Was The U.N. Protecting Phony Treaties?

The controversy involving a United Nations-affiliated organization that uses members of President Barack Obama's Kenyan family to tout its anti-hunger campaign deepened this week, when Fox News learned that the two treaties upon which the group bases its U.N. credentials may be fakes.

The government of Italy, which supposedly signed the treaties used to give the organization international standing, told Fox News this week that it never did so. And neither treaty is included in a database maintained by Italy's Foreign Ministry of treaties that Italy considers binding and valid.

Fox News questions to the U.N. about the matter earlier this week produced one immediate result: by January 13, the two documents had disappeared from the U.N.'s official registry of international treaties, where they were installed in 2001, as ordered by the U.N. Charter itself, which ordains in Article 102 that "Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations...shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it."

GO HERE to read more.

Seniors May Have To Pay For Medicare Home Health

Staff of advisory panel suggested $150 charge for a series of related visits

WASHINGTON — Medicare recipients could see a new out-of-pocket charge for home health visits if Congress follows through on a recommendation issued Thursday by its own advisory panel.

Until now, home health visits from nurses and other providers have been free of charge to patients, but the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says a copayment is needed to discourage overuse of a service whose cost to taxpayers is nearing $20 billion a year. Medicare charges copays for many other services, so home health has been the exception, not the rule.

The advisory panel did not prescribe an amount, but its staff has suggested the charge be $150 for a series of related visits.

The congressionally appointed commission voted near unanimously by a show of hands to recommend that lawmakers impose the new charge, a step that's opposed by AARP, the seniors' lobby.

GO HERE to read more.

Postal Service Raising Most Rates In April

But the price for a first-class stamp will remain at 44 cents

WASHINGTON — Postal rates will go up in April, but the cost of sending the basic letter will remain the same.

The Postal Service said Thursday that most rates will go up on April 17 under a formula that allows the agency to increase prices within the rate of inflation.

The post office said the 44-cent price of a first-class stamp will remain unchanged, but heavier letters will cost more. The basic rate is for the first ounce, and the price for each extra ounce will rise from 17 cents to 20 cents.

GO HERE to read more.

Dog Headbutt Sends Martha Stewart To hospital

Domestic diva suffers 'pretty serious gash' on lip while trying to say goodbye to French bulldog

Martha Stewart was sent to the emergency room on Tuesday night after one of her beloved dogs left the domestic diva with a cut on her face.

On Thursday, Stewart revealed how the incident happened, blogging that the culprit was little Francesca, a French bulldog whom she leaned down to “whisper goodbye” to, an act which unfortunately caught the canine off guard.

“I must have startled her, because she bolted upright with such force that she hit me in the face like a boxing glove hitting an opponent’s face,” Stewart wrote on her personal blog.

“I was entirely startled and my neck snapped back,” Stewart continued. “I felt a bit of whiplash as blood gushed forth from my split lip.”

GO HERE to read more.

Structure Fire At Elks Lodge

A chimney fire was just upgraded to a structure fire at the Elks Lodge in Salisbury. Firefighters just arrived at the scene.

Maryland Talks Taxes, Virginia Slashes

Virginia and Maryland, despite their proximity along the Potomac River, are facing markedly different budget outlooks as the states gavel in their 2011 legislative sessions.

In 2010, Virginia closed a $4.2 billion gap in its current two-year budget, largely through deep cuts to services such as K-12 education and health care, and would have about $900 million to work with under Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed amendments to the budget.

Meanwhile, Maryland lawmakers are fresh out of accounting tricks as they prepare to tackle a $1.6 billion budget gap, after years of borrowing and funding transfers helped the state fare better than others through the recession. Now, there's talk in Annapolis of raising taxes, a move Virginia has staunchly resisted.

Virginia lawmakers said tough choices to cut spending have left the state in relatively decent shape. State spending is now back to pre-recession 2006 levels.

O'Malley says he wants to avoid more furloughs

ANNAPOLIS: Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says he aims to avoid furloughing state employees after three years of forcing them to take nearly two weeks of unpaid vacation.

O'Malley made the announcement Wednesday as he prepares to submit a roughly $13 billion operating budget that slashes $1.6 billion in spending to close a projected gap.

The governor's fiscal 2011 budget bill orders more than 85 percent of the state's work force to take 10 days of unpaid vacation this year.

The state was facing a $2 billion budget gap last year.

"Three years of furloughs, I think, is enough," O'Malley said at the start of the state's 2011 General Assembly session. "I think we've got to make the adjustments and start getting back to a new normal."

O'Malley has offered to pay state workers to quit their jobs in an effort to cut back on payroll and fulfill a fiscal 2011 budget requirement to cut 500 executive branch positions this year.

Nearly 1,400 employees applied for the buyout, which includes a one-time payment of $15,000 and an additional $200 for every year of service. The payoff also provides three months of medical and dental benefits.

O'Malley said he hopes the program will help stave off furloughs and further layoffs, but the buyout is estimated to save only $40 million. - Hayley Peterson

"We're in a different situation than a lot of other states because we made major cuts last year," said Del. Dave Albo, R-Fairfax. "The governor actually has some things he can do because of the hard choices we made last year."
Virginia's situation isn't entirely due to budget-slashing, however. The state did have to dip into its rainy day fund to the tune of about $780 million. It also used more than $1 billion in federal stimulus funding to help close a $6.4 billion shortfall in its previous two-year budget.

Last year, the state also deferred more than $600 million in payments to its underfunded retirement system to help balance the current books.

Across the river, Maryland's fiscal fiasco is due in part to lawmakers' lofty promises during rosier economic times.
The legislature in 2002 committed to higher year-over-year funding levels for schools, forcing counties to top record commitments they made during good years.

Then in 2003, the state began paying less than it owed into the pension system after lawmakers promised state workers heftier retirement packages.

The state paid off its expensive pension promises for the past two fiscal years with more than $350 million in federal stimulus dollars. That money is now gone.

"This is the toughest budget that I have ever had to work on," said Gov. Martin O'Malley. "This year I think all of us will come to appreciate just how important the recovery and reinvestment dollars were."

GO HERE to read more.

Will Salisbury Ever Learn?

For seven years now I have been attending Salisbury City Council Meetings. The main reason I started going was the disbelief I was reading and ultimately seeing.

