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Friday, June 21, 2019

Americans Aren't Paying Their Credit Card Debt. What Could Go Wrong?

Student-loan debt hit an all-time high of $1.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, Experian claims. Considering that this is an increase of 116 percent in the last decade, it’s safe to say that young adults are starting their lives with a crushing debt burden. But student loans aren’t the only reason they are struggling: auto loans and credit cards are also hurting their pocketbook.

When compared to other generations, millennials are much less likely to have credit card debt. However, that doesn’t mean they are completely immune to it. As a matter of fact, most of the debt millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 carry comes from credit card use.

According to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Debt Study, Americans of all ages repaid $38.2 billion in credit card debt during the year’s first quarter, making this the fourth-largest quarterly payoff ever. But despite this large sum, WalletHub estimates that consumer credit card debt will increase $70 billion for 2019 alone. Considering that Americans now owe more than $1 trillion, millennials are in as much trouble as their older counterparts. And as experience shows us, it is precisely as we age that we start to rely more on credit cards. Will millennials act differently?

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Upstate NY clerks refuse to grant illegal immigrants driver’s licenses

Some upstate New York county clerks are taking a stand against the state’s controversial new law granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Clerks in Erie, Rensselaer, Niagara and Allegany counties have said they won’t be handing out the licenses, despite the legislation signed Monday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Erie County Clerk Michael Kerns said he believes the Green Light Bill, which passed the state Senate 33-29, conflicts with federal policy — and is ready to go to court with his concerns.

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We're living In Clown World


Why Are Residents Leaving Illinois in Droves?

It’s known here as The Exodus.

People are leaving Illinois in droves. Republicans blame the state’s high taxes and its unfunded pension liability, which tops $130 billion. Democrats believe it’s the state’s lack of investment in education and infrastructure.

One thing is certain: Illinois’ population has declined by 157,000 residents over the past five years, making it one of only two states — West Virginia is the other — to lose people over the past decade.

Illinois’ predicament is a perfect storm of declining manufacturing, stagnant immigration, declining birth rates, young people leaving for college and never coming back, long-standing economic discrimination against black residents, high housing costs, and the continued draw of residents to the Sun Belt.

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Pruden: Not quite a return of 'The Gong Show'

The Democrats are finally tuning up for the party’s first presidential primary debates next week, and so far the only topics they can be expected to “debate” is who hates Donald Trump the most and who loves socialism the most. Nothing much to debate there.

Hating Donald Trump is no doubt fun for those who like hating — soccer, ladies’ professional basketball and curling demonstrate that any sport can attract capacity crowds if the arena is small enough. Trump haters need fresh material. Can’t anybody come up with a new reason to wish the Donald ill?

Bernie Sanders, who has lately flirted with the slippery slope, down which all old politicians slip and few return to a life after death, reckoned he had put on the brakes with a full-throated celebration of socialism. “Come on in,” he told a group of callow college students the other day, “the water’s fine.”

Bernie imagined that his embrace of the economic scheme that has never worked puts him farther left than any other Democrat. Perhaps not so long ago it would have, but then a newly-elected member of the City Council in Denver said she won with her promise to impose communism on Denver “by any means necessary.” The toothsome but fatally loopy Candi CdeBaca (even she sometimes misspells it) does not look big enough to handle an AK-47, the weapon of choice of revolutionaries out to employ “any means necessary,” but there were immediate comparisons of Miss CdeBaca to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the reigning pin-up queen on the farther reaches of the liberal left.

The Democrat debates next week will be high among the firsts of the unfolding campaign. There are 23 Democrat candidates for president, with more in the wings and already the most ever. So many, in fact, that the feast of intellect and sobriety must be spread across two nights. There will be the welcome and unprecedented sight of so many women that the scent of estrogen will hang heavy over the hall.

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Gun Rights Made All the Difference for These Intended Victims

Contrary to the rhetoric of many gun control advocates, the Second Amendment’s protection of the individual right to keep and bear arms is not a malevolent, outdated barricade to peace that must be demolished or diminished in the name of public safety.

Rather, the Second Amendment is a fundamental part of the nation’s scheme of ordered liberty.

Firearms are used far more often in self-defense than in crime. According to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled and analyzed various studies involving the defensive use of firearms, Americans use firearms in self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times annually.

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Mexican Feds, DEA Raid Industrial-Scale Fentanyl Lab in Border State


Mexican federal authorities raided a large warehouse outfitted by cartel members to allegedly manufacture industrial quantities of fentanyl in closer proximity to Texas.

