Pence slams Times story about 2020 bid as 'disgraceful and offensive'

Vice President Pence on Sunday dismissed a New York Times story saying he and other top Republicans are running shadow campaigns to defeat President Trump in 2020, calling the report “disgraceful and offensive.”

“Today's article in the New York Times is disgraceful and offensive to me, my family and our entire team. The allegations in this article are categorically false and represent just the latest attempt by the media to divide this administration,” Pence said in an official White House statement.

The Times story published Sunday suggests Pence, Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are visiting early-voting states and taking other actions that indicate at least a preliminary 2020 effort.

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OC CRIME BLOTTER: WOMAN ARRESTED FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT TWICE IN TWO DAYS

Ocean City Police pulled over two drivers this past week, and instead of accepting the consequences, these two fools decided to fight back.

During the summer weekends, the population of Ocean City balloons from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people, and almost all of them come by car. Combine lackluster infrastructure with alcohol-fueled partying, and the result is an extraordinary number of reckless driving cases.

If you’re going to come visit our beautiful shore town, please drive courteously. If you’re going to drink, use a designated driver or ride-sharing service, like Uber.

For goodness sake, don’t drive drunk, don’t drive your car into buildings, and DON’T hit other people and then try to run away!

Arrested Twice in As Many Days

Police arrested Carmen Gilmore, a 19-year-old woman from Nottingham, Maryland, after a routine seatbelt stop went horribly wrong. An Ocean City Police Officer noticed a passenger in a car not wearing a seat belt and decided to pull her over.

These stops are routine in the summertime, and the officer told Gilmore and her passenger that they were going to be issued a warning. When the officer asked for Gilmore’s driver’s license, she launched into an expletive-ridden tirade.

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China Urges N. Korea to Halt Tests as Global Pressure Mounts

A global pressure campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions received a welcome boost Sunday from China, the North's economic lifeline, as Beijing called on the pariah nation to halt its missile and nuclear tests.

The Trump administration cautiously embraced China's apparent newfound cooperation, while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn't ease up on Pyongyang if and when the world's attention is diverted elsewhere. But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China's call for a quick return to negotiations.

The diplomatic wrangling sought to build on the sweeping new North Korea sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council a day earlier — the strongest in a generation, the U.S. said.

For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump's strategy of trying to enlist Beijing's help to squeeze Pyongyang diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea's top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to "maintain calm" despite the U.N. vote.

"Do not violate the U.N.'s decision or provoke international society's goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests," Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.

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WCSO Press Releases - August 7, 2017

Incident: Extradition
Date of Incident: 2 August 2017
Location: New Castle, Delaware
Suspect: Brianna Lynn Himmel, 25, Laurel, DE
Narrative: On 2 August 2017 at 3:30 PM, a deputy completed an extradition of Brianna Himmel back to Wicomico County from New Castle, Delaware. Authorities in Delaware had detained Himmel on a Violation of Probation Bench Warrant that had been issued in a CDS Possession case.  
Himmel was detained without bond pending a bond review
Charges: Violation of Probation 

Incident: Warrant Arrest
Date of Incident: 2 August 2017
Location: Wicomico County
Suspect: David Earl Smullen, 28, Delmar, MD
Narrative: On 2 August 2017 at 5:40 PM a deputy arrested David Smullen on a Circuit Court Bench Warrant. The warrant was issued after Smullen violated the terms of his probation in a Handgun Possession and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery case.
Smullen was detained without bond pending a bond review.
Charges: Violation of Probation 

Incident: Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Distribute
Date of Incident: 3 August 2017
Location: Moss Hill Lane, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Marshall D. Handy, 31, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 3 August 2017 at 2:49 AM, a deputy stopped a vehicle operated by Marshall Handy after Handy failed to stop for a stop sign. Upon making contact with Handy, the deputy detected a strong odor of marijuana emanating from within the interior of Handy’s vehicle. During a subsequent search the deputy located several individually wrapped baggies of what was identified as marijuana. The deputy also located digital scales and a marijuana grinder during the search.
The deputy placed Handy under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Handy on $10,000.00 unsecured bond.
Charges: Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Distribute.

