Salisbury News

Friday, October 07, 2011

New Montgomery County Fee Is 'In The Bag'

BETHESDA, Md. -- Most of us expect to carry bags home after shopping. In Montgomery County you'll soon have a financial incentive to carry bags to the store.

Starting Jan. 1, 2012, all retailers in the county will be required to collect 5 cents for every paper or plastic carryout bag provided to customers. Retailers include grocery and department stores, service stations and permanent booths in malls.

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Baltimore's Third Beer Week Delights In Craft Brews

Eleven days, nearly 300 events, more than 50 venues. Baltimore Beer Week, now in its third year, has certainly grown.

Hugh Sisson, the founder of Heavy Seas Beer, is the lead sponsor of this year's Beer Week, as he's been for the past two years. He got involved early on because he saw the 11-day event as a platform to promote the city's burgeoning craft beer scene. In that role, he's had a front-row seat to its evolution since 2009.

Wicomico County Sheriff's Office Press Release 10-7-11

Incident: DUI
Date of Incident: 5 October 2011
Location: Wicomico County

Narrative: On 5 October 2001, Deputies of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office conducted traffic stops and identified several impaired drivers, removing them from the roadways of Wicomico County.

The following individuals were arrested:

1. Christopher S. Boyce, 24, Laurel, DE
2. Kenneth Godwin, 47, Salisbury, MD

Charges: Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol

Woody's Pest Patrol & Tree Care

Democrats Suggest Paying For Obama's Job Plan With Surcharge On Millionaires

Washington - Senate Democrats, divided over how to pay for President Barack Obama's jobs plan, Wednesday tossed out the White House tax proposals and replaced them with one of their own: A tax increase on millionaires.

Obama's plan to increase taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 and joint filers making more than $250,000 was highly unpopular among some Democrats.

"Many of them are not rich," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. In many areas of the United States, he added, such an income "does not get you a big home or lots of vacations or anything else that's associated with wealth in America."

Obama's $447 billion proposal still faces huge trouble in the Democratic-run Senate, where it's expected to be considered next week. Sixty votes are needed to cut off extended debate, and Democrats control 53 of the 100 seats.

The parents of 10-month-old Lisa Irwin, missing since Monday, have stopped cooperating with authorities, according to police.

"The mother and father no longer want to talk to detectives," Kansas City, Mo., police Capt. Steve Young said. "From an investigative standpoint, we enjoyed their cooperation so far. [It] has been very beneficial to the case. But yeah, you can imagine it doesn't help the case" that the cooperation has ended.

Flat-Lining The Middle Class: Economic Numbers To Die For

In some ways, Zuccotti Park, the campsite, the Ground Zero, for the Occupy Wall Street protests couldn’t be more modest. It’s no Tahrir Square, but a postage-stamp-sized plaza at the bottom of Manhattan only blocks from Wall Street. And if you arrive before noon, you’re greeted not by vast crowds, but by air mattresses, a sea of blue and green tarps, a couple of information tables, some enthusiastic drummers, enough signs with slogans for anything you care to support (“Too big to fail is too big to allow,” “The American Dream: You have to be asleep to believe it,” “There’s no state like no state,” etc.), and small groups of polite, eager, well-organized young people, wandering, cleaning, doling out contributed food, dealing with the press, or sitting in circles on the concrete, backpacks strewn about, discussing. If it were the 1960s, it might easily be a hippie encampment.

But don’t be fooled. Not only does the park begin to fill fast and the conversation become ever more animated, but this movement already spreading across the country (and even globally) looks like the real McCoy, something new and hopeful in degraded times. Of the demonstrators I spoke with, several had hitchhiked to New York -- one had simply quit her job -- to be present. Inspired by Tunisians, Egyptians, Spaniards, and Wisconsinites, in a country largely demobilized these last years, they recognized what matters when they saw it. As one young woman told me, “A lot of people in my generation felt we were going to witness something really big -- and I think this is it!”

