Locks

This summer, hair weaves are taking a turn for the kinky, the curly and the wavy. Why is this news? When black women first started sewing hair onto their scalps during the 1990s en masse, the resulting shoulder-length bobs were as much about achieving a smooth texture as it was about having length. Fabulous hair was defined as long and straight. However, as more black women have come to terms with their natural curl pattern, store-bought tresses are trending toward the fuzzy rather than the flat-ironed.

Linda Wright Moore's column (Dec. 8) on black women's natural hair was very encouraging. I started my natural locks just before the Million Woman March in Philadelphia in October 1997. "Locks" is the popular term for natural hair sectioned and twisted. "Everything You Need to Know About Hairlocking" by Nekheria Evans gives information on the spiritual and historical nature of locks. Coily hair, she writes, clearly distinguishes people of African ancestry from all others. "Dreadlocks" relates specifically to a way of life that is known as Rastafarianism.

The Ardmore Manor American Legion baseball team got good and dirty Sunday. And that was just fine with coach Paul Bogosian. The Manor celebrated its 6-1 victory over Wayne by practicing belly-flops down the side of a muddy hill next to the Wayne field after a thunderstorm hit the area. It was just schoolboy fun for late adolescents, but it proved to Bogosian how much camaraderie his undefeated team has. "They were playing like little kids splashing around in the puddles," Bogosian said.

Gloucester County Jail inmates have caused security problems at the Woodbury prison by devising a way to dismantle electrical cell-door locks with a ballpoint pen. The broken locks have prompted the jail to bypass fire laws and install deadbolts on about a dozen of the cells. The deadbolts would need to be opened manually in case of a fire, said Sheriff James N. Hogan. The electrical locks are opened automatically by one switch in control rooms located outside the cells. The problem was caused in recent weeks by inmates who have sabotaged 30 of the jail's 200 cell doors with a procedure that Hogan said could take less than three minutes.

Many of Pennsylvania's - and America's - locks and dams are on the brink of failure, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency charged with maintaining them. Conditions along the nation's 11,000-mile inland waterway system constitute "a crisis headed for a catastrophe," one high-ranking corps official said last month at an industry meeting in Washington. The precarious status of the waterway system stems from what government and industry officials agree is a broken method of maintaining and replacing aging locks and dams.

No African head wrap or oversize Afro for Erykah Badu on New Year's Eve: the Dallas funk-soul diva shuffled onstage at the House of Blues in Atlantic City in full flapper regalia, as if walking straight out of the Harlem Renaissance. Bundled in an overcoat and peering from under a broad-brimmed hat, Badu put down her overnight bag and thermos full of "sugar water" and locked into a laid-back groove, singing: "I came to hear the band today/I ain't thinking about you/I came to hear my drummer play.

Gov. Whitman signed legislation into law yesterday that will require every handgun sold in the state to come equipped with a trigger lock or lock box - making New Jersey one of only four states requiring the devices. "Trigger locks are designed to prevent the accidental discharge of a loaded handgun," Whitman said during a signing ceremony in her outer office. She was flanked by legislators who sponsored the bill in both houses. "By adding this safety device to handguns, responsible gun owners can help ensure that their guns are not used by irresponsible parties - especially by children, whose curiosity often exceeds their judgment, with tragic results," she said.

Darby Mayor Paula Brown locked herself in her office yesterday after the Borough Council tried to change the locks. She remained there last night as about a half-dozen supporters marched outside the Borough Hall. President Janice Davis, a member of the council faction that opposes Brown, said she told Brown weeks ago that the Police Department needed more space and that council members wanted Brown to move into another office in the borough's Resource Center on Ninth Street. Davis said she told Brown she had until yesterday to move.

WE'RE NOT interested in stirring up controversy. We're not interested in starting arguments. We are interested in producing and delivering clean, safe water and protecting lives and property. Not that your readers would know it from Carla Anderson's unfair and irresponsibly reported column on fire-hydrant locks and illegally opened hydrants (Aug. 7). In that column, Ms. Anderson, the Urban Warrior, starts by asserting the water department's center compression locks (CCLs)

For the owner of Lestardo's bar and package store in Bear, Del., the last call early Saturday was one her customers never heard. Avon Lestardo, 61, called and called for hours from the trunk of her car, where she had been left by a robber who had been awaiting her return home shortly after 2:30 a.m. The robber, wearing a Halloween-type mask, forced Lestardo into the trunk after a struggle, police said. New Castle County police said Thomas P. Pendergast of the first block of Cornwall Drive, New Castle, had been waiting when Lestardo pulled into her garage at her home near Newark, carrying about $48,000 in cash, checks and Delaware lottery receipts.

