GOVERNOR SAYS NO TO WIND TURBINES ON STATE PARK LAND Governor Martin O'Malley announced his opposition to a plan to place about 100 wind turbines on 400 acres of state park in western Maryland State Parks. The decision ends the proposed plans of U.S. Wind Force to place the turbines on land in Savage River and Potomac State Forests. Garret County officials and citizens were highly opposed to the plan, saying that clearing the land to make way for the 40-story windmills would alter the scenic views.
STATE BUDGET CUTS CONTINUE Maryland budget officials will continue to look until June for another $50-million in spending reductions to offset the repeal of the computer services tax. Budget secretary Eloise Foster says the state plans to make up some of the money by asking state agencies to apply money not yet spent to the $50-million in cuts. The state will continue a hiring freeze into the next fiscal year, and budget officials will make targeted reductions to the agency budgets. Repealing the computer tax created a projected $200-million shortfall. A tax surcharge on people earning more than $1-million a year will fill about half the gap with another $50-million coming from transportation funds.
BAY BRIDGE JUMPER Authorities believe a man jumped to his death from the Bay Bridge over last weekend. Police say a body was pulled from the waters below the bridge deck. Officers had found an abandoned pickup truck on the bridge about 20 minutes earlier. The man's name has not been released. Anyone who might have witnessed something is asked to call police.
MONEY THEFT AT REMAX OFFICE Vicki Sauder, 39-year-old Stevensville resident and former Remax Gold employee, is charged with stealing more than $11,000 from her former employer. Sauder wrote nearly 40 checks to herself, endorsed them, and then cashed them.
CHESTERTOWN NOW ON LINE Chestertown now has its own web site. Chestertown.com contains valuable news about the local government, coming events and more.
QA COMMISSIONERS WORKING ON ENVIRONMENT Queen Anne's County Commissioners introduced two environmentally-friendly bills. One would require septic tanks to be pumped out every five years. A second ordinance would limit use of fertilizer within the 100-foot critical area buffer. A hearing on those bills is set for April 22nd.
MCCARTHY FORMALLY WITHDRAWS FROM QAC SCHOOL BOARD RACE Mary McCarthy has formally withdrawn from the Queen Anne's County school board race, leaving Vito Tinelli as the sole surviving candidate in the District 2 race. Tinelli now runs unopposed and only can be beaten through a write-in campaign. McCarthy verbally withdrew before the February primary but not in time to be removed from the ballot. She won the primary, but wants to spend more time with her family and business interests.
CHESTERTOWN IS “CAPITAL FOR A DAY” Governor Martin O’Malley announced the dates and locations of the eight cities and municipalities selected for the 2008 Maryland Capital for A Day Program. Governor O’Malley was joined by Mayor Robert Bruchey, Mayor Margo Bailey, Mayor Harry Norris, Mayor Mike McDermott, Mayor Aileen McChesney, Mayor Adam Ortiz, Mayor Diana Fennell, Mayor Walter James, Mayor Lee Fiedler, Mayor Sidney Katz and Howard County Council Chair Courtney Watson. Speaking on behalf of municipalities across the state, Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz applauded Governor O’Malley for initiating a program that brings the state’s top leadership to local communities. Over the course of the next eight months, Governor O’Malley and his Executive Cabinet will visit each of the selected communities including Chestertown in Kent County in June.
PROFESSORS AT MARYLAND COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES PAID WELL Professors at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus are the highest paid in the country. The average salary is $142,700 per year. The chairman of the surgery department makes just under $790,000. The College Park campus tied for 10th place in high faculty pay with the University of Connecticut. A University spokesman says they pay the most because they are research institutions that must compete to attract top professors internationally.
LACK OF CRABS CAUSES TENSION BETWEEN WATERMEN Commercial watermen and recreational crabbers gathered recently to talk about dwindling blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. With the Chesapeake's hallmark seafood product becoming so scarce that Maryland and Virginia are weighing deep cuts to the crab harvest, tempers were short. Hobbyist crabbers balked at arguments that the states' surveys may be wrong and the harvest should not be cut as severely as state regulators are considering. Professional crabbers jeered at the recreational fishermen when they spoke in favor of the harvest reductions. At one point, professional crabbers shouted insults at a hobbyist and then stormed out of the room. The rivalry between the groups has always existed, but the dispute is growing more intense.
