blognetnews.com
» Maryland

Delusional Duck

  • Slump lets Florida delay hard choices on water—for now

    Florida’s water glass is almost empty. As the state’s population explosion pushed into this decade, growing communities panicked over their worsening thirst. Authorities banned lawn sprinkling on all but one day a week, utilities cooperated in hopes of building costly waterworks and everybody resorted to legal fighting over the last drops. Most [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:31pm EST

  • Supreme Court to take up anti-corruption law

    Some say a ruling against the ban on ‘honest services fraud’ would take away one of the best weapons against public officials who use their positions to gain money, gifts or favors.The nation’s most potent law against public corruption is in danger of being scaled back or struck down by [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:21pm EST

  • Data point to Toyota’s throttles, not floor mats

    Eric Weiss was stopped at a busy Long Beach intersection last month when he said his 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup unexpectedly started accelerating, forcing him to stand on the brakes to keep the bucking truck from plowing into oncoming cars. [...] But Weiss is convinced his incident wasn’t caused by a floor [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:18pm EST

  • Administration plans new efforts on foreclosures

    The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said Saturday. The administration will announce its expanded program on Monday, Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:28am EST

  • FY2010 Budget Transfer Request, $58,020, Utilities, Capital Improvement Project

    Board Docs - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting - Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1.06 [11:10 a.m.] County Business 3) FY2010 Budget Transfer Request, $58,020, Utilities, Capital Improvement Project (Ms. Deborah Hudson, Fiscal & Administrative Services) FY10 BTR Utilities 58020.pdf [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:17am EST

  • Salary Survey of Maryland County Governments

    NEW! Fiscal Year 2010 [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:10am EST

  • Officials seeking study of charging vehicles for trips

    Washington-area drivers could be asked to pay 15 cents per mile if the region becomes the first major metropolitan area in the country to change how it pays for roads. This month, regional transportation officials submitted a proposal for a federal grant to study whether the Washington area should serve as [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:53am EST

  • Phosphate phaseout has dishwasher soap makers scrambling for an alternative

    Automatic dishwasher detergents with phosphates have handled a lot of dirty plates over the years, but new laws aimed at making the soaps easier on the environment are putting that to an end, and the industry hasn’t been this agitated in years. The Procter & Gamble research team has been piling [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:44am EST

  • Possible tax has medical devise firms up in arms

    Nestled in the 2,000-page Congressional health reform bills and largely overlooked amid high-profile debates about insurers and hospitals is a tax that is causing consternation in the growing medical device industry. In their proposals, the House of Representatives and Senate took different routes to raise about $1 trillion over 10 years [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:41am EST

  • Va. Farm Bureau takes aim at new bay rules

    Virginia’s largest agricultural advocacy group is rallying against a proposed clean-up plan for the Chesapeake Bay, contending the new federal regulations could put small farmers out of business. The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation begins its annual convention Monday in Richmond, and the proposed regulations are likely to be the buzz among [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:21am EST

  • Open Thread - Novembe 29, 2009

    “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. “—Ralph Waldo Emerson [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:00am EST

  • Open Thread - November 29, 2009

    “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. “—Ralph Waldo Emerson [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 7:00am EST

  • Algebra II test indicates 15% ready for college

    1,295 Md. students among 100,000 tested nationally As Maryland attempts to increase the rigor of math education, the first results of an Algebra II test given to a small number of students in the state show less than one in five are prepared for entry-level college courses. Fifteen states, including Maryland, joined [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 6:53am EST

  • Legislative fight brews on ‘innocence’ law

    A battle is brewing between Maryland’s 24 state’s attorneys and the legislature over a law that went into effect last month, allowing court hearings for people convicted of any level crime - at any time - who claim to have fresh exculpatory evidence. Both sides agree the new law, meant [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 6:51am EST

  • Owings soccer field ordered to close

    facility lacks proper zoning Calvert says permits, inspections also neededCalvert Sports Warehouse, an indoor soccer field in Owings, received a citation for $500 and was told to shut down. The year-old business serves about 600 youth indoor soccer players, or futsal players, and hosts parties, field hockey and lacrosse, among [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 6:48am EST

