Gas prices to be lowest for Labor Day in 11 years

With stock markets hitting some major bumps recently, cheap gasoline should provide Americans a far smoother ride this Labor Day weekend and the likely prospect of $2 pump prices by Christmas.

Average regular unleaded will cost the least for the Labor Day break since 2004, AAA says. The national average was $2.44 a gallon Thursday, down nine cents over the past week and $1 below the year-ago price.

Prices have fallen sharply in recent days and are expected to continue to edge down through the weekend after BP's refinery in Whiting, Ind. -- the largest in the Midwest -- was repaired in late August, increasing gasoline supplies, says AAA spokesman Avery Ash. The facility was unexpectedly shut down earlier in the month.

The lower costs are coming despite what AAA expects to be the busiest Labor Day weekend for motorists since 2008, with 30.4 million travelers hitting the road, up 1.1% from a year ago. Credit solid job and income growth, along with the bargains at the pump.

Gas prices generally have traced the dramatic decline in oil prices since February amid high crude production both in the US and overseas, and concerns about weakening global demand.

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Child Drowns In Ocean City

Oc fire/EMS were on scene. Child drowns at the inlet. Patient was transported to AGH where the child was pronounced dead

Smuggling refugees into Europe is a new growth industry

BRUSSELS — Amid the biggest wave of migration to Europe in decades, fast-growing smuggling networks are spiriting Syrians and others to the continent, law enforcement officials say — and there are few limits to the sophistication of their efforts.

The 71 corpses discovered in a truck on an Austrian roadside last week are only a grim glimpse of a fast-expanding wave of human smuggling seizing Europe, said officials who are charged with hunting the smugglers. Vans that once may have been used to smuggle cigarettes are being used for the much more fragile cargo of humans. On social networks and in person, migrants can pick from a menu of services, ranging from a slippery seat on a rubber dinghy to Greece all the way to a chartered business jet straight to the refugee haven of Sweden.

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New Berlin Art Gallery Thrilled With Early Reception

BERLIN – Several months of renovations culminated with a grand opening of Berlin’s newest art gallery last week.

On Aug. 28 Art in the Fields opened at 6 S. Main St. to a crowd of local residents and town officials. The gallery is home to more than 50 pieces of modern art.

“Art as art is always inspiring,” Mayor Gee Williams said. “This project is certainly inspiring for the Town of Berlin.”

Williams and other town representatives joined owners Foster and Lisa Schoch for a ribbon cutting in front of the gallery as it opened its doors to the public for the first time.

“It’s nice to see so many people here,” Lisa Schoch said. “We had a good turnout.”

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A new 'cold war' is emerging between the US and Russia — over icebreakers

President Barack Obama said this week in Alaska that we need more icebreakers and proposed to "accelerate acquisition of a replacement heavy icebreaker to 2020 from 2022."

The US has fallen behind other nations in terms of resources in the Arctic. Currently, the US has two fully functioning Arctic icebreakers — one is 40 years old and the other is 15. Rear Admiral Jeffrey M. Garrett served as the first commanding officer for the USCGS Healy, the newer of the two ships.

This compares with Russia's 40 icebreakers and another 11 ships in the works. Not to mention, says Garrett, South Korea, Japan, China, India and South Africa also own fully functioning icebreakers operating in the region.

"I don't think it's as much a competition with other countries. ... It's really not an arms race. It's really can the United States have the assets that it needs to support its national interest."

"And because we have longterm interests in the Antarctic [as well], one old icebreaker and one newer one just isn't enough. Because if you can't really be on the scene, you really are not going to be a player in the long run."

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Dear White People

Dear self-deprecating white people,

For the love of all that is pure and holy, please, cut that sh!t out. First off, I can do bad all by myself. So, when I break the law by willfully committing crimes and get arrested, thus becoming another “black man” statistic, I am to blame, not you. When I point a gun, or a facsimile of one, at a police officer and get shot, I am to blame, not you. When I skip school to hang out on the corner with my equally irresponsible friends, I am to blame, not you. When I have opportunities that my parents and grandparents could only dream of, and I fail to take advantage of those opportunities, thus becoming another statistic, I am to blame, not you. When I get stopped for a seemingly insignificant traffic infraction, and I am found with drugs and/or paraphernalia, thus getting arrested and becoming another statistic, I am to blame, not you. Ten percent of my life I have zero control over; what other people choose to say or do to me, the weather, the economy, traffic, etc. The other 90%, I, and I alone, am fully responsible for. Not you.

