Upbeat

Kevin Millar, Orioles first baseman How do you stay upbeat during a losing streak? Just keep battling. It makes you tougher. Tough times make you tougher. We just need to keep battling as a group. We can't feel sorry for ourselves.

Despite losing three straight games, the Ravens remain upbeat. But that might change if the Ravens don't win one of the next three games against Miami, Oakland and Cleveland. It's one thing to lose to Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Indianapolis, but it's another story to lose to three struggling teams, even if two of the three games are on the road. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ravensinsider)

LOCALLY Tessco Technologies Inc.Shares of the Hunt Valley-based company, which provides products and services to the wireless communications industry, soared 27 percent yesterday, gaining $2.76 to $12.98. Late Tuesday, Tessco reported earnings of 36 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter and gave upbeat expectations for this fiscal year and the next as well. NATIONALLY Cardinal Health Inc. The drug wholesaler's shares surged $8.02, or 20 percent, to $47.35, the largest jump in the S&P 500. Cardinal said in a delayed earnings report that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose after a restatement.

Larry Young, the Maryland senator expelled for ethics transgressions, said on his weekly radio show yesterday that he will meet with community and church groups this week before making a decision about his political future.His district's Democratic Central Committee has scheduled a meeting Feb. 10 to interview candidates for the Senate seat that Young held for a decade.Two weeks ago, when Young's colleagues removed him for using his public office for private gain, he said he hoped to reclaim the seat.

Enough of O.J., of flesh-eating bacteria, of massacres, wars and heat waves. It's time for some good news, or at least an upbeat perspective.Let's start with the bacteria that, according to one lurid tabloid confessional, "ate my face." It's true, a form of streptococcus bacteria that destroys flesh is alive and well. But -- good news -- the odds are slim the average person will become food for another tabloid headline, or that grim and grisly forms of strep infections are arising. The number of cases fits normal patterns; there is no epidemic.

When the Hubble Space Telescope was first proposed, the New York Times ran a story saying that Baltimore would become the center of the universe for astronomy. The reality is that because of the Hubble's problems, it's become instead one of a handful of major observatories around the world. A notable achievement, but much less than was hoped.Although the Hubble can still be fixed, we're talking about the proverbial race against time here: The telescope is expected to last only about 15 years before major systems begin to fail and fixing it becomes impractical.

WASHINGTON -- If George Bush is about to lose this election he doesn't seem to know it yet.Star-spangled bands still play, red, white and blue placards still wave, crowds nearly swoon just at the sight of his gleaming aircraft. And the president is determinedly upbeat -- full of winks and waves, and grinning like he's 30 percentage points ahead instead of 10 to 20 points behind.Now in the final weeks of his last campaign after 30 years in politics, aides say Mr. Bush has found a kind of serenity that sustains him no matter what they or anybody else may think about his prospects.

In Baltimore City Teen gets 45 years in 2001 carjacking, killing of woman The third of four defendants was sentenced yesterday to life in prison with all but 45 years suspended for his role in the carjacking and killing of a Glen Burnie pharmacist two years ago. Larry J. Walker Jr. pleaded guilty last year to seven charges, including first-degree felony murder, carjacking and kidnapping in the death of Yvette A. Beakes in August 2001. Assistant State's Attorney Sharon Holback said Walker must serve at least half his sentence.

DURING THEIR MANY years in the minority wilderness, Republicans had an adage they called the 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." The Grand Old Party wasn't always able to follow that dictum on its way to taking over Washington and state houses in much of the country. But it's good advice for the Democrats to keep in mind as they conclude their battle for the presidential nomination. Any low blows they land now on their ultimate standard-bearer are likely to haunt him through the general election contest with President Bush.

Yesterday was National Be a Millionaire Day, and Dee Wright came up short. OK, most of us came up short on National Be a Millionaire Day. But Wright, who created the day in 1997 and had it listed in the Chase Calendar of Events, had made it her personal goal to be a millionaire by that day. She missed, she cheerfully admits. Missed by a lot. So what? "If people are disappointed, they are no more disappointed than I," an upbeat Wright conceded by telephone yesterday. "It shows what the American struggle and experience are all about.