  • Calvert high school turns them loose at lunch

    It’s lunchtime at Patuxent High School in Southern Maryland, but it looks and sounds more like recess. Students lounge in hallways and classrooms with sack lunches and trays of food. They play Frisbee, get dating advice from teachers, hold club meetings, cram for afternoon quizzes, play video games or catch [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 29, 2009, 6:39am EST

  • Approval of County’s Professional Services Contract for Financial Advisor

    Board Docs - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting - Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1.05 [11:10 a.m.] County Business 2) Approval of County’s Professional Services Contract for Financial Advisor (Ms. Deborah Hudson, Fiscal & Administrative Services) Prof Services Contract Davenport.pdf [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:29pm EST

  • Lease Signing Ceremony: Old Fisherman’s Field, Cobb Island

    Board Docs - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting - Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1.03 [11:00 a.m.] Lease Signing Ceremony: Old Fisherman’s Field, Cobb Island (Ms. Charlotte Sampson, Cobb Island Citizens Association) CICA lease.pdf [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:26pm EST

  • Md. man’s 2nd ‘wife’ aroused suspicion

    Woman was abducted and ordered to co-sign loan, authorities sayA Waldorf man seeking a loan at a St. Mary’s County bank kidnapped a woman and forced her to pose as his wife and co-sign for the loan, authorities said. But authorities said the man’s plan had a serious flaw. Just [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:15pm EST

  • Consumers face new pain as credit card firms jack up rates

    Consumers are facing skyrocketing interest rates, disappearing frequent flier miles and new purchasing fees as credit card companies work to milk their customers’ cash before federal legislation clamps down on them early next year. [...] In response, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said she planned to offer a bill to cap credit card [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:07pm EST

  • Recession sends older Americans to food pantries

    [...] The number of seniors living alone who seek help from food pantries in the U.S. increased 81 percent to 408,000 in 2008, compared to 225,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, 4.7 million households used American food pantries in 2008, compared to about 3.7 million in [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:03pm EST

  • Woman seeking residents’ support for sports complex

    Commissioner Collins is offering advice on plansCan a community effort conquer a daunting hurdle set by the recession? That’s the question Charles County resident Dottery Washington is hoping will be answered in the affirmative when she’s holding a check for $5.6 million to start construction on a sportplex and learning center [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 6:36pm EST

  • BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS - AGENDA SUMMARY

    Meeting Date: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 3:18pm EST

  • Sheriff announces run for county executive

    Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael Jackson formally announced today that he plans to run for county executive next year. [...] Jackson said he can use his leadership skills to reform the county government, as well. “We need to get back to basics on everything,” said Jackson, who said making services more accessible for [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 3:14pm EST

  • Federal help needed to shore up Medicaid

    [...] Without an extension of federal aid for the state-administered health benefits for the poor, Maryland could be forced to scale back the health coverage expansion that began in 2008, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas McLain Middleton said earlier this month. “I think that you’ll hear from the presiding officers, the leadership, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 3:11pm EST

  • U.S. delays Internet gambling ban

    The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are giving U.S. financial institutions an additional six months to comply with regulations designed to ban Internet gambling. The two agencies said Friday that the new rules, which were to take effect on Dec. 1, would be delayed until June 1 of next year. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:42am EST

  • Md. tax payments to localities plunge

    State income tax payments to local governments fell sharply in November, with Baltimore and Montgomery counties and some jurisdictions on the Eastern Shore recording drastic declines, according to a new report from the Maryland comptroller’s office. Income taxes are the second-largest source of money, after property taxes, for local governments, which [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:39am EST

  • Md. improves data collection to track students’ performance

    Maryland has made significant progress in assembling an educational data system that would allow the state to track every student’s experience through the public school system from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary education. In a report released this week, the Data Quality Campaign said that Maryland, which was behind 48 other states in [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:37am EST

  • Open Thread - November 28, 2009

    No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here. ~John Greenleaf Whittier [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:33am EST

  • Heads in the Sand

    Commentary by Ron Miller Last week, I attended the annual Legislative Evening sponsored by the League of Women Voters and hosted at the Calvert Pines Senior Center. I was there to speak on behalf of the Calvert County Republican Central Committee, and my statement can be found here. I wasn’t [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:22am EST

