Eight weeks after progressive Democrats' world was rocked by the Earth-shattering, this-can-NOT-be-happening realization that tens of millions of “deplorable” Americans had turned out to vote for Donald Trump, thereby depriving Her Royal Lie-ness, Hillary Clinton, of the presidency, they are still dredging the depths of the political ocean for answers as to why they lost.
They blame FBI Director James Comey’s re-opening of the Hillary email investigation in the final days of the campaign. They also blame Russian hacking, though there is scant evidence for this (besides, had Hillary not illegally used a private server to conduct official government business out of the reach of congressional oversight, the Russians would have nothing to hack). Still others blame sexism, “fake news,” voter fraud, talk radio, or even Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her pervert husband, former Democrat Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Creepystan).
A relative handful of introspective Democrat operatives have touched on a major reason for their loss, but it’s one which the progressive Democrat leadership and their uber-leftist foot soldiers don’t even see as a problem — the massive disconnect between the Democrat Party and America’s evangelical Christians, which make up approximately one-fifth of the American electorate. To put that into context, Evangelicals (which are just one subset of professed Christians) are a larger bloc of voters in the U.S. than black voters and Jewish voters combined.
Yet rather than court this critical demographic, Democrats and their “tolerant” base openly and defiantly mock and attack Christians as being the worst elements of humanity.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Saturday, January 07, 2017
Accident On Route 50
Democrats’ strategy to snarl nominations: Demand more information
Left without the power to filibuster, Democrats are settling on another strategy to derail President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees: Demand more information.
It’s the same tactic that helped Democrats sink some nominees the last time they were in the minority, during the George W. Bush administration. But they may have dented their own cause by powering through President Obama’s picks and drawing a road map that Republicans will now employ to confirm Mr. Trump’s nominations.
The first target for the strategy is Rep. Tom Price, the anti-Obamacare crusader whom Mr. Trump tapped to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that Mr. Price’s nomination be put on hold until after Congress investigates his stock trades involving health care companies, even as he worked on health care policy on Capitol Hill.
An investigation could take months, but Democrats said it is needed if lawmakers are to have confidence in their votes.
In Mr. Price’s case, the Trump transition team said he took the same actions as many other members of Congress.
“The same questions being raised today by Sen. Schumer about Dr. Price should be directed to Sens. [Thomas R.] Carper, [Mark R.] Warner and [Sheldon] Whitehouse, who own and have traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical and health insurance company stocks,” said Phil Blando, a transition spokesman.
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It’s the same tactic that helped Democrats sink some nominees the last time they were in the minority, during the George W. Bush administration. But they may have dented their own cause by powering through President Obama’s picks and drawing a road map that Republicans will now employ to confirm Mr. Trump’s nominations.
The first target for the strategy is Rep. Tom Price, the anti-Obamacare crusader whom Mr. Trump tapped to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that Mr. Price’s nomination be put on hold until after Congress investigates his stock trades involving health care companies, even as he worked on health care policy on Capitol Hill.
An investigation could take months, but Democrats said it is needed if lawmakers are to have confidence in their votes.
In Mr. Price’s case, the Trump transition team said he took the same actions as many other members of Congress.
“The same questions being raised today by Sen. Schumer about Dr. Price should be directed to Sens. [Thomas R.] Carper, [Mark R.] Warner and [Sheldon] Whitehouse, who own and have traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical and health insurance company stocks,” said Phil Blando, a transition spokesman.
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CALIFORNIA FUNDS 1ST US INMATE SEX REASSIGNMENT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A 57-year-old convicted killer serving a life sentence in California became the first U.S. inmate to receive state-funded sex-reassignment surgery, the prisoner's attorneys confirmed Friday to The Associated Press.
California prison officials agreed in August 2015 to pay for the surgery for Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom and has no possibility of parole.
Quine's case led the state to become the first to set standards that will allow other transgender inmates to apply to receive state-funded sex-reassignment surgery.
It also prompted a federal magistrate to require California to provide transgender female inmates housed in men's facilities with more female-oriented items such as nightgowns, scarves and necklaces.
"For too long, institutions have ignored doctors and casually dismissed medically necessary and life-saving care for transgender people just because of who we are," said Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, which represents Quine and other transgender inmates.
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California prison officials agreed in August 2015 to pay for the surgery for Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom and has no possibility of parole.
Quine's case led the state to become the first to set standards that will allow other transgender inmates to apply to receive state-funded sex-reassignment surgery.
It also prompted a federal magistrate to require California to provide transgender female inmates housed in men's facilities with more female-oriented items such as nightgowns, scarves and necklaces.
