Smart

Researchers hailed the Supreme Court ruling Wednesday that bans the patenting of human DNA, saying it would expand access to genetic testing for disease at lower cost to patients. In a unanimous decision, the justices said Myriad Genetics did not have exclusive rights to the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes that are linked to significantly greater risk for breast cancer and thus should not be the only company allowed to test for it. "Myriad did not create anything," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for his fellow justices.

A new report showing Maryland schools now lead the nation in efforts to boost student achievement levels has vindicated the commitment the state made more than a decade ago to adequately fund education and adopt smart policy choices that return the biggest bang for the buck. The study by Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank that tracks school reform efforts across the country, suggests that Maryland's thoughtful approach to improving education opportunities for all the state's children has positioned it to register even greater gains in the future.

As a subscriber, I always enjoy your articles about saving energy, and I have a few comments about the article "Programs help Marylanders save on electric bills," June 25. First of all, I agree with the PSC to not make me pay for the smart meter just to tell me how much I use and for them to eliminate meter readers. If they want to automate my bill then they should pay for the new meters. I am very aware and efficient when it comes to giving BGE any more money than I have to. I have done everything possible to cut that amount down.

What it is: A travel app designed for kids ages 3 to 7 that allows them to pack their bags and enjoy the travel season by exploring worldwide destinations like London, Cairo and Moscow.  After kids learn how to pack a suitcase according to weather, they drive to the airport, navigate security lines and board their flight.   Little travelers claim their luggage and are off to see the world! After a busy day of sightseeing, kids can snap a few photos and create a postcard to send back home.  Why it's fun: The perfect app for a kid to play leading up to a summer vacation, Frequent Flyer builds anticipation of traveling while giving parents an opportunity to prepare and a context in which to share their own travel experiences.

There needs to be an option for us to say "No" to BGE. There is absolutely no sense to the notion that a person would sit around watching their electric meter tick off its use. We have solar heat, solar hot water; our electric usage -- in units of kilowatt hours -- has been pretty much the same for 30 years. We turn on the AC once a year for about 3 hours, because we were advised to do that to make sure the system was working. It is. Otherwise, if it gets hot we run a fan or two. The heat pump system serves as backup heat in the winter, and that usage has also been stable over 30 years.

Starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin. Directed by Peter Segal. Warner Home Video $28.95 (blu-ray $35.95) ** dvds Great casting can't get past some really bad story decisions in this big-screen adaptation of the seminal 1960s TV series, a send-up of the James Bond franchise that announced creator Mel Brooks as a force to be reckoned with in American comedy. (He'd gotten his start in the 1950s, with Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, but really took off with this series' 1965 premiere.

I read with great interest the problems that Southeast Baltimore residents are experiencing with power outages. ("As residents raise concerns, BGE promises to fix outages," Aug. 28). My neighbors and I faced a similar problem on Bernoudy Rd., White Hall, Baltimore County, and we were disappointed when the Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. couldn't solve it. Many times, everybody around us on York, Big Falls and Wiseburg roads were "on" and we were out of electricity. Our road consists of 103 homes and our on-going complaints became BGE's "Bernoudy Rd. Corridor" problem.

Last year, the Johns Hopkins University awarded doctoral degrees to 311 students, and Robert Stephen Dobkin wasn't one of them. He didn't graduate from Hopkins; he sued Hopkins. And Dobkin vs. Hopkins has become the story of his life.At its simplest, a benign academic disagreement between one smart student and one smart university escalated into dueling multimillion-dollar lawsuits when Hopkins sued back. At its most sensational, the swamp of accusations from both sides mentions fraud, slander, cheating, sexual harassment, mental illness, cover-ups and even the Unabomber -- the person mailing murderous letter bombs.

The Rev. Ernest Smart is back, regularly preaching in North Baltimore and leading his flock of about 200 members at a nondenominational group, the St. Andrew's Christian Community in Roland Park. "I felt hungry to have a church family," said the 69-year-old clergyman of his decision to remain preaching. Smart, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, moved to Baltimore in 1981. He retired as a Presbyterian pastor in 2002, after years at Second Presbyterian Church in Guilford; he stepped down from there in 1999 because of a heated denominational controversy.