  • Foundation Struggles for Funding to Send Christmas Trees to Soldiers

    By JAMES B. HALE Each of the past three years, James Ward has sent 5,000 miniature Christmas trees to soldiers overseas, but this year he might have to leave thousands empty-handed. Ward said he has had trouble finding $25 donations for the two-foot tall trees that come complete with lights, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:19am EST

  • Finding Hope in the Bay’s Small Successes

    By CATHERINE KRIKSTAN Algae blooms, dead zones and intersex fish, just three small examples of the ongoing bad news about the Chesapeake Bay. But in the midst of these watershed woes, one professor has held onto a sense of cautious optimism when it comes to restoring the bay’s resources. And [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:16am EST

  • Cash Crop Hits the Roof for Harford County Farm

    [...] The growth of the farm’s business—which has seen as much as a 70 percent rise in sales in the last five years, according to co-owner Ed Snodgrass—reflects a growing national interest in green roofs. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a nonprofit working to promote green roofs in North America, reported [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:14am EST

  • Secondary PTSD Warrants Discussion After Fort Hood Massacre

    By DAVID M. JOHNSON The case of a military psychiatrist accused of 13 deaths at Fort Hood has prompted mental health professionals to examine whether those who treat patients with post traumatic stress disorder occasionally experience “secondary” symptoms of the affliction. Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was trained [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:13am EST

  • Salisbury U. Contemplates Scrapping SATs Permanently

    By LAURA GURFEIN Salisbury University soon may permanently discard the standardized test admission requirement for well-qualified students, becoming the first public university in Maryland to do so. Test-optional college admission is part of a growing national trend to de-emphasize standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, in favor of grade [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 28, 2009, 7:11am EST

  • Retail food prices rising more slowly than expected

    Retail food prices in the United States are rising at a slower pace than expected a month ago as the recession slows demand for pork and fresh produce, the government said this week. Food costs will rise by 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent this year, which is less than the estimate [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 7:41pm EST

  • Health bills would raise taxes before changes start

    Americans could pay billions of dollars more in new taxes for a few years before they are likely to see significant change in the nation’s health-care system under legislation that Congress is considering. Some analysts said that was not necessarily bad. Delaying major health-care changes until at least 2013, as the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 7:39pm EST

  • A U.S. mine debate centers on water, jobs

    Standing on the marshy ground at Eagle Rock in the remote woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, it’s hard to imagine that beneath one’s feet is a lump of nickel worth billions of dollars. “This is where the money is,” said Chauncey Moran, vice chairman of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve conservation [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 7:31pm EST

  • LTE: Jobs or unemployment insurance?

    With the economy still struggling and unemployment levels high, we ask which should concern Marylanders the most: (a) The balance in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund; or (b) jobs? Prompting us to write this article is a state labor department letter imposing a steep tax hike. Much was said about [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 7:26pm EST

  • Criminal Charges For Dinner Crashers?

    The Secret Service says it’s looking at possible criminal charges against a Virginia couple who crashed a White House dinner. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin says the agency is moving closer to beginning a criminal investigation. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 4:05pm EST

  • Food stamps estimate raises debate over ‘poverty’

    The estimate was startling, and made headlines around the country: Almost half of all U.S. kids will be on food stamps at some time during childhood. How could it be true in the land of plenty, in the midst of an obesity epidemic, skeptics wondered. Surprisingly, many statisticians and policy analysts say [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 4:01pm EST

  • Car insurance scofflaws raise health mandate doubt

    Thousands of drivers on the nation’s roads don’t carry auto insurance, despite laws in all but two states requiring it. Critics of President Barack Obama’s health overhaul plan ask: What are the chances scofflaws will treat a requirement to carry health insurance any differently? Nearly 40 years of car insurance mandates [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 3:56pm EST

  • A new kind of company, a new challenge for feds

    If Comcast, NBC merge, would one firm control too much of the media?One is a giant of the entertainment world—a tangle of television networks, a film studio and a stable of hit shows. The other is a cable colossus, the nation’s largest provider of cable TV and Internet access. Together, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 3:48pm EST

  • Researchers trying to protect pregnant drivers

    Women are driving longer into their pregnancies — often saving maternity leave until after giving birth — a lifestyle change that is leading to predictions of an increase in fetal deaths in car crashes. Researchers aware of the trends are working on computer models to help develop pregnancy-friendly safety devices. Ford [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 3:45pm EST