A video has gone viral of a man who put a young boy into a washing machine at a Camden laundromat. The machine automatically locked and turned on, setting off a frantic scramble to rescue the boy. Authorities today said they don't believe the act was criminal and are now speaking with the boy's mother. Her name has not been released. 6ABC reported the boy's grandmother, whose name was not given, said the child was with a babysitter and her boyfriend when the incident occurred.

In the end, third place was good enough for first. With Father Judge holding a five-point advantage over La Salle in the team standings entering the final event, the Crusaders' 4x400-meter relay team of Matt Forsythe, Mike Hagan, Sean Fitzgerald, and Alex Zimmerman didn't need to win. They didn't even have to beat La Salle. Third place would clinch a second straight Catholic League boys' track and field championship. The four surely knew what was on the line, as they took to the track and the public-address announcer blared, "This race will decide the 2012 boys' Catholic League championship!"

IT WAS like the Mayan calendar. The NBA knew exactly by what date it had to settle its differences with its players or face Armageddon for the 2011-12 season. That's why after weeks of no-contact between the two sides, a hastily called meeting in late November accomplished in 48 hours what couldn't be done in the previous 5 months. It wasn't a coincidence that the tentative agreement that effectively ended the NBA lockout was reached on Nov. 26, 2011. That left just enough time to get things in enough order to have the opening tipoff on Christmas Day. That timeline was the drop-dead date for resuscitation.

Somewhere between the Thai Chicken Subs and the Indonesian Chicken Turnovers with Spicy Peanut Sauce - as the Falafel Sandwiches with Fire-Roasted Tomato Aioli awaited - it struck me hard: Something I would taste on this afternoon, in the peaceful hum of a conference room in a hotel in Orlando, was worth a million dollars as the grand-prize winner of the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off. The next morning, Martha Stewart went on live television to make someone very happy, but it was the 12 judges - food writers, cookbook authors, chefs - who tasted, assesses, debated, and parsed the work of 100 home cooks, all finalists, culled from tens of thousands of entries.

SEOUL, South Korea - President Obama intends to open his pitch for faster work to lock down nuclear material that could be used by terrorists with an up-close look at the nuclear front lines along the heavily militarized border with volatile North Korea. Obama arrived in Seoul on Sunday morning for three days of diplomacy. In the midst of an election year focused on economic concerns at home, Obama has designed a rare Asia visit that features time in just one country. He'll use much of the time to keep pressure on North Korea to back off a planned rocket launch and return to disarmament talks.

PARIS - France's president on Thursday proposed a sweeping new law that would see repeat visitors to extremist websites put behind bars - one of several tough measures floated after a murderous shooting rampage. The proposed rules, unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy after the death of an Islamist fanatic wanted for a horrifying series of execution-style murders, have alarmed journalists and legal experts, who say they risk pulling the plug on free expression. Sarkozy, who is only a month away from an election, argued that it was time to treat those who browse extremist websites the same way as those who consume child pornography.

The Detroit Lions have reached a deal to keep linebacker Stephen Tulloch for another five years, allowing the team to cross another priority off their to-do list this offseason. The agreement reportedly calls for a five-year contract. Financial terms were not immediately known. Re-signing Tulloch was one of the Lions' goals after he helped them earn a spot in the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season. He shopped his services on the market as an unrestricted free agent, but got the long-term deal he was looking for in Detroit.

Many of Pennsylvania's - and America's - locks and dams are on the brink of failure, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency charged with maintaining them. Conditions along the nation's 11,000-mile inland waterway system constitute "a crisis headed for a catastrophe," one high-ranking corps official said last month at an industry meeting in Washington. The precarious status of the waterway system stems from what government and industry officials agree is a broken method of maintaining and replacing aging locks and dams.

On an NFL Tuesday that was supposed to be all about the new, the most revealing moment for the Eagles came when a familiar face, tackle Todd Herremans, talked about a contract extension that will keep him in the same place he has spent his entire career. "The Eagles have been known for a while as a team that doesn't take care of their draft picks and pays everyone else's as picks and players," Herremans said. "I think they're trying to change that stigma that they have. " Herremans wasn't trying to stir controversy - he repeatedly expressed gratitude toward the Eagles.

March Madness is approaching - the dramatic conclusion to what has been an interesting season in college basketball. How could anybody have forecast in November that Villanova would be the city's biggest long shot for earning an NCAA bid? To get a further look at the chances of the area teams, we talked to Joe Lunardi, who put the word bracketologist into the hoops lexicon. Lunardi is ESPN's forecaster as it regards who will make the NCAA tournament. Here is a look at the local teams, with comments by Lunardi about their chances.