"For too long, institutions have ignored doctors and casually dismissed medically necessary and life-saving care for transgender people just because of who we are," said Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, which represents Quine and other transgender inmates.
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Scientists Identify New Organ in Body
Scientists say they've identified a new organ in the body -- a swath of tissue dubbed the mesentery that connects the intestine to the abdomen and holds everything in place.
For years, anatomical experts have thought the organ was composed of several different segments of tissue, as opposed to being one single structure, according to Discover magazine. Since an organ must be one structure that performs a vital function, it was not deemed worthy of organ status.
But recent research from doctors at the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland shows that the mesentery is actually one single band of tissue, the magazine reported Tuesday. It begins at the pancreas and wraps around the small intestine and colon. Its purpose: to hold these organs in position so they can perform their respective functions.
"Without it you can't live," lead researcher Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, a colorectal surgeon at Limerick, told the magazine. "There are no reported instances of a Homo sapien living without a mesentery."
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For years, anatomical experts have thought the organ was composed of several different segments of tissue, as opposed to being one single structure, according to Discover magazine. Since an organ must be one structure that performs a vital function, it was not deemed worthy of organ status.
But recent research from doctors at the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland shows that the mesentery is actually one single band of tissue, the magazine reported Tuesday. It begins at the pancreas and wraps around the small intestine and colon. Its purpose: to hold these organs in position so they can perform their respective functions.
"Without it you can't live," lead researcher Dr. J. Calvin Coffey, a colorectal surgeon at Limerick, told the magazine. "There are no reported instances of a Homo sapien living without a mesentery."
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Maryland state delegate charged with driving while impaired in Ocean City
Del. Richard K. Impallaria, a Republican who has been in office since 2003, was cited after being stopped at about 8:15 p.m. on 82nd Street, records show.
Impallaria, 53 of Essex, is among numerous state and county officials who are in Ocean City this week for the Maryland Association of Counties convention.
According to Ocean City Police, officers saw Impallaria get into and start his Ford Ranger pickup, which was illegally parked in the 100 block of 82nd Street. Officers saw an open container of alcohol inside his truck, police said. Impallaria then "failed to complete the field sobriety tests completely," police said.
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Obama’s Legacy: New Jobs Went to Janitors, Bartenders and Nurses
But manufacturing adds jobs... thanks to Trump
The new jobs added during Obama’s “economic recovery” went largely to bartenders, janitors and medical staff, the latter of whom are generally unaffected by downturns in the economy.
Of the nearly 156,000 jobs added to the economy in December, 24,000 of them went to the food service industry, nearly 11,000 went to waste services, 12,000 went to government positions and a whopping 70,000 went to hospital care, which doesn’t indicate a very healthy economy.
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The new jobs added during Obama’s “economic recovery” went largely to bartenders, janitors and medical staff, the latter of whom are generally unaffected by downturns in the economy.
Of the nearly 156,000 jobs added to the economy in December, 24,000 of them went to the food service industry, nearly 11,000 went to waste services, 12,000 went to government positions and a whopping 70,000 went to hospital care, which doesn’t indicate a very healthy economy.
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Snow Plows Have Been Called In For Wicomico County
Can Parents' Weight Hinder Toddlers' Development?
Study links -- but doesn't prove -- Moms', Dads' obesity tied to delayed social and problem-solving skills
Children who have obeseparents may show signs of developmental delays, such as poor social skills, by the time they're 3 years old, a new study suggests.
The specific developmental problems seem to differ depending on whether the mother, father or both parents are obese, according to researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
"Specifically, mothers' obesity was associated with a delay in achieving fine-motor skills, and fathers' obesity in achieving personal and social skills -- that includes skills for interacting with others," said lead researcher Edwina Yeung. She's an investigator in the institute's division of intramural population health research.
"When both parents were obese, it meant longer time to develop problem-solving skills," she added.
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Children who have obeseparents may show signs of developmental delays, such as poor social skills, by the time they're 3 years old, a new study suggests.
The specific developmental problems seem to differ depending on whether the mother, father or both parents are obese, according to researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
"Specifically, mothers' obesity was associated with a delay in achieving fine-motor skills, and fathers' obesity in achieving personal and social skills -- that includes skills for interacting with others," said lead researcher Edwina Yeung. She's an investigator in the institute's division of intramural population health research.
"When both parents were obese, it meant longer time to develop problem-solving skills," she added.
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Media blasted for excusing Chicago ‘depravity’
'We will give no space, no quarter to this kind of behavior'
Four young adults in Chicago are facing a wide array of criminal charges after they live-streamed their torturing of a mentally disabled man, but the episode is also triggering a backlash against the media for allegedly treating the case differently because the perpetrators are black and the victim is white.