It may be. The last time we saw a moment like this globally was 1968. (Other dates, like 1848 in Europe and 1919 in China, when the young took the lead in a previously dead world, also come to mind.) It’s the moment when the blood stirs and the young, unable to bear the state of their country or the world, hit the streets with the urge to take the fate of humankind in their own hands.

In Sickness and in Health — Does a Cancer Diagnosis Up Divorce Risk?

An MSNBC blog post stirred discussion this week concerning the impact a cancer diagnosis has on relationships and marriages — is the disease the kiss of death? Does a cancer diagnosis in a woman make her partner more likely to leave?
A 2009 study from the University of Utah Medical School suggested as much: among five hundred patients with brain cancer, multiple sclerosis, or a handful of other cancers, marriages were seven times more likely to break up if it was the woman who got sick.

New Restrictive Voting Rules Could Hurt Five Million Americans

A new study from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU puts forth an ominous prediction: five million voters could be affected by the deluge of restrictive voting laws that have swept the country in recent years.

The report finds that the voters are from traditionally Democratic demographics and could be kept away from the polling booths in 2012. Importantly, the sheer number of voters who could be impacted is larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.

State governments across the country have enacted an array of new laws that make it harder for likely voters to register. The new rules include often costly voter ID laws; proof of citizenship requirements; and the elimination of early, absentee, and election day registration programs. For many states, the new rules are costly for both residents and state governments.

“Already 19 new laws and two new executive actions are in place and at least 42 bills are still pending,” according to the report “Voting Law Changes in 2012.”

Obama, Biden Empathize With The 99 Percent Movement

Both President Obama and Vice President Biden today empathized with the frustration felt by protesters carrying out the 99 Percent Movement that started three weeks ago on Wall Street and has taken hold in cities across the country. “The core of the bargain has been breached with the American people,” Biden said at the Atlantic’s Washington Ideas Forum this morning. Obama, asked about the movement at his press conference, said he thinks “it expresses the frustrations the American people feel” that “the same folks who acted irresponsibly [are] trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place. So yes, I think people are frustrated and the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.” Watch

Egyptian Blogger, Imprisoned And Hungry, is Steadfast In His Protest Of Regime

(CNN) -- Time is running out for imprisoned Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad. He has been on a hunger strike since August 23 to protest his confinement for comments he made about the military on Facebook and in his blog.

Sanad's family fears he may not survive until his appeal hearing next week. The hearing had originally been scheduled for October 4, the 43rd day of his hunger strike, but was adjourned until October 11 after a judge said that documents were "missing from the courtroom."

Calling Wall Street a ‘Gambling Casino,’ Democratic Rep. DeFazio Proposes Financial Transactions Tax

Echoing the demands of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is proposing to tax the trading of stocks, bonds, and derivatives. DeFazio, along with his Senate co-sponsor Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), has proposed the tax several times in the past. But this time around, the idea is getting a boost of momentum from the popularity of a similar measure in Europe, as well as renewed national media focus on Wall Street profiteering as a result of the 99 Percent Movement:

Declaring Wall Street a “gambling casino,” DeFazio said the new tax would “both raise needed revenue for the Treasury and rein in speculation on Wall Street.”

Already, the business community is mounting a counteroffensive. With the congressional supercommittee looking to trim at least $1.2 trillion in projected debt over 10 years, the tax could look tantalizing, despite public opposition from many Republicans and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. [...]

The tax could help shrink the deficit — its previous iteration was estimated to add $150 billion a year to federal coffers — and spare Social Security, Medicare and other programs from jarring cuts.

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Economy Adds 103,000 Jobs In September

The Labor Department reports nonfarm payrolls increased by 103,000 in September, blowing past estimates of 60,000. The figure reflected the return of 45,000 Verizon employees to payrolls after striking in August; excluding them, payrolls rose by 58,000. The jobless rate held steady at 9.1% as expected.