Neither side is happy with how the other is being managed. Pros complain that DNR does not keep track of how many crabs hobbyists catch, questioning estimates that recreational crabbers catch less than 10-percent of an annual harvest. Watermen also took issue with a potential change to catch limits on recreational crabbers that some pros contend could lead to more crabs being taken by the amateurs. Recreational crabbers insist they are not to blame for the fishery's woes and that crabs do not belong to the pros any more than anyone else. Watermen contend that they should get whatever crabs remain since their livelihoods depend on them.
CAMBRIDGE MAN HELD ON PRE-TEEN RAPE CHARGES A Cambridge man is being accused of raping a pre-teen girl in Easton. Police arrested 25-year-old Mauricio Vasquez for having consensual sex with a 12-year-old girl behind the old Lowe's building. He is facing multiple related charges. Vasquez also was wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants. He is now being held on $20,000 bond.
BIG RIG PLUNGES INTO CHESTER RIVER A tractor trailer went off the side of the Chester River Bridge after rear-ending a pickup truck. The impact caused the tractor-trailer driver to lose control. The driver was taken to Shock-Trauma.
RAVENS ANNOUNCE 2008 SCHEDULE The Ravens will kick off the NFL regular season on Sunday, September 7th with an afternoon home game against the Bengals. According to the team's schedule, the Ravens also will play their standard home-and-away games with the Browns and Steelers. They also will host the Jaguars, Titans, Raiders, Eagles, and Redskins. The road will take them to Texas twice, New Jersey twice, and Indiana. They'll end the regular season December 28th against the Jaguars at M&T Bank Stadium.
STATE IS WORKING TO LOCATE UNINSURED FAMILIES State officials are preparing to mail notices to thousands of Maryland families who may be eligible for federal programs providing affordable health care. The initiative calls on the comptroller's office to review state tax information, identifying anyone eligible for S-CHIP or other federal programs not widely publicized. A second mailing is planned to notify families who now qualify for Medicaid thanks to expanded eligibility criteria. Maryland currently has about 750,000 residents who are without health insurance.
SAILING HALL OF FAME CLOSER TO REALITY There soon could be a National Sailing Hall of Fame on the Annapolis City Dock. Mayor Ellen Moyer sponsored a resolution that was passed by the City Council. Preservationists do not want any changes made to an historic home on the dock, after a December report showed demolishing it would be the most cost effective way to build the museum. The State Department of Planning reviews the proposal next and has 90-days to make a recommendation.
WATERMEN IRKED WITH CRAB CUT ANNOUNCEMENT Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Virginia Governor Timothy Kane announced new regulations that will cut the harvest of female blue crabs taken from the Chesapeake Bay this season in an effort to allow populations to stabilize and grow. The new restriction will limit the harvest to 38-million-pounds of crab meat by slashing the number of females caught by 34-percent. Proposals on how to put the new regulations into effect are expected by the end of the month.
FAKE 50’S FOUND ON KENT ISLAND AND IN QUEENSTOWN Fake 50’s are making their way around Kent Island, showing up at Queenstown, M and T, SunTrust and Centreville Banks as well as food and convenience stores and most recently at the Queenstown Outlet Mall. Police are looking for two suspects who make small purchases and pay with face 50’s. The fake money was made from real money by printing the likeness of a $50 bill on paper made by bleaching five dollar bills. The man is described as being a dark-skinned male with short dark hair in his early mid-30s with a medium build. The other suspect is a white female in her mid-to-late thirties with sandy brown shoulder length hair. The Secret Service and local authorities are investigating.
ROCK HALL MAN CHARGED WITH MOLESTING 6-YEAR-OLD GIRL A 21-year-old Rock Hall man is charged with sexually molesting a six year old girl back in February. Robert Usilton turned himself after hearing there was a warrant for his arrest. Kent Bureau of Investigation started its work after learning the girl's mother had called Rock Hall Police in March to report her daughter had been molested. Police say she was visiting her grandmother in February and woke up to find Usilton molesting her. Usilton was a family friend.
IF SHE SAYS “NO,” IT MEANS “NO” Women can say ''no'' at any time during intercourse, and a man can be convicted of rape if he does not stop, according to a recent ruling by Maryland’s highest court. In the case of a man convicted of rape in 2004, the judges decided a woman can withdraw consent at any time, even after agreeing to sex.
