DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
This was the 15th year for Park Day. It is a nationwide, hands-on preservation and cleaning event put on by the Civil War Trust, the biggest non-profit battlefield preservation organization in the U.S.
Volunteers do everything from raking leaves and hauling trash to cleaning up roadside.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Riot police used pepper spray in small amounts for crowd control as thousands of rowdy fans swarmed into the streets near the University of Kentucky campus, overturning cars and lighting couches ablaze after a victory over cross-state rival Louisville in a Final Four matchup.
Police had been bracing for the possibility of post-game violence and resorted to pepper spray though large amounts weren't needed before they ultimately began dispersing the throngs, Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said.
She said 150 officers deployed on the streets at one point to quell what she called "a very dangerous situation with the fires and the violence" that dragged on for hours.
Has someone played a prank on you today? What is your favorite prank that you played on someone or they played on you?
A historic Baltimore Catholic school will name its community center in honor of Bill and Camille Cosby, the biggest donors in the school's 184-year history and fierce champions of education, the school announced Friday.
St. Frances Academy, which serves 162 primarily low-income high school students, will host the comedian, his wife and their relatives in a ceremony at the St. Frances Community Center on April 20.
In addition to giving $2 million to St. Frances in 2005 to support its scholarship program, Camille Cosby also has a strong connection to the founders of the Baltimore school, having been educated by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the oldest order of African-American nuns in the country, for seven years.
"I can still hear their voices when I'm writing something, when I'm giving a speech," she said in an interview, adding that the sisters were sticklers for grammar. "They just wanted us to go into the world prepared with knowledge — knowledge about ourselves and the different disciplines."
.WASHINGTON -- Erika Sifrit, serving life in prison plus 20 years, is asking a federal court for a new trial for the brutal murders and dismemberment of a Virginia couple in 2002, claiming her trial attorney failed to seek or present evidence of longstanding severe mental illness.
Sifrit and her now-former husband, Benjamin Sifrit, killed Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley of Fairfax after meeting the couple and partying in Ocean City, Md. during Memorial Day weekend almost 10 years ago.
Sifrit was convicted in Frederick County of first-degree murder in Ford's death, and second-degree murder in Crutchley's death.
WASHINGTON - Maryland is considering getting rid of toll booths, and replacing them with all-electronic toll systems like the one used on the Intercounty Connector and the soon-to-open Express Lanes on I-95 and the Beltway in Virginia.
"It's something we're interested in doing. It's something the industry is moving toward. But it's complicated and we're in the earliest stages," Maryland Transportation Authority Executive Secretary Harold Bartlett tells the Baltimore Sun.
An MdTA study finds the idea is feasible, and suggests starting with the I-95 toll in northern Maryland, then working on converting the Bay Bridge before moving on to the state's other tolling facilities. The study says the switch would cost up to $180 million.
On all-electronic toll roads and bridges, E-ZPass users are automatically charged as they would be at a toll booth. Drivers without E-ZPass get a bill in the mail, and usually pay a higher rate.
Switching to all-electronic tolling can also help speed up traffic, and reduce time spent idling at toll plazas, which might be part of what's behind a 2002 U.S. Department of Transportation study that found adding electronic tolling can cut down on pollution.
Our own Jared Newman thought that the release of the new iPad was a wake-up call for the people at Google. Apparently they got the message. According to the Wall Street Journal‘s always helpful “people familiar with the matter,” Google is planning to open its own online store to sell co-branded tablet computers.
According to the report, the tablets will initially be manufactured by Google’s existing partners Samsung and Asus. Google is also expected to sell its own tablets built by Motorola, which it bought in August of last year for $12.5 billion.
President Obama Friday signed off on tough new sanctions aimed at hitting Iran’s oil exports, after determining there is enough crude supplies in the world market that taking the step won’t harm U.S. allies or drive gas prices even higher.
The president’s move gives him the ability to imposes sanctions on foreign banks that continue to conduct business from Iran's central bank, cutting them off from the financial systems of the U.S. and its allies. The U.S. and European Union have issued a string of sanctions against Iran to isolate it from the world economy and pressure it to stop developing its disputed nuclear program.
Countries involved in purchasing oil from Iran can still prevent the sanctions if they significantly curtail their imports before the June 28 deadline.
The case was brought by the SAF, Grass Roots North Carolina FFE and three individuals against Gov. Beverly Purdue and Reuben F. Young, secretary of the state’s Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
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OCEAN CITY – Due to safety concerns, new scooter rental businesses will have to follow new regulations approved by the Mayor and Council yesterday in a 5-2 vote, while current operators will have one year to conform.
On Jan. 31, the Mayor and City Council passed an ordinance to establish a 90-day moratorium on the issuance of new or renewed business licenses for scooter rentals. The council became concerned over the proliferation of scooter rental businesses in town and the safety issues that have occurred.
The moratorium expires on March 30 and the council asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to conduct public hearings to consider the issue and draft recommendations for better regulation.
On Feb. 22, the commission held a public hearing and continued it on March 6 when the hearing was closed and deliberation was conducted.
“We did get considerable input at the hearings from some of the scooter business owners and operators which were informative and really helpful for the commission to come up with these recommendations,” Planning and Community Development Director Jesse Houston said.
If George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin soon, theRev. Al Sharpton will call for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions.
Sharpton would not say the efforts would be taken against the city of Sanford specifically, but he has been critical of the police department's handling of the case.
Saturday's scheduled 11 a.m. march from Crooms Academy of Information Technology to the Sanford Police Department headquarters was organized by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Coordinators said people will be bused in from other states to participate.
