Yields

Examine the photograph accompanying the article on MTA testing vocal warnings on buses ("Talking buses can keep pedestrians on their toes," March 29). Pedestrians already look both ways, and naturally so, as taught from childhood, before crossing with the light. Previously your worry was ignorant drivers driving through red lights or honking their horn if you didn't move fast enough. Pedestrians will now be startled by the loud mechanical voice of a bus behind them. As the picture suggests, you are distracted in this already dangerous activity of crossing a street by a bus "noise" and turn your attention behind you. A bus warning pedestrians that a bus is turning?

What a difference an election makes. Two years ago, I reported in these pages on the gloomy, bunker-like atmosphere at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Conservatives and fellow travelers were then reeling from two straight election-cycle losses, culminating in the most liberal president in at least half a century. Worse, there was then no obvious leader to pick up the conservative colors after the exhausting tenure of George W. Bush and the stunning failure of the 2008 McCain/Palin ticket.

The free agent cupboard is almost bare, so you can head off to Fanfest this weekend or book a trip to Florida in February or March with a pretty good idea of what the Orioles are going to look like in 2011. Oh, there are a few remaining players — most notably veteran slugger Vladimir Guerrero — who could enter the picture before pitchers and catchers report to the newly renovated O's spring training facility in three weeks, but nothing is likely to happen that will substantially change the outlook for the coming season.

Thursday night's game isn't likely to be one Lardarius Webb remembers fondly. The second-year cornerback, who got his first career interception last week against Miami, started opposite former Maryland star Josh Wilson , who officially made his first start of season. But midway through the first quarter, the Ravens yanked Webb for two series, replacing him with a rotation of Chris Carr and Fabian Washington , in part because Falcons wide receiver Roddy White had beaten Webb on three crucial third-down plays.

Whatever tea — or other beverage — voters are sipping in Delaware, it appears to stop flowing west at the Newark Toll Plaza and the Maryland state line. The two states may have held their primaries on the same day, but the results were drastically different. The selection of Sarah Palin-endorsed Christine O'Donnell over moderate Rep. Michael N. Castle, a popular former governor who had never previously lost an election, in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Delaware suggests a right-wing revolt is in full swing.

A Carroll County cyclist was killed Tuesday afternoon after he was struck by a tractor-trailer while riding in Union Bridge, according to Maryland State Police – the latest cycling fatality on Baltimore-area roads. Arthur John Martin Jr., 51, of New Windsor was riding his bike on Shepherds Mill Road when a tractor-trailer driven by Anthony Edward Woodie, 37, made a right turn onto Route 75 in front of him, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Based on preliminary investigation, troopers say that Woodie failed to yield to Martin when turning, but do not believe alcohol or high speeds were a factor.

After a yearlong, mostly volunteer restoration effort, Back River in eastern Baltimore County is rid of more than 170 tons of debris, 2,000 tires and just last week, eight huge conduit pipes from a construction site. The river, long considered one of Maryland's most degraded waterways, is showing signs of life. Volunteers are finding crayfish, turtles and even a few crabs. "People are actually stopping and seeing how much work we have done," said Brian Schilpp, a county teacher who coordinates the cleanup.

Despite weighing more than 100 pounds, manhole covers are worth less than $10 to Baltimore scrap metal dealers — if they are even willing to take them. Even so, the city discovered 17 of them missing Tuesday in Baltimore's largest manhole-cover theft in four years, the Department of Public Works said. Kurt Kocher, the department's spokesman, suspected that whoever took them was looking to sell them as scrap. "What else could you do with it?" Kocher said. The cast-iron covers were stolen from patches of grass on East Lombard Street near an industrial area.

Fourteen Maryland biotechnology companies tapped nearly $6 million in new funding from investors who qualified for a state tax credit. The Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit is a state-mandated program that allows for a 50 percent tax break, up to $250,000, per investor in a qualified biotech company. To qualify, companies must be less than 12 years old, have headquarters in Maryland, employ fewer than 50 people and be state-certified as a biotechnology company. The tax credit is a central component of Gov. Martin O'Malley's BioMaryland 2020 plan, a 10-year, $1.3 billion strategy for growing the state's biotech industry.