Wales

North Harford High School's a cappella choir and Madrigals choir will represent the United States in this year's International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. The choirs are under the direction of Martha Banghart. The choristers from Pylesville will leave July 3 and l return July 13. Competing in the Eisteddfod is one of the highest honors that a choir can achieve. Some of the world's most talented singers have been discovered at this competition, including Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, Banghart said.

The old cliche that hip-hop headliners never take the stage on time was true on Thursday night at Rams Head Live. The Gaithersburg-born rapper Wale, the area's most prominent hip-hop artist on a national level, took the stage around midnight, an hour after he was scheduled to perform. But according to Wale, the delay wasn't his fault. At 11:51 p.m., Wale took to his Twitter account to inform fans he had just arrived after his professional driver was pulled over by police on the way to the venue.

ONE-FOURTH of the people of Wales want their own assembly to govern education, culture, housing and economic development. One-fourth are opposed. One-half don't care enough to vote either way. On this basis, Wales will be given an assembly, or Senedd, by Britain's Labor government. Last Thursday's referendum -- 50.3 percent in favor, a huge swing from the massive rejection of 1979 -- was the go-ahead.The Senedd will be the first attempt at a Welsh parliament in six centuries, and the earlier one was pathetic.

Mount St. Mary's senior Andrew Scalley (Archbishop Spalding) was honored as the Northeast Conference men's lacrosse Player of the Week.  Scalley opened the year with a total of five goals and five assists in the first two games of the season. In the Mount's 12-11 win over visiting No. 18 Bucknell on Sunday, he finished with a career-high eight points on three goals and five assists. His goal with 1:35 left in the game tied the score, and he assisted on the winner by Cody Lehrer (Dulaney)

Wales is known as the land of the Celts, of vast green meadows and coal mines, of poet Dylan Thomas and actor Richard Burton, and of towns with tongue-torturing names such as Merthyr Tydfil and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn-drobwllllantysiliogogogoch- no kidding.Raymond Carignan and Barry Bogage are selling a different vision of Wales: It's an image of the land of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Hoover vacuums, Ford automobiles and more Japanese manufacturing investment than in any other country outside of the United States.

Baltimore County's effort to craft an economically beneficial sister relationship with South Glamorgan County in Wales hasn't produced.Early talk of regular charter air connections between Cardiff, the Welsh county's main city, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport has faded. The proposed Baltimore appearance by the Choir of the World, a Welsh-based firm that recruits up to 10,000 choir members for a performance, is off.A Cardiff-based business group is planning to visit Baltimore next May, but only to inspect Baltimore's Inner Harbor, a success Welsh officials hope to duplicate on their own waterfront.

PHILADELPHIA -- With their 28-15-4 record, the Washington Capitals have had a solid impact on the NHL all season. And with Don Beaupre in goal for the Wales Conference squad during the second period of the All-Star Game, the pattern continued yesterday.Taking over for starter Patrick Roy and with his team trailing by 2-1, the only thing Beaupre lacked aside from help over the next 20 minutes was a blindfold and a last request.In 12 minutes, the Campbell Conference sent eight shots the Capitals goalie's way, and five of them found net.On only about half the six goals Beaupre allowed during the Campbell's 10-6 triumph could he be faulted.

Mount St. Mary's senior Andrew Scalley (Archbishop Spalding) was honored as the Northeast Conference men's lacrosse Player of the Week.  Scalley opened the year with a total of five goals and five assists in the first two games of the season. In the Mount's 12-11 win over visiting No. 18 Bucknell on Sunday, he finished with a career-high eight points on three goals and five assists. His goal with 1:35 left in the game tied the score, and he assisted on the winner by Cody Lehrer (Dulaney)

Close to the wire, it seemed as though the Taneytown city election tomorrow would be pointless. The mayoral candidate is unopposed, and until April 6 no one had filed to run for the two open city council seats.But by the deadline April 12, incumbent Brian E. Long and newcomers Darryl G. Hale and Bobby Wales Sr. had applied to run for the at-large seats, creating a race. Voters may choose two of the three, and the two highest vote-getters will win.The candidates all express a desire to preserve the city's small-town qualities while promoting economic growth, which the current government has set as a goal.

Brave Scotland and doughty Wales, having voted to establish their own legislatures after centuries of dependence on the Parliament in Westminster, have taken baby steps toward independence. They are tiptoeing away from the mother country.The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh boldly declared the aftermath of the vote, Sept. 11., "the first day of the rest of Scotland's life."It then added, more timorously, "We will make of it what we can."William Hague, the spokesman for the losers in the referendum, who want to keep Scotland firmly under English control, said the voters "had the wool pulled over their eyes."

