Are You As Smart Or Smarter Than This 12 Year Old?

Two days ago WBOC came to me for an interview to discuss my announcement/press release on my new Economic Development Plan. During the interview we discussed many of the topics of my plan but when it aired the other night the end result was simply, unreal.

Immediately following the aired interview my phone rang and it was my 12 year old Grandson. He said, "Grandpa, how come they showed more of Jim Ireton in the interview than they did you"? He went on to say, "Mayor Ireton has had four years to get his stuff done, why didn't he get it done"?
 
So I ask all of you, are you smarter than this 12 year old? View video below. 

By the way, notice how Ireton has changed his tune and is now only talking about riverfront parking lots. His proposal includes a 500 affordable housing unit project, which includes ALL of the City owned parking lots.

New Drone Could ‘Snatch Humans Off the Street’

A new flying drone developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania could one day be used to snatch humans off the street.

Justin Thomas and his colleagues at the GRASP Lab have produced an “avian-inspired” claw drone that mimics the way an eagle uses its talons to grab a fish out of the ocean.

A video clip of the drone shows the UAV swooping down at high speed to snatch an object using its 3D printed mechanical claw. By mimicking how a bald eagle sweeps its legs and claws backwards to aerodynamically close in on its prey without the need to slow down, the drone is able to grasp a stationary object with precise efficiency.
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Rand Paul Slammed Wall Street At CPAC

This afternoon, Rand Paul took the stage at CPAC, the annual conservative political convention, and he had nothing nice to say about Wall Street.

Check out this tweet from Politico reporter, Alex Burns:

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Funds Sought To Address Huey’s Storm Damage

OCEAN CITY -- The Vietnam-era Huey helicopter erected in 2011 as part of a permanent memorial and display at the Ocean City Municipal Airport in West Ocean City was damaged during last week’s severe storm and now needs a little help from the community for repair.

The decades-old Huey helicopter was mounted at the airport in 2011 after the Ocean City Aviation Association (OCAA) was able to secure the relic of a bygone era in military aviation. The Huey helicopters were in service for nearly 50 years and served all branches of the armed services and the government before the fleet was retired in 2011.

The Huey helicopters gained their fame during the Vietnam War, and one became available for display after the fleet was retired in 2011. The OCAA jumped at the chance to obtain one for permanent display as part of a memorial at the Ocean City Airport. While the helicopter and the associated memorial at the airport represent the Vietnam War, the display is in honor of all who have served in the armed forces.
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On The Progressing Extinction Of The US Middle Class

Beneath the positive headlines Bloomberg's Joe Brusuelas notes that there is evidence that a good portion of consumers continue to face a difficult adjustment to the $125 billion tax hike in January and the 15 percent increase in gasoline prices during the past four months. Spending among the upper quintile of income earners is masking weakness elsewhere but it is jobs headlines that are really hiding the dismal reality in America. As the following chart shows,confirming our earlier discussion, the middle-class income-earner is becoming an endangered species (with no 'conservation group' willing to stand up for them) as the government holds the lowest income earners' hand and Bernanke the highest.

Source

Maryland Rabies Cases Linked To Transplant From Infected Man

Four people received donated organs from a man unknowingly infected with rabies, leading to a rare human death more than a year later that has authorities scrambling to treat the other three patients, federal health officials said Friday.

The man who died lived in Maryland and had received a kidney. The recipients of the donor's other kidney, heart and liver are getting anti-rabies shots, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release Friday. Those patients live in Florida, Georgia and Illinois.

The donor died in Florida in 2011 after moving there from North Carolina.

The CDC said it's working with public health officials and medical facilities in all five states to identify people who were in close contact with the donor or the four organ recipients. Those people might also need treatment, the agency said.
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All U.S. Intelligence Agencies - Including CIA and NSA - To Spy On Americans' Finances

U.S. to let spy agencies scour Americans’ finances

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.

Financial institutions that operate in the United States are required by law to file reports of “suspicious customer activity,” such as large money transfers or unusually structured bank accounts, to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation already has full access to the database. However, intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, currently have to make case-by-case requests for information to FinCEN.

