Featured Articles from the Baltimore Sun

A 19-year-old honors student convicted of strangling his girlfriend and burying her in a shallow grave because she broke up with him was sentenced in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Adnan Masud Syed maintained his innocence at his sentencing on first-degree murder and kidnapping convictions, even as his attorney asked Judge Wanda K. Heard for mercy when punishing Syed because the killing was "a crime of passion." "He made a bad decision," Syed's attorney, Charles H. Dorsey III, told Heard.

An 18-year-old Baltimore County man was convicted yesterday of killing his former girlfriend, a Woodlawn High School student, and burying her in a shallow grave because she broke up with him. After a six-week trial, the jury deliberated only two hours before finding Adnan Masud Syed guilty of strangling Hae Min Lee, 18. Syed sat calmly after the verdict was read, resting his arm on the back of his attorney's chair. Then he turned to his distraught family and friends, many wearing traditional Muslim head scarves, and told them not to worry.

The bittersweet lilt of a clarinet ushered a stream of students and teachers into the Woodlawn High School gymnasium. Here, in the roll-out bleachers that are "Warrior Country," scores of somber teen-agers gathered yesterday to reflect upon the life and death of one of their own.They hung their heads, then smiled. They gazed mournfully into the distance, then laughed. Finally, they clapped their hands -- a round of applause for the friend with the unforgettable smile.They came together to remember Hae Min Lee, 18, a senior whose body was found Feb. 9 in a shallow grave in Leakin Park.

The city expects a flood of applications when it opens the wait list for Section 8 housing vouchers this month for the first time in more than a decade. Housing advocates say 50,000 families or more might sign up for a lottery to fill 25,000 places on the Housing Authority's wait list for the tenant-based housing choice vouchers. The coveted federal subsidies help families pay the portion of their rent that exceeds 30 percent of their income. The vouchers can be used to rent any residence, subject to a cap. In Baltimore, that is roughly $900 for a one-bedroom apartment.

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- The first attempt to launch a commercial rocket into orbit from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility ended in a spectacular failure yesterday when the 100-ton Conestoga rocket was blown apart 48 seconds after liftoff.The spacecraft was about 10 miles high at the time of the failure and its destruction was visible for miles.The rocket's designer and builder, EER Systems Inc. of Seabrook, Md., blamed the failure on a malfunctioning booster rocket.EER Vice President Jim Hengle said the rocket appeared to rise normally, powered by four of the six strap-on boosters.

The Cleveland Browns are the only team in the NFL named after a person, but there's some confusion as to who that person is.Call the Cleveland Plain Dealer sports department and you'll be told Paul Brown. The Official NFL Encyclopedia of Pro Football also credits the legendary first coach and general manager of the team. But according to the media relations office of the Browns, the team is named after the "Brown Bomber," boxer Joe Louis.About the only thing that seems certain is that there was a contest to name Arthur McBride's professional football team in 1946.

Maryland consumers who shop online at Amazon.com after Tuesday will be paying more — 6 percent of the sale. Yet most shoppers will click "place your order" anyway. The world's largest online retailer will begin collecting Maryland's sales tax as it prepares to start operations of a massive new distribution center next spring in Southeast Baltimore, where it expects to hire more than 1,000 workers. It has already hired part-time and seasonal workers to staff a smaller "sortation" center nearby that will open this fall.

The 17-year-old former boyfriend of Hae Min Lee was charged yesterday in the killing of the Woodlawn High School student, whose body was found Feb. 9 in a West Baltimore park, city police said.Sgt. Scott Rowe, a police spokesman, said Adnan Musud Syed was arrested about 6 a.m. at his home in the 7000 block of Johnnycake Road in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, and taken to the Central Booking and Intake Center, where he was charged as an adult with first-degree murder.Rowe said Syed and Lee, 18, were classmates and became friends in May. At some point in the relationship, Rowe said, they started dating.

Longtime WBAL newscaster Marianne Banister will join WBFF Fox45 as anchor of a weekend morning news program that will launch Jan.19. The station announced that another Baltimore veteran, meteorologist Tony Pagnotti, will also join that station's news team. "We recognize outstanding talent and wanted both Marianne and Tony on our staff," Mike Tomko, station news director, said in an email to The Sun. "Their professionalism and long history in the market made for a perfect match here at Fox45.

George Getschel's wife might be one of the luckiest women on the planet. As a trained gemologist who grew up in the jewelry business, he understands diamonds and exactly why they're a girl's best friend. And he has given his wife quite a few, he says. Getschel, 33, should know his gems. His great-grandfather started the Albert Smyth Co. — one of the area's most popular jewelry retailers. He left the family business after a few years — he calls the move "a natural progression" in his career — to attend graduate school and then work for Tiffany & Co. His latest venture is director of the Tiffany store to open Sept.

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WHAT DOES it mean when you hear that a dear friend has had a heart attack and is in the hospital in critical condition? Just how bad is critical? You might call the hospital the next day and be told his condition is stable. Does that mean he is out of danger now?Perhaps you read about an accident on I-95 in which three local teen-agers are hurt. The paper says one of the passengers was hospitalized in critical condition. The next day you read that the teen's condition is guarded. Does that mean he is getting better or worse?

Those who have a habit of biting their lips may find that a small bluish bump has developed inside their mouth. It might disappear on its own or it might linger. Dr. Zaineb Hassan Makhzoumi, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said they are more annoying than dangerous. But those who suffer from them may want to have them removed by a doctor. How common are mucous cysts, and why do they form? Mucous cysts, also known as mucoceles, are quite common in the general population, usually occurring on the lower lip. The majority of cases (70 percent)