Virginia

Four trucks laden with 100 slot machines arrived early Wednesday morning at the nearly completed casino at Arundel Mills mall. For the next two hours, workers wheeled banks of the gleaming new machines, one by one, inside on hand trucks. Installation of the first set of slots moved Maryland Live! Casino, the state's largest, another step closer to its scheduled opening in three months. That's progress for Maryland's lackluster gambling program, which has yet to be fully implemented more than three years after voters approved five slots locations statewide.

Virginia Beach continues to grow, adding restaurants, retail, meeting space and other improvements. The Laskin Road Gateway's $100 million development continues with the goal of transforming the surrounding 31st Street and oceanfront area into a pedestrian-friendly corridor with high-end dining, retail and entertainment. Virginia Beach What's new Todd Jurich's 21st Century BurgerBar, 530 Winston Salem Ave., 757-351-0488, toddsburgerbar.com. For one of the best views of Virginia Beach's Rudee Inlet, head to newly opened BurgerBar, which features 100 percent grass-fed beef, nitrogen shakes and parmesan truffle fries.

Contributor Larry Hogan has written one more anti-O'Malley screed comparing Virginia to Maryland, but he has ignored the facts about the two state governments ("Look to Va. For how to grow private investment," Feb. 3). According to theU.S. Census Bureaustatistics for 2010, Maryland state government has 88,318 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees while Virginia has 124,709. Who has the "bloated state government," Mr. Hogan? And how is Virginia more prosperous than Maryland when the average household income in Maryland is $70,000 per year compared to Virginia's $61,044?

Steele Stanwick (Loyola High) fed fellow senior attackman Chris Bocklet for a fourth-quarter goal that proved to be the difference as No. 5 seed Virginia outlasted visiting Princeton, 6-5, Sunday afternoon in NCAA tournament first-round game. The six goals were the fewest the Cavaliers (12-3) had ever scored in an NCAA tournament win, and the 11 total goals tied for the fifth-fewest ever in a tournament game. Bocklet and senior midfielder Colin Briggs led Virginia with two goals apiece, while Stanwick - one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award, given to the top college player - added an assist.

A Northern Virginia baking company is moving its operations to Prince George's County, where it will employ 60 people, with plans to nearly double its workforce in the next three to five years. Gold Crust Baking Co. of Alexandria, a 10-year-old company, produces more than 20 million pounds of dough annually for hotels, restaurants and caterers in the Mid-Atlantic region. The company tapped financing support from Maryland Economic Development Corp., a quasi-state agency that pursues job creation projects, to borrow money at a lower interest rate.

No. 14 Syracuse (2-0) at No. 1 Virginia (3-0) Sunday, 4:30 p.m. The Orange won last year's meeting, 12-10, at the Carrier Dome, but that was only the second time in the past nine contests that Syracuse had prevailed in the series. The Orange has surrendered just 16 goals in two games this season, but can that retooled defense contain a Cavaliers offense headlined by reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Steele Stanwick (Loyola) and fellow senior attackman Chris Bocklet?

There is a very good reason why a Virginia delegate should not be lecturing Gov. Martin O'Malley on his support for same-sex marriage ("On marriage, O'Malley should heed O'Brien," Aug 16). His appeal to lofty ideals such as natural law and even Thomas Jefferson ring hollow when one considers that it was Virginia which produced the test case of Loving v. Virginia 388 U.S. 1 (1967). The Loving plaintiffs were challenging the Virginia miscegenation statute (called the Racial Integrity Act in Jim Crow parlance)

Maryland's run to the College Cup fell one game short Friday as No. 2 seed Virginia topped the Terps, 3-0, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA men's soccer championship at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The Cavaliers' first goal came in the fifth minute when Neil Barlow 's cross from the near sideline misdirected off the Terrapins' back line and into the back of the net. After the goal, Maryland regrouped quickly and had a pair of shots at...

No. 2 Johns Hopkins (7-0) boasts a wide advantage in this series, winning 55 of 84 contests. But the Blue Jays are 4-10 against Virginia since Dave Pietramala became the head coach prior to the 2001 season. Making matters worse, the No. 1 Cavaliers (8-0) haven't lost in this series in Charlottesville, Va., since 1998. Virginia is looking for its fourth 9-0 start in the last five years. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Klockner Stadium on Saturday. 1)

Though Virginia women's lacrosse coach Julie Myers understands it's going to be impossible to escape coverage of the death of Cockeysville's Yeardley Love, Myers is trying her best to keep the story from continuing to consume her life, or the lives of her players. Of course, that's easier said than done when every time Myers speaks to a reporter there's another reminder of May 3, when U.Va. men's lacrosse player George Huguely was charged with the first-degree murder of Love in her Charlottesville apartment.