Salisbury had a Mayor no one I had come across agreed with. Special interests were lining up for their take on what they could get out of the City taxpayers and in one case one Council Member, (Rachel Polk) was physically attacked.

You had a Police Chief who yanked the attacker off of Rachel Polk, yet he claimed in the Daily Times, he didn't see anything. I'm not going to get long winded about that but I will finish by saying those who testified in Court one after the other convincingly showed this was the case.

Rather than getting forever long winded about my history with the City of Salisbury and the many topics I could easily pick and choose from I'll simply say this. The future does not look good, period.

I have watched a few different Council's over the years continue to take good care of special interests. Arguments have yet to stop and the citizens are actually the ones fighting amongst themselves. Your votes are the main reason why things continue to go in the direction they have. I want to be clear here, EVERYONE is at fault on the Council.

We are about to experience yet another election and while there are those "Dirty Dozen", (actually hundreds) who continue to voice how upset they are about how things are going, my guess is that there will once again be another Louise Smith/Jim Ireton who enter the race claiming they're going to do one thing and in the end all they'll do is carry on the same old, same old.

So what's the answer. Well, know who your candidates are. If they all of a sudden start showing up to Council Meetings, that's red flag #1. If they do show up at Council Meetings but are too afraid to stand up and speak on behalf of what they believe in, that's red flag #2.

Politicians really aren't as difficult to understand if they're in it for the right reasons. Think about it like this. If Joe Albero were to run for Office, do you really believe I'd get up there and just tell you what you want to hear in order to get your vote. The true answer to that question is, hell no. I'd tell you what I believe and if you agree with my agenda you vote for me. If you disagree you'd vote for someone else. Pretty much like this Blog. There are others out there and you have a choice to go to any one of them you so choose.

The biggest difference in what I'm trying to express here is this. Tens of thousands of you know me like a book. After all these years you have a pretty good idea what I stand for. If all of a sudden I started changing my ways and saying things you know from within isn't the regular Joe, there's a red flag. So how well do you know the candidates? Tim Spies and Muir Boda have been in the public eye for years now. Do you know what they stand for? You should! But how can you if they refuse to stand up at a Council Meeting to be heard.

The most important part of this Post is this. Salisbury has shown over the past 14 years, (if not more) that the City Council is all about Council Members disagreeing on just about EVERYTHING! You have a Mayor who claims he wants the Council President to put things on the agenda and allegedly the Council President refuses to do so. Instead, what does get put on the agenda are things that continue to cost the taxpayers more and more money. The Bricks, old Fire Station 16, the WWTP, new Fire Station, a new Fire Boat, fines for not clearing your snow fast enough, the list goes on and on.

You don't see 24 new Police Officers, while crime continues to go through the roof. You don't see the elimination of Urban Salisbury. Its as if there's no "Master Plan" for the City. What I mean by that is, you don't have a City Council truly working for the taxpayers. IF there was a Master Plan of common sense, (like new Police Officers) reduced taxed for new businesses, no impact fees for new home construction, heck, I'm sure there are plenty of things we could add to that list where the Council seemed to be on the right track towards a better future for ALL and not just SOME.

In the past 14+ years we have been subjected to arguing and bickering and this needs to change. However, it is MY belief a Master Plan by the Citizens needs to be put together so OUR representatives don't shove unnecessary projects down our throats and all we have left is anger and financial deflation. Know your candidates. For those holding Forums, make sure they ask questions YOU want to know. If they do not, don't attend their Forum or blackball them in the future and label them a special interest group.

You can take back your City and your Government by getting involved. By starting at the local level it shows those County Council Members, County Executive, Delegates, Senators, Congressman and ultimately the Governor that YOU have a plan for Maryland's future and anything short of achieving those direct plans gets you the boot out of Office. Government wants you to feel like you can't do anything about it. Heck, if you can't even get control of your own City Council, why waste your time on anything else, right? See how they think!

All that being said, what's your Master Plan for Salisbury???????

PG CountyTurns To Feds For Help

WASHINGTON -- Prince George's County is bringing in over 100 federal agents to help stay the string of murders that have left more than a dozen dead just days into the new year.

Interim Police Chief Mark Magaw announced Thursday that approximately 135 officers from the FBI, DEA and ATF will be embedded into county homicide units. This follows the Wednesday, Jan. 12 announcement that the body of a woman found the previous Friday was a murder, bringing the death toll up to 13 since the beginning of 2011.
 
Magaw says these officers will remain embedded with the county police "until the violence stops."
"I am very concerned about the number of homicides since January 1st," says Magaw, according to a police release.
 
"We will stop this unacceptably high level of violence that has plagued our inner beltway communities."

GO HERE to read more.

Salisbury Police Department Press Releases

On January 12, 2011 at approximately 1:57 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police arrested the below listed suspect on an outstanding warrant for an assault that occurred on January 1, 2011. On that date the officers responded to the area of Johnson and Liberty Streets for the report of a stabbing. Upon arrival it was found that the suspect had stabbed a female victim with a steak knife following a domestic type argument. The victim was stabbed in the abdomen during the assault and received treatment at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center. During the incident, the suspect also injured a witness that attempted to intervene in the assault.

ARRESTED: Tyvonia Oneida Ennals, 34 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES:
Attempted second degree murder
First degree assault
Second degree assault (2 counts)
Dangerous and deadly weapon
Reckless endangerment

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 201100000057

On January 12, 2011 at approximately 9:40 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police Safe Streets Team were on routine patrol in the area of East Church Street and observed the below listed subject trespassing on posted residential property. As the officers attempted contact, the suspect fled from the area on foot. The officers pursued the suspect and apprehended the suspect on a second posted property. During the chase the suspect dropped an item that was recovered by the pursuing officers. An inspection of the item revealed that it was a baggie containing a quantity of suspected marijuana and two (2) baggies of suspected “crack”/cocaine.

ARRESTED: Zarvelle Julius Snell, 35 years of age Salisbury, Maryland

CHARGES:
Trespassing (2 counts)
Possession of cocaine with intent to distribute
Possession of cocaine
Possession of marijuana
Possession of CDS/paraphernalia (2 counts)

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 201100001437

On January 12, 2011 at approximately 10:47 pm, Officers of the Salisbury Police received a call to respond to the area of Edgewater Drive for the report of a single motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival the officers located a vehicle that had collided with a tree and met with the operator, the below listed suspect. The suspect was charged with driving while intoxicated and became combative, assaulting one (1) of the responded officers. The suspect then began to shout and curse in the neighborhood, becoming disorderly. As he was placed in the patrol vehicle, the suspect kicked one (1) of the officers. A search of the suspect, incident to arrest, revealed a quantity of suspected marijuana.

