Tears

If your idea of an active weekend is to fire up the grill, pound a few burgers and beers and rock in the hammock, maybe you don't want to read this. You don't really sound like the type to show up in Monkton this Saturday for the so-called Rebel Race. But 4,500 people will be there for the chance to dash around a 5K or 15K obstacle course that features everything from a tall pyramid of hay bales to a steep wall draped with cargo nets to a mud pit topped with barbed wire. "It's an incredible challenge," said Mike Kiefer, a race spokesman.

Neill Lewnes missed UMBC's last six contests, but the senior-to-be is on pace to return to the team perhaps as early as fall workouts. The short-stick defensive midfielder tore the anterior cruciate ligament in a knee in the Retrievers' 16-12 victory over Hartford on March 31. The Arnold native and St. Mary's graduate sat out the remainder of the season, but his rehabilitation has been going well, according to coach Don Zimmerman. “He looks good,” he said of Lewnes. “He's getting around well.

At least nine tornadoes ripped through Maryland on Friday during a 41/2-hour period, the National Weather Service said Sunday. Tornadoes touched down in six counties - including one that left a four-mile path of destruction in Carroll County, according to the Weather Service. Two were injured in a separate tornado that tore through Pleasant Hills in Harford County. The first of the nine tornadoes hit at 2:29 p.m. and the last was at 7:06 p.m., the National Weather Service reported.

Baltimore is getting $10 million from the national mortgage settlement, and city officials intend to use almost all of it to demolish vacant homes -- about 700 in total. That's a snippet in the story about the state attorney general announcing how the state-controlled $60 million from the settlement will be spent . But it's interesting, and I thought you might like to know more. Julie Day, deputy commissioner for land resources at Baltimore's housing agency, said city officials have been working on a demolition strategy in the past few months and are delighted to be handed millions of dollars for anti-blight work.

The Orioles are starting to get back some of their key players from the disabled list, but it seems like there's another injury looming at every turn. The good news Monday was that infielder Mark Reynolds (oblique strain) was activated from the disabled list and started the team's series opener against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Outfielder Endy Chavez (intercostal strain) was en route to Toronto to join the club. He's scheduled to be activated Tuesday. Both Reynolds and Chavez were on minor league rehab assignments in Double-A Bowie.

The Anne Arundel County Council passed a resolution Monday night commending the county police department — but not its chief — for decreasing crime in 2011. The council passed the resolution only after approving an amendment specifically removing Police Chief James E. Teare Sr.'s name from the language. The councilmanic move follows another council resolution last month expressing no confidence in Teare. The council said it is concerned with Teare's ability to lead the police department in light of certain allegations in the March indictment of County Executive John R. Leopold.

When James Madison's women's lacrosse team comes to Towson this weekend to defend its Colonial Athletic Association tournament title, the Dukes will be without their best attacker, John Carroll graduate Casey Ancarrow who is sidelined for the second time in her college career with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Ancarrow, a third-team All-American last season, redshirted her freshman year with an ACL tear but was the CAA Rookie of the Year the following season. She is tied for the Dukes lead in goals with 34 and draw controls with 35 and is second in points with 43 despite missing the last three and a half games.

Orioles left fielder and leadoff hitter Nolan Reimold attributes his recent offensive tear to making one small step forward. Literally. Reimold, who entered Wednesday's game against the White Sox with home runs in each of his last four games, said he's made a small adjustment at the plate that is helping him see the ball better. “I have been striding too far, and it was making my head move a little bit and I was pulling off,” Reimold said. “So I've been working on having a smaller stride.

Anne Arundel County Council members voted 4-3 Monday night to adopt a resolution expressing no confidence in Police Chief Col. James E. Teare Sr., the latest example of increasing pressure on the chief in the aftermath of the indictment of County Executive John R. Leopold. The resolution declares that the council is concerned about Teare's ability to lead the department because of allegations raised in the indictment. It follows no-confidence votes by two police unions, as well as union ads calling for the county executive and the police chief to leave office until the charges against Leopold are resolved.

The union that represents Anne Arundel County's upper police ranks plans to run a radio ad beginning Thursday in support of the department's second-in-command, who has called for a federal probe of the department and said the force is "dysfunctional. " The International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents Anne Arundel's police lieutenants and sergeants, paid for the ad that trumpets Deputy Police Chief Lt. Col. Emerson C. Davis as having taken a "brave stand" by testifying in front of the County Council about alleged improprieties by his superiors.