The raid was announced on Sunday afternoon by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR). The operation was coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Following an investigation, federal authorities obtained a search warrant from a judge in Nuevo Leon and raided a warehouse in the Ciudad Mitras Industrial Park and a home in the Pedregal La Silla neighborhood.

During the warehouse raid, authorities found a full-scale production laboratory and series of notebooks with formulas allegedly describing the manufacture of fentanyl.

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Philadelphia pulls SEVENTY TWO cops off the street amid probe into claims officers posted more than 300 racist and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook

Police Commissioner Richard Ross says 72 Philadelphia cops have been placed on administrative duty amid an initial investigation into a national group's accusation of officers in at least five states posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media.

Ross said he believed at least 'several dozen' people would be disciplined and he expects some to be fired. The commissioner said the internal affairs division prioritized posts 'clearly advocating violence or death against any protected class such as ethnicity, national origin, sex, religion and race.'

An independent law firm had been hired to determine whether posts were constitutionally protected before any discipline is imposed.

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"Cocked and loaded" to strike Iran, Trump says he called off operation when told 150 would likely die

President Trump said the U.S. military was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran on three different sites Thursday night, but called off the operation after learning 150 people would likely die from the strike. Mr. Trump, explaining his decision on Twitter, said the response would have been "not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone."

As CBS News has reported, the president ordered the drone strike Thursday night, but backed down, avoiding — for now — a significant escalation of tensions between Iran and the U.S.

"On Monday they shot down an unmanned drone flying in International Waters," Mr. Trump tweeted Friday morning, referencing Iran. "We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights [SIC] when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not....proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!"

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Ex-Dem Staffer Who Doxed Republicans During Kavanaugh Hearing Sentenced To 4 Years In Jail

The former Sheila Jackson Lee staffer who posted the private information of Republican senators during the final hearing for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been sentenced to four years in prison for his crime.

Jackson Cosko was described by prosecutors as having “self-righteous entitlement” and believing “that he could violate the sanctity of the United State Senate at will and threaten individual Senators as he pleased,” The Daily Caller’s Luke Rosniak reported. Rosniak further wrote prosecutors sought to make an example of Cosko because his crime allegedly led to other incidents of attacks on political opposition.

Cosko is the son of the CEO of a major construction company who has ties to House Speaker Nance Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Cosko previously worked as a staffer in Sen. Maggie Hassan’s (D-NH) office, but had since moved on to working for Lee.

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'Everyone I Don't Like Is Hitler'

It’s nothing new for leftists to hurl the “ultimate” insult at conservative opponents — the inevitable comparison to Nazis generally or Adolf Hitler specifically. As we’ve noted before, they root this insult in decades of propaganda in American schools mislabeling the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) as “right wing.” Wikipedia’s definition is both typical and particularly hilarious for its incoherence: The Nazi party “was a far-right political party in Germany … that created and supported the ideology of National Socialism.”

Read that again.

The bottom line is that leftists don’t want to be associated with ideologues who murdered millions based on race/ethnicity. Never mind that National Socialism’s leftist ideological sibling, Marxist Socialism, resulted in the murder of tens of millions based on politics and power.

Thus, leftists accuse anti-totalitarian Republicans of being totalitarian Nazis. President Donald Trump has been slapped with this label more times than we can count, even though if he’s trying to be a Nazi, he’s doing it all wrong. This week brought several new comparisons.

It all started with the obnoxious and ignorant representative from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who declared that the U.S. Border Patrol is “running concentration camps on our southern border.” For good measure, she added that Trump’s is “an authoritarian and fascist presidency.”

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Biden Doubles Down After Reminding Everyone Democrats Owned Slaves

Joe Biden has an old Democrat problem. After relentless flip-flopping; blowing in the wind on topics from abortion, to Iraq, to immigration, to integrating schools - Biden has finally chosen a hill to die on; bragging about working with segregationist Democrat Senators, James Eastland (D-Miss.) and Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.), in order to "get things done."

Eastland served as the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 21 years (1957 - 1978), where he would serve on the White Citizens Council working to oppose civil rights - while Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972.

Weirdly, Biden quipped on Wednesday "[Eastland] never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’" - without explaining why the elder Democrat would have called the young white Senator a pejorative term used against blacks.