ARRESTED: Michael Kevin Dockery, Jr., 23 years of age Pasadena, Maryland

CHARGES:
Second degree assault (2 counts)
Resisting arrest
Failure to obey a lawful order
Disorderly conduct
Possession of marijuana

DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking CC # 201100001444

Wales St-Salisbury WIC Apt Fire

The American Red Cross Lower Shore Chapter Disaster Action Team #3 responded to a 3 unit apartment fire early this morning on Wales St in Salisbury, MD. 3 families were displaced and assisted due to the fire.

A Letter To The Editor

COMEGYS & SMITH HAVE GOT TO GO AND BODA DEFEATED IN SALISBURY THIS YEAR!

This latest meeting of the Salisbury City Council made clear, once again, that Gary Comegys and Louise Smith must be defeated if they seek reelection this year – and that Terry Cohen deserves to be reelected, Thanks to her vote and that of Ms. Campbell, the "three stooges" (Shields, Smith & Comegys) were unable to approve spending City funds to install sidewalks in the Harbor Pointe subdivision on Pemberton Drive. A supermajority (4/5ths) vote is needed to amend the City’s budget to appropriate the funds.

Her position may have soured Ms. Cohen with the Harbor Point crowd, but it shows in spades that she is dedicated to doing what is prudent, not simply what is politically expedient – and that Comegys and Smith are buffoons or political hacks (or both).

But the outcome was not as good for the public interest in the matter involving the former site of "Linens of the Weeks" (and, earlier, the "Sunshine Laundry") because the "three stooges" vote to accept the property owner’s "gift" was sufficient and Mayor Ireton is the "4th stooge" in that instance. They have no qualms about taking the property, which is known to be contaminated and will require extensive – and very expensive – environmental remediation. The cost to do so is unknown and the City is strapped for funds.

But there may a fly in the BS served up by the ignoramus quartet. Apparently, the property owner of the "Linens of the Week" property won’t play ball with the City without getting its "hold harmless" protection against any liability. So this seems more like a "deal" than a true "gift," because, in order to get the property the City must undertake to absorb any costs whatsoever that the current owner or "its affiliates" might bear because of the pollution. As someone pointed out during the public comments on Monday night, that might require an ordinance and not just a resolution.

The big disappointment at the meeting was that the declared candidates in the audience declined to speak to these matters, especially Mr. Boda, who claims to be a small government style fiscal conservative. It’s easy to whine about excessive spending but quite a different thing to oppose spending when it could cost you votes.

Pruden: Only A President Can Cool This Lynch Mob

This could be Barack Obama's finest moment. He wouldn't have to invite anyone in for a beer. He wouldn't have to find a foreign potentate to bow to with abject apologies for the manifold sins of the America of liberal and "progressive" imagination.

All he has to do is act like a president.

He could tell the lynch mob to put down their rope and call off the hanging of Sarah Palin. He could employ his famous gifts of rhetoric to tell the hysteria-mongers in his party to get over their disappointment that the Tucson gunman is not the rabid rightwinger of left-wing wishes and dreams. He's more likely to be the "left-wing pothead" his acquaintances in Tucson say he is.

Mr. Obama could even concede that he contributed to "a climate of hate" when he went a little over the top in instructing a Philadelphia fundraiser two years ago how to deal with Republicans: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." He could say that this was meant in jest as something Rooster Cogburn might say, expressed in the heat of a boisterous campaign rally and hardly meant to encourage anyone to actually take his Bowie knife down from the shelf and find a plump Republican to slice and dice.

There's even a precedent for such a gesture. When a woman at a Republican town-hall meeting in 2008 asserted that Mr. Obama was a closet Arab and probably a Muslim to boot, John McCain swiftly and sharply disagreed: "No, ma'am, he's not. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to disagree with."

But the president probably won't do that. He just can't. Partisan lines are too vividly drawn. The news of massacre in Arizona had hardly spread beyond Cochise County before pundits and pols in the East started pumping out poison - prefaced, of course, with oily expressions of sympathy and condolences for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of the loon identified as Jared Loughner. The condolences were usually accompanied by ritual assurances that the pundits and pols were praying for the souls of the dead and the wounded bodies of the dying. The churches and synagogues of Washington and New York were surely jammed with penitents elbowing each other aside to get in to pray. Or maybe not. Soon it was back to rejoin the lynch mob.

There were few warnings by pundits and pols that the public should not "jump to conclusions" about who Jared Loughner might be. Every right-thinking person knew he was a sleeper agent programmed by George W. to be activated with a code word from Sarah Palin. There was no mystery about who this suspect was, not like the shooter at Fort Hood in 2009 who shouted "Allahu Akbar!" as he killed 13 people. We were warned by a roster of media and government glitteries not to "jump to conclusions."

The warning became a mantra. "We cannot jump to conclusions," said Gen. Wesley Clark. "We have to make sure we do not jump to any conclusions whatsoever," cried CNN commentator Jane Velez-Mitchell. "We can't jump to conclusions," said Army Gen. George Casey. When Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, suggested to CNN that the Fort Hood massacre was an act of terrorism, John Roberts, the interviewer, quickly shut him up. "President Obama has asked people to be very cautious and to not jump to conclusions."

But this time everyone, having lunched on Mexican jumping beans, set off on a panic of conclusion-jumping. Politicians, weary of answering criticism and complaint and now worried about their own safety, see an opportunity to put a sock in the mouths of unhappy constituents. The sheriff in Tucson blames talk radio for the massacre. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the No. 2 man in the Democratic minority, thinks the peasants are getting too much information. "Far too many broadcasts now and so many outlets have the intent of inciting, and inciting people to opposition, to anger."

More from Mr. Pruden here

Today's Survey Question

If Councilman Gary Comegys And Council President Louise Smith Choose To Run Again, Will You Cast Your Vote For Them, And Why / Why Not?

An Extremist And Proud Of It

Yes, I am that for sure, an extremist. I am totally against taxes, consider them extortion. I think all government regulations are vile, cases of prior restraint and thus unjust. I think a government has only the function assigned to it in the Declaration of Independence, namely, to protect our rights.