  • Maryland Woman Thankful Just to Be Alive

    Paramedics pay Thanksgiving visit to woman they saved A woman from Clinton, Md., has more for which to be thankful than ever this holiday. Like her life and the life of her unborn son. Sade Davis, 23, essentially drowned about a month ago, but paramedics managed to bring her back to life [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 12:56pm EST

  • Police conducting Facebook drinking stings

    We know Facebook has helped police solve all sorts of crimes, from burglary to vandalism. But did you know it’s also being used to fight a far more pernicious crime? No, not child sex abuse. Underage drinking. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:52am EST

  • NAACP seeks volunteers to hand out fliers on rapes

    The Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is asking for volunteers, and particularly men, to help distribute reward fliers on Saturday following a recent string of rapes in the city. “This could be our mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, niece, aunt - you get the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:41am EST

  • ‘Cash for Clunkers,’ household edition

    In U.S. history, there may have been no better time to own a junk car, a rattling old fridge and a leaking dishwasher. On the heels of its ballyhooed “Cash for Clunkers” program for cars, the federal government is expected to finalize details in the coming weeks of another tax-supported [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:01am EST

  • Briefing/Update: Waterfront Property Development

    Board Docs - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting - Tuesday, December 1, 2009   1.17 [2:30 p.m.] Old Business: 2) Briefing/Update: Waterfront Property Development (Mr. Steve Ball, Planning Director/Ms. Cathy Thompson, Community Planning Program Manager) Waterfront Concepts [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:56am EST

  • Technology enthusiast helps dozens

    Eric Zimmerman, 21, has a Facebook account, a MySpace account and a cell phone. He also has Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism which causes sufferers to lack normal social skills. So when the technology enthusiast realized through working at Best Buddies International after high school that many people with [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:51am EST

  • State to begin testing speed technology

    The State Highway Administration will begin testing next week on a system designed to help motorists move to reduced lanes more safely. A five-week study is planned for the Variable Speed Advisory technology, a traffic management tool that aims to permit lane merges without sudden stops or backups. Using roadside [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:46am EST

  • State to redesign more college courses

    Maryland will expand its efforts to redesign the college courses most responsible for stalling students’ pursuit of degrees, using a $1 million grant from the Lumina Foundation. Lumina, one of the nation’s largest private foundations, hopes to increase the proportion of U.S. adults obtaining two- and four-year degrees from 40 percent [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:43am EST

  • CSM Students Donate 2,159 lbs. to SoMd Food Bank

    Sociology and psychology students in Professor Michael Maloney’s classes on the College of Southern Maryland’s Leonardtown Campus donated 2,159 pounds of food for the Southern Maryland Food Bank—enough to feed 122 families this month [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:37am EST

  • DNR Proposes New Commercial Fishing Penalties

    The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service has proposed a new penalty system to deter natural resource violations, including commercial poaching. The new proposal will impose penalties on first time offenders, based on the severity of their crime, as well as repeat offenders. “These valuable and fragile marine resources are [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:33am EST

  • Today, Black Friday, Launches the Holiday Shopping Season - Or Does it?

    Many people look forward to the Friday following Thanksgiving each year as the best day of the year to go shopping – day of great deals and bargain basement prices. However there often is a big IF that accompanies the glutton of pre-Black Friday advertising. Many stores include lots of fine [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:30am EST

  • Schools agree on oil contract with Georgia company

    Southern Maryland governments and school systems will move into a new contract for heating oil and other fuels starting Dec. 1. The contract is a valuable one and includes an estimated use of more than 2 million gallons of heating oil, 1.4 million gallons of unleaded gas and 685,000 gallons of [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:25am EST

  • Open Thread - November 27, 2009

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 27, 2009, 5:00am EST

  • Stepping up and stepping in

    La Plata United Methodist Church members witnessed a miracle, their pastor Rev. Bruce Jones said. [...] How to help Neighbors Eager To Serve works to identify and respond to those in need in western Charles County. NETS is in need of donated nonperishable food items to fill Christmas food baskets that will be [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 5:01am EST