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Police: Md. mom slaps 13-year-old daughter for reporting sex abuse, tells her to 'shut up'

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WJLA) - A 13-year-old Silver Spring girl confided in her mother after she was molested by a grown man, and the response she received was "absolutely shameful," Montgomery County Police revealed in newly published court documents.

In January, the girl opened up to county social workers about the traumatic experience, which dates back to 2016. The girl explained that her mother's friend, Mahlik "Moon" Kone, 22, of Raleigh North Carolina, often visited the family apartment on the weekends. The apartment is located along Featherwood Court in the Fairland section of Silver Spring.

On numerous nights, Kone allegedly snuck into the victim's bedroom and forced unwanted touching. The girl told authorities that the 22-year-old would threaten violence and was known to carry a gun.

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I’m an Oberlin Graduate. They Had It Coming.

As a right-wing alumna of far-left Oberlin College, I have four words for the administration in response to last week’s ground-breaking $11 million jury verdict in the defaming of humble Gibson’s Bakery:

You had it coming.

I have five more words for Oberlin as arrogant college officials continue their obstinate war on the Gibson family even after the much-deserved courtroom defeat:

You still don’t get it.

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MSP INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE IMPAIRED DRIVER CRASH IN WORCESTER COUNTY

SCOTUS: First Amendment Contradictions?

These aren’t your grandfather’s liberals. That’s the 75,000-foot view of the modern Left, which has declared its primary mission to suppress disfavored free speech. Two seemingly unrelated Supreme Court cases illustrate what has become the great battle of the early 21st century.

First, The Washington Free Beacon reports, “The basic details of Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck are mundane. New York City designated Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), a private nonprofit corporation, operator of a public access channel. Respondents DeeDee Halleck and Jesus Papoleto Melendez produced a film critical of MNN, which MNN agreed to air. The corporation subsequently removed their film and suspended the pair, claiming that they had made threats against MNN employees. Halleck and Melendez sued, claiming that MNN had violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment.”

The broader implications are interesting. Does this provide a test case for how social media is governed under the First Amendment? In other words, can Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al. silence speech because they’re private companies not subject to the First Amendment?

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New Jersey Man Faces 5 Years in Prison for $3 Million Food Stamp Fraud

A New Jersey man is facing up to five years behind bars for running a nearly $3 million food stamp fraud operation at a Connecticut store.

Muhammad Shahbaz, 50, told investigators that he charged people who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) double for items that were not allowed to be purchased with benefits at WB Trade Fair Grocery store in Waterbury, Connecticut, NJ.com reported.

He also allowed SNAP recipients to trade their benefits for cash at half price and ran the scheme with three other employees at the store.

Shahbaz is also related to the store’s owner.

During an 18-month period between 2015 and 2016, the store received $3.2 million in food stamp payments from customers, but authorities found the store should have received only between $180,000-$360,000 over that same time period.

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Problematic Women: High School Track Star Who Lost Race to Transgender Athletes Explains Why She’s Fighting Back

The female high school athlete who was forced to sit on the sidelines at a major track tournament because two transgender runners landed the No. 1 and No. 2 spots isn’t just speaking out about the unfairness of her situation—she’s fighting back.

Hours after filing a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, Selina Soule and her attorney, Christiana Holcomb of Alliance Defending Freedom, sat down with Kelsey Bolar on this week’s edition of “Problematic Women” to discuss the latest developments in her case.

In addition to that interview, Bolar and co-host Beverly Hallberg of District Media Group talk about Teen Vogue promoting prostitution to teenage girls, CNN labeling first lady Melania Trump a “Woman of Mystery,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., admitting Republicans were probably right about allegations against Bill Clinton, and women saying they prefer “Dad bods” over perfectly toned six-packs.

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Ban On Year-Round Campground Occupancy Questioned; Proposed Amendment Would Permit Full-Time Occupancy For Some

BERLIN – Permanent residents of White Horse Park are fighting the county’s plans to enforce the campground regulations that currently govern the community.

A group made up of full-time residents of White Horse Park is seeking approval of a text amendment that would allow 25% of the park to be inhabited year-round by residents over the age of 55. Currently, the park is classified as a campground subdivision and as such is meant to be seasonal. More than 50 of its 465 units, however, are occupied on a full-time basis and have been for years.

“Truly the county has not enforced this up until the last year-and-a-half, for whatever reason,” said Hugh Cropper, the attorney representing the homeowners. “Imagine owning a house, living in it for 20 years, and having the county come and kick you out.”

