Takoma

A Takoma Park youth was killed Saturday when he was hit by a pickup truck as he walked on Interstate 95 north of Route 32 in Savage, state police said.Henry Alvarez, 16, died after the driver of a 1994 Chevrolet pickup swerved into the slow lane where the victim and a friend were walking, Sgt. D. Austin of the Waterloo barracks said yesterday. The incident is being investigated.Man with knife robs driver at Jessup truck stopA man wielding a knife robbed a trucker of cash at a truck stop in Jessup Sunday night, Howard County police said.

A 27-year-old Takoma Park man, who drove women to locations in the Annapolis area for the purposes of prostitution, has been charged with numerous counts of human trafficking and prostitution. Freddy Leguisamon was arrested last month by Annapolis police, after an investigation that combined the efforts of several law enforcement and government agencies. He faces 54 counts of general prostitution, eight counts of receiving compensation from human trafficking, five counts of taking another person to a place for the purpose of human trafficking, and four counts of operating a prostitution business.

A Takoma Park man was arrested Wednesday and charged with robbing two men at gunpoint at a Nov. 3 party in Columbia, county police said.Victor Adonay Villatoro, 18, of the 7700 block of Garland Avenue, was arrested after investigators received a tip that he was involved in the robbery, police said.The incident occurred at 2 a.m. as the two victims, both 20-year-olds from Silver Spring, left a party in the 6600 block of Corina Court, police said. Two men approached them, threatened them with a gun and took two gold chains they were wearing, police said.

Three hospitals have consistently outpaced all others in Maryland in the use of stents to treat heart patients, according to data obtained by The Baltimore Sun, raising questions as state regulators examine whether the expensive procedure is performed unnecessarily by some doctors. St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson became the subject of a state investigation earlier this year after it notified 585 patients that they might have received unneeded stents to prop open their arteries.

TAKOMA PARK - Technology and ingenuity have revived straw bale building - a resourceful and sustainable way to create living spaces, and one Maryland architect is proving its benefits by using straw to build an addition to his Takoma Park home. On a sunny day last month, volunteers and friends helped Bill Hutchins layer and stack straw bales on top of each other, pinning them together with bamboo. The group labored for free while Hutchins taught them how to build with renewable resources.

TAKOMA PARK - Larry Hodes had the do-it-yourself concept, the steel pipe and all the time an early retirement allows, yet something was missing. He went looking for it on a recent Saturday at the local tool lending library. Where else to spend such a sublime spring day but inside a trailer the size of a large Dumpster, fenced in chain link and barbed wire? The sun didn't shine on these many saws and hammers, nor on the workbench where Hodes spent hours pursuing visions of a dolly to wheel his canoe from place to place.

The Tamir Goodman show hit Keymar last night, and he brought a co-host. Guard Joe Mathis scored a team-high 20 points, and Takoma Academy broke open a close game with an 18-10 third quarter to roll past host Bowling Brook, 72-60, in a Beltway Basketball League matchup. Thoroughbreds senior forward Ian Brenner led all scorers with 24 points, but only senior guard Randy Echols could join his teammate in double digits. Meanwhile, Goodman -- playing in just his second game after he sprained and partially tore a ligament in his left ankle on Dec. 14 -- had a solid all-around game as he recorded 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

The first time Jim Palmer had the chance to watch Steve Barber pitch in person, during an exhibition game in Aberdeen, S.D., in 1964, the future Hall of Famer held one recurring thought in his head. Toiling at the Single-A level, which seemed worlds away from where Barber made his living with the Orioles, Palmer said he kept thinking, "Gee, how am I ever going to get to the big leagues?" Palmer made it a few years later, won three Cy Young Awards and became the only pitcher to earn a World Series victory in three different decades.

James Phillips Memorial service will be Saturday, October 11 at 2P.M. in Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, at the corner of Larch and New Hampshire Ave. in Takoma Park MD. Remembrances can be donated to CHADD- 301-306-7070

Heather R. Mizeur Occupation: Domestic policy director for U.S. Sen. John Kerry; member of Takoma Park City Council, representing Ward 2. In the news: Waging an upstart campaign, Mizeur was elected a Democratic national committeewoman from Maryland at a state party convention this month, replacing Susan W. Turnbull of Bethesda, who became vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Mizeur defeated Mary Jo Neville, who had been filling the position temporarily. Career highlights: Mizeur started on Capitol Hill in 1994, and worked for three members of Congress.