From Fox News

The Olsen Twins' $39,000 Alligator Skin Backpack Is Flying Off Shelves

There's no economic recession here.

Just earlier this year, actresses-turned-fashionistas Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson launched their newest handbag line that includes a backpack with a price tag to die for. (Well, maybe at least one alligator did.)

The famed $39,000 item for their line, The Row, isn't just ludicrous; it's flying off the shelves and actually selling out

Union Movement Opens ‘Arms And Hearts’ To Occupy Wall Street Activists

In a statement released this afternoon supporting the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:

Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination and passion of millions of Americans who have lost hope that our nation’s policymakers are speaking for them. We support the protesters in their determination to hold Wall Street accountable and create good jobs.

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Have a nice weekend.

Delmar Crash Update

Operators and Vehicles:

-Operator #1: Johni Conquest, 61, Delmar, DE

-Vehicle #1: 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe

-Operator #2: Andrew Reed, 19, Laurel, DE

-Vehicle #2: Audi A-4

Other Injured:

Matthew Nativio, 17, Laurel, DE (passenger in Audi)

Resume:

Delmar, DE- The Delaware State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate a serious motor vehicle crash that occurred late this afternoon in Delmar.

The crash occurred at approximately 4:20 p.m. as Andrew Reed, 19, was operating an Audi A4 and was traveling northbound on Pepperbox Road. Reed failed to stop at a stop sign and entered the intersection of Whitesville Road where it was struck by a Chevrolet Tahoe that was being operated by Johni Conquest, 61 of Delmar.

A front seat passenger in the Audi, Matthew Nativio, was removed from the scene by a Delaware State Police helicopter and flown to the Christiana Hospital where he was admitted in critical condition with multiple injuries. Andrew Reed was removed from the scene by EMS and transported to an area hospital where he was admitted in serious condition. Johni Conquest was also removed from the scene by EMS and transported to an area hospital where she was treated for minor injuries.

This crash remains under investigation at this time. Alcohol consumption by Andrew Reed is being considered a factor in this crash.

Obama Endorses Millionaire Tax "Surcharge," Presses For Jobs Bill

President Obama, continuing to stump for his jobs bill, said today that he would accept a Senate plan to pay for the legislation by imposing a tax surcharge on those who earn more than $1 million annually.

“I’m fine with the approach they have taken,” the president said, answering a question about the proposal during a 75-minute press conference at the White House.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada floated the tax surcharge idea on Wednesday, saying he thought it would attract more votes from Democrats than the president’s proposed payment method.

Obama’s plan would pay for the $450 billion bill over the next decade by limiting itemized deductions for individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000.

Feds Target Calif. Pot Dispensaries

(AP)

SAN FRANCISCO - Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.

In an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government and the nation's burgeoning medical marijuana industry, California's four U.S. attorneys sent letters Wednesday and Thursday notifying at least 16 pot shops or their landlords that they are violating federal drug laws, even though medical marijuana is legal in California. The attorneys are scheduled to announce their coordinated crackdown at a Friday news conference.

TRAFFIC ALERT - Norfolk Southern Railroad Will Close The Railroad Crossing On Dagsboro Road For Crossing Replacement

Dagsboro -- As a public courtesy, the Department of Transportation (DelDOT) wants to inform area residents that Norfolk Southern Railroad will close the railroad crossing on Dagsboro Road between Fire Tower Road and Iron Branch Road in Dagsboro for the replacement of the crossing. The road will be closed at 9 a.m. on Monday, October 10. The road will reopen by 6 p.m. on Friday, October 14, pending weather.

Detour routes:

Westbound: Iron Branch Road to Fire Tower Road and back to Dagsboro Road

Eastbound: Fire Tower Road to Iron Branch Road and back to Dagsboro Road

DelDOT will post signs to alert motorists of the closure and the accompanying detour routes.

For further information, please contact Tom Little of Norfolk Southern Railroad at (302) 398- 5001.

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