According to Ed Tudor, the county’s director of development review and permitting, both White Horse Park and Assateague Pointe were approved as campground subdivisions in the 1980s. Under the zoning code, campground subdivisions shall not be occupied “as a place of primary residence or domicile.” Between Sept. 30 and April 1, units or sites can not be occupied for more than 30 consecutive days or an aggregate of 60 days.

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‘Every Bad Thing That’s Happened to My Race Over the Years’ Goes ‘Right Back to the Democratic Party’

“Every bad thing that’s happened to my race over the years, you can go right back to the Democratic Party,” said Burgess Owens, retired NFL safety and Super Bowl champion, in a Wednesday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight.

Earlier on Wednesday, Owens testified at a hearing on slavery reparations before a House Judiciary subcommittee. He proposed that the Democrat Party pay for “all the misery” brought upon blacks across America’s history.

Owens reflected on examples of black role models he saw while growing up. “I was blessed. I grew up during that era in the Deep South during the 1960s and I had a chance to witness, first-hand, the greatness of my community at a time when we literally led our country in terms of commitment from men to marriage to the entrepreneurial process. We were very Christian-based. We were all about winning, and for us to think about being victims was the biggest insult. It just wouldn’t happen.”

“So I’m blessed that it’s not a hypothetical to me,” continued Owens. “I know how it felt. I looked around and saw the examples of great men and women. To be where we are today is an insult to them. My dad, my granddad, my great-grandfather worked too hard for their history to be forgotten. That’s actually what it takes for this socialist-Marxist shadow, and that’s all reparations is. It’s another socialist way of getting people dependent, angry, and divided..."

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Wicomico County Fair returns to WinterPlace Park Aug. 16-18

 
Wicomico County Fair returns to WinterPlace Park 
from Aug. 16-18

SALISBURY, Md. - The Wicomico Farm & Home Show and Wicomico County are proud to announce the return of the Wicomico County Fair from Aug. 16-18 at WinterPlace Park. This year’s event will celebrate 83 years of fair traditions, and it is presented by Perdue Farms and the Pohanka Automotive Group.

The Wicomico County Fair serves to showcase the importance of agriculture on the Eastern Shore in a family-friendly atmosphere. Returning fair events include livestock showings, educational poultry exhibits, petting farm, Maryland High School Rodeo, Mason-Dixon Deputies-sanctioned mounted shooting competition, baking and craft competitions, classic car, Jeep and motorcycle shows, garden tractor pulling, carnival rides and games, watermelon seed spitting contest, watermelon eating contest, Wing War, 5’ fry pan, live music, fireworks and more.

Advance registration is open for special events including the Chase the Chicken 3K Fun Run & Walk and the Wicomico County Fair Queen Pageant.

Organizers also announced new activities for this year’s event.

“As the Fair continues to grow, we are excited to explore opportunities to provide new programming and further engage members of our community,” said Zach Evans, Wicomico County Fair chair.

“This year we will add jousting competitions and Renaissance demonstrations for the first time,” Evans said. “Jousting is Maryland’s official state sport, which serves as another example of the Fair’s focus on the heritage and culture of our community.”

Organizers also added a pie eating contest to the Fair’s lineup, which takes place on Saturday.

“The pie eating contest allows us to offer a fun event for the public to participate in, while celebrating the success of a fast growing, locally-owned small business like The Ugly Pie,” Evans said.

Admission and parking at the Fair is free. For more information, visit www.WicomicoFair.com.

Cleveland Clinic performs its first fetal surgery to repair spina bifida

Surgeons at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio say a baby girl was born healthy after undergoing the hospital's first-ever fetal surgery for spina bifida. The operation repaired the child's spinal birth defect while she was still in her mother's womb.

The team of doctors performed the surgery in February, when the fetus was at 23 weeks gestation. The baby girl was delivered via caesarean section on June 3. Both mother and daughter are doing well after the surgery, Cleveland Clinic says in a statement on their website.

Dr. Darrell Cass, director of fetal surgery at Cleveland Clinic's Fetal Center, led the multispecialty team. Cass has performed more than 160 fetal surgeries for other conditions since 2002. The team prepared for this surgery for more than a year, by visiting other centers, conducting simulations and consulting with other experts in the field. The procedure was pioneered by surgeons at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

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Millionaire Gets Food Stamps to Prove Eligibility Loophole

A Minnesota man applied for and then received government food stamps for well over a year, even though he is a millionaire, in an effort to prove his belief that the eligibility requirements for the benefits in his state were too loose.