  • Open Thread - November 26, 2009

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 5:00am EST

  • Indy LTE: Times are too tight to raise commissioners’ president’s pay

    I would like to make it clear that the actions taken by the Charles County commissioners at our Nov. 18 meeting on the Compensation Commission report concerning salary increases in 2011, is by no means an endorsement of the report or the recommended increases. [...] On a personal note, I entered public [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:51am EST

  • Commissioners discuss long-awaited light rail plans

    Despite the gloomy financial climate and the headline-grabbing conflicts between the local government and Charles County residents, the groundbreaking on a project that would promote economic development and literally connect Southern Marylanders to other jurisdictions might be just a decade away. A 19-mile light-rail transit system next to existing CSX rail [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:42am EST

  • Christmas on the Square and Annual Tree Lighting in Leonardtown

    The Town of Leonardtown is hosting its Annual Christmas on the Square on Washington Street in Historic downtown Leonardtown on Friday, Nov. 27 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The main stage will have a variety of entertainment including seasonal music and Christmas carols. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:37am EST

  • All across Maryland, foster children are home to stay

    Their most recent adoption was in June. That’s when Gary and Vickie Ferko officially brought their 14-year-old son, Jesse, into the family fold. The teen had been living with them as a foster child for five years. This year, as Jesse became the Ferkos’ fifth adoption, he was also part [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:33am EST

  • Hospice Festival of Trees in Waldorf

    The theme of this year’s Festival of Trees, which benefits Hospice of Charles County, is “Home for the Holidays.” Trees and wreaths will be decorated for the 22nd annual event, which kicks off Friday with a hypnotist show. Other events include a lunch with Santa Claus, a senior brunch, a [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:27am EST

  • Holiday travel under way, but millions are staying home this year amid tight economic times

    There’s still family, turkey and football, but one Thanksgiving tradition is taking a hit this year. Millions of Americans are spending the holiday at home, saying the poor economy has made it unaffordable to hit the road or board a plane. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 4:21am EST

  • Happy Thanksgiving

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 12:54am EST

  • Average rates on 30-year mortgages fall, matching record low reached in spring

    Average rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, matching a record low set last spring and more than a full percentage point below what they were a year ago, Freddie Mac said Wednesday. Rates for 30-year mortgages averaged 4.78 percent this week, down from 4.83 percent last week and equaling [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:40pm EST

  • Metro pleads guilty to dumping hazardous chemicals in 2003

    The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of violating the Clean Water Act in 2003, when hazardous chemicals were released into a regional sewer system from the New Carrollton and Branch Avenue rail yards. U.S. District Judge for the District of Maryland Roger Titus placed the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:22pm EST

  • CSM Students Join Chamber, Businesses, Community on Tour of China, Spring 2010

    Southern Marylanders Travel to Bejing, Shanghai, to Meet Chinese Business Leaders College of Southern Maryland students taking courses in international economics, marketing and business in a market economy will learn first-hand the value of building personal relationships, the intricacies of cultural communications and international business protocol when they travel to [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:18pm EST

  • Poll pumps up campaign finance reformers

    Campaign finance reform advocates, unbowed by the state’s budget shortfall and emboldened by a poll, plan to redouble their efforts next year to adopt a public financing law that gained more support in the 2009 General Assembly than any previous session. [...] “The idea of taking money out of politics and fixing [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:45pm EST

  • Toys For Tots kicks off this week

    If you are looking for a way to spread some holiday cheer, you may not have to go any further than your local fire station. From now until Christmas Eve, you can drop off toy donations at any D.C., Maryland, or Virginia fire station to participate in the U.S. Marine [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:29pm EST

  • we are the world

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 11:44am EST

  • Retailers Ramping Up Online Means Bigger and Longer Black Friday

    By BOBBY MCMAHON Prices have dropped across the land. Bargain-hungry shoppers have checked items off their Christmas lists. And teenage boys have snooped in closets looking for video game-shaped presents. The explosion of deals known as Black Friday has begun. And it’s not even Friday, yet. Big-box stores like Best [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:46am EST

  • Too Loud, Too Tiny, Too Toxic—New Tool Spotlights Toy Trouble

    By DAVID M. JOHNSON Figurines small enough to swallow, a knight’s helmet with a high concentration of lead and play phones too loud for young ears are all toys on shelves this holiday season. There is trouble in toyland. This fall, the Maryland Public Interest Research Group found hazardous toys [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:43am EST

