Women

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

With Salisbury's offense averaging 16.33 goals per game -- second best in Division III women's lacrosse -- it can be difficult for even the best defense to get much attention. In Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal win over Franklin & Marshall, however, the defense stole the spotlight. If it hadn't, the No. 2 Sea Gulls (21-0) wouldn't be playing in Saturday's NCAA Division III semifinal. The Sea Gulls' attack struggled when the Diplomats put a face guard on offensive leader Katie Bollhorst, but the defense remained its usual stingy self and made sure Salisbury came away with an 8-6 victory in their closest call of the season.

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

My mother went into paid work soon after my father's clothing store was flooded out in a hurricane, almost wiping him out. She had no choice. We needed the money. This was some two decades before a tidal wave of wives and mothers went into paid work. For the relatively few women with four-year college degrees, this change was the consequence of wider educational opportunity and new laws against gender discrimination that opened professions to well-educated women. But the vast majority of women entered the paid workforce because male wages were dropping.

For many folks headed to Preakness, the focus of the afternoon isn't the race. It's the fashion — and we don't just mean hats. If you're in the grandstands, the Jockey Club area or Corporate Village, you'll want to dress the part. Betsy Dugan, owner of Bettina Collections in Cross Keys and former co-owner of Octavia in Pikesville, has been dressing women for Preakness for years. "This is the time ... to dress up," she said. If there's one rule of thumb, it's that ladies and gentlemen at Preakness should look like ...well, ladies and gentlemen.

Actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy rather than risk developing breast cancer hit close to home for Melissa DeSantis, a Bel Air mother of three children. As DeSantis read about Jolie's experience, she began to feel a sense of kinship to the Hollywood star. DeSantis also made the tough decision to have her breasts removed in a February surgery. Like Jolie, she had one of the inherited gene mutations that leaves many women more likely to develop cancer.

A Congolese native who had diligently cared for her comatose husband for more than a dozen years needed $1,000 to restore electricity to their home. Another woman, whose son had been murdered a year earlier, finally found employment and housing after recovering from a nervous breakdown and needed $650 for a security deposit on an apartment. When $1,000 or less prevents a woman in dire circumstances from taking a major step toward reversing the downward spiral of her life, the Response Network of the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County comes alive.

Sports apparel maker Under Armour is launching its third "What's Beautiful" online fitness competition for women, the company said Wednesday. Women compete by setting fitness goals and chronicling the journey in an online forum. Under Armour will select the three most inspirational women, who will win all-expenses-paid fitness retreats to Costa Rica. The competition will be hosted through a mobile app and a microsite  where women can share videos, photos and diary entries and view content featuring Under Armour athletes and professional trainers.

The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition will sponsor a women's health expo from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sheraton Hotel, 173 Jennifer Road, Annapolis. Information on medical research advances, skin care, stress management, nutrition and more will be featured, The registration fee is $40 and includes breakfast. To register online go to nocc.kintera.org/centralmd or call 443-433-2597.

There will be a presentation on depression/anxiety and self-defense for women from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Jenkins Memorial Church, 133 Riviera Drive, Pasadena. Program will feature speakers from the Domestic Violence Crises Center, Legal Department, Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman's office and the States Attorneys Office. Information: 410-437-2846.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced this week that it will elevate its men's and women's club lacrosse teams to Division III varsity status effective with the 2014-2015 academic year. The teams will compete in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference in the spring of 2015. "This is a very significant stride for the CGA athletics program," athletic director Tim Fitzpatrick said. "It's a great thing to be able to accommodate the interests and talents of so many cadets by bringing two very strong club programs to the varsity level.

Actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy rather than risk developing breast cancer hit close to home for Melissa DeSantis, a Bel Air mother of three children. As DeSantis read about Jolie's experience, she began to feel a sense of kinship to the Hollywood star. DeSantis also made the tough decision to have her breasts removed in a February surgery. Like Jolie, she had one of the inherited gene mutations that leaves many women more likely to develop cancer.

Behind a door just off the paddock area of Pimlico Race Course , several jockeys are prepping for the day's races. They're handicapping the competition, comparing notes on horses and, in at least one case, going through a yoga sequence: reaching back to pull one leg high overhead in the Dancer's Pose, touching nose to knee for the Pyramid. Perhaps this is also happening in the men's locker room, but there's decidedly more stretching space here where the female jockeys suit up, shower and await their calls to the track.

Loyola saw its season come to an end Sunday in the second round of the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament, losing to No. 3 seed North Carolina, 19-9, at Chapel Hill. The Greyhounds' Taryn VanThof scored the game's first goal, but North Carolina (14-3) scored the next five, and with a 12-8 halftime lead, put the game away with seven more. Sophomore Annie Thomas (John Carroll) led Loyola (11-8) with five points on four goals and one assist, while junior Marlee Paton had four points on three goals and one assist.

I am a female sports fan. I go to games, watch them on TV, download the apps, read the stats, and buy the T-shirts. I recently heard about the launch of a new professional women's soccer league, and I started thinking about the sports to which I am attached. They are all professional male sports - plus men's college basketball - but I have never thought about why. I suspect it has to do with my age (51), which limited my exposure to girl's athletics - Title IX was just beginning to be implemented when I was in school - as well as my sports fan role model, my father.

The one thing Navy could always count on from its women's lacrosse team was a high-powered offense. On Sunday, that offense seemed to run out of gas. The Midshipmen saw their season end with a thud in the NCAA tournament's second round with a resounding 10-5 loss to Duke at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. After taking a 4-2 lead, the Mids (19-2) gave up seven unanswered goals. The story, however, was the Duke defense. The Blue Devils (14-5) constantly harassed Navy's offensive quartet of Jasmine DePompeo, Aimee Gennaro, Kathy Young and Jill Coughlin, and the frustration became evident.

Commentator Jessica Valenti suggests that throughout history men have wanted to control women ("A war on women," Feb. 29). After following the Republican primaries recently, I tend to agree. I'm pro-life and anti-abortion but smart enough and anti-government enough to want law enforcement out of the situation. One would think those Republicans who clamor for less government would concur. I fail to understand why anyone - male or female - would oppose birth control. As much as our culture likes to believe we're all unisex and our differences have been erased, the reality is that nothing has changed.

For the second time this season, Stony Brook forced a Maryland women's lacrosse offense that loves to run and gun into a more deliberate attack. The strategy slowed the Terps , but it wasn't enough to beat them. After giving up an early goal and struggling to find the openings in the Seawolves' zone defense, the No. 1 Terps scored six straight times to spark an 11-3 victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday at Maryland's Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. The Terps (20-0)

Molly Fernandez (McDonogh) scored her 100th career goal and Mackenzie Cyr (Winters Mill) recorded a team-high three points as the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team edged visiting Canisius, 14-13, in an NCAA Division I tournament first-round game Friday night. The Nittany Lions (13-6), who secured their first 13-win season since 1999, advanced to the NCAA second round and will face Massachusetts Sunday at 1 p.m. Cyr recorded her sixth hat trick of the season, while Fernandez had two to reach the 100-goal plateau.