Incident: Possession of Crack Cocaine
Date of Incident: 3 August 2017
Location: Old Ocean City Road, Willards, MD
Suspect: Taurean Depre McFarlin, 34, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 3 August 2017 at 12:54 PM a deputy stopped a vehicle operated by Taurean McFarlin for speeding on Old Ocean City Road in the Willards area. Upon making contact with McFarlin, the deputy suspected that McFarlin was involved in illicit activity which prompted a scan of McFarlin’s vehicle by a WCSO Drug K9. During that scan the K9 alerted to the presence of the odor of illegal drugs and during a subsequent search the deputy located a smoking device along with what was identified as crack cocaine.
The deputy placed McFarlin under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released McFarlin on Personal Recognizance.
Charges: Possession of Crack Cocaine

MSP Berlin Barrack DUI Press Release 7/31-8/6/17

Monthly Crimes Reported To The WCSO July 2017

Monthly Crimes Reported to the WCSO 

• Sector 1- Salisbury, Allen, Deer Harbour, Fruitland, Fox Chase
• Sector 2- Parsonsburg, Delmar
• Sector 3- Delmar, Log Cabin Road, Adkins Road
• Sector 4- Nanticoke, Waterview, White Haven, Tyaskin
• Sector 5- Booth Street, Reservation
• Sector 6- Hebron, Mardela Springs, Sharptown
• Sector 7- Pittsville, Willards, Powellville

Unsure of your WCSO Sector? Click HERE for the interactive map.

REPORT: VA teacher accused of sex assault on student resigned to land new job in MD district

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – Parents with children at Thomas Johnson Middle School recently received a startling lesson about the educational practice known as “passing the trash” that’s putting students at risk of sexual assault.

An NBC Washington investigation into Thomas Johnson assistant principal Zelvin Staten revealed he was accused of sexually abusing a third grade student at his previous job as a teacher in Virginia’s Arlington County school district in 2006.

“According to state education records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, a September 2013 investigation by Arlington County Child Protective Services found … the abuse occurred inside a classroom closet and continued in successive years when the girl was in the fourth and fifth grades,” the news site reports.

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COPS: HIV-positive MD teacher’s aide raped dozens of young boys

LA PLATA, Md. – A former Maryland high school track coach faces a 119-count indictment after police allege the HIV-positive man sexually assaulted at least two dozen students without protection over the last two years.

Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, was allegedly aware of his HIV-positive status when he sexually assaulted at least two dozen boys while serving as a track coach and teacher’s aide in the Charles County Public Schools system between May 2015 and June 2017, when he worked at La Plata High School, J.P. Ryon Elementary School, Benjamin Stoddert Middle School and Maurice J. McDonough High School, Fox News reports.

Investigators with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office initially believed Bell victimized about 10 children, but that figure more than doubled when the Charles County State Attorney’s Office announced the charges against him Monday, according to NBC Washington.

Bell, who was put on administrative leave in December, allegedly continued to sexually assault students during the investigation.

Authorities now believe there were at least 24 victims, 11 of whom have not yet been identified, prosecutor Tony Covington told the news site.

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China Carries Out Flight Test of Anti-Satellite Missile

China recently carried out a flight test of a new anti-satellite missile that highlights the growing threat of Beijing's space warfare capabilities.

The flight test of the Dong Neng-3 direct ascent missile was tracked by U.S. intelligence agencies on July 23 from China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia, in northwestern China, said U.S. defense officials familiar with reports of the launch.

The officials said the launch was not successful and the DN-3 appeared to malfunction in the upper atmosphere after the launch at night.

The launch took place after Chinese authorities posted a notice to airlines to avoid flying near the flight path of the missile. The missile's flight was captured in photographs and video by several Chinese internet users near the Jiuquan facility.

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Did Loretta Lynch use alias for official AG email account?

Who is “Elizabeth Carlisle” and why are her Department of Justice emails signed “AG”?

The American Center for Law and Justice filed an Open Records request with the agency, seeking documents related to Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s mysterious airport tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton during the election.

The group reports:

We have just obtained hundreds of pages in our ongoing investigation and federal lawsuit on former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton while the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI had an ongoing criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. The results are shocking.

First, the Comey FBI lied to us. Last July, we sent FOIA requests to both the Comey FBI and the Lynch DOJ asking for any documents related to the Clinton Lynch plane meeting. The FBI, under the then directorship of James Comey, replied that “No records responsive to your request were located.”

The documents we received today from the Department of Justice include several emails from the FBI to DOJ officials concerning the meeting. One with the subject line “FLAG” was correspondence between FBI officials (Richard Quinn, FBI Media/Investigative Publicity, and Michael Kortan) and DOJ officials concerning “flag[ing] a story . . . about a casual, unscheduled meeting between former president Bill Clinton and the AG.”

