Senior citizens can get a lifetime National Parks pass for only $10, but not for much longer

Fun fact: There are 417 national parks in the U.S., spanning across more than 84 million acres. And if you're 62 or older, $10 will get you into all of them for the rest of your life.

It's not just national parks. The National Park Service said the $10 Senior Pass provides access to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by five federal agencies, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But that price is about to go up significantly. According to the AARP, the lifetime pass for senior citizens will go up to $80 before the end of 2017.

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Wisconsin Slapped With $7mm Fine For Falsifying Food Stamp Claims

Ever wonder why the number of registered food stamp recipients has seemed to steadily grow ever since the tech bubble collapsed in 2000, irrespective of the economic cycle? Ever question why it was possible that anyone with a pulse could afford a $500,000 house in 2006 even though the number of people who apparently couldn't manage to cover basic food necessities continued to surge?

Well, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that there are armies of state employees all around the country whose sole purpose in life is to recruit new participants to sign up for taxpayer subsidized programs so they can extract as much funding from federal coffers as possible. And when they run out of new recruits, these same state employees just 'fudge' the data to make sure the funds from Uncle Sam keep rolling in...which is exactly what just earned the State of Wisconsin a $7mm fine courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Protective Gear, Self-Defense Training Needed After Numerous Attacks On Medics

Rick Hoffman, president of the local firefighters and EMS workers union, is calling for Baltimore City to pay for protective vests and self-defense training for all paramedics.

The decision stems from a number of attacks -- one being released Wednesday afternoon via video showing a naked man attacking two paramedics as they try to restock their ambulance.

"Thank god it was at a hospital," Hoffman said. "I would hate like hell to have one of my people hurt because they don't have protection that I think they need."

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Building Fire at Wicomico County Business

WICOMICO COUNTY, April 14, 2017 - Investigators from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office have concluded an investigation at Expert House Movers in Sharptown. The fire occurred around 12:56 pm today at 25732 Elzey Brown Loop in Sharptown of Wicomico County. The fire occurred in a 100' x 120' wood framed, commercial outbuilding at the property owned by Jerry and Gabe Matyiko. The Sharptown Fire Department, as well as over 40 firefighters of surrounding fire companies, responded to the two alarm fire which took approximately two hours to control. The fire was first reported by an employee and the investigation has revealed the fire to be accidental due to welding repairs being conducted inside of the building. Damages due to the fire are estimated to be a combined $1,000,000 total for structure and contents, and there were no injuries as a result of the fire.

The least diverse places in America are places that push the most diversity

For all the open mindedness, and diversity that Universities like to push today, campuses of higher learning are some of the least diverse places you can find. This is explained in Prager U’s latest video, as they bring on Turning Point USA’s founder Charlie Kirk to discuss this topic.

Turning Point is non-profit that spreads the message of freedom and liberty throughout college campuses across the United States, with more and more chapters opening up everyday. Kirk has firsthand experience with the intolerance of the left on University grounds, and gives us a rundown of just how not diverse these diversity obsessed places are.

People expressing different points of view on an issue. At most colleges today, that’s a dangerous, revolutionary idea – if that different point of view is not on the left. The moment you enter college, you enter an indoctrination center. Remember orientation week? It starts there and never stops. They tell you to be open-minded, but they don’t really mean it. Almost all your professors are on the left – nearly 12 to 1, left to right, according to a recent study by Econ Journal Watch. There are many departments at many colleges that don’t have a single conservative voice. The administration invariably supports leftist positions. And, all those diversity administrators – they depend for their livelihood (that means their paycheck) on creating victims.

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MURDER MYSTERY DINNER THEATRE SET FOR OCEAN PINES

Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines will be the scene for an evening of murder, glitz and glam at “Murder: Take Two,” a murder mystery dinner theatre to be held on Thursday, May 25 at 6 p.m.

This interactive performance by Ovation Dinner Theatre of Ocean View, Del. will have audience members trying to solve a murder — while enjoying a 3-course dinner.

The evening’s menu will include a soup and salad bar featuring Italian wedding soup and garden or Caesar salad and an entrée buffet. Dessert will be served.

Doors and the bar will open at 5 p.m. The performance, which is open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $35 per person, which includes the performance, dinner, dessert and coffee. Tax, gratuity and cash bar are not included. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Please call Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines at 410-641-7501 for reservations or more information.

Inside Hillary's doomed campaign's bickering and denial

Hillary Clinton was 'so mad she couldn't think straight' after being humiliated in the Michigan Democratic primary.

The failed Presidential candidate attacked her aides with a 'potent mix of exhaustion and exasperation' after the embarrassing loss to her rival Bernie Sanders in March last year.

Clinton's top staff said she was 'visibly, unflinchingly p***ed off at us' and blamed them for making her look 'vulnerable'.

During another tirade Bill Clinton took over and gave aides an 'a** chewing' on the phone and told them to 'do their d**n jobs'.

The details of the rows show the tensions at the top of Clinton's presidential campaign, tensions that she did her best to keep quiet during the election.

They are revealed in 'Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign', which is out next week and delivers the scathing verdict that her campaign was 'living in denial'.