Rob Undersander’s story will be told in a Thursday House agriculture subcommittee meeting. The meeting will examine broad-based categorical eligibility requirements (BBCEs), which the Minnesota engineer exploited, for the nation’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP)—commonly referred to as food stamps.

Undersander and his wife retired a few years ago and mainly lived off his wife’s early social security benefits, but they had also developed a nest egg that put their net worth somewhere just north of $1 million. About the same time, as a volunteer with the Central Minnesota Council on Aging helping seniors navigate enrollment and other issues with various government programs, he became something of an expert on government benefits and how to apply for them.

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DEMOCRATIC MAYOR: ‘WE ARE SICK AND TIRED’ OF GOVERNMENT INACTION ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

The Democratic mayor of a border town in Texas says more federal politicians need to journey to the U.S.-Mexico border to see just how bad the illegal immigration crisis has become.

Mayor Bruno Lozano of Del Rio, Texas told Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s office that “we are sick and tired of the deaf ears” that accounts of the border crisis seem to fall upon, Fox News reported Tuesday.

Lozano suggested that the federal government has left border towns hanging out to dry as they try to cope with the influx of illegal immigrants who apparently cross the border, are temporarily detained and then released. He said it’s easy to ignore the situation when politicians are isolated in Washington.

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Mid-Summer to Early-Fall Temperatures Are Expected to be Hot in the East

Relatively cool temperatures in the middle of the country and relatively warm ones toward the coasts are anticipated to prevail for most areas through the start of fall, according to an outlook released Thursday by The Weather Company.

This general temperature theme has dominated much of the United States since May.

Record precipitation is one of the main drivers for the cooler temperatures in parts of the West, Plains and Midwest, noted Dr. Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist at The Weather Company.

Soil moisture continues to be well above average for much of the Plains, and in summer that can greatly influence temperatures. When the landscape is wet, some of the solar energy that would heat the land and the air near the ground is instead used for evapo-transpiration, the process that transfers water to the atmosphere and pulls water from vegetation back to the air. As a result, temperatures can be cooler than they would be otherwise.

The upper-level pattern in place recently in the North Atlantic may continue through the rest of the summer. This suggests that the Southeast would be the warmest pocket of the nation relative to the averages for July through September.

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Condoleezza Rice dismisses NBC reporter’s claim that racism is worse under Trump

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made it clear that she doesn’t think racism in America has gotten “worse” under President Trump, calling the claim “hyperbole” on Thursday during an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.

NBC News’ Sheinelle Jones told Rice “there are people who will say it feels worse now when we’re talking about race” and said others feel that America is currently a “divisive environment.”

Rice quickly responded, “It sure doesn’t feel worse than when I grew up in Jim Crow Alabama. So let’s drop this notion that we’re worse race relations today than we were in the past.”

“I think the hyperbole about how much worse it is isn’t doing us any good,” Rice continued. “This country’s never going to be colorblind. We had the initial original sin of slavery. It’s still with us.”

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https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/condoleezza-rice-nbc-racism-trump

Cops And Courts – June 21, 2019

Officers Assaulted Reuniting Mom With Lost Child
OCEAN CITY — An Aberdeen woman was arrested on multiple charges this week after allegedly assaulting an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer who had just helped her find her lost child on the Boardwalk.

Bicyclist Struck By Bus
OCEAN CITY — A bicyclist on Monday rode into the bus lane from a parking lot near 99th Street and was struck by a municipal bus.

Woman Assaults Officers
OCEAN CITY — A Salisbury woman was arrested on multiple charges last weekend after allegedly causing a ruckus in a parking lot and then assaulting the officers attempting to take her into custody.

Robbery, Assault Charges
OCEAN CITY — A Severn, Md. man was arrested on assault and robbery charges last weekend after allegedly stealing a female acquaintance’s cash and punching her in the side of the head.

Store Altercation Arrest
OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania man was arrested on various charges last week after a dispute over the validity of his identification at a downtown convenience store ended with him allegedly assaulting two police officers.

Flag Thief Nabbed
OCEAN CITY — A Riva, Md. man was arrested on theft and other charges last weekend after swiping an American flag and attempting to swipe a Maryland flag from poles near the Boardwalk.

