that was injured last year by crashing into a library window at the Johns Hopkins University. Even bird acupuncture. But the hawk's nerve damage proved too serious to overcome, and she was put to sleep. "The impact of the glass was just too much," Woods, who runs the Phoenix Wildlife Center in Baltimore County, said Tuesday. It wasn't the happy ending many wished for at Hopkins, where the hawk and her mate were such common sights that they attained "celebrity status on the Homewood campus," according to The Gazette, the university's newspaper.

In an era of high unemployment - and with many of the gainfully employed working too many hours because companies are either still downsizing or avoiding new hires - it would be helpful if the Maryland Court of Appeals allowed this question to be decided by a jury: Should an employer be held responsible when an overworked, sleep-deprived employee causes a terrible accident? That's the question at the center of a lawsuit that has been grinding through the state courts for a few years.

Baltimore police have identified the man fatally shot Sunday near Johns Hopkins Hospital as 31-year-old Antonio Laws, who was apparently shot while sleeping in his home. An officer on patrol in the area of the 500 block of N. Chester St., in the city's Middle East community, was flagged down at about 12:10 p.m. by someone who said a woman was outside screaming and crying, said police spokesman Detective Donny Moses. When the officer arrived on the scene, the woman said, "He's dead upstairs.