Happy Holidays!!!

Maryland NCAA 2008 Soccer Champs

The Maryland(23-3-0) men's soccer team needed to prove twice why it was the best team in the ACC and they did just that and more Sunday, defeating North Carolina, 1-0, off a game-winner from senior Graham Zusi to capture the 2008 NCAA National Championship(College Cup) at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

From the onset, it appeared quite obvious that this was the third matchup between the two teams this season. North Carolina and Maryland players nearly shadowed each other for the majority of the first half, neither allowing much space to operate. UNC (15-8-1) took the first shot and corner kick of the match as well as tallying more scoring opportunities in the first 20 minutes than Maryland faced the entire semifinal Friday against St. John's, which Maryland won 1-0 on a goal, also by Graham Zsui.

The title is the third for the Maryland men's soccer program and the second in the past four seasons.

Jefferson is Number 1

For the second year in a row, the selective Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County has been named the country's top public high school in a ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

The magazine's "gold medal list," published online this week, was developed through a formula using such variables as state test scores, student demographics and performance in college-level courses.

Jefferson's reputation has been strong for years because it selects top students from a broad pool across Northern Virginia. ...read more here...

Washington Area Leads "New Economy"

Five states -- Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey -- are leading the United States' transformation into a global, entrepreneurial and knowledge- and innovation-based, or "new" economy, according to a new report released this week.

The 2008 State New Economy Index found that Mississippi and West Virginia ranked lowest among the states in making the transition to the "new economy." The other lowest-scoring states include Arkansas, Alabama and Wyoming.

The report said the new economy has taken root in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Mountain West and Pacific regions. Fourteen of the top 20 states are in those regions. In contrast, 16 of the 20 lowest-ranking states are in the Midwest, Great Plains and Southern regions.

The index measures states' economic structures. Rather than measuring state economic performance or state economic policies, it focuses on a single question: To what degree does the structure of state economies match the ideal structure of the new economy? ...read more here