  • Waldorf Man Charged with Discharging Destructive Device

    Tuesday morning, Deputy State Fire Marshals charged a 24 year-old Waldorf man in connection with the possession and detonation of a destructive device. The explosion took place in the parking lot of the Lowes Store located in the 300 block of Rosewick Road in La Plata at about 1:00 pm [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:42am EST

  • Former U.S. Navy Air Traffic Controller Indicted on Charges Related to Murder of His Wife

    A federal grand jury has indicted Ryan Holness, 28 of Lexington Park, for interstate domestic violence, related to the murder of his wife, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The Interstate Domestic Violence Statute, which was enacted in 1994, authorizes federal prosecution of any criminal [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:23am EST

  • DHR Gets $2.6M Federal Grant to Boost Families Caring for Child Relatives

    Maryland Department of Human Resources’ (DHR) Secretary Brenda Donald announced today that DHR competed for and won a three-year, $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build on the progress made under the agency’s Place Matters reform agenda. Planning and implementation will begin immediately. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:25am EST

  • MDA Issues Enforcement Actions for Pesticide Law Violations

    The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) Pesticide Regulation Section reported the following enforcement activity between Oct. 1, 2008 and Nov. 23, 2009 against organizations located in the southern Maryland region. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:23am EST

  • Americans’ tax burden is lightest in developed world

    You’d never know it from all the cable news chatter, but Americans bear the lightest tax burden in the developed world. Total U.S. tax revenues in 2008 equaled 26.9% of gross domestic product, according to provisional figures released Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That figure – which [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:19am EST

  • Salvation Army’s iconic kettles now credit ready

    There could be less jingle in the Salvation’s Army’s hallmark red kettles this season. The charity is testing kettles that take debit and credit cards. The growth of so-called “plastic kettles” comes as fewer shoppers carry cash. Bell ringers who stand outside stores during the holiday season say that more and [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:14am EST

  • About 22% of mortgages in region are ‘underwater’

    More than 71,500 homeowners in Hampton Roads owed more on their mortgages than the homes were worth at the end of September, according to a report released Tuesday. That’s nearly one in four local mortgage borrowers -22 percent - who are “underwater” on the loans, according to First American CoreLogic, which [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:10am EST

  • Note to criminals: ATMs not as dumb as they look

    If you’re trying to get away with armed robbery, it is usually not a good idea for you or your friends to use the debit card you just stole. It gives police an easy way to track your movements, and a lot of ATMs are monitored by surveillance cameras these [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:05am EST

  • Children’s gives the birthday boy a helping hand toward the future

    On the day he turned 8, Brian Wathen decided to wear his Tom Brady (No. 12) New England Patriots jersey. On the day he turned 8, Brian’s mother, Jill Wathen, didn’t make him sit in a booster seat on their 90-minute drive from La Plata to Washington. [...] Dr. Packer explained [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:57am EST

  • GM returns $140M provided for parts suppliers

    General Motors has returned $140 million of the $290 million it received from the government to support is parts suppliers. The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the $140 million was part of the $2.5 billion pledged to GM to help the automaker’s parts suppliers. The money came from the government’s [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:53am EST

  • Remaking Main Street

    A small Prince George’s County town sets out to ‘green’ its thoroughfare and help out the bay[...] In a bid to make the working-class community of 1,500 more pedestrian- and environmentally friendly, Edmonston has begun a $1.1 million makeover of busy Decatur Street, narrowing the two-lane residential thoroughfare to make room [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:47am EST

  • Maryland has fewer state police these days

    As thousands of Marylanders hit the road this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, they may find fewer patrol cars monitoring their speed. Maryland is one of a dozen states in which the number of highway patrol officers has either shrunk or failed to keep pace with population growth since 1995, according [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 25, 2009, 5:40am EST

  • U.S. urges Americans to help feed their neighbors

    The U.S. government on Tuesday urged Americans to volunteer to help feed their neighbors, noting that almost 15 percent of the country’s households had a hard time getting enough to eat last year. Every American can chip in to fight hunger, the Agriculture Department said as it unveiled the Obama Administration’s [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:21pm EST