I knew I was an extremist from the time Barry Goldwater announced that "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." That's because an extremist is just someone who holds a set of positions that is internally consistent, uncompromising, and demands full integrity.

Of course, once you enter the political fray, it is pointless to be all these things except in how you identify and hold your political position. In the political philosophy one is convinced is sound, everyone ought to be an extremist, even a politician, but in one's strategies for realizing one's principles in public policy it is quite all right to be practical, pragmatic, or prudent. This extremism is a matter of holding certain views, not in throwing bombs or murdering one's adversaries.

Politics takes place among thousands and thousands of people and many of them have agendas very different from one's own. To make any headway at all in the direction of the policies that would help realize one's political philosophy, at least to some degree, one cannot simply hold out for the vote that will agree with that philosophy. Here is where compromise is required but never in watering down one's ideals.

It is mostly those whose views are wishy-washy but who do like to wield power who promote the idea that compromise in how one thinks about issues is necessary, even honorable. But that is false. The world does not conform to a compromised position on anything – it is a consistent system of facts disallowing any inconsistencies or contradictions as possibly true. But the sociology of politics does make compromises useful, provided one never forgets the goals that are being served by it. In and of themselves compromises are worthless – they are in fact evidence of incoherence. But as means to get closer to one's objectives when inescapably working with a lot of folks who hold drastically different views they have merit.

GO HERE to read more.

Paul Hair: On Toning Down The Rhetoric

The right should be commended for responding vigorously to the baseless accusations that the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and conservatives in general inspired Jared Loughner to go on a shooting rampage that left six people dead and fourteen wounded. Yet the fact that this defense of conservatives had to occur at all is beyond disturbing.

There were two critical points that immediately sprang to my mind when I saw the left predictably blame the right for Loughner’s murderous rampage. I know that Rush Limbaugh has touched on these points and others may have as well. However, I want to offer my own take and explain why these points are so critical, and why it should be clear now that the differences between the left and right are irreconcilable.

The first critical point is that this is the latest example of a string of incidents over the past two years or so where someone who committed national-level violence (and who can more closely be identified with the left than the right) was said to be a conservative—or influenced by conservatives—and thus “proof” that conservatives are dangerous. Similar accusation were made about Joe Stack, John Patrick Bedell, James Von Brunn, Michael Enright, and Clay Duke.

The second critical point follows on the heels of the first. If the response to Loughner’s bloodbath is the kind of two-minute hate that the left drums up against the right when a leftist goes on a murderous rampage, what is going to happen once someone who truly can be identified with the right actually does do something violent that captures national attention? The answer is that the left will set in motion the process of complete criminalization of any opposition to the left.

These critical points combine to underscore the absolute danger that faces our nation. The mainstream left has become so insane that it now can have one of its own go on a murderous rampage, then shamelessly blame the right for it in the face of overwhelming evidence, and then use that obvious lie to call for an end to any opposition to leftism. The left is so far gone that it is even willing to make up “hate” in order to “prove” how bad the right is. This is frightening stuff.

Some may note that it is unfair to call Loughner a leftist. People have pointed out that while Loughner can more easily be identified as on the left than the right, he is better described as being on neither side; he simply appears to be crazy. I would agree that this would be a perfectly acceptable response if we lived in a civilized nation. However, we no longer do; the left has seen to that.

This should be clear from the way that Mayor Michael Bloomberg gladly speculated that a conservative likely perpetuated an attempted attack on Times Square. Yet once he learned that the would-be attacker was a Muslim, Bloomberg immediately announced that, “. . . I want to make clear that we will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers.”

It should also be clear from the way that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is baselessly blaming the right for Loughner’s murders, or the way that the mainstream left regularly disparages conservatives and the Tea Party even as it tells us in response to Islamic and leftist violence that we must not “rush to judgment,” that we must “understand what has made them so angry,” and indeed that we must give sympathy to them.

Read more here

You Have To Be Kidding Me

Somerset County Sheriff's Office Press Release

Terrance Lamont Walker of Princess Anne, criminal summons served 12-30-10 for violation of a peace order, and telephone misuse. Walker was released pending trial.

Satrina Amy Clayton of Princess Anne, arrested  1-5-11 on a warrant regarding failing to appear in court. Clayton was later released on a $2,500 unsecured bond.

Crisfield juvenile arrested 1-6-11 on drug distribution and possession charges. The arrest was a result of a on going drug investigation through the Sheriff's Office and the Crisfield Police Department. After arrest, the juvenile was later held with out bond at the Lower Shore Youth Detention Center pending trial.

Deirdre Melinda Archibald of Deal Island, criminal summons served 1-7-11 for second degree assault. Archibald was later released pending trial. 

Richard Thomas Sterling Sr. of Salisbury, arrested 1-7-11 on a warrant regarding violation of probation. Sterling was later held on a $100,000 bond.

Devon Lamar Alford of Princess Anne, arrested 1-7-11 on a warrant regarding failing to appear in court. Alford was later released after posting a $250.00 bond.

Nicolette Linda Panzo Walston of Marion, criminal summons served on 1-10-11 regarding failing to send a child to school. Walston was later released pending trial.

Antonio Michael Stallings of Crisfield, arrested 1-11-11 on two warrants regarding failing to appear in court. Stallings was later released after posting a $1,000 bond.

Chad Michael Bozman of princess Anne, arrested 1-11-11 on two warrants regarding failing to appear in court. Bozman was later released after posting a $7,500 bond.

Keon Scarborough of Atlanta Virginia, arrested 1-12-11 on a warrant regarding failing to appear in court. Scarborough was later held on a $500.00 bond.

Thomas Stanford Harrison Jr. of Princess Anne, arrested 1-12-11 on two warrants regarding failing to appear in court. Harrison was later released on a $1,500 bond.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY ANNOUNCES MAJOR MILESTONE FOR DNA DATABASE AT 'MARYLAND FORWARD' FORUM ON SAFETY

Final of five “Maryland Forward” forums designed to shape O’Malley-Brown second term, transition Maryland into new economy focuses on public safety and homeland security

ANNAPOLIS, MD (January 13, 2011) – Governor Martin O’Malley announced a major milestone for Maryland’s DNA database today as he convened the fifth and final “Maryland Forward” forum today, designed to elicit feedback and ideas from stakeholders in preparation for a second term as Maryland’s Governor.  Today’s forum focused on public safety and homeland security, keeping Maryland neighborhoods safe and making our state a leader in homeland security.  

