Comptroller Brooke Lierman has issued the following statement on the restoration of the agency's internal tax processing system: “On Monday, March 13, the Comptroller of Maryland’s internal tax processing system was restored. The system had been offline since Monday, March 6. Our staff is processing tax returns, refund requests, and direct debit requests and is working expeditiously through the week-long backlog. We expect to be fully up-to-date in processing requests by Wednesday, March 22. We pride ourselves on providing timely service and apologize for the inconvenience the service outage caused. “I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to our staff…

UPDATE:   GARRETT COUNTY SCHOOLS ARE NOW CLOSED!   Garrett County Public Schools will open two (2) hours late today. Code Orange for employees. Central Office and Dennett Road Education Facilities will open at 10:00 a.m. Conditions will be reassessed by 7:00 a.m.

Allegany County public schools announces the Mountain Ridge district will be on a two hour delay opening today, Tuesday, March 14. Any additional delays will be announced by 7 AM this morning. All other Allegany County public schools are operating on a normal schedule today.

Authority of Maryland State Police McHenry Barrack, and Maryland State Highway Administration, the Snow Emergency Plan is In Effect for Garrett County, Effective 0445 hours, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 The following State Highways in Garrett County have been designated Snow Emergency Routes: Interstate 68                    Maryland Route 38                   Maryland Route 495 U.S. Route 40                 Maryland Route 39                   Maryland Route 546             U.S. Route 50                 Maryland Route 42                   Maryland Route 560             U.S. Route 219               Maryland Route 135                 Maryland Route 669                Section 21-1119(c) of the Transportation Code states, “The Secretary of the State Police or the Secretary’s representative may declare a…

On March 13th, 2023, the Cumberland Police Department served a bench warrant on Jon Christopher Vanetta Jr. The warrant was issued as a result of Vanetta failing to appear for court on March 2nd, 2023. Vanetta was transported to central booking. He was later seen by a District Court commissioner and released on an unsecured bond of $1,500.00. NAME: Jon Christopher Vanetta Jr.  AGE: 34  Cumberland, MD CHARGES: Failure to Appear

Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss tells WCBC News that the city is becoming increasingly frustrated  with the developer of the planned Rolling Mill project- exasperated with the lack of construction activity. Groundbreaking on the proposed commercial complex/shopping plaza was held in December 2020- but while dozens of aging houses and structures have been razed- there are no signs that the site will be open for business anytime soon with just one building complete. Developer Ed Scott has said that the plans call for a hotel, restaurants, shops and a convenience store once completed.  Mayor Morriss says that there have been recent…

The competition between Maryland and Virginia over the new FBI headquarters picked up over the last week as both sides made what’s believed to be their final pitches to leaders from the GSA and FBI. Now, one side is asking President Joe Biden to get involved. The day after their meeting, leaders from Maryland sent a three-page letter to the president asking him to also reiterate to GSA and FBI leaders what he expects out of the process, and made a public statement about racial equity that had been whispered in frustration for months. The letter begins by citing a pair of executive…

Per a Court order dated February 24, the Attorney General’s office is submitting today to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City a list of proposed redactions to the Attorney General’s report regarding allegations of sexual abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese entitled “Clergy Abuse In Maryland.” These proposed redactions include individuals who are living, are accused of abuse, hiding abuse, enabling abuse, assisting in the cover-up of abuse, or protecting abusers from the consequences of their action, and whose identities were revealed as a result of the grand jury subpoenas. The Court must review these proposed redactions before the report may…

A redacted version of the Maryland attorney general's report into child sexual abuse at the Archdiocese of Baltimore appears to be moving closer to being released. According to Judge Robert Taylor Jr.'s order in February, the Attorney General's Office was to prepare a list of affected people to be presented to the court on Monday and contact those people, after which time, a redacted version of the report can be released. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown applauded the ruling and said his office will  move expeditiously to comply with the court's order and prepare a redacted copy of the report…

Maryland lawmakers are scaling back Governor Wes. Moore's plan to boost the minimum wage. After hearing complaints from business owners, the Senate Finance Committee  approved a version of the bill without tying annual increases in the minimum wage to inflation as of 2025. And while the governor wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by October, the revised plan would delay that until January of next year. Delegate Terry Baker, a Republican who represents Washington and Allegany counties, has expressed strong opposition to repeated efforts to hike the minimum wage- saying he believes salary increases should be…