Mildred J. Hailey, a homemaker and volunteer, died Monday of heart failure at Vasona Creek Rehabilitation Center in San Jose, Calif. The former Linthicum Heights resident was 87. The daughter of a businessman and a homemaker, the former Mildred Jones was born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, where she graduated from Howell's School for Girls. While working for the Red Cross during World War II, she met an American serviceman from Kentucky, William Thomas Hailey, who was with the 889th Signal Corps attached to the 8th Air Force.

Kayaking Marylanders Parsons, Queen make Olympics Bethesda's Scott Parsons secured a third straight U.S. Olympic team berth in men's kayaking with a dominant victory Saturday at a world cup event in Cardiff, Wales, and Darnestown's Caroline Queen narrowly secured her first Olympic team slot in the women's event, edging longtime friend Ashley Nee , also of Darnestown. Wrapping up a three-step Olympic trials selection process, Parsons topped two other Americans in Wales with his 11th-place finish in 97.62 seconds.

The Fillmore Silver Spring just loves Wale. The rapper, who just played the Live Nation venue in late October, will return January 1. The Fillmore bills it an "Encore. " Black Cobain will open. Wale has been recently dismissed as a sell-out by many in hip hop, including other rappers . But, he's proven he's relevant, at least on the Billboard charts, with a new hit album, "Ambition. " Tickets for the standing-room only show, at $35, went on sale Friday. Also at the Fillmore: 90s vets Flogging Molly, out with album "Speed of Darkness," will perform February 24. Tickets, at $30, go on sale Friday.

Very few rappers get second chances, but Wale did when he signed with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group earlier this year. "Ambition" - the D.C. rapper's sophomore album released last Tuesday - proves, at least from a numbers perspective, Wale deserved another shot at stardom. "Ambition" will debut on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 after selling 164,000 copies in its first week. Justin Bieber's Christmas album, the icky-titled "Under the Mistletoe," will be the only record above Wale's, with 210,000 copies sold.

Another day, another Wale concert. The Washington rapper, who just opened for Lupe Fiasco at Merriweather, and who'll perform at Morgan State's homecoming next month, announced a third regional date for this Fall. He'll perform at the Fillmore Silver Spring October 22. Tickets, at $31, go on sale Friday. Also doubling up on shows is Sting. This guy, who's out plugging a new 25th anniversary greatest hits collection, was scheduled to perform October 29 at DAR Constitution Hall.

Lately, Baltimore has been booking more hip-hop shows (The Throne will be watched Oct. Nov. 1, while J. Cole, Yelawolf and Young Money's Tyga will all be here in the fall, too), a welcome trend for a city so close to bigger markets Philadelphia and Washington. This weekend is particularly stacked: Lupe Fiasco's "Generation Laser" Tour (with D.C.'s Wale) hits Merriweather Post Pavilion Friday and the legendary Mobb Deep plays the new Baltimore Soundstage Sunday. All three acts are stopping by at interesting points in their careers.

Simone Ruth Appel, sales director for a hotel adjacent to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, died Tuesday of a brain tumor at her Pasadena home. She was 40. Born Simone Ruth Woolf in Prestatyn, North Wales, in the United Kingdom, she attended Kelsterton College in Connah's Quay, Wales. She moved to Baltimore 16 years ago and worked in sales for the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel at Baltimore and Hanover streets before becoming director of sales for the Hilton Garden Inn near BWI. A Mass was offered Friday.

The Princess of Wales has agreed to a divorce from the Prince. He gets the crown. She gets Wales and the Home Counties.This country has no Cuba policy. One year in four it has a South Florida election policy.Remember how recently the Democratic Party was the one that was supposed to be through?No one told Buchanan that Arizonans vote for the white hats.

This week the Smashing Pumpkins, Wale, Natalie Cole, Bryan Adams, Anthrax, and even Pauly Shore announced upcoming regional concerts. Wale, who's touring with new album "Ambition," has two area shows coming up: first, he'll open for Lupe Fiasco at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 16. Tickets for that show, starting at $36, are already on sale. Then, he'll perform at Morgan State University on October 6 during the school's homecoming week. Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, Meek Mill, Big Sean, Savoy, Miami Horror, Kendrick Lamar, Dom Kennedy will appear with Wale on some dates of the tour, though the press release did not say which ones.

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