Maryland’s DNA database, housed at the State Police Forensic Sciences Division laboratory, has now made more than 2,000 positive comparisons, or “hits,” as they are commonly referred to.  A positive comparison occurs when DNA obtained from a crime victim or scene is matched with either a known offender sample or DNA from another crime scene that is on file in Maryland’s DNA database. 

“Through the hard work of many dedicated people, we have been able to significantly increase the effectiveness of our DNA database and make it the crime-fighting tool it should be,” Governor Martin O’Malley said.  “Eliminating the inherited sample backlog and providing necessary personnel, equipment and financial resources to our State Police lab have been priorities for our Administration as we fight to protect Maryland neighborhoods and families.  The most solemn obligation we have as public servants is to protect the public safety.  This technology has greatly improved our ability to do that.”

Scientists at the State Police lab have verified the positive comparison involved an offender sample that was part of the more than 24,000 sample backlog that was cleared and entered into the DNA database after funding and support was provided by Governor O’Malley during the first year of his administration.  Today’s announcement comes as Governor O’Malley convenes the final “Maryland Forward” forum, which took place in Annapolis with approximately 300 law enforcement and public safety stakeholders.  Today’s event will gather recommendations for legislation and actions related to public safety and homeland security.

In January 2008, Governor O’Malley announced the elimination of an inherited backlog of more than 24,000 untested and uncollected DNA samples from convicted felons.  The backlog elimination was the result of additional funding for new positions and new equipment provided by the O’Malley-Brown Administration.  Since 2007, law enforcement has made 290 arrests due to positive hits from the DNA database. 

As of December 31, 2010, there were 92,493 offender samples in the statewide DNA database.  Current Maryland law requires all persons convicted of a felony, fourth degree burglary, or breaking/entering of a motor vehicle to submit a DNA sample that becomes part of the DNA database.    

On January 1, 2009, legislation proposed and signed into law by Governor O’Malley took effect that requires those arrested and charged with qualifying violent crimes, or 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd degree burglaries and attempts to commit those crimes, to submit a DNA sample.  As of the end of 2010, there were 10,243 DNA samples in this database.  There have been 104 positive DNA comparisons as a result of the new law.  This has a direct impact on crime because it gives police the ability to take criminals off the street sooner and before they can continue their criminal activities.  

Facebook Unveils Amber Alert Notification System

One of the world's most popular web sites has a new role: solving crime -- as Facebook users can now track and help find lost children amid all the typical social happenings.

Facebook users who "fan" their state’s newly-created Amber Alert page will receive alerts in their news feed regarding missing children, the company announced Wednesday.

To advertise the new feature, Facebook is donating 50 million ads across the Internet featuring the service, according to the Wall Street Journal. The program is a joint effort between Facebook and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

GO HERE to read more.

200 More Officers On Streets In Prince George's Co.

With 13 homicides reported in the first 13 days of the year, Prince George's County Police started saturating parts of the county Wednesday night with an additional 200 officers.

Officials said they want to have as much exposure as possible in the areas where these homicides have occurred. They will be doing this all week.

The police chief will hold a community meeting Thursday night to address the recent spike in violence.

Source

Banks Repossessed 1 Million Homes Last Year — And 2011 Will Be Worse

NEW YORK — The bleakest year in foreclosure crisis has only just begun.

Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.

"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.

The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday.

That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.

GO HERE to read more.

Unspoken Trend?

Look at this trend leading away from the US dollar......right here in the US. Dollar so bad that our own citizens are moving away from it.

written in 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5126185/Struggling-US-towns-print-their-own-currency.html

then...written in 2010

http://mickwinter.com/wp-content/localcurrency.html

and another

http://ezinearticles.com/?Approaches-to-Community-Currencies&id=4726418

The Day The Dollar Died

The Fed Is Gifting Primary Dealers With A Monthly Commission Fee Of Over $5 Billion

The topic of how much money the Fed is gifting to the Primary Dealers via POMO commissions has to become front and center right now. While we appreciate fluff "profile" pieces in the NYT addressing the issue tangentially, and assuring us via worthless promises by people whose one purpose in life is to pad the pockets of their future employers in preparation for that inevitable day when said parasites move from faux public service to doing the hard core biddings of a vampire squid, the truth is that this is daylight robbery and it is happening in front of everyone's eyes. As a reminder, per the NYT: "As offers to sell Treasuries flash on a bank of trading screens, a computer algorithm works out which ones to accept." We contest that this algorithm is costing tapxayer billions each and every month and demand that Bill Dudley, Brian Sack, Josh Frost or one of the 20 year old henchmen traders immediately disclose just what the operatinal terms of the algorithm are, and what the slippage is. The reason: we have reason to believe that the Fed's slippage rate is up to 5%. On a monthly POMO notional total of over $100 billion, this means that the Fed hands out well over $5 billion each and every month to the Primary Dealers. This is an abortion of the Fed's fiduciary responsibility and should be criminal if proven to be in fact correct.

GO HERE to read more.

Chinese To Allow Americans To Open Chinese Bank Accounts

Bank of China Opens for Renminbi Trade in U.S.

Call it liberalization by a thousand cuts.

The Bank of China, one of the country’s main state-owned lenders, is now allowing American firms to trade in renminbi, another step in China’s effort to position the the renminbi on the world stage.

In July, China started a renminbi settlement system for cross-border trade in Hong Kong, but it placed limits on how much currency could be exchanged.

Currency trading in the renminbi was already possible at other banks, but the move by a state-owned lender signals a shift in official policy.

The Chinese central bank bowed to international pressure last summer and agreed to make its currency more flexible; the renminbi is now allowed to move as much as 0.5 percent each day. At the same time, the country is cautiously pursuing a strategy of making the renminbi into an international exchange currency.

GO HERE to read more.

