Latest Maryland and Delaware news, sports, business and entertainment

RG STEEL

RG Steel to begin Sparrows Point layoffs in June

BALTIMORE (AP) Maryland labor officials say RG Steel will begin laying off employees at its Sparrows Point steel mill next month.

The Maryland Department of Labor said Thursday that it had been notified that the layoffs will begin June 4 and continue through June 18. The department says 1,975 employees will be affected.

Labor Secretary Scott Jensen says the department has been in contact with the company and a rapid response team will work with employees to help with unemployment insurance, training opportunities and job placement.

The company announced earlier Thursday that it was idling operations in Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia. The United Steelworkers union says it represents about 4,000 RG Steel employees.

PHARMACY ROBBERIES

Del. pharmacy robbery suspect surrenders to police

NEWARK, Del. (AP) Delaware State Police say a Maryland man wanted in the robberies of two New Castle County pharmacies has surrendered to authorities.

Police announced Thursday that 30-year-old Christopher Dolbow of Elkton, Md., turned himself in a day earlier. He is charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and is being held on $20,000 bail.

Police say Dolbow robbed a Walgreens in Stanton on Sunday and a Walgreens in Newark the next day.

It is not known how much money was taken from either store and authorities say no one was injured in either robbery.

HURRICANE CENTER-IRENE

Forecasters applying lessons learned from TS Irene

MIAMI (AP) The director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami says forecasters are trying to apply lessons from Tropical Storm Irene's destruction to their storm preparedness message this year.

Flooding from Irene was the most destructive event to hit Vermont in almost a century, killing six people, leaving hundreds homeless and damaging or destroying hundreds of miles of roads.

Hurricane center director Bill Read said Thursday that forecasters believe they accurately conveyed the potential inland impacts of the storm. He says the forecasts for Irene were among the best he's seen on rainfall from a hurricane making landfall.

Many in New England contend that Irene's flooding caught them by surprise. Read says overcoming that communications gap is a challenge for forecasters.

The six-month Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1.

SPELLING-DOLL LAWSUIT

Spelling's widow sues Md. auction house over dolls

WASHINGTON (AP) The widow of Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling is suing a Maryland auction house that sold part of her extensive collection of antique dolls, claiming it owes her money and failed to return unsold dolls.

Candy Spelling filed the lawsuit against Annapolis-based Theriault's at the end of April. The lawsuit, which was filed in California, claims that the auction house didn't live up to its contract because it failed to give her a timely accounting of the sold items and pay her for them. Spelling's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone and e-mail messages request for comment.

The president of Theriault's says the lawsuit does not represent an accurate description of the events surrounding the collection's sale and that Spelling has been paid for the items.

GEOGRAPHY BEE

14-year-old Texan wins National Geographic Bee

WASHINGTON (AP) A first-time National Geographic Bee contender from Texas has won the annual competition in Washington.

Fourteen-year-old Rahul Nagvekar (rah-HOOL' NAHG'-vah-kar), of Sugar Land, Texas, will receive a $25,000 scholarship for his win Thursday. Rahul won by correctly naming Regensburg as the Bavarian city located on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806.

Thirteen-year-old Vansh Jain (vahnsh jayn), of Minocqua, Wis., came in second, and will take home a $15,000 scholarship. The third-place winner, 13-year-old Varun Mahadevan of Fremont, Calif., wins a $10,000 scholarship.

The competition began with about 4 million students in schools across the country this year.

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek hosted the finals, which were televised on the National Geographic Channel.

MANNING-WIKILEAKS-HURLEY

Former Bales defense lawyer joins Manning's team

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) A military lawyer who formerly represented a soldier charged with fatally shooting 17 Afghan villagers is now defending an Army private accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks.

Pfc. Bradley Manning's civilian lawyer, David Coombs, said on his blog late Wednesday that Army Maj. Thomas Hurley has re-joined Manning's three-man defense team.

Hurley was originally detailed to Manning's defense team in 2010. He was removed earlier this year to help defend Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. He stepped aside from that job after he and Bales' civilian attorney disagreed about defense strategy.

Coombs wrote that Manning personally asked to have Hurley as one of the two military lawyers detailed to defend him.

Manning's team also includes Capt. Joshua Tooman.

GANG VIOLENCE

3 sentenced for Wilmington gang violence

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) Three members of a Wilmington, Del., street gang involved in a deadly feud with rival gangsters in 2010 have been sentenced to prison.

A judge on Wednesday sentenced Kevin Rasin to life without parole for the murder of 25-year-old Jose Charriez, who was shot as he sat in a car at a stoplight.

Rasin was a member of an urban gang called the Trapstars. Charriez was with a rival gang called Pope's Group.

Two other Trapstars members also were sentenced Wednesday. Marc Taylor, whose convictions include assault, gun charges and cocaine possession, was sentenced to 15½ years. Terrence Mills, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of 20-year-old Alvan Butcher, another Pope's member, was sentenced to 16 years.

Five other Trapstars members were sentenced previously, and another is awaiting sentencing.