Two Arrested For Assault
OCEAN CITY — Two men were arrested on assault charges last weekend after getting in a fight near a busy downtown intersection.

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Inaugural Jellyfish Festival Kicks Off In Ocean City; Live Music, Sports Events Planned

OCEAN CITY – The inaugural Jellyfish Festival comes to Ocean City this weekend.

On June 21-23, the Jellyfish Festival will make its debut on the beaches of Ocean City. Spanning nearly six blocks north of the pier, the event will feature live music from national, regional and local acts, arts and crafts, and extreme sports and fitness components.

“This is a big event for our town, and we feel as though the whole community is gathering around us,” promoter Brad Hoffman said.

Live music, extreme sports and family fun will converge in a weekend-long special event that will take place in and around Jellyfish Tentacle Village from Somerset Street to North Division Street.

The Jellyfish Festival will be broken up into three themed days starting with “Fresh Friday” on June 21. The music begins at noon on the Sea Stage at Caroline Street with Frenchy Tunes, Space Koi and Skribe set to perform. At 11 a.m. on the Beach Stage off Dorchester Street, Melissa Alessi will kick things off followed by The Rogue Citizens, Lower Case Blues, Phantom Limbs, The Swell Fellas and Muskrat Lightning. Beginning at 5 p.m., the A-Stage off Dorchester Street will feature ticketed performances by Sweet Leda, King Schascha, Ballyhoo! and Badfish.

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Wicomico Council Fills Vacant School Board Position

SALISBURY – Officials in Wicomico County last week selected Tonya Laird Lewis to fill a vacant position on the Wicomico County Board of Education, but not before a lengthy discussion on the nomination process.

On June 4, the Wicomico County Council voted for a second time to fill a vacant position on the Wicomico County Board of Education.

At a May meeting, a resolution to appoint a nominee to the board did not pass after a tie vote between candidates Tonya Laird Lewis and Gains Hawkins Jr. The tie breaker, Council President John Cannon, abstained because of a working relationship between his wife and Hawkins’ daughter.

Back on the agenda this week, the council had before it two resolutions, one to appoint Hawkins and another to appoint Lewis. However, a resolution to appoint Hawkins failed as it received no motion.

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Biden Softens Death Penalty Stance in New Hampshire

Former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is softening his stance on the death penalty after strongly supporting it throughout his 30-plus years in the Senate.

During a 1992 speech, Biden discussed his criminal justice legislation and said it would be so strict it would "do everything but hang people for jaywalking." Two years later, Biden's signature 1994 crime law included dozens of offenses that would be punishable by death, according to Politico.

While Biden supported the death penalty during his tenure in the Senate, he is attempting to soften his stance. He spoke at an event in New Hampshire earlier this month where he fielded a question from an ACLU volunteer on how he would reduce the population in federal prisons. An America Rising tracker captured footage of Biden's response.

"Of a hundred prisoners behind bars, 93 are in state prisons. They are not in federal prisons," Biden said. "When I was vice president I was proud to stand with the president when he reduced the prison population in federal prisons by 3,800."

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Controversial MSNBC Hosts to Cover South Carolina Convention

Two controversial MSNBC hosts will be front and center for the network's exclusive coverage of Saturday's South Carolina Democratic Party convention.

Al Sharpton and Joy Reid will be live on MSNBC to interview all 21 Democratic presidential candidates after they give speeches at the convention on Saturday. The two, who are unabashedly pro-Democrat, host weekend shows on the left-leaning cable network.

South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Trav Robertson told the Associated Press that MSNBC was selected in part because of the key role of black voters in the state's Democratic primary. Reid and Sharpton are black, as are 30 percent of MSNBC's weekend viewers, according to the Associated Press. They've become mainstays at MSNBC in spite of considerable personal baggage.

Sharpton, who hosts PoliticsNation on Sunday mornings, is known for his controversial early career as a street-preaching, racial firebrand.

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Syrian Refugee Accused of Plotting to Bomb Pittsburgh Church

A Syrian refugee accused of plotting to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was in the process of attempting to obtain a green card to permanently remain in the United States, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.

As Breitbart News reported, Syrian refugee Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, born June 5, 1998 in Daraa, Syria, was arrested this week and charged with attempting to bomb the Legacy International Worship Center — a Christian church — in Pittsburgh.

At the time of his arrest, Alowemer was in the process of trying to obtain a green card, which would have allowed him to permanently remain in the U.S. and eventually be eligible for American citizenship, a federal law enforcement official confirmed to Breitbart News.