The DOJ official instructs the FBI to “let me know if you get any questions about this” and provides “[o]ur talkers [DOJ talking points] on this”. The talking points, however are redacted.

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Wicomico Okays Rental Assistance Grant Funding

SALISBURY – Wicomico County officials this week approved an application that will allow the Department of Social Services to seek grant funding for its Rental Allowance Program.

In a Wicomico County Council meeting Tuesday, Department of Social Services Dawn Spicer told county leaders that the department has received grant funding from the state to administer the program, which provides temporary housing assistance for homeless and at-risk families, for more than two decades.

“We have had the grant for over 20 years,” she said. “The purpose of the grant is to provide rental assistance to families.”

Any funding received from this year’s grant will be divided and given to three department programs; 40 percent to rapid rehousing, 40 percent to homelessness prevention and 20 percent to administration, according to the application.

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Lynch alias post

4 in 5 Medical Bills Contain Errors: Here's What You Can Do

Four in five U.S. medical bills contain at least minor mistakes — costing the nation $68 billion annually in unnecessary healthcare spending by doctors and patients alike.

That’s the key finding of a new analysis by MHS (Medliminal Healthcare Solutions), an organization that helps patients find and fix medical billing errors.

MHS CEO Jim Napoli says such mistakes have become the rule and not the exception for American consumers, for a variety of reasons.

“For years we had found that approximately eight in 10 hospital bills we receive contain numerous overcharges,” Napoli says, “but now that figure is closer to nine in 10.”

What’s behind most errors: Healthcare industry standards are changing and physicians, and their office staffers, often lack necessary training in new medical coding. That means many don’t classify a patient's diagnosis into medical numeric codes that are required for doctor’s offices to seek insurance of government reimbursement for services.

In addition, some healthcare providers inflate costs for products and services, or engage in what’s called “cost shifting” — charging paying or insured Americans more to balance out coverage for uninsured or poor patients who can’t pay for the services they receive..

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First Boat Heads Out For The White Marlin Open

The Un-Trump Republican: Gov. Larry Hogan’s radically normal model for the GOP

On a recent Thursday in the Maryland suburbs, I witnessed a scene that, in the context of American politics in 2017, can only be described as extremely strange. The occasion was a sold-out Chamber of Commerce function at La Fontaine Bleue, a dolled-up catering hall in Glen Burnie, used mostly for weddings and family celebrations. Hundreds of local business leaders crammed into the space during lunch hour, paying $650 a table to watch the state’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, step onto the stage with one of the most popular Democrats from liberal Montgomery County, state Comptroller Peter Franchot.

A Lincoln-Douglas debate this was not. The event marked the third in a series of carefully staged appearances the two men have been conducting around the state, involving a moderator, a couple of plush easy chairs and a little over an hour of brotherly, affirmational banter that felt a bit like a tag-team fireside chat. At a time when national politics is brimming with partisan vitriol — occasionally tinged with bursts of rage and even violence — here sat two of Maryland’s leading statewide vote-getters, one Democrat and one Republican, touting the idea of bipartisanship as if it were an earthshaking archaeological discovery.

“I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that, even though we don’t agree on everything, what we do agree on is not to tear each other down in public,” Franchot told the crowd.

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A Cannabis Company is buying an Entire Town in the US

NIPTON, California — Now that one of the nation's largest cannabis companies has bought the California desert town of Nipton, a question remains: Will the new owners rename the place Potsylvania?

The name Weed already belongs to an old mill town in Northern California.

American Green Inc. announced Thursday it would buy all 80 acres of Nipton, including its Old West-style hotel, a handful of houses, an RV park, and a coffee shop. Its plans are to transform the old Gold Rush town into what it calls "an energy-independent, cannabis-friendly hospitality destination."

The town's current owner, Roxanne Lang, said the sale was still in escrow but confirmed American Green was the buyer. She declined to reveal the price before the sale closed but noted that she and her husband, Gerald Freeman, now deceased, listed the property at $5 million when they put it up for sale last year.

Asked what her husband would think of the buyers' plans to turn Nipton into the pot paradise of the California desert, she laughed heartily.

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Liberal Anti-Trump Media Matters Goes All In for Embattled Gen. McMaster

Media Matters for America, the George Soros-funded progressive activist organization, is praising Trump’s National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, for terminating some members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, criticizing conservative media for questioning his loyalty to the president, and his decision to allow former NSA Susan Rice continued access to classified information.

“Media in support of President Donald Trump are calling for the ouster of Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, accusing him of being a ‘globalist’ ‘traitor’ who is ‘aligned with the enemies of Trump and America,’ ” Media Matters wrote on its website on Friday.