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Sequester Do-Over: Feds Recaptured 4 Immigrants Released Under Budget Cuts

The Obama administration said Thursday it has rearrested and brought back four of the most dangerous immigrants it released from detention last month in the run-up to the budget sequester cuts.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton testified to Congress that his agency released 10 “level one” offenders, and has gone out and brought four of them back in. He said the other six are non-violent.

Mr. Morton also acknowledged that overall, 2,228 immigrants were released — far more than the several hundred the agency had initially admitted to.

Of those, 629 had criminal records, though Mr. Morton said they were low-level offenders.
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2,800 Dead Pigs In A Shanghai River

Over the weekend more than 2,800 dead pigs were fished out of the Huangpu River that bisects Shanghai--and is a source of drinking water for the city's 23 million residents.

The story highlights a seldom-covered source of China's water pollution problem: agricultural waste. Under Chinese law, farmers are required to take carcasses to their village or town's community disposal site, or bury the animals with disinfectant, but many don't. And as of 2010, agricultural pollution, which includes livestock and produce, surpassed industrial waste as China's main pollutant.

In fact, waste related to animals made up about 90 percent of organic pollutants in China's water, according to Wang Dong of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning. In a 2012 study from Huazhong University, waste from pigs, cattle, sheep, and other animals left 228,900 tonnes (252.6 tons) of biochemical oxygen demand, a standard measure for organic pollution, in part of the Han River in central China. Now, about 15 percent of China's major rivers are too polluted for safe use, not just from local factories, but farmers who throw animal carcasses and waste into nearby streams.
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Area Businesses Brace For ObamaCare’s Impact

OCEAN CITY -- With the mandated Affordable Health Care Act, or ObamaCare, deadline still almost a year away, Ocean City business leaders this week got a primer on what the changes might mean to them, but because of the seasonal nature of the resort and the wildly fluctuating employee totals, the solution still appears to be as clear as mud.

Chris Carroll, vice president of Atlantic-Smith-Cropper and Deeley Insurance, this week presented a primer of sorts on the ins and outs of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to members of the Ocean City Economic Development Committee (EDC). The ACA, referred to by many as ObamaCare, is complicated and reads like an inches-thick tome on tax law, but in its simplest terms, the act requires all Americans to obtain healthcare insurance from one of a variety of sources by January 2014.

Some will be able to find affordable health insurance on their own, while others will be covered by an expanded Medicaid program based on earnings in relation to the poverty level. Most, however, will be covered by mandated plans offered through their employers.
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Biden Press Office Apologizes For Demanding Student Journalist Delete Photographs

ROCKVILLE, Md. (CBSDC) – Vice President Joe Biden’s press office has apologized to the University of Maryland following “pure intimidation” demands for a student journalist to delete photos he took of a domestic violence event featuring Biden.

College Park Patch reports that a credentialed student from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, Jeremy Barr, was snapping photos at the Rockville event when a Biden staffer began interrogating the student.

“Did you take any photos during the event,” Barr said he was asked by Biden staffer Dana Rosenzweig. “I need to see your camera right now,” she reportedly said after Barr confirmed he had taken photographs of the event that also featured Attorney General Eric Holder and Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin.

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Pelosi: George Washington Warned Against Republicans Like Paul Ryan

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., expressed misgivings about the efficacy of President Obama’s so-called “charm offensive,” saying that House Republicans seem “at war with [their] own government.”

“By and large, the approach the Republicans take is that they are there to shrink the role of government to the point where it really recalls to mind a statement of President Washington who cautioned about a political party at war with its own government,” Pelosi told reporters today in response to a question about the charm offensive.

Moments earlier, she had described Republicans as “people who want to raise the [retirement] age and abolish the Affordable Care Act,” in a reference to the the budget unveiled by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which calls for the repeal of Obamacare.
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Maryland Invests

Students from the University of Maryland College Park presented me with the“Maryland Invests” book, a compilation of personal stories written by students on their experiences paying for college.
These stories are a reminder of why it is so critically important that we continue making investments to keep college affordable.
Alone among the 50 states, Maryland chose to freeze in-state tuition at state colleges and universities for four years years in a row.