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Update: Victim Identified In Somerset County Death Investigation

(EDEN, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators have positively identified the victim in the Somerset County death investigation.

The victim is identified as Walter Whitehead, 22, of Salisbury, Maryland. He was found deceased in the backyard of a residence in the 32,000 block of Flower Hill Church Road in Eden this morning. Cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results.

Shortly before 7:00 a.m. this morning, the Princess Anne Barrack received a 9-1-1 call from a neighbor who observed the man’s body lying in the backyard of a neighboring residence. Troopers from the barrack arrived on scene and located him deceased at the scene.

Investigators from the Criminal Enforcement Division and Maryland State Police Homicide Unit are actively investigating this case. Police do not believe this was a random act of violence.

There are no further details at this time. The investigation is active and ongoing.

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Animal Advocates of Carroll County founder charged with animal cruelty

The president/founder of Animal Advocates of Carroll County has been charged with several counts of animal cruelty after Animal Control was allegedly sent to her house about a sick cat.

Laura Shenk, of the 2600 block of S. Marston Road in New Windsor, was charged with one count of aggravated animal cruelty, one count of animal cruelty, three counts of animal cruelty failure: provide, one count of obstructing and hindering and three counts of failing to provide a proper dog shelter, according to electronic court records.

Shenk was issued a summons, meaning she has to appear before a judge, but she was not arrested, said Animal Control officer Edward Smith.

Animal Control, which falls under the Humane Society of Carroll County, was sent to Shenk's residence in February after a veterinarian called because she was concerned about a cat that was in her care. The veterinarian said Shenk had brought the cat into the emergency room suffering from a severe infection at the site of a recent surgical amputation. The cat was unable to breathe, severely emaciated, dehydrated and had open, infected wounds, according to the statement of charges.

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Is China Taking Away Kim Jong-un's Nuclear Option?

A Communist Party-owned newspaper is warning the North Korean regime against more nuclear tests.

The innocuous-sounding Global Times is basically the id of the Chinese Communist party. A stridently nationalist tabloid newspaper with a flair for Breitbartian excess, the CCP-ownedTimes has, in recent weeks alone, referred to Australia as an "offshore prison," warned of a "large-sale war" should the U.S. block China's illegal expansion in the South China Sea, and written scathingly of the "Dalai Lama clique." And now the newspaper's editorialists have set their sights on an unusual target: North Korea.

In a staff editorial published Wednesday, the Global Timeswarns Pyongyang against conducting a widely predicted sixth nuclear test. (Experts suggest a detonation will likely come this month.) Citing a Trump administration "brimming with confidence and arrogance following the missile attacks on Syria," the GT cautions the North Korean regime that a nuclear test will only anger a U.S. president who is "willing to be regarded as a man who honors his promises."

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Cops And Courts – April 14, 2017

Cabbie Assaulted Over Fare

OCEAN CITY — A Las Vegas man was arrested on assault and theft charges last week after allegedly beating a resort cab driver after not paying his $12 fare.

Around 1:50 a.m. last Sunday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to the 49th Street area for a reported dispute between a cab driver and a customer. The officer met with a witness who told police he observed three suspects assaulting a cab driver. The witness told police he was changing an advertising sign near Coastal Highway when he heard a commotion coming from the 48th Street area.

The witness told police he observed two suspects standing over another man, a resort cab driver, and one of the men was punching the cab driver in the head. After the assault, the suspects fled the area and ran south on Coastal Highway. OCPD officers responded in that direction and located the suspects a short time later. Another OCPD officer brought the victim to the area of 45th Street for an identification and the victim positively identified his attacker as Endeshaw Endeshaw, 24, of Las Vegas.

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Congress expands 'unmasking' probe amid questions over Rice role

The House and Senate intelligence committees are expanding their investigation into the so-called “unmasking” controversy, Fox News has learned, to examine whether other candidates or lawmakers beyond President Trump’s associates were affected.

Until now, the investigation focused on how the identities and communications of Trump transition members were collected by U.S. intelligence agencies and then revealed to, and disseminated among, high-ranking members of the Obama administration.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now plans to audit files from the National Security Agency and White House to determine whether identities and conversations of presidential candidates -- or members of Congress -- also were swept up during NSA surveillance of foreign leaders. He also plans to review whether Obama’s National Security Council and White House counsel collected and distributed the intelligence for reasons unrelated to foreign intelligence.

“We will be performing an accounting of all unmasking for political purposes focused on the previous White House administration,” a member of the committee told Fox News. “This is now a full-blown investigation.”

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/12/congress-expands-unmasking-probe-amid-questions-over-rice-role.html

Md. Bill Involves Domestic Abusers Wearing GPS Trackers

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Putting technology to work for the benefit of domestic violence victims — a law passed by the Maryland’s General Assembly this week authorizes the use of GPS tracking devices for abusers.

WJZ’s Pat Warren reports, the family of a domestic violence victim made this a personal crusade.

The law is named after the Prince George’s County woman who’s ex-boyfriend broke into her house and slashed her throat even after she requested a restraining order against him.

Maryland’s General Assembly turned to technology to help do what people cannot — monitor the location of domestic violence abusers under restraining orders to help protect victims like Amber Shinault.