Media Matters, founded by Hillary Clinton ally David Brock, titled its article “Fake news purveyors, Twitter trolls, and Sean Hannity go all in against national security adviser McMaster.”

“Over the past month, McMaster has worked to oust some members of the National Security Council (NSC) who were previously aligned with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump’s chief strategist (and former Breitbart News head) Steve Bannon,” Media Matters wrote.

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Trump: Migrants will not get Welfare for first 5 Years

President Donald Trump announced in his weekly radio address Friday that migrants who enter the United States cannot receive welfare in the first five years after their arrival.

“Just this week, we announced a historic immigration bill to create a merit-based Green Card system that ends the abuse of our welfare system, stops chain migration, and protects our workers and our economy,” Trump stated. “As an example, you cannot get welfare for five years when you come into our country. You cannot just come in like in past weeks, years, and decades, you come in immediately and start picking up welfare. For five years, you have to say you will not be asking or using our welfare systems.”

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Community support needed in #SaveLunch campaign

Community support needed in #SaveLunch campaign

 

MAC Inc., the Area Agency on Aging, invites the community to write messages on paper plates about the importance of meal programs for senior citizens.

Its all part of the nationwide Paper Plate Campaign to #SaveLunch, a joint effort by the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs and Meals on Wheels America to send a message urging members of Congress to fund congregate and home-delivered meals programs at the levels necessary to keep them going.

MAC services on the Lower Shore include meals delivered to the homes of frail elderly, providing nutritious meals to support health and the ability to remain in their homes. MAC also provides meals at congregate (senior center) sites.

Governor Hogan Makes Ceremonial Call On “Maryland FiRST” Marking Completion Of The Third Phase Of New Statewide 700 MHz Radio System

(Annapolis, MD) – Today, Governor Larry Hogan joined Superintendent of the Maryland State Police Colonel William Pallozzi, Deputy Secretary Lance Shine of the Maryland Department of Information Technology, Maryland FiRST Team and other state and local officials to make the ceremonial call marking the completion of the third phase of the Maryland First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team or “Maryland FiRST” while demonstrating the system’s capabilities.

“As governor, I am committed to making sure that our law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders are equipped with the proper laws, the newest technology, and the full support of our entire administration,” said Governor Hogan. “Maryland FiRST is an exciting, innovative achievement for Maryland. It increases safety for our heroes, and allows for more effective coordination at incidents and a greater level of public safety services for our citizens.”

“This new statewide radio system allows all of Maryland’s public safety agencies to communicate more efficiently on the same system, which ultimately means increased safety for our first responders and an increased level of public safety services for our citizens,” said Colonel William Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police. “The Maryland FiRST system has fundamentally changed how first responders from every level of government are able to communicate with each other. Reliable and instantaneous communications for public safety mission critical communications is of utmost importance.”

This third phase of Maryland FiRST is fully operational and completes the coverage of Central Maryland. The connection will covers Cecil, Harford, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll and Frederick Counties. The first phase of the project began in 2012 and connected portions of Central Maryland and Kent County, and key infrastructure patrolled by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police to include: the I-95 corridor, BWI Airport, Port of Baltimore, the Inter County Connector (ICC), the Key Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Harry Nice Bridge and both tunnels under the Baltimore harbor.

In 2013, phase two of the project completed coverage of the entire Eastern Shore region. The last two phases of the Maryland FiRST system will include Western and Southern regions of the state as well as Prince Georges and Montgomery Counties. The system also allows for regional interoperability with Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.

“Maryland is leading the way in interoperable mission critical communications and Motorola Solutions is proud to be the state’s technology provider for the successful Maryland FiRST 700 MHz radio system,” said Mike Leonard, Vice President of Sales, Motorola Solutions. “From the beginning, the state and Motorola Solutions project teams have demonstrated outstanding teamwork in designing, deploying and commissioning each phase of the system and ensuring that Maryland’s first responders are getting the most advanced public safety radio system. Motorola Solutions commends the state for its foresight and we look forward to continuing the build out of this statewide network enabling state, local and federal agencies to talk to each other in any emergency.”

The Maryland FiRST 700 MHz statewide radio system is the first system in Maryland that provides true communications interoperability for first responders and public safety agencies. There are 14,500 primary public safety users and almost 24,000 interoperability users who have the system readily available for use to include state, local and federal agencies such as the FBI, ATF, DEA, Federal Protective Services and the U.S Coast Guard.