Together, we then held tuition increases to the lowest in the nation for over five years. According to the college board, since 2007, we’ve done more than any other state to hold down the cost of college tuition.

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LA TIMES: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CAN REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING

The Los Angeles Times ran a Thursday editorial by Middlebury College Professor Bill McKibben arguing that allowing millions of illegal immigrants into America will reduce global warming.

“I feel it's urgent that we get real immigration reform, allowing millions to step out of the shadows and on to a broad path toward citizenship,” wrote McKibben. “It will help, not hurt, our environmental efforts, and potentially in deep and powerful ways.”

McKibben says that while the average American has a larger carbon footprint than a person living in the developing world, bringing more immigrants to America would likely reduce their tendency to have higher birthrates, thereby creating less carbon-producing people. 
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The Wicomico Humane Society Cause for Paws

Saturday, May 11th 10:00am-1:00pm
5130 Citation Drive Salisbury, MD 21804

Enjoy food, craft vendors, pet contests, raffles, K-9 and Salisbury Kennel Club demonstrations, & more!

Help support the 1000's of animals that come through our door ever year, walk with your friends or a team from work. Collect donations to help a great cause! Walk with or without a pet.

Prizes for the top fundraising team and the most creative T-shirt.

OC Fire Chief Presents Council With Quarterly Report

OCEAN CITY – Despite the ongoing ripples of controversy that have recently made headlines, the Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) continues to exceed national expectations, according to its chief.

This week Fire Chief Chris Larmore presented to the Mayor and City Council and public the quarterly Fire/EMS report starting with the department holding onto an exceptional response time.

For the past four years, the department has done extensive research and monitoring of response times and has maintained an average of four minutes and 30 seconds. According to Larmore, the American Heart Association recommends a sub eight-minute response time.

For the OCFD, the average in 2012 was four minutes and 33 seconds while receiving about 6,000 calls for service. Compared to 2011, the past year showed an increase in calls for service. The call volume of the OCFD is closely monitored to best enable the department to schedule and distribute personnel and equipment for anticipated needs.
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March 28th Community Input Meeting At 7pm

Salisbury, MD… President Ashanti announced that the Wicomico County NAACP will hold its Community Input Meeting to listen to concerns from citizens.

This meeting will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 7:00pm at the:Chipman Cultural Center
325 Broad Street
Salisbury, MD
This event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
For more information about the branch’s monthly meeting or any other events, contact Mary Ashanti at 410-543-4187 or 410-430-1896.
About the NAACP

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization, and monitoring equal opportunity in public and private sectors.

Mumps Outbreak at Loyola

Loyola University officials say more than a dozen students have come down with mumps or suspected mumps cases.

University officials say they notified students and their parents of the first few cases before spring break, which began March 4th. However, since that letter was sent, more suspected cases have been reported.

The Baltimore city and Maryland Health Departments say they are investigating possible links among the students.

Officials say the students who have been affected live on and off campus.
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Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Passes House of Delegates Friday

It has been eight years since Maryland executed a convicted killer but it could be the last time. The Maryland House of Delegates voted to repeal the death penalty Friday.

The state's House of Delegates voted to repeal capital punishment 82-56. The measure passed Maryland's Senate 10 days ago.

Gov. Martin O'Malley, a staunch supporter of repealing the death penalty, has been pushing for the change.

If Governor Martin O'Malley signs the repeal the repeal, Maryland will be the 18th state in the nation to do away with the death penalty.
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Maternity Motel

'Maternity hotel' for Chinese women to give birth to U.S. citizens is 'found in the back of California motel'

City officials are aware of the practice at the Santa Anita Inn in Arcadia

'Birth tourism' allows babies born to foreign mothers to hold American citizenship - and a host of rights in the U.S. 

Foreign mothers paying $20,000 for average two-month stay at hotel, meals, nursing care and help with immigration paperwork

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