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Congressman Andy Harris Announces In-Person Availability at Salisbury Office

WASHINGTON, DC: Congressman Andy Harris (MD-01) will host office hours in his Salisbury office on Wednesday, April 19. Constituents in groups of up to five people will be able to meet with Dr. Harris and ask questions about topics under consideration in Congress. All constituents are invited to attend.

Meetings can be scheduled by emailing Harris.Scheduling@mail.house.gov. If time is available, walk-in appointments will be made on a first come, first serve basis. However, priority will be given to constituents who have scheduled an appointment.

· Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2017

· Time: 8:00 – 10:30 AM

· Location: 100 East Main Street, Suite 702, Salisbury, MD 21801

Delaware judge convicts girl in fatal school bathroom attack

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge found a 17-year-old girl delinquent of criminally negligent homicide Thursday in the beating death of her classmate at a high school last year.

Amy Inita Joyner-Francis

Delaware Family Court Judge Robert Coonin also found Trinity Carr and another 17-year-old girl delinquent of third-degree criminal conspiracy for the death of Amy Inita Joyner-Francis during a fight in the bathroom of a Wilmington high school.

A delinquent finding in Family Court is a guilty verdict.

A third teenage girl was found not delinquent of criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors had argued all three planned an "attack" on Joyner-Francis, a term Coonin also used while delivering his judgment to describe the confrontation.

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Man charged in the shooting death of a judge in Chicago

A 37-year-old man has been charged in the killing of a judge who handled criminal cases, as police say that robbery was the motive.

Joshua Smith was charged in the shooting death earlier this week of 66-year-old Associate Cook County Circuit Judge Raymond Myles.

The deadly shooting happened early Monday morning outside Myles' home on Chicago's South Side.

Police say his 52-year-old girlfriend was also shot in the leg, but is expected to survive. Her name has not been released because police say she is a witness in the killing.

The Cook County state's attorney's office said Wednesday that Smith is the alleged getaway driver and that he was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and armed robbery.

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Md. bill tackles school overdoses, opioid education

WASHINGTON — Maryland lawmakers passed the bill that will require schools to stock the overdose-reversal drug Naloxone.

The “Start Talking Maryland Act” also will require school systems to develop lesson plans on the risks of opioids — including heroin — starting in the third grade.

In Montgomery County, school nurses who are county Health Department staff members already have access to Naloxone and are trained in how to administer the drug. The bill that passed in Annapolis would require all schools to have Naloxone and would expand training to designated staff members — not just school nurses.

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Delaware State Police Arrest Over 40 in Greenwood Drug Investigation

Frank R. Lovett, 29 of Greenwood

Jermaine Boyd, 26 of Dover

Joseph R Palmer, 25 of Greenwood

Shanun Handy, 32 of Greenwood

Mark Boyd, 59 of Greenwood

Greenwood, De. – The Delaware State Police Kent County Drug Unit has arrested multiple suspects after the culmination of a three month investigation into the purchasing of illegal narcotics at Unity Lane, Greenwood.

This proactive initiative concluded on April 13, 2017 as members of the Kent County Drug Unit (KDU) with the assistance of the Kent County Governor’s Task Force (GTF) and the New Jersey National Guard Counterdrug Task Force responded to unit block of Unity Lane in order to conduct a search warrant in response to numerous individuals purchasing illegal narcotics in an open air style drug environment. During the drug investigation eight search warrants were obtained within the community. The ring leaders of the drug organization were identified as Frank Lovett and Jermaine Boyd.

State Police detectives with the assistance of patrol units, Special Operations Response Team (SORT), Dover Police Department, Army National Guard, Harrington Police Department, Dewey Beach Police Department and the Delaware Department of Justice assisted with the search and arrest warrants.

As a result of the search warrants, the following items were seized:

This city may have to say goodbye to its topless baristas

Washington state is known as the birthplace of the bikini barista— female coffee servers who wear tiny bathing suits, pasties or sometimes no tops at all.

But now, after a series of mounting complaints, Everett, Wash. is considering a city ordinance that would require the nearly-naked servers to wear more conservative clothing.

According to Washington’s Q13 Fox News, there are fewer than half a dozen barista stands in the town of just over 100,000. However, the city says that they’re “draining a lot of resources investigating complaints” and may be hotbeds for some illegal activity.

“We know criminal activity isn’t happening at every barista stand, but our experience has been this type of business model does tend to allow for that criminal activity,” City of Everett spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke told Q13.

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Bill to expel young Md. students yet to be signed into law

WASHINGTON — A bill to discourage schools from suspending and expelling Maryland’s youngest students — including preschool students as young as 4 years old — has passed in Annapolis, but has yet to be signed into law.

Democratic Sen. Will Smith of Montgomery County says his bill was inspired by education advocates who presented him with data on the rate of school suspensions and expulsions among elementary school-aged children.

“There were some real disparities revealed when you started thinking about who was being suspended,” Smith said.

According to the data supplied to lawmakers, there were more than 2,300 expulsions and suspensions statewide among students in the pre-K to second grade age group in the 2015-16 academic year.

