University Of Virginia

Peter Taylor, 77, a Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist whose stories poignantly chronicled the slow disappearance of the Southern aristocracy, died of pneumonia Wednesday night at the University of Virginia Hospital at Charlottesville, Va. He had suffered a series of strokes over the last few years. He won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for the novel "A Summons to Memphis," about a man called home by his sisters to stop their widowed father from remarrying. It was Taylor's first novel in nearly 40 years.

WASHINGTON -- Reacting to widespread complaints from Christian legal advocates, the Supreme Court said yesterday that it will reconsider a lower court ruling that bars a state university from subsidizing a student magazine because it espouses an "avowedly Christian" perspective.In recent years, Christian legal groups have complained that the high court's insistence on a strict separation of church and state sometimes translates into discrimination against mainstream religious groups.For example, some school and state college officials have said that their institutions may subsidize student groups which promote feminism, environmentalism, gay rights or a variety of other causes but they may not subsidize student groups that promote religion.

William M. WoodInsurance executiveWilliam Maxwell Wood, a retired insurance executive, died June 2 of an intestinal infection at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. The former Baltimore resident was 65.He worked in a family insurance concern from the 1950s until 1979, when he went to work in Washington for two insurers. He retired because of illness in January.He was named for his great-grandfather William M. Wood, the first surgeon general of the Navy, who owned Rosewood in Owings Mills, now the site of the state hospital.

Overtime periods in high school basketball games will be four minutes instead of three starting with the 1994-95 season, the National Federation of State High School Associations announced last week.The change from the current three-minute overtime, in effect since 1961, was one of 10 new rules announced.Rules committee chairman Rich Wulkow said the longer overtime makes for a "real-game situation, as opposed to a three-minute overtime period in which the team with possession would often just try to hold the ball."

The Citadel was a great idea 150 years ago -- a military school situated down South Carolina way, in case a Civil War might break out.It was all male, of course. Pretty much all the colleges were. Besides, if Scarlett O'Hara had wanted to attend college, she wasn't going anywhere that required double-time marching.Times have changed. The Citadel, a center of antediluvian thought, had not. Until yesterday.It was yesterday, on her 19th birthday, that Shannon Faulkner walked, maybe in double time, through the hallowed halls and headed to class -- a Supreme Court ruling in her hip pocket -- to become The Citadel's first woman student.

Colleen Gately, Severna Park, senior, attack -- The Falcons' fastest forward, she led the team in scoring with 13 goals and eight assists. Gately, Tressa Campbell and Amy Senger were the offense's one-two-three punch. "With Colleen's speed, teammates could feed the ball in front of her and she could run into the ball and take it in," coach Lil Shelton said. "She's a good dodger and has great stickwork." Shelton calls her "goal hungry," determined to do whatever it takes to put the ball in the goal.

Peter R. Kutscha, an architect and a noise abatement official at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, died Saturday of complications from surgery and AIDS.Mr. Kutscha, who was 31 and lived on Tunbridge Road, had worked for the airport administration for more than a year, with responsibility for noise abatement for 700 homes under flight paths.Earlier, he had worked for architectural firms and maintained his own practice, working on projects that included improvements at the Druid Hill Park swimming pool.

Cristi Samaras, 16, of AnnapolisSchool: Annapolis HighAccomplishments: Cristi, vice president of her junior class this year, has been elected vice president of her senior class.She is a member of the girls soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams at school in addition to the basketball team at St. Constantine and St. Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Annapolis.One of Cristi's greatest thrills occurred when, during a trip to Vail, Colo., with the lacrosse team, she was invited to play on an adult lacrosse team.

DAVIDSON, N.C. -- No split titles, no penalty kicks and n doubt. The University of Virginia has the best men's college soccer team in the country.The Cavaliers confirmed expectations and won their third NCAA Division I championship in four years, defeating the University of San Diego, 2-0, in yesterday's final at Richardson Field on the campus of Davidson College."

In yesterday's Howard section, a feature article on Greg Seward should have said that he is a student at Hammond High School.The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.Recipient: Greg Seward, 17, of ColumbiaSchool: Wilde Lake High SchoolWhy Greg was chosen: He holds a 4.0 grade point average and is president of the National Honor Society. He played varsity football as well as varsity lacrosse. He won the school's scholar-athlete award. He volunteers for the American Cancer Society as well as the Leukemia Society of America.