WEEK IN REVIEW

March 30-April 5

Dozens of Conferees at Resort Become IllPeople Had Attended Meeting in Pr. George's

As many as 65 people who became ill after attending a medical conference at the new Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill were exposed to the norovirus, Prince George's County health officials said.

County health officer Donald Shell said 14 people who were preparing to board flights at Reagan National Airport were treated after complaining of nausea, half of them taken to area hospitals. Investigators called hotel guests who had already returned home from the conference and learned that many of them also had become sick, Shell said.

The Gaylord resort on the banks of the Potomac River had opened just days earlier. A spokeswoman for Gaylord said health officials had told them that the sickness was the result of a virus, not food poisoning or an environmental problem.

Drowned Children's Mother Faults CourtsWoman Was Not Able to Keep Kids From Father

A Silver Spring woman whose husband is charged with drowning their three children in the bathtub of a Baltimore hotel room said she was once so concerned for the children's safety that she hid them at a friend's house to keep them from their father. The woman said the Montgomery County court system "would not listen to me" and needs to better understand mental illness.

Court records show that the couple was involved in divorce and child custody proceedings and that she had unsuccessfully tried to limit her husband's contact with the children.

The husband, Mark Castillo, who had been diagnosed with depression, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Fire Damages Boardwalk BusinessesOcean City Restaurant, T-Shirt Shop Are Gutted

An Ocean City restaurant and T-shirt shop were damaged extensively by a fire that gutted a historic two-story building and filled the heavily-populated boardwalk with thick black smoke. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze at the building that housed the Dough Roller pizza restaurant and the T-shirt shop on South Atlantic Street, police said.

There were no serious injuries, and the cause had not been determined, fire officials said.

Boy Says He Had to Save His MotherNo Charges Have Been Filed in Fatal Stabbing

A 12-year-old boy told Prince George's County police that he acted to save his mother's life when he fatally stabbed a 64-year-old man who was choking her in the Landover area boarding house where they all lived, police said.

Both the woman and the boy told The Washington Post that she was being attacked by Salomon Noubissie when her son came to her defense. Noubissie died at a local hospital. Officials said they had not decided whether to file charges.

Legislators Strengthen Mortgage LawsBills Offer More Homeowner Protection

Maryland lawmakers passed some of the nation's most ambitious legislation to control the housing crisis by toughening oversight of the mortgage-lending industry and establishing preemptive measures to help people at risk of foreclosure. Emergency measures would take effect immediately.

The bills make the most egregious mortgage schemes subject to criminal prosecution, extend the foreclosure timetable from 15 to 150 days and prohibit prepayment penalties and transactions in which homeowners are tricked into signing over their houses to third parties.

Across the RegionExecutions Suspended; Gun Searches Revised

· Executions scheduled in Virginia will be put on hold until the Supreme Court rules on whether lethal injection violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) announced.

· D.C. police won't go door-to-door asking residents in high-crime neighborhoods for permission to search their homes for guns as part of a new amnesty program to get weapons off the streets. The program will instead be offered by appointment only at residents' request.