The video shows the victim blindfolded and gagged. The alleged perpetrators cut the victim’s sweatshirt and a piece of his scalp. Screamed insults also pepper the 30-minute video, including rants of “F–k Donald Trump” and “F–ck white people.” While the video lasted half an hour, the entire ordeal played out over 1-2 days.
On Thursday, Chicago police announced charges against Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper and Brittany Covington, all 18 years old, as well as 24-year-old Tanishia Covington. All have been charged with a hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery.
While members of the media are expressing outrage across the board, critics point out the anger seems much more subdued than if the races were reversed.
The firestorm over media reaction began Wednesday, when CNN’s Don Lemon rejected the opinion of a guest that the torture was the result of evil
“I don’t think it’s evil,” he said. ““I don’t think it’s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training,” said Lemon.
More
Four young adults in Chicago are facing a wide array of criminal charges after they live-streamed their torturing of a mentally disabled man, but the episode is also triggering a backlash against the media for allegedly treating the case differently because the perpetrators are black and the victim is white.
The video shows the victim blindfolded and gagged. The alleged perpetrators cut the victim’s sweatshirt and a piece of his scalp. Screamed insults also pepper the 30-minute video, including rants of “F–k Donald Trump” and “F–ck white people.” While the video lasted half an hour, the entire ordeal played out over 1-2 days.
On Thursday, Chicago police announced charges against Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper and Brittany Covington, all 18 years old, as well as 24-year-old Tanishia Covington. All have been charged with a hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery.
While members of the media are expressing outrage across the board, critics point out the anger seems much more subdued than if the races were reversed.
The firestorm over media reaction began Wednesday, when CNN’s Don Lemon rejected the opinion of a guest that the torture was the result of evil
“I don’t think it’s evil,” he said. ““I don’t think it’s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training,” said Lemon.
More
Term Limits Won Big on ‘16 Ballot
In a divided and bitterly fought election year, there was one issue that had a 100% pass rate across the country on November 8th, 2016: term limits.
Over 40 different ballot measures across the country had a 100 percent pass rate for term limits. These votes were spread across the nation from California and Texas to New York. Hawaii even got in on the action.
These term limits ballot amendments covered school boards, mayors, city and county boards. Citizens also defeated initiatives that tried to weaken their current term limits.
Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits, said “the American people are tired of career politicians forgetting who they are supposed to be serving. This outstanding result for term limits is a real victory for the people”.
The 100 percent pass rate was unprecedented. In 2014 the pass rate was 97 percent, so bipartisan support for term limits is not unusual. Each referendum for term limits averaged 74 percent of the vote with a mean of 75.5 percent.
The support for term limits ranged from 88 percent in Crestwood, IL to 57 percent in Honolulu. The Honolulu vote successfully fought off a bill that would have weakened local term limits.
Americans continue to show a preference for citizen legislators over careerist politicians. These results demonstrate a growing belief that elected officials have lost touch with the people.
“It is no surprise, after this historic year for term limits, that action is already underway to slap term limits on Congress,” said Blumel.
TERM LIMITS FACTS
-Gallup polling shows that 75 percent of Americans back congressional term limits, including 82 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents.
-The 1995 SCOTUS case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton decided congressional term limits could only come by constitutional amendment.
-Citizens can bypass Congress to propose the amendment by passing resolutions through 34 state legislatures. This process creates an amendment-proposing convention of states. U.S. Term Limits introduced the Term Limits Convention strategy in 2016 to do just that, and has already passed in the Florida Legislature.
-Despite oft-cited myths, lobbyists and special interests are the primary opponents of term limits, with a long history of bankrolling campaigns to prevent, weaken or abolish term limits.
Jack Abramoff explains why lobbyists hate term limits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSFqaulSSyU
Campaign Finance Data Shows Lobbyists Oppose Term Limits: https://www.termlimits.org/myth-busting-101-lobbyists-love-term-limits/
Over 40 different ballot measures across the country had a 100 percent pass rate for term limits. These votes were spread across the nation from California and Texas to New York. Hawaii even got in on the action.
These term limits ballot amendments covered school boards, mayors, city and county boards. Citizens also defeated initiatives that tried to weaken their current term limits.
Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits, said “the American people are tired of career politicians forgetting who they are supposed to be serving. This outstanding result for term limits is a real victory for the people”.
The 100 percent pass rate was unprecedented. In 2014 the pass rate was 97 percent, so bipartisan support for term limits is not unusual. Each referendum for term limits averaged 74 percent of the vote with a mean of 75.5 percent.