Smart 'n Noble continued her dominance of Laurel Park's winter filly and mare division when she defeated Buffels by a head yesterday in the $100,000 Snow Goose Handicap.It's been a lucrative meet for the 4-year-old filly, who returned to action from a knee injury in December and has since won five of seven starts. She has collected nearly $250,000 in a four-month span and posted two graded stakes wins -- the Grade II Barbara Fritchie Handicap at seven furlongs and yesterday's Grade III Snow Goose Handicap at 1 1/8 miles.

After two pedestrians died and 13 were injured last summer on Ocean City streets, city officials and the State Highway Administration devised a campaign to get motorists and those on foot to be more aware of each other. The effort includes highly visible markings on crosswalks and signs directing pedestrians to them and retimed traffic signals to get vehicles to slow down. “Ocean City is one of Maryland's largest cities all summer, but every week there's turnover and a new population,” said Melinda Peters, SHA administrator.

It's hard to know where to begin when responding to Trey Kovacs' recent op-ed ("Unions do their business on taxpayers' dime," April 18), which is riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations. So instead of talking about what recently passed Fair Share legislation isn't, as his article did, let's talk about what the legislation actually is. Fair Share is a common-sense way to protect equity and individual rights for Maryland's educators. It simply makes sure that all educators contribute to the negotiated benefits and legally required representation that they all enjoy.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy If you want to know what makes MSNBC's "Morning Joe" so much better than anything else on morning TV, check out this video of a discussion Monday morning about President Obama's awful failure to marshall support for even the most tepid gun reform. First of all, hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were not only absolutely transparent about the way in which they were piggybacking Maureen Dowd's brilliant Sunday column in the New York Times, they celebrated her and her words.

The human brain is a marvelous instrument, capable of the subtlest thoughts, feelings and perceptions, and of dreams even the gods might envy. Yet for all our cleverness in other areas, we still know embarrassingly little about how our own brains actually work. That's why President Barack Obama's plan to launch a 10-year research initiative to map the intricate connections in the brain that give rise to everything we think, see and feel is a welcome first step toward enlarging our understanding of this amazing organ.

Several articles about utility smart meters, most recently the profile of a retired EPA attorney who has concerns about them ("At the center of smart-meter fight," March 24), indicate that those opposed to the devices are mostly concerned about possible health risks of non-ionizing wireless radiation as smart meters send readings over the cell phone networks. If there is something to worry about with wireless radiation, look to your cell phone. It is used much closer to your body than a smart meter is going to be. In addition, the smart meter is outside your house, adding a further level of attenuation.

Concerns about utility smart meters are frequently dismissed as tinfoil-hat paranoia. But it's not so easy to dismiss Jonathan Libber. The Baltimore man delivers his arguments against the wireless devices in the calm manner of an attorney. He is, in fact, an attorney - retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, a point he notes when he reminds people of the country's spotty record of figuring out environmental hazards before they're widespread. As the force behind Maryland's smart-meter opposition, Libber is spending the early part of retirement in a way he'd never envisioned.

A RECENT STUDY in the journal Science concludes that dogs may be able to master vocabularies of up to 200 words. The border collie in the study exhibited advanced reasoning skills, using the process of elimination to figure out the meaning of new words. These findings have the experts pretty excited. I think the reaction of the average dog owner would be either, "See, I told you Fluffy understands every word I say," or, "That study doesn't begin to capture the brilliance of my little Fluffy."

AT&T customers in Maryland who connect to the Internet with smart phones are being taxed illegally, a class action lawsuit filed Friday alleges. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by a Baltimore law firm led by trial lawyer William H. Murphy Jr., says those Maryland customers have been improperly billed a 6 percent monthly state tax and a monthly local communications tax. The lawsuit is seeking refunds and contends that total damages could exceed tens of millions of dollars.

There are still "rock" acts on the Billboard Hot 100, but none will remind listeners of Clutch, the veteran Germantown quartet. Songs from popular, non-offensive acts such as the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons sound like sheepish lullabies compared to "Earth Rocker," Clutch's 10th full-length album. On "Earth Rocker," the members of Clutch seem aware that their brand of rock 'n' roll — the old-fashioned kind that thrives when played loud, fast and with a ton of attitude — isn't in fashion now, and hasn't been for a while.