Smith says African-American students accounted for 64 percent of all out-of-school suspensions and expulsions despite the fact that African-American students account for 34 percent of the school population. Special education students were also given suspension at higher rates than their peers.

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Subject: Governor Hogan’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Provides Record Investment In Education

Budget Demonstrates an Unwavering Commitment to Education; Ensures All Maryland Students Receive Quality Education

“Our administration’s top priority has been, and will continue to be education.” - Governor Larry Hogan, 1/10/17

Investing Record Amounts In Maryland’s Future Generations

Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Provides A Record $6.4 Billion In K-12 Education Funding

The Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Includes An Historic $6.4 Billion Investment In Maryland’s K-12 Public Schools; The Greatest Investment In A Single Year Ever In Maryland History. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)

Governor Hogan Is The First Governor In State History To Fully Fund K-12 Education Formulas And The Geographic Cost Of Education Index Two Years In A Row. For the second time since the passage of the Bridge to Excellence in 2002, K-12 education formulas in all Maryland jurisdictions and the GCEI will be fully funded. Governor Hogan is the only governor in state history to provide GCEI funding in his first three years in office. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
Governor Hogan: “This Is Our Third Budget In A Row With Record Funding For Education. We Invested Another $6.4 Billion To Fully Fund The Legislative Formulas. Every Single Penny That Every Single Jurisdiction Anticipated From The State For Education Is Fully Funded At One Hundred Percent.” (Governor Larry Hogan, “2017 State Of The State Address,” Office Of The Governor, 2/1/17)

Over $28 Million Invested To Aid School Systems With Declining Enrollment And/Or Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten

$28.2 Million Invested To Address K-12 School Systems With Declining Enrollment And/Or Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten In 11 Jurisdictions. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$23.7 Million In Funds For Baltimore City Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$1.6 Million In Funds For Carroll County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$793,000 In Funds For Allegany County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$443,000 In Funds For Garrett County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$449,000 In Funds For Somerset County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$356,000 In Funds For Harford County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$240,000 In Funds For Calvert County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$215,000 In Funds For Kent County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$190,000 In Funds For Cecil County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$133,000 In Funds For Talbot County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)
$22,000 In Funds For Queen Anne’s County Schools. (Maryland Department Of Budget And Management)

What the new Md. ethics law changes — and doesn’t

WASHINGTON — Maryland’s new ethics law includes an extended “cooling-off period” for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists. Instead of sitting out a single legislative session, a lawmaker who leaves office to lobby for a client must wait a full year before taking on that new role.

House Majority Whip Bill Frick, a Democrat, said the new law, which updates conflict of interest rules, is the product of bipartisan cooperation. Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, who signed the bill on Tuesday, made updating ethics laws a centerpiece of his legislative agenda.

And it comes at a time when allegations of corruption in Annapolis have been getting added focus: Since the start of Maryland’s 90-day legislative session, three current or former lawmakers face federal charges. “Any instance of public corruption is too many,” Frick said.

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Why I won’t date hot women anymore

When it came to dating in New York as a 30-something executive in private equity, Dan Rochkind had no problem snagging the city’s most beautiful women.

“I could have [anyone] I wanted,” says Rochkind, now 40 and an Upper East Sider with a muscular build and a full head of hair. “I met some nice people, but realistically I went for the hottest girl you could find.”

He spent the better part of his 30s going on up to three dates a week, courting 20-something blond models, but eventually realized that dating the prettiest young things had its drawbacks — he found them flighty, selfish and vapid.

“Beautiful women who get a fair amount of attention get full of themselves,” he says. “Eventually, I was dreading getting dinner with them because they couldn’t carry a conversation.”

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OP pool change swims in controversy

A seemingly small change to the aquatics schedule in Ocean Pines set off a firestorm last week and the directors have called a special meeting today, Thursday, to discuss the controversy.

Resident Gary Miller, a member of both the clubs and aquatics advisory committees, noticed the change in the spring/summer issue of the Ocean Pines Activity Guide released on April 4 and brought it to the attention of others in the community, including several board members.

On page 26 of the Activity Guide, the Oasis pool, formerly called the yacht club pool, was listed as the “Adults-only pool (except for Sundays June 4-Sept. 3, 2-6 p.m.)”

Page 27 included a blurb for the new “Sunday Family Funday” at the Oasis pool, as well as a corresponding adults-only event at the Swim and Racquet Club pool from 1-8 p.m., Sundays from June 4-Sept. 3.

This was a shock to some members of the community because the Oasis pool had long been an adults-only facility. According to several sources, the changes were made by interim General Manager Brett Hill without consulting the other directors.

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State Police Conducting Death Investigation In Somerset County

(EDEN, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators are conducting a death investigation this morning in Somerset County.

The victim has not yet been identified. He was found in the backyard of a residence in the 32,000 block of Flower Hill Church Road in Eden.

Shortly before 7:00 a.m. this morning, the Princess Anne Barrack received a 9-1-1 call from a neighbor who reported seeing a body, lying in the backyard of a neighboring residence. Troopers from the barrack arrived on scene and located the body of a man. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The body will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for autopsy.