NIA Comments On The Upcoming Bursting Of The (Bankruptcy Non-Dischargeable) College Debt Bubble

The NIA, better known for cutting straight to the chase and not really mincing its words today focuses on the latest trillion + dollar bubble: that of US higher education, which is getting increasingly more funded directly by the US Government. "The National Inflation Association believes that the United States has a college education bubble that is set to burst beginning in mid-2011. This bursting bubble will have effects that are even more far-reaching than the bursting of the Real Estate bubble in 2006. College education could possibly be the largest scam in U.S. history." And the kicker: unlike housing debt, college debt has that extra oomph to it that it traditionally is not discharged in bankruptcy [1]: as such it is the ultimate subjugation mechanism. This one sure is set to get interesting...
From the NIA
The National Inflation Association believes that the United States has a college education bubble that is set to burst beginning in mid-2011. This bursting bubble will have effects that are even more far-reaching than the bursting of the Real Estate bubble in 2006. College education could possibly be the largest scam in U.S. history.

NIA's advice to the youth of America today is to think for yourselves. Don't get suckered into overpaying for a college degree that is worthless because everyone else has one. College is only worth attending if you plan on actually learning something there. If you are only going to college because you think a piece of paper is going to help you find a job, you would be much better off skipping college and entering the workforce right now at any entry level job. Your experience will benefit you more than any piece of paper.

The median U.S. home price is currently $170,600, down 26% from its peak of $230,200 in July of 2006. The Dow Jones is currently 11,672, down 18% from its peak of 14,198 in October of 2007. Oil is currently $91 per barrel, down 38% from its peak of $147 per barrel in July of 2008. After the financial panic of 2008, the U.S. saw a collapse in the prices of just about all assets, goods, services, and commodities. Between lost stock market and home equity wealth, Americans lost $10.2 trillion in paper wealth in 2008, and have only recouped a fraction of it since then.

College is the only thing in America that never declined in price during the panic of 2008. It actually rose in price substantially. The annual tuition for a private four-year college was $21,235 in the 2005-2006 school year. Despite Real Estate beginning to collapse in late-2006, college tuition rose by 4.6% in the 2006-2007 school year to $22,218. Despite the stock market beginning to collapse in late-2007, college tuition rose by 6.7% in the 2007-2008 school year to $23,712. Despite oil and other commodities collapsing in late-2008, college tuition rose by 6.2% in the 2008-2009 school year to $25,177. Even after the Dow Jones crashed to a low in early-2009 of 6,469, college tuition still rose by 4.4% in the 2009-2010 school year to $26,273.

GO HERE to read more.

Should I Really Join Facebook?

When I bought my Blackberry I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter.   I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my  grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and ev ery other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it,   and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating."  You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose  three phones all at once and have run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual."  Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.   I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."  

Local 2010 Real Estate Stats

Joe,

Hope your having a great new year!  Much success and prosperity and you and your readers!

Below is a link to the 2010 Costal Association of Realtors (CAR) market statistics for the Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset, MD counties (numbers reflect homes only sold on the MLS by a Realtor member of CAR).  The vast differences between 2010 and 2009 are apparent even to the long term buyer.

I haven’t seen anything like this in my 8 and a half  years in the business.  When I started back in 2001 America and even the World was in crisis.  September 11^th marked a change in the history of the United States.  For years, individuals and companies alike, rose to great heights.  It was a spending frenzy.  Real estate was booming and there were no short numbers of buyers.  Multiple offers, more than a dozen or so bidders at one time,  market prices rising 25% + a year!  We all thought we would be millionaires.  We were in heaven.

Boy were we fooled.  By 2008 the market was coming down hard.  I still remember, there was no shortage of listings that’s for sure, just a shortage of buyers.  What do you mean?  What just happened?  Yeah it was that quick.  My family, like many others you might know or heard about, took a big hit.  For some it was too heavy.  I feel your pain.

The market (the World market) has a long way to go, yes.  Real Estate values are down – we can agree on that.  But, sales are up!  Yes, sales are up!  In the last few years we have finally seen some figures in the black.  So you are telling me that there are signs of hope?  Yes.

Wicomico County is primed for 1^st time home buyers, investors, buyers who don’t have anything to sell, and those who can sell for a good price.  The deals are out there.  Worcester County and Ocean City have more vacationing buyers from out of the area buying than they have in the last 4-5 years…it’s a growing trend.  And offers a lot of water front too!  My father and I have been showing property to people who are buying second homes in our neighboring Delaware beach areas.  They are getting popular and the communities are progressive and growing.  Somerset county had an amazing 54.9% bounce back in settlements from a year ago.  More lower income than anything and nothing over $700,000. BUT…big numbers!

Sellers, you have to hang in there.  The hardest journey will be yours.  Some have luck on their side – and we’re happy for you.  And some little hope.  We are compassionate to you and your families.  We feel your pain.  For those who might have questions about the current sellers market or info about short sales and/or foreclosures and how the government can help you please visit http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/ .

Take a look for yourself.  The number of people purchasing homes are up all across the board.  We still have along way to go but this is a step in the right direction.  It’s not just good news for the real estate industry; but for our economy as a whole. In 2011, prices will most likely drop some but not as bad as they have over the last few years.  This year will prep our 2012.  It will tell the story for the years to come.  Stick it out like Americans do and hang in there.  The worst is almost over.  Its time to pick up the pieces and rebuild. 

-          Adam Roop

Realtor

Delmar Girls Basketball Fundraiser

You're invited to an
Applebee's® Flapjack Fundraiser Breakfast
to support Delmar Girl's Basketball Team

$6.00 per person

WHEN: Sunday, January 23, 20118:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar
2703 North Salisbury Boulevard
Salisbury, MD 21801

Keep Benefits The Same

More than 100 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees came to Annapolis on Wednesday to lobby the 428th General Assembly for their No. 1 priority: preserving the health and pension benefits they have. AFSCME is the largest union for state employees. Legislative director Sue Esty said that with several proposals circulating to make cuts in pension and health benefits – as well as recent furloughs, pay cuts and hiring freezes – the union members want to make sure they set the right tone for this General Assembly session.

Continue Reading...

Prince George's Marks 13th Homicide This Year

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. - Prince George's County police say the death of a woman whose body was found last week has been ruled a homicide, bringing the county's total to 13 in the 12 days since the year began.

Cpl. Evan Baxter said Wednesday that police launched a death investigation after the woman's body was found Friday in Capitol Heights, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has now ruled the woman's death a homicide.
 
Police say some of the 13 homicides since Jan. 1 were drug related and others stemmed from domestic disputes. In one case, police say a man was fatally shot by the resident of a home he was trying to break into. Police have made arrests in at least three of the cases.
 
