IT WAS A WEEK when old names came back into the news. With Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger embroiled in another round of allegations involving sexual assault, Steelers fans needed something to take their minds off the unfolding story in Milledgeville, Ga. They got it. The Steelers announced that free safety Ryan Clark will stay with the team after securing a new four-year, $14 million contract. And among free agents signed, a familiar name returned to the lineup -- Antwaan Randle El, who was a Steeler from 2002-05 before going to the Washington Redskins. The receiver, who turns 31 in August, was a popular player with fans -- and was one of the heroes of Super Bowl XL. While some fans may be putting away their Roethlisberger jerseys, those with old Randle El shirts may be getting them out of storage.

ON THE GRIDIRON of politics, a veteran campaigner who had entered the fray for the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha's seat decided to withdraw her name from consideration. Barbara Hafer, former Allegheny County commissioner, two-term Pennsylvania auditor general and treasurer, doubted that she might have enough valid signatures for her nominating petition. She also recognized the strength of her leading Democratic foe, Mark Critz, a former Murtha aide. As Ms. Hafer has seen her trial balloons for other offices deflate before she could run -- for governor, U.S. Senate and now twice for Congress -- it seems to be getting harder for the former Republican to write one last chapter in her distinguished career in public service. But nothing is certain in politics. As she said herself, "I don't know what the future will bring."

THE FLOOD THREAT in the region this weekend is the last calling card of the winter storms that made everyone's life a misery. They also sank a queen of the rivers and the last act in her dethronement came last week. Crushed by the February snowfalls and left partly submerged in the Ohio on Neville Island, the venerable sternwheeler Becky Thatcher was handed over to demolition crews. A little bit of river history was lost with her. Built in 1899 but put atop a steel hull 37 years later, the 220-foot-long vessel was once an Army Corps of Engineers survey boat and later a museum, a floating restaurant and bar and a venue for dinner theater. An investor had hopes to restore her. In the end, demolition seemed the only sensible course. For the Becky Thatcher, the old news of winter's fury allowed no new role.