State police set up a perimeter to secure the scene. Investigators from the Criminal Enforcement Division and Maryland State Police Homicide Unit are currently on the scene. There are no further details at this time.

The investigation is active and ongoing.

LANDFILL & CONVENIENCE CENTER SCHEDULE

Salisbury, MD … The Newland Park Landfill and all Public Works Solid Waste Convenience Centers will be closed Sunday, April 16, 2017 due to the holiday.

For more information, please contact the Newland Park Landfill at 410-548-4935.

Two Carroll County Men Arrested On Child Pornography Charges

(Hampstead, MD) – In a previous news release issued today announcing the arrest of two Carroll County men on child pornography charges, their affiliation with a school and a Church was found to be incorrect.

Investigators do not believe the two Carroll County men charged in this case are currently affiliated with the Crossroads Church of the Nazarene in Ellicott City or the Lamb of God School in Halethorpe. Police have received information that Connections Church rents space at the Lamb of God School, where both suspects were believed to be volunteers with a children’s ministry. There is no evidence indicating any crimes have been committed at Connections Church.

The accused are identified as Tyler Curtis, 20 and Matthew Curtis, 20, both of the 1700 block of Lower Forty Drive in Hampstead, MD. Tyler Curtis is charged with four counts each of distribution and possession of child pornography. Matthew Curtis is charged with four counts of possession of child pornography. The twins were arrested at their home yesterday morning and transported to the Carroll County Detention Center.

Week Thirteen: ..and that's a wrap!

A look back...and thanks! Cheers to the last full week of session! This past week has been one of the busiest as we spent time, day and night, working hard to push bills through before the last day of session, April 10.   As 437th Maryland Legislative Session comes to a conclusion, we are thankful for the continuous support we have received from our constituents. We would not be where we are today if it weren’t for all of you and we are blessed to have this opportunity to serve as your voice in Annapolis, representing all of District 38B. We would like to especially thank those who visited our office during the 90-day session as we have enjoyed getting to know our neighbors. We consider being informed of issues that are faced by each of you and our neighbors of the utmost importance and key to making it happen. Our office works hard to make sure your voice is heard and problems are addressed.

This session was especially successful because of the help and hard work of our legislative aide, Brittany, and intern, Jacob. My most sincere thank you to both of them! If you contacted our office during this legislative session, keep an eye out for our end of session letter in the mail and for everyone back home keep an ear out for a knock on your door - I'll be around with plenty of high fives and ready to hear your thoughts on how we can continue to make it happen together! Our 2017 Scholarship Application is now available! If you live in District 38B and are interested in applying, please send an email to Carl.Anderton@house.state.md.us. Applicants must have plans to attend college in Maryland. Thank you for your continuous support! If you would like to contact us with an idea, issue, or concern, please either call: 410-841-3431 or emailcarl.anderton@house.state.md.us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Overpass considered for Rt. 589

A proposal to add a Lidl grocery store to the former Cropper Farm area, adjacent to the Berlin Wal-Mart, would necessitate adding the fourth leg to the intersection of Routes 50 and 589 but sparked a disagreement between the county and State Highway officials.

Ed Tudor, director of development review and permitting, said recent turnover at SHA led to the discrepancy.

At issue is the plan for the intersection, which the county wants to finish and connect to the existing service road to make way for the grocery store, or any other business that might end up taking the space.

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CNN Pundit: 'I Don’t Hate Hillary Clinton,' But...

Kirsten Powers criticized Hillary Clinton on CNN Thursday for declining to take responsibility for losing the election.

During a recent “Women in the World” event, Clinton said Russian hacking, misogyny, Bernie Sanders, the media, and a slew of other factors caused her to lose the election, which the CNN pundit referred to as a “sour grapes” blame game.

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Choate, the elite boarding school, has acknowledged a pattern of sexual abuse of its students by former teachers dating to the 1960s

Choate Rosemary Hall, an elite boarding school in Wallingford, Conn., acknowledged decades of sexual abuse by former teachers against the students entrusted to their care in a report on Thursday.

The report, written for the board of trustees by an investigator at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, documented the actions of at least 12 former faculty members, beginning in the 1960s and into the 2010s. The claims of abuse include instances of “intimate kissing,” “sexual intercourse” and “forced or coerced intercourse.”

The report said that no current faculty members were implicated in abuse and that there were no reports relating to current students. In some cases, administrators had written letters of recommendation for teachers who resigned after being confronted with evidence of misconduct.

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The Main Problem With School Lunches

Oh, what Bridget O'Brien Wood could do if the government allowed her just a little more salt. She could serve potato salad that isn't bland. She could experiment with curry sauces. And O'Brien Wood, food service director with Buffalo Public Schools, could finally tell parents that the French fries at lunch taste like the ones their kids gobble up at restaurants.

As it is, O'Brien Wood finds herself in a pickle: She has to serve foods that Buffalo's schoolchildren will eat, but in a way that complies with strict federal nutrition standards intended to combat childhood obesity.

Those standards have forced her and her colleagues to get creative. Not all attempts have worked. When they serve whole-grain spaghetti with meat sauce, some students eat only the meat sauce. When they brought in a local chef to prepare shepherd's pie that met the requirements by including turnips and other root vegetables, most kids wouldn't touch it. Fruit, salad bars, and potatoes have been hits. But other veggies, like oven-baked sweet potato fries, are a tough sell because of clampdowns on sodium.