Two people were killed in the county on Tuesday.
 
On Tuesday night, a person was shot and killed trying to break into a house in the 7400 block of Riverdale Road in Lanham.
 
The person shot was pronounced dead at the scene.

GO HERE to read more.

ATMs Are As Dirty As Toilets

You might want to wash your hands after the next time you take money out the cash machine. A new study shows that when bacteria harvested from both were compared, ATM keys were as dirty as the seat in a public bathroom.

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Southwest Pilot Holds Plane For Murdered Child's Family

Elliott.org has the incredible story of a grandfather who was trying to race through the airport to get to the hospital to say goodbye to his 3-year old grandson who being taken off life support after being body-slammed by his daughter's live-in boyfriend. Despite getting to the airport early, long lines were going to make him late for the plane and all the TSA drones couldn't give a damn. Finally through security, he ran through the airport in his socks, clutching his shoes, before arriving, gasping at the Southwest gate—12 minutes late.

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How To Shovel Snow So The Plows Don't Clog Your Driveway

Hooray! Our snow plow saviors are here, clearing off the roads so we can go to Target and buy more Barbasol.

Oh no, our friends have shoved a giant pile of snow into our driveway, creating a giant snow wall, a blockade of frozenness that could have been avoided with a little advance action.

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Try This

Follow the instructions.

1.- Click on the link below2.- Then "click me to get trippy",3.- Look at the center of the screen for 30 seconds (no cheating), and then 4.- Look at your hand holding the mouse, without moving it away from the mouse. You'll be shocked at what you see.     ( it is called "cenesthetic hallucination")      http://www.neave.com/strobe/

Use A Beer Holder Thingy To Stop Shaving Cream Rust Rings

You know, a lot of those "New Uses For XYZ Random Item" stories magazines come up with are really pretty stupid, but I hate rust rings on my bathtub and I am incapable of remembering that they will happen if I leave the shaving cream just sitting there.

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7 Great Jobs You Probably Can't Get

Job-listing site CareerCast.com recently released its list of the best and worst jobs for 2011, and now I'm really wishing I had finished that philosophy minor, because apparently being a philosopher is better than being a doctor or lawyer.

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Could An NFL Lockout Force Networks To Run Even More Ads?

Now that the NFL's postseason is in full swing (even though my beloved Eagles were so quickly eliminated), it's time for many to start wondering if owners and players will be able to resolve their problems before the start of the next season. If not, the biggest losers could end up being the networks and, by extension, TV viewers — whether they watch football or not.

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Illinois Lawmakers Approve 66% Tax Hike

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

In the waning hours of a lame-duck session, Illinois lawmakers approved a 66-percent income tax hike.

Giffords Shooting Reveals Flaws In US Mental Health Services

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head at a constituent outreach event in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson on Saturday. In all, the gunman shot 18 people, killing 6, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

Jamelle Bouie of TAPPED urges President Obama to take up the issue of mental health care in his upcoming speech on the mass shooting. Several people who knew the alleged shooter came forward with stories of bizarre behavior and run-ins with campus police at his community college. College administrators ordered him to seek treatment before he returned to school, but he does not appear to have done so. 

H. Clarke Romans of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona explained to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that mental health services in Arizona have been devastated by budget cuts.

In 2008 the state eliminated support services for all non-Medicaid behavioral health patients and stopped covering most brand-name psychiatric drugs. At least 28,000 Arizonans were affected. Arizonans with mental illnesses can expect even more cuts in the future as the state slashes spending in an attempt to address its budget shortfall.

In AlterNet, Adele Stan, argues that, while we don't yet know the gunman's motives, the right wing's intensifying campaign of anti-government hysteria and violent rhetoric may have emboldened an already disturbed person:

Had the vitriolic rhetoric that today shapes Arizona's political landscape (and, indeed, our national landscape) never come to call, Loughner may have found a different reason to go on a killing spree. But that vitriol does exist as a powerful prompt to the paranoid, and those who publicly deem war on the federal government a patriot's duty should today be doing some soul-searching.

GO HERE to read more.

Highlighted Events This Week In Wicomico Schools

January Edition of Working Together for Children
Now Airing on PAC 14

The January edition of "Working Together for Children" is now airing on PAC 14 (Comcast Channel 14). The show is currently scheduled to air at 9:03 a.m. and 8:09 p.m. Tuesday, and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and noon Saturday; please visit pac14.org or check the listings in The Daily Times for additional times throughout the month. The show features an interview on Race to the Top with Ruth Malone, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development, as well as highlights from the November Awards & Recognitions Night. Northwestern Elementary, a National and Maryland Blue Ribbon School, is spotlighted by students, parents and staff members who tell its blue ribbon story.

Nominations Due by Jan. 19 for the 2011 Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award

Nominations for the 2011 Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award must be postmarked by Jan. 19 to be considered for this award which recognizes outstanding parental involvement activities. Entry information is posted below.

The Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award is an annual award for parents and guardians whose exemplary contributions to public education have led to improvements for Maryland’s schoolchildren, teachers, schools, programs and/or policies. Comcast created the award with the Maryland State Department of Education to highlight the positive impact parents and guardians have on public schools and to encourage all parents and guardians to get involved in whatever way they can. Read more and find the entry form at http://www.wcboe.org/news/548.

Thursday, Jan. 13 (RESCHEDULED from Tuesday, Jan. 11]
Monthly Meeting of the Wicomico County Board of Education
Board of Education Auditorium

The January meeting of the Wicomico County Board of Education will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, in the Board of Education Auditorium at Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue in Salisbury. The agenda is posted at www.wcboe.org 410-677-4561.

Thursday, Jan. 13, 5:30 p.m.
Budget Hearing
Board of Education Office

The first public budget hearing for the fiscal 2011-12 budget will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Board of Education Office auditorium, Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue, Salisbury. Prior to comment time, school system staff will make a brief presentation on the school system’s revenue picture and anticipated funding challenges. Parents, students, community members and Board staff are invited to come with comments. Early input will be valuable in what is expected to be a particularly challenging budget year for the school system. For information please call 410-677-4561.

Board Of Education To Hold Monthly Board Meeting, Public Budget Hearing Thursday, Jan. 13

The first public budget hearing for the fiscal 2011-12 budget will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Board of Education Office auditorium, Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue, Salisbury. Prior to comment time, school system staff will make a brief presentation on the school system’s revenue picture and anticipated funding challenges. Parents, students, community members and Board staff are invited to come with comments. Early input will be valuable in what is expected to be a particularly challenging budget year for the school system.