''The crime of first-degree rape includes post-penetration vaginal intercourse accomplished through force or threat of force and without the consent of the victim, even if the victim consented to the initial penetration,'' the Court of Appeals wrote.
The court ordered a new trial for Maouloud Baby, who was convicted of raping a woman in a car in 2003. The woman had just had sex with another man, and Baby asked the man if he could ''hit that'' also. Baby testified that the woman agreed as long as Baby would stop when she told him to. The woman testified that Baby continued having sex with her for five to 10 seconds after she asked him to stop. Baby was convicted in 2004 after a Montgomery County jury asked the judge whether sex that begins consensually but continues after the woman tells the man to stop constitutes rape. Baby challenged his conviction, which was overturned by Maryland's second-highest court. The Court of Appeals remanded the case back for a new trial, clarifying that a woman may withdraw consent at any time during sex.
The decision makes Maryland at least the eighth state to clarify consent can be withdrawn during intercourse. Others are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota and South Dakota. Illinois has written the distinction into state law.
Tracy Brown, executive director of the Women's Law Center of Maryland, said that before Wednesday's ruling, it was unclear whether a man refusing requests to stop during sex could be convicted of rape. Brown said Maryland's decision means the law will match what people already believe that a woman's right to decide whether she wants sex does not end once sex begins.
In the decision, judges said that the trial judge was right to allow testimony from an expert in what's called ''rape-trauma syndrome.'' The expert explained to jurors why the victim's behavior might have seemed inconsistent with someone who had been raped. Baby argued that testimony wrongly swayed the jury and should not have been allowed. The decision means Baby faces another trial in Montgomery County. Judges wrote that current courts should not rely on 200-year-old legal standards that ''initial penetration completes the act of intercourse.''
ARRESTS MADE IN TEXACO ROBBERY Queen Anne's County authorities have charged three people with last month's robbery at the Texaco on Kent Island. One of those arrested was a clerk at that store, 22-year-old Joshua Hickox. Hickox allegedly conspired with at least two others to pull off the March 3rd robbery. A summons has been issued for a fourth suspect, but has not yet been served. Investigators say it appears the suspects tried to burn the clothes they were wearing, but remnants were found nearby and led deputies to the arrests.
ANTI-SLOTS CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY A coalition of lawmakers and civic leaders has launched a campaign to keep slots out of Maryland. The Marylanders United to Stop Slots (MUTSS) is spearheaded by Comptroller Peter Franchot and also includes current ES Congressman Wayne Gilchrest and former Talbot Councilwoman Hillary Spence.
MARYLAND COLLEGE SAVINGS PLAN RANKS HIGH The college savings plan in Maryland is one of the top five in the country according to a new report. It is the second year in a row that the College Investment Plan administered by T. Rowe Price made the list. Another plan in Colorado also made the top five, and it is managed by Legg Mason. Both companies are based in Maryland. The study looked at fees and the quality of funds in each plan.
QUEEN ANNE’S COURTHOUSE TO GET NEW WINDOWS Commissioners voted to approve nearly $100,000 to replace windows in the County’s Circuit Court House. Some windows have not been replaced in decades, and the original court house building has been there since the late 1700s.
TOP GILCHREST AIDE CHANGES JOBS AND PARTY AFFILIATION Lynn Caligiuri, Congressman Wayne Ghilcrest's top campaign aide, is switching from Republican to Democrat and will work as finance coordinator for Frank Kratovil, winner of the democratic primary for Queen Anne's State's Attorney. Caligiuri said she likes Republican Andy Harris personally but thinks Kratovil is more moderate.
KENT COUNTY APPROVES PRE-K IN ALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS The pre-K program is expanding to all elementary schools in Kent County, which was one of Governor O'Malley's campaign promises. Kent County's Board of Education voted 5-nothing to expand the Pre-K programs.
GANSLER VISITS CHESTERTOWN Attorney General Doug Gansler made the trip to Chestertown as promised to look at things like water quality and other Bay-related issues. Most of the trip centered on the Chester River. Now that Gansler has seen things for himself, Chestertown can expect to see more of MDE officials if Gansler orders additional investigations.
WCTR PERSON OF THE YEAR Congratulations to Rock Hall Mayor Jay Jacobs, winner of the 2007 WCTR Person of the Year award. Since January, WCTR has received hundreds of nominations for Person Of The Year, but Jacob’s work as Mayor clearly stood out.