NICHOLAS MAW, 73 Composer taught at the Peabody British composer Nicholas Maw, who taught music composition at the Peabody Conservatory from 1998 until last year and who was known for his opera based on the novel Sophie's Choice, died Tuesday of heart failure in his Takoma Park home. Mr. Maw's neo-Romantic, post-modernist compositions were praised for their rich textures. His creations "forged a musical language which is truly vibrant and sensuous, and which borrows both from the old and the new," wrote David Cooper in the International Dictionary of Opera.

With a guilty plea Wednesday by a 52-year-old Takoma Park man, federal prosecutors brought to a close their case against four defendants accused of orchestrating a large-scale mortgage scheme that cost dozens of people their homes. Acknowledgment by Earnest Lewis that he had committed wire fraud came a day after a similar admission in U.S. District Court by his 57-year-old brother, Michael K. Lewis, also of Takoma Park, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud arising from a scheme in which, prosecutors said, he and his co-conspirators targeted financially vulnerable individuals who were trying to save their homes from foreclosure.

James Phillips Memorial service will be Saturday, October 11 at 2P.M. in Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, at the corner of Larch and New Hampshire Ave. in Takoma Park MD. Remembrances can be donated to CHADD- 301-306-7070

Maryland motorists could hardly believe their eyes the other day when a few gas stations around the state advertised fuel at $1.85 a gallon. Prices haven't been at that level since January of 2005, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. But the fuel selling at $1.85 a gallon at five stations was different from that offered by the vast majority of other stations in the state. It contained only a small amount of imported oil. The primary ingredient was corn, grown by farmers throughout the state.

Eric Hutchinson's real big break came after he thought he had already gotten it. About three years ago, the pop singer-songwriter-musician was signed to Maverick Records, the Warner Bros.-distributed label partly founded by Madonna, whose roster included the likes of Alanis Morrissette and Michelle Branch. But just as Hutchinson was about to begin work on his major-label debut, Maverick shut down. The Takoma Park native was back where he started - making music on his own. It took nearly two years to receive a buyout from the company.

TAKOMA PARK -- Mary Feldman swore up and down before she moved into senior housing that she would never spend her time exclusively with older people. Stultifies one's thinking, Feldman, 87, said firmly on a recent evening before placing some tiles on a Scrabble board slowly filling up with the likes of retime and hover. So the motley crew of competitors joining her that night for Scrabble pleased her enormously. Around the table sat Evelyn Cameron, 63, Larry Ravitz, 56, and Julius Morgan, 12. On the surface, the foursome - a retired librarian, a semiretired real estate developer with three kids, a game enthusiast with a master's degree in medieval studies and a polite middle school student - don't have much in common.

NICHOLAS MAW, 73 Composer taught at the Peabody British composer Nicholas Maw, who taught music composition at the Peabody Conservatory from 1998 until last year and who was known for his opera based on the novel Sophie's Choice, died Tuesday of heart failure in his Takoma Park home. Mr. Maw's neo-Romantic, post-modernist compositions were praised for their rich textures. His creations "forged a musical language which is truly vibrant and sensuous, and which borrows both from the old and the new," wrote David Cooper in the International Dictionary of Opera.

Where: Montgomery College Planetarium on Takoma Park campus. It is adjacent to the Science South Building on Fenton Street. Directions are on the school's Web site. See Web address in last column. When: 8 p.m. Saturday. Why: Hear live jazz by Mind Over Matter/Music Over Mind as you sit back in the planetarium seats and watch the night sky projected on the dome above. There will also be a laser show coordinated with the music. The event is free. Information: Call Dr. Harold Williams at 301-650-1463 or visit www.montgomerycollege.

The first time Jim Palmer had the chance to watch Steve Barber pitch in person, during an exhibition game in Aberdeen, S.D., in 1964, the future Hall of Famer held one recurring thought in his head. Toiling at the Single-A level, which seemed worlds away from where Barber made his living with the Orioles, Palmer said he kept thinking, "Gee, how am I ever going to get to the big leagues?" Palmer made it a few years later, won three Cy Young Awards and became the only pitcher to earn a World Series victory in three different decades.