The January meeting of the Wicomico County Board of Education will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 13 in the Board of Education Auditorium. (This meeting was rescheduled from Jan. 11 due to winter weather conditions.) The agenda is posted at www.wcboe.org.

For information please call 410-677-4561.

Maryland Public Schools Rank At The Head Of The Class For Third Year In A Row

(News from the Maryland State Department of Education)

The Maryland public school system finds itself in a familiar place: ranking first in nation for the third straight year, according to an independent national report released this week.

Education Week, the nation’s leading education newspaper, looked at data in six critical categories over the past three years, and once again placed Maryland’s state education system at the very top of national rankings.

Maryland’s grade of B+ placed at the top of the list in Education Week’s annual “Quality Counts” tally. New York and Massachusetts again followed Maryland, with B grades. Most states received grades in the C ranges or below, according to the report.

“Even during these difficult economic times, we’ve worked with students, teachers and parents to continually improve and reform our public education system,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “For Maryland to be a winner in this new economy we must move forward by creating and saving jobs through innovation and that includes protecting our nation’s-best public school system. We must also be willing to continue making tough choices so that we can protect our shared priorities; priorities that will allow us to make this new economy ours.”

State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick said that Maryland’s goal is to provide outstanding educational opportunities for every child in every neighborhood.

"Recognition of our State’s track record of success is gratifying to all of us who work to strengthen our schools, and Quality Counts provides us with some important measurement tools,” Dr. Grasmick added. “However, we have no intention of raising a victory flag as yet."

Maryland has already taken the next step in its school reform plan. Last year, Maryland became one of a handful of states to be awarded a portion of the federal government’s $4.3 billion Race to the Top funding. With the funds, the State is strengthening standards for students and educators, building a new data warehouse, and constructing a foundation for further educational improvement.

Maryland's 2011 ranking in Quality Counts is based on State education policies and student performance that reflect nearly two decades of work on a preK-12 curriculum; state accountability and standards; teacher effectiveness; and work on school readiness, high school reform, and preparation for college and the workplace. Quality Counts uses more than 50 indicators to develop its report.

Individual grades reported by Education Week show Maryland’s consistent strength throughout the report card.

Chance for Success – Maryland received a B+ grade. This category includes such factors as parental education, family income, student performance, and graduation rates.

K-12 Achievement – Maryland received a B- grade. This category includes National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores and an analysis of achievement gaps. This grade ranked third in the nation.

Transitions and Alignment – Maryland tied for first in the nation with an A grade. This category includes early childhood education, college readiness policies, and workforce policies.

School Finance – Maryland received a B+ grade. This category is based on school funding and equity in finance.

Standards, Assessments, and Accountability (2010 data) – Maryland received a B+ grade. Maryland has a long history of high standards and detailed statewide accountability programs.

The Teaching Profession (2010 data) – Maryland ranked fifth in the nation with a B grade. Maryland continues to improve the quality of its education workforce.

"Maryland's number one ranking is a true team effort, and I’d like to thank the staff of the Maryland State Department of Education, members of the Maryland State Board of Education, and local system superintendents, administrators, and teachers for continuing their focus on student achievement," Dr. Grasmick said. "Education is a bipartisan cause in our State, and we've had unflinching support from the Governor, the Maryland General Assembly, educators, parents, and the public at large."

Also critical to Maryland’s success has been the efforts of the business community, Dr. Grasmick said.

"Business leaders I talk to really understand the need for strong schools and prepared graduates," she said. "Our State must remain competitive both domestically and internationally, and a strong preK-12 education system is critical to that effort."

Most of the state-level data gathered by Education Week comes from a policy survey of the states conducted in the summer and fall of 2010. In addition, the publication draws on data from such organizations as the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Bureau of the Census, and the American Federation of Teachers.

For more information, see the Education Week website, www.edweek.org.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY TO HOST ‘MARYLAND FORWARD’ FORUM ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY

ANNAPOLIS, MD  – Governor Martin O’Malley will convene the final forum in the “Maryland Forward” series today to shape policy as Maryland transitions into a new economy and the O’Malley-Brown Administration prepares for a second term.  Today’s forum will focus on homeland security and public safety, bringing together law enforcement stakeholders and industry experts, generating concrete actions and recommendations that support the Administration’s strategic goals.

Today’s “Maryland Forward” forum on security and safety will be held at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium.  Governor O’Malley will open the session in the morning and later facilitate a discussion in the afternoon surrounding the major recommendations from the day’s work sessions.

As Governor O’Malley prepares for a second term, the “Maryland Forward” forum series includes stakeholders and experts in five broad areas that have served as priority areas for the O’Malley-Brown Administration.  The forums gather the input of various stakeholders, including recommendations for legislative in areas including jobs and the economy; skills and education; sustainability; children and health; and public safety and security.

Woman: Jumping Off Bridge Was Only Way To Live

Van headed straight toward her

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Imagine falling 30 feet from a bridge -- your chances of living seem pretty slim. Well, for one woman in Surprise, Ariz., she really had no choice.

A woman driving a car broke down on Bell Road and turned on her flashers while calling a family member for help.

As they were fixing the car, they saw headlights and a van headed right toward them.

So what did the woman do?

“In order to avoid the accident, a 40-year-old female jumped over the side of the bridge to a 30 foot fall," said Surprise Fire Department Cpt. Mike Morris.

GO HERE to read more.

Homeless Man Wanted By Sex Offender Unit

Location:  Claymont, DE

Date of Occurrence: Tuesday, January 12, 2011

Suspect: David C. Miller, 23, (Homeless, Claymont, DE)

Charges:

-Failure to Verify Address

-Failure to Update Records

Resume:  

The Delaware State Police Sex Offender Unit has obtained warrants on a homeless Claymont man who is a moderate risk Tier II sex offender.

David C. Miller, 23, is wanted for failing to verify his address every thirty days as required by a Tier II sex offender. Additionally, he is wanted for failing to update his records as required by law.

The public is encouraged to contact their nearest police agency if they know the whereabouts of David C. Miller. Tips may also be forwarded to law enforcement through tip lines maintained by Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-333 3 or on line at www.tipsubmit.com Callers may remain anonymous.