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Verizon FiOS Customers Say They Were Tricked Into Paying For Unnecessary Set-Top Boxes

If you’ve got Verizon FiOS and you’re paying fees each month for multiple cable boxes, you may be wasting a lot of money. The pay-TV provider has an app that will give you live access to FiOS on your TV through a number of devices that are less expensive than a leased set-top box. Is it deceptive for Verizon to let its customers continue paying for leased boxes without advising them of cheaper options?

That’s a question underlying an ongoing lawsuit against Verizon, filed by a Pennsylvania FiOS customer who says the telecom giant violated the state’s consumer protection law by using “deceptive and confusing” messaging about the necessity of its set-top boxes.

The customer says he had two FiOS boxes in his house, and was paying a total of nearly $20/month to Verizon for the privilege.

In his lawsuit, which was originally filed in a Philadelphia court last year (more on that in a bit), the plaintiff alleges that “Verizon trains and instructs its employees to claim that customers must least a set-top box for each television to be connected to the FiOS network.”

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Man dragged off United flight plans to sue

The attorney of David Dao, the man dragged off a United Airlines flight earlier this week, says he definitely plans to sue the airline and the city of Chicago for what transpired and the injuries Dao sustained.

Attorney Thomas Demetrio says he has requested all evidence in the case be preserved so they can bring forward a complete lawsuit.

"I would defy anyone to suggest that there was not an unreasonable amount of force used to help Dr. Dao disembark that plane," Demetrio said in a press conference Thursday.

Demetrio says Dao received a concussion, broken nose and two teeth knocked out as he was dragged off the plane.

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Trump Lays Groundwork for Federal Government Reorganization

President Donald Trump is issuing a presidential memorandum that will call for a rethinking of the entire structure of the federal government, a move that could eventually lead to a downsizing of the overall workforce and changes to the basic functions and responsibilities of many agencies.

The order, which will go into effect Thursday, also will lift a blanket federal hiring freeze that has been in place since Trump’s first day in office almost three months ago and replace it with hiring targets in line with the spending priorities the administration laid out in March, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The move is a part of Trump’s campaign pledge to "drain the swamp" and get rid of what the administration views as inefficiencies in the federal government, Mulvaney said. It comes as the White House also is trying to curb the size of many government agencies through a proposed budget that calls for historically deep spending cuts to everything from medical research to clean-energy programs.

The push to reshape the government as well as the budget cuts are almost certain to draw opposition from Congress.

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Study: Unemployment Makes Men Unattractive and Crazy

Job losses are more than just an economic drag. They are literally depressing.

New research shows that “severe depressive symptoms” are partly a consequence of the loss of employment and subsequent “economic inactivity.” The longer the period of unemployment, the greater the incidence of depression, according to a study of Australian labor market data by Deborah A. Cobb-Clark School of the University of Sydney.

Cobb-Clark’s study shows that joblessness weighs on men more than women. Men’s mental health starts to deteriorate as soon as they exit the labor market. Women are apparently made of sterner stuff: their mental health only worsens after they’ve been out of the labor force for a period of time.

Unemployment can lead to self-perpetuating downward spiral. The research also finds that severe depressive symptoms lead to economic inactivity.

“Individuals are less likely to be labor force participants or employed if they experience severe depressive symptoms. Men’s probability of being unemployed rises dramatically with the onset of depressive symptoms; women’s unemployment is increased by protracted depressive symptoms,” Cobb-Clark writes.

In other words, unemployment leads to depression and depression leads to unemployment.

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Federal Pressure Could Spur More 'Lunch Shaming' Bans

New Mexico is the first state to ban the practice. Now the rest have till the end of the school year to adopt an official policy for what happens when parents miss meal payments.

Cara Valente, a state legislative analyst in New Mexico, knows what it's like to have her children punished because she missed a school lunch payment. At times, she and her husband had needed to wait until their next paychecks to cover the bill, even if that meant being a couple weeks late.

But that tardiness had consequences: Per school policy, her children couldn’t have the more expensive and nutritious meal.

“My kids were mad at us for not having paid the bill and causing them embarrassment,” Valente says. “I was angry because my kids were not doing as well in school as they could have been because they were hungry.”

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FBI Obtained Surveillance Warrant Against Trump Adviser

The FBI gained approval from a secret federal court last summer to conduct communications surveillance against Carter Page, a former adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, The Washington Post is reporting.

The revelation confirms for the first time that a federal surveillance warrant, known as a FISA warrant, was issued for a member of the Trump campaign as part of a federal investigation of potential ties between the Republican’s associates and the Russian government.

In the application for the warrant, federal officials laid out what they said was evidence that there was probable cause showing that Page was acting as an agent of the Russian government, officials told The Post.

That evidence included contacts in 2013 with Russian spies who tried to recruit Page in New York City. The details of that recruitment attempt were laid out in a sealed FBI complaint filed in Jan. 2015. BuzzFeed News published the complaint earlier this month. Page denied that he was successfully recruited or that he shared any sensitive information with the agents.