As I am typing this on a computer and as it is uploaded onto social media, it is safe for you to assume that I was not alive during slavery. Neither were you. It is safe to assume that on both our sides, none of our family within 3 generations lived during slavery. Therefore, I do not need you to feel guilty for the existence of the North American Slave Trade. I don’t need you to sit with your equally self-deprecating hippie friends and chain yourselves together, wearing t-shirts that say “Guilty.” That means absolutely nothing to me. It does absolutely nothing in my life but make me ask myself, “What is it with these white people?” If you choose to feel guilty for something you did not do, for something neither of us were alive to experience, that is your choice. But do not sit there and claim that it is on my behalf. Do not claim to do it for my sake. It has nothing to do with me. In fact, it only serves to speak toward your own bloated self-importance. It speaks to your own narcissism-to think that events that ended 150 years ago somehow center around you making apologies and declaring yourselves guilty, to think that your own self-perceived guilt is somehow a major factor in my life, who are you? I am more than capable of feeling guilty for my own flaws and misdeeds. I do not need to carry your self-aggrandizing and misplaced guilt as well. You were not there. I was not there. So what makes you think you owe me anything? What makes you think that your own importance, relative to the passage of time in relationship to those events, has any bearing on my life?

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Pictures of the week

Migrants walk along a railway line after they have crossed the border from Serbia into Hungary close to the village of Roszke on August 29, 2015 near Szeged, Hungary. According to the Hungarian authorities a record number of migrants from many parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia crossed the border from Serbia earlier this week, said to be due in part to the erection of a new fence that is due to be completed at the end of this month.

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Custody battle waged over chicken caught on Calif. bridge

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Three people are claiming ownership of the small brown chicken that fouled up rush-hour traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this week.

The Oakland Tribune reports Friday that the Oakland Animal Shelter has the chicken that strutted between cars at the Bay Bridge toll plaza early Wednesday.

She was eventually captured by the California Highway Patrol.

Animal Services Director Rebecca Katz says people claiming ownership of the chicken, named Chip in a nod to the CHP, need to come to the facility with proof, such as previous photos of the famous foul.

Two rescue groups are also interested in Chip.

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Saudi King Salman to visit D.C., rents entire hotel

WASHINGTON — When you're royalty, go big or don't go at all.

That's at least true for Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who touched down on U.S. soil Thursday to the sight of dozens of black luxury cars awaiting his arrival atJoint Base Andrews located just outside Washington in Prince George's County, Md.

Wall Street Journal reporter Carol Lee snapped a photo of his epic entourage. (On a recent trip to France, Salman had a 10-vehicle motorcade, and hired an additional 400 luxury car drivers, the BBC reported.)

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To the Lady at Starbuck in Lusby

To the Lady at Starbuck in Lusby:This morning my husband & I got a rare chance to meet for coffee just a few minutes...

Posted by Calvert County Maryland on Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Police: 11-year-old fatally shoots intruder, 16, in Missouri

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis County police say an 11-year-old boy fatally shot a 16-year-old intruder during a home invasion.

Sgt. Brian Schellman says officers responded Thursday afternoon to a report of a shooting at a north St. Louis County home.

He says officers arrived to find the 16-year-old boy dead inside.

Police believe the teen made it inside the home on his third attempt to break in and say the 11-year-old shot him in the head.

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$1M civil immigration lawsuit against Frederick County officials moves forward

A federal judge has declined to dismiss the remaining claims against Frederick County officials following a woman's arrest on a civil immigration warrant in 2008.

Earlier this year, attorneys for the county asked the judge to dismiss the remaining portions of a lawsuit filed in 2009 by Roxana Orellana Santos. Santos had also filed a motion seeking to amend her original complaint after the case has wound its way through the federal court system for the last six years.

In an opinion last week, Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. denied the county's motion for dismissal because Santos' attorneys will be allowed file an amended complaint.

On Oct. 7, 2008, Santos was eating lunch outside the Common Market when the two deputies saw her, stopped their car and questioned her about her immigration status, even though she had broken no laws, her attorneys said.

She was jailed for 37 days before she was released under the supervision of immigration authorities, according to court records.

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3 California correctional deputies arrested in inmate death

SAN JOSE, Calif. — An inmate at a county jail died of multiple blunt force injuries and three Northern California correctional deputies have been arrested on suspicion of murder in his death at a county jail, sheriff's officials said Thursday.

