Yara

The parents of a 4-year-old girl killed in an accident last month filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit yesterday against the 33-year-old driver who investigators allege was driving drunk when he crashed into their car. Mohamed Farag Younis and Ghada Abdelraouf Elmetwally claim that Marcos P.S. Amaya had too much to drink and was impaired when he got behind the wheel of a Jeep on July 13. The lawsuit claims wrongful death and asks for $10 million in...

At first glance, Ty Lanahan's 3-hour, 4-second finish in the Boston Marathon eight days ago is a fairly respectable showing.Lanahan has been running for only a year and a half, and not until this year has he gotten his marathon training log up to 80 miles a week.But considering what he has done in the last half year -- in the Marine Corps Marathon, in the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon and the London Marathon -- his statment, "I only ran through Boston with some friends," is not idle boasting.

Donations poured in yesterday to help fund life-saving cancer treatments for Barney, the Baltimore County Fire Department search dog.One woman put a $600 donation on her credit card, said Yara Joeckel, a receptionist at the Falls Road Animal Hospital. "It's been out of control," she said.By late yesterday afternoon, the hospital had received more than 200 phone calls, and about a dozen people had left donations of $10 to $50.The Fire Department made a public appeal Thursday to get help for Barney, a 6-year-old golden retriever recently diagnosed with lymphosarcoma.

Baltimore County would add classrooms for thousands of students under a budget proposal unveiled Monday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz - a plan advocates hope signals a commitment to solve the overcrowding that has plagued the school system. "There's an acknowledgment of the number of seats needed, and there seems to be the will to fund the additional seats," said Yara Cheikh, president of the PTA at Hampton Elementary School in Towson, the county's most overcrowded school. Kamenetz's proposal includes a $2.8 billion operating budget and a $339 million capital budget.

One of the more interesting road-racing announcements recently received was for the 20th annual Avenue of the Giants Marathon on May 5. Run at Dyerville Bridge, 200 miles north of San Francisco, the run is described by the Six Rivers Running Club as taking place in a "secluded, quiet area. Mostly flat, paved road winding through the redwoods.""Giant virgin redwoods await you," the club advertises on its entry form. "Enjoy marathoning again."All of which brings to mind one of the most frequently received running questions in The Sun sports department from conventioneers and tourists to Baltimore: Are there any races taking place this weekend?

Some road-running clubs, such as the Baltimore Road Runners, spread their championship series over a year; others, such as the Renaissance AllSports Athletic Club in Harford County, concentrate their races in a season.Four races into its Snowflake Series, which began with the St. Mary's Six on Jan. 1 and will conclude with the Hinte-Anderson Trail 50K on March 24, RASAC held the Hickory 7-Miler on Saturday.For being a relatively small club of about 250 members, RASAC is not short on diversity.

All You Need Is Love" serves as the theme song for Imagine That the way "It Only Takes a Moment" did for Wall-E. When driven financial analyst Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) uses it to teach his 7-year-old daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) how to carry a tune, the scene sums up what director Karey Kirkpatrick thinks fathers and kids should do together: not act in perfect harmony, but raise a joyful noise. The movie is, in one way, bracingly old-fashioned. Although it pivots on Olivia's private fantasy world, complete with queen, princesses and fire-breathing dragon, this is one family film that abjures special effects.

Ken Fowler confirms what many area runners have been saying since the Men's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in April: that the performance of the Maryland contingent was exceptional."

Outside, the beaming sun and warm air may shout, "It's spring!" But hit the tennis court, running trail or softball field too quickly, and your body might do some shouting of its own: "It's still winter!"Just because the calendar changes and the outdoors beckons doesn't mean your body is ready for it. If winter is your off-season, your time to chill out from the rigors of summer sports, you probably need some spring training of your own."Take it slowly," advises Lou Lyon, an exercise physiologist at Mercy Medical Center.

For the second time in 10 months, Mays Chapel residents on Monday night used a public hearing before the Baltimore County Board of Education to express their opposition to the use of Mays Chapel Park for a new 700-seat elementary school. Over the course of the two-hour hearing at Loch Raven High on Jan. 14, many of the three dozen speakers cited economic, environmental and personal reasons for the board to vote down the park as a schoolhouse location in what will be the board's second vote on the matter.