The support for term limits ranged from 88 percent in Crestwood, IL to 57 percent in Honolulu. The Honolulu vote successfully fought off a bill that would have weakened local term limits.
Americans continue to show a preference for citizen legislators over careerist politicians. These results demonstrate a growing belief that elected officials have lost touch with the people.
“It is no surprise, after this historic year for term limits, that action is already underway to slap term limits on Congress,” said Blumel.
TERM LIMITS FACTS
-Gallup polling shows that 75 percent of Americans back congressional term limits, including 82 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents.
-The 1995 SCOTUS case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton decided congressional term limits could only come by constitutional amendment.
-Citizens can bypass Congress to propose the amendment by passing resolutions through 34 state legislatures. This process creates an amendment-proposing convention of states. U.S. Term Limits introduced the Term Limits Convention strategy in 2016 to do just that, and has already passed in the Florida Legislature.
-Despite oft-cited myths, lobbyists and special interests are the primary opponents of term limits, with a long history of bankrolling campaigns to prevent, weaken or abolish term limits.
Jack Abramoff explains why lobbyists hate term limits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSFqaulSSyU
Campaign Finance Data Shows Lobbyists Oppose Term Limits: https://www.termlimits.org/myth-busting-101-lobbyists-love-term-limits/
Obama Is The Captain Of The Titanic
Over the New Year’s weekend, President Barack Obama’s chief policy adviser and closest strategist, Valerie Jarrett, told a talk show host that her boss would have a happy legacy because there was an absence of scandal in his administration.
When first I heard this preposterous claim, I thought I had misheard it. Yet it is apparently true that President Obama and his team somehow can overlook recent history and behave as if events with which we are all familiar never happened.
Here is the back story.
When Obama became president in 2009 and enjoyed significant Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, he and his colleagues devoted themselves entirely to an issue nowhere in the Constitution — health care. They did not address other issues dear to them and their base, such as guns, abortion, taxes, war, jobs and civil liberties. Rather, they sought to alter radically the relationship of the federal government to every person in America by imposing upon each of us the obligation to purchase a product — namely, health insurance — whether we wanted it or not.
The abominable statute they enacted, which has caused millions of folks to lose their primary care physician and millions more to see their premiums skyrocket and still millions more to see their full-time jobs become part-time, has acquired the nickname Obamacare.
Instead of reducing taxes or regulations or spending so more folks would have better-paying jobs, the president and his folks were determined to tell us all how to stay healthy. Obamacare passed on a party-line vote, with not a single vote to spare in the Senate.
At the time it was enacted, the president argued vociferously that the financial consequence of not obtaining health insurance — the penalty for disobeying the law — was not a tax. He made that argument because he had promised Democrats — many of whom lost their congressional seats for going along with his utopian experiment — that he would not raise taxes to accomplish his purposes.
When the statute was challenged in the federal courts and the various challenges were consolidated before the Supreme Court, the challengers did not dispute the claim that the penalty was not a tax. A court cannot consider arguments or evidence not put to it. For instance, in an automobile accident, if all eyewitnesses state that a traffic light in question was green at the time of the collision, the court may not find that it was red.
Yet notwithstanding agreement among the parties before the Supreme Court and notwithstanding the absence of any evidence that the penalty was a tax, the Supreme Court made new law by declaring this non-tax to be a tax and then ruling that Congress can tax anything it wants — so Congress can force you to purchase a product you don’t want by taxing you if you fail to make the purchase.
More
When first I heard this preposterous claim, I thought I had misheard it. Yet it is apparently true that President Obama and his team somehow can overlook recent history and behave as if events with which we are all familiar never happened.
Here is the back story.
When Obama became president in 2009 and enjoyed significant Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, he and his colleagues devoted themselves entirely to an issue nowhere in the Constitution — health care. They did not address other issues dear to them and their base, such as guns, abortion, taxes, war, jobs and civil liberties. Rather, they sought to alter radically the relationship of the federal government to every person in America by imposing upon each of us the obligation to purchase a product — namely, health insurance — whether we wanted it or not.
The abominable statute they enacted, which has caused millions of folks to lose their primary care physician and millions more to see their premiums skyrocket and still millions more to see their full-time jobs become part-time, has acquired the nickname Obamacare.
Instead of reducing taxes or regulations or spending so more folks would have better-paying jobs, the president and his folks were determined to tell us all how to stay healthy. Obamacare passed on a party-line vote, with not a single vote to spare in the Senate.