  • Governor Martin O’Malley’s Weekly Economic Update Focuses on Job Creation

    Economic Update from Port of Baltimore Highlights Growing Maryland Companies ANNAPOLIS, MD (November 24, 2009) – In his weekly economic update released today, Governor O’Malley focused on efforts to strengthen and grow Maryland’s middle class by creating new jobs and expanding economic opportunities for Maryland’s small businesses and families. Governor O’Malley’s [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:17pm EST

  • Incident Reports

    11/24/09 - Charles County Sheriff’s Office [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:14pm EST

  • Board of Education announces joint legislative brunch agenda

    The Board of Education of Charles County will hold a joint legislative brunch with members of the Charles County delegation at 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 30, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be televised live on Comcast Channel 96. All televised Board meetings [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:09pm EST

  • U.S. Fund for Bank Deposit Insurance Falls Into the Red

    The government-administered insurance fund that protects depositors fell into the red for the first time since the fallout from the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as the pace of bank failures accelerated. The fund had a negative balance of $8.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, federal [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:54pm EST

  • Catamarans and SMILE Set to Feed The Needy on Thanksgiving Day

    Incoming Executive Chef, Robert Hesse who begins revolutionizing the way people in Southern Maryland understand a quality restaurant experience is set to provide a great Thanksgiving meal for those in need on Thursday. From noon to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, the enigmatic master chef will be fixing up a great meal [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:35pm EST

  • New GOP chairwoman comes out swinging

    With less than a week on the job, Maryland Republican Party Chairwoman Audrey Scott has found an issue to debate with her Democratic counterpart: mammograms. On Nov. 18, a day after a national task force recommended that women put off regular mammograms until they are 50, Scott was still reeling and [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:18pm EST

  • County GOP plans rally against furloughs for Charles workers

    There’s nothing like a protest to ring in the holiday season. The Charles County Republican Club is encouraging local residents and workers to spend their lunch hours on Wednesday at a rally in front of the county courthouse in support of more than 600 furloughed county employees. Thanksgiving Eve is the first [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:16pm EST

  • Candidates rip proposed raise for county commissioners

    Last week the Charles County Compensation Commission wrote in its official report that a recommended salary increase for the county commissioners was “justified and appropriate.” The handful of candidates who’ve already filed to run against the incumbent commissioners in 2010 say it’s “shameful” and “irresponsible.” [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:15pm EST

  • Public interest in legislation wanes

    Legislative package hearing is cancelled When Charles County Commissioners’ President F. Wayne Cooper first joined the board in 2002, he recalls the annual hearing to solicit legislative proposals from the public stretching deep into the night. Some years, a hot-button issue would prompt lengthy testimony. Other years, it was just the sheer [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 5:09pm EST

  • PUBLIC NOTICE OF A RESPONSE ACTION PLAN AND PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING

    Former Jameson-Harrison American Legion Post 238 & Dyson Besche Realty Company, Inc. [...] The subject property located at 15322 Prince Frederick Road in Hughesville, Maryland has been accepted into Maryland’s Voluntary Cleanup Program. [...] The project will restore the wetlands and stream by importing soils, grading to the original elevation and stream channel [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 7:51am EST

  • PUBLIC NOTICE OF A RESPONSE ACTION PLAN AND PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING

    Former Jameson-Harrison American Legion Post 238 & Dyson Besche Realty Company, Inc. [...] The subject property located at 15322 Prince Frederick Road in Hughesville, Maryland has been accepted into Maryland’s Voluntary Cleanup Program. [...] The project will restore the wetlands and stream by importing soils, grading to the original elevation and stream channel [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 7:51am EST

  • Virginia to buy back 359 crab licenses for $6.7M

    The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will buy back 359 commercial crab licenses as part of an effort to take more than 75,000 crab pots out of the water in an effort to rebuild the species. It’s an 18 percent reduction in the number of pots permitted for use in Virginia [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 7:46am EST

  • 1 killed, 1 injured in Waldorf car carsh

    A 78-year-old woman was killed and a 33-year-old woman injured in a two-car collision in Waldorf on Monday, authorities said. Both women were traveling separately, headed north on St. Charles Parkway near St. Marks Drive, when their cars collided, said Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Charles County sheriff’s office. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 7:38am EST
← October 2009 (601 items)

Blog Info:
Delusional Duck

» http://delusionalduck.com

Categories