Santa Clara County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. James Jensen said the deputies — Rafael Rodriguez, Jereh Lubrin and Matthew Farris— remain in custody. They are being held without bail.

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More Taxpayers Leaving Maryland Than Moving Here

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — More taxpayers have been leaving Maryland than moving here. The question is–why?

Political reporter Pat Warren explains there’s a mixture of reasons.

The IRS numbers don’t say why a person moved, but they certainly give critics an opportunity to point fingers at Maryland taxes.

Maryland taxes were all the talk in last year’s campaign for governor. During the debate on WJZ:

“There will be no new taxes,” said Anthony Brown.

“You and Martin O’Malley said exactly the same thing, and then you raised 40 taxes in a row,” Larry Hogan responded.

And Maryland voters felt it.

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Shocking: Young Girls Convulse On The Floor After HPV Shot

OC abandons joining state for elections

OCEAN CITY — After a three-year, concerted effort to have its municipal election merged with the state-run ballot, the Town of Ocean City appears to have said never mind.

The City Council voted this week to not request the inclusion of Ocean City’s mayor and council contests on the general ballot, despite having gone as far putting legislation through the Maryland General Assembly mandating the state and county elections boards to accept municipal ballots if requested.

Given that the state, which runs elections from the federal level down to the counties, requires considerable lead time to organize elections, this was the last minute for the city to bow out before work started on the consolidated ballot.

“The legislation passed, and I did contact the state to begin conducting our elections starting with November 2016,” said City Solicitor Guy Ayres.

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Rough Ocean Conditions In OC Today

Rough ocean conditions captured by Allen Sklar today along Ocean City's coast with the return of the beach cliffs in many areas.

Posted by The Dispatch on Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Government Treats Citizens Like Cattle

I sometimes get positive email from people with good ideas for cartoons. Surprisingly, all of the ideas have been good. I haven't been able to draw them all, but I have thought about them. The idea for this cartoon came from a certain Alex L. I realized it was a good idea worth developing and so I did.

The more we let government decide things for us, the more we become their cattle. We aren't supposed to question government. After all, they have our best interests at heart, right? We fear our militarized police and they treat us like animals, not citizens. The government says we don't need to know if we're eating GMO foods. We don't need to worry about fluoride in our tap water. A little bit of poison can't hurt us. Sure. We don't need to worry about the falsehoods being told to us by mainstream media. We are burdened with debt (especially college kids) and debt slave money is designed to shackle us. We all become poor and on the dole. It's just big government taking care of us, right?

A few years ago I drew a cartoon that featured forced inoculations and I was laughed at. But now it has become a law in California and some presidential candidates such as Ben Carson are openly espousing it. It's inoculation by force. It's inoculation by the point of a gun. Do citizens no longer have a choice about what they eat and drink? Don't we have control of our own bodies? Don't we have say? Well, we'd better start speaking out against these things before the government decides we are ready to be sent to one of their slaughterhouses. --Ben Garrison

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Ocean City Seeking Five New Buses For Next Summer

OCEAN CITY – Months of discussion among Transportation Commission members regarding the purchase of buses to add to Ocean City’s fleet is nearing a head as the Mayor and City Council approved soliciting bids.

On Tuesday afternoon, Procurement Manager Catrice Parsons requested the Mayor and City Council’s approval to solicit proposals for three 40-foot transit buses as approved in the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget.

Parsons explained the Transportation Department requested permission from the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) to purchase 40-foot transit buses as part of the FY14 Annual Transportation Plan submission. The funding was approved. However, after unsuccessful attempts over many months of researching and dialogue with the MTA, the town was unable to find a governmental contract to “piggy back” off of for the three, 40-foot buses. The MTA then required the town to generate its own set of technical specifications.

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Trio charged with running $54M green-energy Ponzi scheme

PHILADELPHIA – Three people were charged Thursday with running a $54 million Ponzi scheme built on promises of a green energy technology that would turn trash into fuel and "carbon-negative" housing developments, neither of which were ever developed, federal prosecutors said.

Troy Wragg, 34, of Georgia, Amanda Knorr, 32, of Pennsylvania, and Wayde McKelvy, 52, of Colorado, were charged with wire and securities fraud and conspiracy. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.

Prosecutors said the trio lied to investors that their "biochar" technology and "carbon-negative" housing in Tennessee made millions, but they had almost no earnings and used the money to repay earlier investors and for themselves.

The scam allegedly ran from 2005 until 2009, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Wragg and Knorr's Mantria Corp. They were ordered in 2012 to pay $37 million each.

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