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A Viewer Writes: Board of Education & Bennett

Joe, go to 3.6 public comments and listen to Hanlins report on Benett.

http://wicomicocountyps.swagit.com/play/04112017-2739

The sad part is the state of Maryland doesn’t want to deal with the thugs in the juvie system, so they are pushing the problem back on the schools. Reading md comar regs everything says what the school system must do, no where does it hold the thugs or their so called parents responsible.

Chief: OC Police Officer Departures ‘Very Concerning;’ Quality Of Life Issues Cited By Some In Exit Talks

OCEAN CITY — For a variety of reasons including “quality of life issues,” there is a not-so-subtle employee drain in the Ocean City Police Department, resulting in the department requesting one additional officer in its fiscal year 2018 budget, raising concerns over whether one is enough.

During a budget work session on Monday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) Chief Ross Buzzuro told the Mayor and Council his budget was largely similar to last year’s with one exception. Buzzuro explained for a variety of reasons, his department was requesting one additional police officer to meet the growing challenges created by, among other things, the loss of seven experienced officers over the last year for a variety of reasons, not the least of which were quality of life issues, according to the department exit interviews.

The OCPD maintains a full complement of 105 sworn officers, but that number has dipped over the last year. The seven officers that have left have cited the increased demands of a grueling summer season, lots of overtime and an inability to ask for and receive needed time off at other times of the year.

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Meadows Revives Health Care Negotiations: ‘Confident’ Republicans Will Pass Bill

House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) tells Breitbart News exclusively that he expects House Republicans will unite around common principles and pass an Obamacare repeal and replace bill that lowers premiums for Americans soon—delivering President Donald Trump a major victory in the Congress’s lower chamber.

Meadows, a pro-Trump conservative leader in the House who stuck with the president throughout the entire campaign, is confident that renewed negotiations—with the help of senior White House officials—with House GOP leaders and House Republican moderates is likely to produce real results in the House.

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‘Unmasking’ of Trump aides reveals Susan Rice at center of multifarious controversies

Inside the classical limestone State Department headquarters, America’s diplomats learn statecraft, etiquette and strategy — and generally are discouraged from use of the middle finger as a negotiating tool.

Roughly two decades ago, Susan E. Rice, the youngest assistant secretary of state in history, used hers in a meeting with veteran U.S. diplomat and architect of the 1995 Bosnia peace accords Richard C. Holbrooke. According to various accounts, the dispute was a classic territorial battle between two volatile personalities.

The overachieving Ms. Rice regarded Mr. Holbrooke as a meddling elder. Mr. Holbrooke, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, reportedly didn’t flinch at the gesture and dismissed Ms. Rice as an upstart who lacked respect for her colleagues and the institution she served.

As history would have it, Ms. Rice went on to play a Zelig-like role in every Obama administration foreign policy controversy, including Benghazi, the Iran nuclear arms deal, the Bowe Bergdahl-Taliban prisoner trade and the deal to disarm Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. Now, once again, Ms. Rice finds herself front and center in America’s latest international crisis: allegations that Russia meddled in the presidential election campaign last year and the Obama White House leaked what it knew about the Trump campaign’s ties to the Kremlin.

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Top Republicans Ask AG to Review IRS' Lois Lerner Case

Two top Republicans involved in crafting tax legislation asked the Department of Justice to take another look at embattled former IRS employee Lois Lerner.

Lerner led the IRS department suspected of targeting conservative groups that were seeking nonprofit status.

Congressmen Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas) wrote a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting a "fresh look" into evidence against Lerner, The Hill reported.

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Democrats Are Outraged Over Kansas House Seat Loss

Republicans continued their electoral winning streak on Tuesday night in the first congressional election of the Trump administration.

Republican Ron Estes beat Democrat James Thompson to be the next representative for the fourth congressional district of Kansas. Estes won 52.5 percent of the vote while Thompson took 45.7 percent of the vote. The seat was vacated by former congressman Mike Pompeo after he was confirmed to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency for the Trump administration.

The margin of victory for Tuesday's election was closer than in the 2016 election. In November, Pompeo won reelection in the district by 32 percent, while President Donald Trump won the district by 27 percent.

Now that the election is over, Democrats are trying to figure out who is to blame for the loss, and Twitter exploded with finger pointing. Some believe that the Democratic national party abandoned the race, while others argue that if the national party got involved, it would have hurt Thompson.

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Peggy Noonan, Pulitzer Prize Winner

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, whom The Patriot Post has carried in our Right Opinion section since 2008, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Normally, we’re not inclined to celebrate Pulitzer Prizes, as they’re typically just the Leftmedia’s way of self-congratulation, but this win by a conservative is different.

Noonan is one of the Journal’s and our most popular columnists. As a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, she crafted such memorable speeches as the “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” marking the 40th anniversary of D-Day, and the remarks he gave after the Challenger explosion in 1986. Indeed, Noonan has a way with words that those of us who write for a living aspire to capture.