A cocaine trafficking ring that for years distributed "vast amounts" of Honduran cocaine throughout the mid-Atlantic region has been busted, and three Maryland residents and 25 Virginia residents involved have been arrested, according to federal prosecutors. The drug ring, based in Northern Virginia, routinely paid couriers to fly into the United States from Honduras with cocaine stashed in shoes, decorative wooden frames and other "innocuous items" that would blend in with their luggage, according to a statement on the bust released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Keith Russell Judd, better known as the federal inmate who scored 41 percent of the vote against President Barack Obama in the West Virginia primary, wanted to be on the ballot in Maryland, too. Without Judd in his path, Obama cruised to an 88 percent victory. Blame U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, who last year dismissed Judd's complaint against the Maryland State Board of Elections in which he alleged he was being wrongly kept on the ballot. Bennett referred to Judd, who is serving a 210-month sentence in a Texas federal prison for extortion, as a "prolific and vexatious litigant who has filed more than 748 cases in federal courts since 1997.

The Washington Redskins urged Maryland's highest court Thursday not to force the team to pay workers' compensation benefits to its former wide receiver Darnerien McCants, arguing that the claim involving his injuries belongs in Virginia, where the NFL team is based. "There's no question that by far, the bulk of his work activities occurred in Virginia," David O. Godwin, a lawyer for the football team told the Court of Appeals, saying that the team offices and training facilities are in Ashburn, Va., and that McCants is "forum-shopping" for benefits.

Time will tell if No. 13 Johns Hopkins' 10-9 overtime win against top-ranked Loyola will prove to be a turning point for the Blue Jays. But to help the team snap out of a 1-3 skid, coach Dave Pietramala and defensive coordinator Bill Dwan took the players on a little journey to the past. “[O]ne of the things we did was, I asked Bill Dwan, who does a lot of our film study, if he would make a highlight film for the guys,” Pietramala said during his post-game conference. “I think it was Princeton, Syracuse and Virginia, and we just put it on in the locker room and let it run. And it was all good plays.

Steele Stanwick (Loyola) set a career-high at Mile High Friday night, scoring six goals to power No. 6 Virginia past Penn, 10-8, at the Mile High Classic in Denver. Stanwick moved up to No. 22 on the all-time career points list in men's lacrosse with 260. Virginia has won four straight against the Quakers (3-10). No. 2 Massachusetts 17, Delaware 6: Will Manny had six goals to power the visiting Minutemen (13-0, 6-0 Colonial Athletic Association) past the Blue Hens (6-9, 1-5)

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When the Bratton twins, Rhamel and Shamel, were being recruited out of high school in Huntington, N.Y., all the college coaches knew they were cocky, arrogant and full of themselves. Not much has changed the last four years during their stay at Virginia. The question, though, is can No. 9 Virginia (9-5) survive without the two dominating midfielders and make a serious run deep into the post season? Shamel Bratton (20 goals, eight assists) was dismissed from team and Rhamel (17, 5)

Junior midfielder Colin Briggs scored five goals and Virginia's zone defense stifled Maryland as the Cavaliers won their first national title since 2006, 9-7, on Monday at M&T Bank Stadium. Sophomore attackman Matt White added three goals for Virginia, and sophomore midfielder Nick O'Reilly pitched in a goal and three assists. Senior attackman Grant Catalino had two goals and an assist for Maryland. Despite the presence of a local team, the announced attendance for the game was just 35,661.

Laurel residents Thomas Smith, a student at Atholton High, and Alexandra Barrett, a student at Reservoir High, were among 250 individuals selected as National Youth Delegates to the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment, June 24-29 at George Mason University, in Virginia. They will represent Maryland and were chosen based on academic accomplishments and a demonstrated interest and excellence in leadership in the sciences and conservation studies.

As part of ESPN's coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Friday and two critical Big East contests Saturday, Paul Carcaterra will be offering commentary from the network's studio. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, provided his thoughts on the top team in Division I, Duke's mastery of Virginia and Villanova's upset potential against Notre Dame. With Virginia losing to Duke and Johns Hopkins falling to Maryland, which team did you have at No. 1?