At the time it was enacted, the president argued vociferously that the financial consequence of not obtaining health insurance — the penalty for disobeying the law — was not a tax. He made that argument because he had promised Democrats — many of whom lost their congressional seats for going along with his utopian experiment — that he would not raise taxes to accomplish his purposes.
When the statute was challenged in the federal courts and the various challenges were consolidated before the Supreme Court, the challengers did not dispute the claim that the penalty was not a tax. A court cannot consider arguments or evidence not put to it. For instance, in an automobile accident, if all eyewitnesses state that a traffic light in question was green at the time of the collision, the court may not find that it was red.
Yet notwithstanding agreement among the parties before the Supreme Court and notwithstanding the absence of any evidence that the penalty was a tax, the Supreme Court made new law by declaring this non-tax to be a tax and then ruling that Congress can tax anything it wants — so Congress can force you to purchase a product you don’t want by taxing you if you fail to make the purchase.
More
Friday, January 06, 2017
Local Snow Emergency Information
TRAFFIC ALERT! Maryland State Police in Berlin have activated a Snow Emergency Plan beginning at 2am on January 7th. This is done in anticipation of the upcoming storm approaching. A Snow Emergency Plan means that vehicles must be equipped with tire chains or tires rated for Snow. Disabled vehicles will be removed immediately instead of the normal 48hr grace period. Please do not drive during this time unless absolutely necessary. This will allow the County and State Highway crews to remove the snow more effeciently.
Princess Anne Snow Emergency Route Information
Snow Emergency routes in Princess Anne are Somerset Avenue and Mt. Vernon Road. No parking will be in effect on those routes. Abanoded and or parked vehicles on those routes will be towed at owners expense.
Snow Emergency Plan for Somerset County, MD
January 6, 2017
Somerset County, MD: The Maryland State Police Princess Anne Barrack will activate the Snow Emergency Plan for Somerset County at 2 A.M. on Saturday, January 7th, 2017. The plan will remain in effect for the duration of the inclement weather which is scheduled to hit the lower eastern shore of Maryland.
What the Snow Emergency Plan means for motorists:
- Vehicles traveling on highways designated as snow emergency routes must be equipped with chains, snow tires or all season radials.
- Special hauling permits for commercial vehicles are not valid.
- Law enforcement can clear abandoned vehicles left on the road or on the shoulder. These vehicle will be towed to a local tow lot until picked up by the owner.
- A parking ban is imposed on all Snow Emergency Routes during a snow emergency. Vehicles parked on designated Snow Emergency routes are subject to removal.
Communist China Moves Against Trump, Asserts Control Over Strategic Ports
The Communist Chinese government, through state-controlled corporations masquerading as private entities, is accelerating its plan to acquire control over deep water ports and major shipping lanes across the world.
The Sri Lankan government, heavily indebted to China, recently agreed to lease approximately 80% of a strategic port in the southern part of the country to a state-owned Chinese company for $1.1 billion.
The port of Hambantota lies along an important trade route connecting Asia and the Middle East, and is a key part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “one belt, one road” plan to expand Chinese control over key shipping lanes.
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The Sri Lankan government, heavily indebted to China, recently agreed to lease approximately 80% of a strategic port in the southern part of the country to a state-owned Chinese company for $1.1 billion.
The port of Hambantota lies along an important trade route connecting Asia and the Middle East, and is a key part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “one belt, one road” plan to expand Chinese control over key shipping lanes.
More
Report finds improvements in Chesapeake Bay’s overall health
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Water clarity in the Chesapeake Bay is the best it’s been in decades, and native rockfish, oyster and blue crab populations are rebounding as the overall health of the nation’s largest estuary improves, a report released Thursday found.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s biennial State of the Bay report gave the estuary a C-minus grade, an improvement from a D-plus two years ago and the highest score issued since the inception of the report in 1998.
Still, the report notes that the bay — an economic driver that supports fishing, farming, shipping and tourism — remains “a system dangerously out of balance, a system in crisis,” and says progress has been uneven across the region. The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans 64,000 square miles in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
“The bay is getting better,” foundation President William Baker said in a conference call with reporters. “This is good news, but the recovery is fragile. There’s a long way left to go.”
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The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s biennial State of the Bay report gave the estuary a C-minus grade, an improvement from a D-plus two years ago and the highest score issued since the inception of the report in 1998.
Still, the report notes that the bay — an economic driver that supports fishing, farming, shipping and tourism — remains “a system dangerously out of balance, a system in crisis,” and says progress has been uneven across the region. The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans 64,000 square miles in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
“The bay is getting better,” foundation President William Baker said in a conference call with reporters. “This is good news, but the recovery is fragile. There’s a long way left to go.”
More
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