The Journal describes why Noonan was honored this year: “Ms. Noonan won for a variety of her columns during 2016, in particular for her prescient pieces on Donald Trump and the political uprising his candidacy represented. Ahead of most others, she foresaw Trump’s rise and his appeal to Americans who were frustrated by the leaders of both major political parties. Ms. Noonan didn’t shrink from addressing Trump’s many flaws as a candidate, but she always showed great respect for the intelligence of voters and explained the currents of American life and politics that catapulted Trump to the White House.”

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Thank God Its Friday 4-14-17

What will you be doing this weekend?

Statement from Secretary Kelly on Arrest of Cartel Member Suspected of Murdering U.S. Border Patrol Agent

WASHINGTON – On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, I want to express my gratitude to our counterparts in Mexico on the arrest of Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, a cartel member suspected of shooting and killing U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry on December 14, 2010. Brian A. Terry was killed in a gunfight between U.S. Border Patrol agents and members of a cartel “rip crew” that regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob. Four members of the “rip crew” have already been sentenced to jail time in the U.S. The last remaining member of the “rip crew” is believed to still be at large.

Under the Trump administration, we have renewed our cooperation with Mexico to better secure our border and address cross-border crime. This latest arrest illustrates the commitment of the Administration to seek justice for the brave law enforcement personnel who risk their lives every day to protect the border.

I also want to commend the dedicated professionals of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Marshals who provided critical support to our Mexican counterparts. I am grateful for the dedication and collaborative efforts of the law enforcement community in both Mexico and the U.S. in bringing this arrest to fruition.

My hope is that this arrest will mark a significant step in bringing closure to Agent Terry’s family and his colleagues and friends at DHS. The thoughts and prayers of the entire DHS family continue to be with the Terrys.

Wichita grandmother Micki Davis is found DECAPITATED

A grandmother has been found decapitated in a garage after a shocking attack as she was running errands with her young grandson.

Rachael Christina Hilyard, 35, was arrested on suspicion of first degree murder Sunday, when police discovered the decapitated body of Micki Davis, 63, in her Wichita, Kansas garage.

On Sunday afternoon, Davis and her grandson had gone over to pick up some of her son's belongings from Hilyard, an ex-girlfriend who used to date the son, according to police.

Shortly after they arrived, a woman began viciously assaulting the grandmother in front of the nine-year-old boy, who fled in terror, Wichita police lieutenant Todd Ojile said in a press conference.

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Puerto Rico seen sliding toward bankruptcy as deadline nears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bankruptcy for Puerto Rico is looking ever more likely as the clock ticks down toward a May 1 deadline to restructure $70 billion in debt, ramping up uncertainty for anyone betting on returns from the island's widely held U.S. municipal bonds.

When U.S. Congress last year passed the Puerto Rico rescue law dubbed PROMESA, it froze creditor lawsuits against the island so its federally appointed oversight board and creditors could negotiate out of court on the biggest debt restructuring in U.S. municipal history.

The freeze expires on May 1, however, and an extension by Congress is "not going to happen," said a Republican aide to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which is in charge of territory matters.

A round of mediated talks is scheduled to begin on Thursday. But absent an agreement soon, a growing number of analysts say Puerto Rico will seek protection from creditors under PROMESA's court-sanctioned restructuring process, akin to U.S. bankruptcy.

Forbearance deals could let negotiations continue past May 1, but a source directly involved in the talks said avoiding an eventual bankruptcy is "impossible."

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The Human Rights Campaign's Sham Rankings

The grievance-industry racket is as old as the culture war itself. But rarely has it been practiced as transparently as it was this past week by the Human Rights Campaign.

You may recall the Human Rights Campaign from its two-decade drive to legalize same-sex marriage, which HRC cleverly packaged as an apolitical, universal "human right." Having won their victory through the majesty of Anthony Kennedy's pen, however, the folks at HRC decided not to press on for same-sex marriage in, say, Saudi Arabia and China, but rather to throw themselves fully into shakedown mode here at home, where they make busy with corporate outreach (companies pay them to achieve bronze, silver, gold, or platinum "partnerships") and fundraising (you can get a specialty HRC Visa card to automate donations) and bullying the occasional doctor or scientist who will not parrot the current orthodoxy on human sexuality.

Last fall, for instance, Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh published a report on sexuality and gender in the New Atlantis, a journal on technology and society. Mayer is an epidemiologist trained in psychiatry who is a resident scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Paul McHugh is a professor of psychiatry at Hopkins. Their report, a review of the scientific literature on the nature of sexual orientation, sexuality, and gender identity, was a detailed yet accessible document written for a general audience. (We covered it in these pages at the time, "Studying the Unstudiable," September 12, 2016.)

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Report: House Investigation of Susan Rice Scandal Expanding

Fox News reported Tuesday night that members of the House Intelligence Committee have expanded their investigation into the Susan Rice surveillance controversy.

Appearing on The O'Reilly Factor, investigative reporter Adam Housley said the following:

They're looking into allegations where Americans including politicians have possibly been unmasked and had their information collected into the files, similar to what they did to the Trump team.

Housley also said that both the House and Senate investigations are being stonewalled:

They say the FBI is being very difficult. We're told [investigators] just want to know about the unmasking. How frequent was this? Who was doing it? Why were they being unmasked?

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