Alowemer first entered the U.S. through the New York port of entry on August 1, 2016 as a refugee from Syria, being granted RE3 status, which indicates he was the child of a refugee.

Sometime after entering the U.S., Alowemer sought to adjust his status from refugee to permanent legal resident, otherwise known as a green card, according to the federal official. The Syrian refugee had a pending green card application filed when he was arrested for allegedly plotting the Pittsburgh bomb plot.

Alowemer’s 2016 entry to the U.S. was during Obama’s era of mass migration via the refugee resettlement program — particularly from nations like Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and Iran.

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Governor Hogan Announces 3% Pay Increase for State Employees in Fiscal Year 2020 Budget

Governor Hogan Announces 3% Pay Increase for State Employees in Fiscal Year 2020 Budget

ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today announced that his Fiscal Year 2020 budget includes a 3% pay increase for most state employees.

“Due to our administration’s prudent fiscal management and a robust economy, we are able to provide another well-deserved cost-of-living increase for state employees,” said Governor Hogan. “Our state employees, many of whom are on the front lines in protecting and serving our citizens, work hard every day and we need to ensure that we pay them appropriately for their service.”

“This year, we expanded the pay ranges for state employees so that the state can continue to compete with the private sector and other public employers,” said Secretary David Brinkley of the Department of Budget and Management. “We have talented and valued employees that we want to retain and vacancies in critical classifications that we need to fill. The state’s continued commitment to fairly compensating our public servants will help us do just that.”

The FY 2020 increases are effective July 1 and were negotiated with most of the exclusive bargaining representatives for state employees. Between January 1 and July 1 of this year, most state employees will have received at least a 5.5% cumulative increase to their overall pay.

RACCOON TESTS POSITIVE FOR RABIES IN WICOMICO COUNTY


(June 21, 2019, Salisbury, MD) A raccoon tested positive for rabies near the Jesterville Road and Nanticoke Road intersection in Tyaskin, Maryland. The Wicomico County Health Department is advising all residents to be aware of their surroundings and avoid contact with all wild or stray animals.

Rabies is a preventable viral disease that exists in the saliva of mammals and is transmitted from animal to animal or from animal to human by biting and/or scratching. The virus can also be spread by licking, when infected saliva makes contact with open cuts or wounds, and with the mouth, eyes, and nose. If left untreated in humans and animals, rabies is fatal.

Please keep the following tips in mind to protect your family and your pets:

• Keep pets confined

• Avoid all contact with wild or stray animals

• Teach children to leave unfamiliar animals alone

• Vaccinate pets-Maryland law requires that all dogs, cats, and ferrets, 4 months of age and older have a current rabies vaccination.

• Avoid feeding or watering pets outside

• Secure outside garbage lids
To report human or animal contact, such as bites or scratches, call the Wicomico County Health Department: (410) 546-4446

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Hart to Heart Ambulance Services to Pay $1.25 Million to Settle Federal False Claims Act Allegations


Baltimore, Maryland – After a multiple-year investigation and the government’s intervention in a whistleblower lawsuit, Hart to Heart Ambulance Services, d/b/a/ Hart to Heart Transportation Services has agreed to pay the United States $1,250,000 to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that it submitted false claims to Medicare for ambulance transport that was not medically necessary.

The settlement agreement was announced today by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur and Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, Maureen Dixon.

“Companies that submit false bills to the government must be held accountable. The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to taking the steps necessary to protect Medicare and other federal healthcare programs from fraud and abuse and recover taxpayers’ money,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.

“When health care providers participate in fraudulent billing schemes in order to increase profits, they steal from the pockets of the taxpayer and jeopardize federal healthcare programs,” said Maureen Dixon, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “We will continue to be relentless in our efforts to hold such providers accountable.”

Southbound Coastal Highway Closed Due To Fatal Accident

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Probation and Parole Violations Are Filling Up Prisons and Costing States Billions

Probation and parole were designed as alternatives to time in prison, but they often end up having the opposite effect.

Nationwide, 45 percent of admissions to state prisons are the result of probation or parole violations. Sometimes these violations are serious, but most involve technicalities, such as botched paperwork, curfew violations or missing a drug test, according to a report released Tuesday by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center.

“Many states have made recidivism reduction a public safety priority,” says Megan Quattlebaum, the center’s director, “but the harsh reality is that supervision fails nearly as often as it succeeds.”

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