With an arctic blast slamming Maryland on Friday, temperatures are expected to drop well below freezing. Area residents are advised to take some steps to keep your pipes from freezing and potentially bursting. The National Weather Service forecast called for temperatures in the single digits overnight Friday and only hitting 35 on Saturday. Wind chills below zero at times. It's important to know how to prevent your home's water pipes from freezing. Frozen water pipes in unheated basements and crawl spaces can be messy and expensive to fix. But if you have a frozen faucet, there are steps you can…

WBAL reports that changes may be coming to active-shooter drills at Maryland schools. State law currently requires the drills, but it doesn't mandate that school systems notify parents, students or school staff ahead of time. Montgomery County Delegate Jared Solomon, D-District 18, considers the legislation he's sponsoring, House Bill 515, a reasonable way to keep youth safe without further creating anxiety or harming their mental health. "You see something on social media … from a student, saying, 'There's a shooter in the building,' when it just may be a drill. Or, having a child come home and getting off the bus, saying,…

Maryland is working toward creating a recreational marijuana industry with greater social equity, lawmakers said Friday, with more licenses for minority-owned businesses and proceeds directed to areas adversely impacted by the war on drugs. The measure before the General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, will enable the state's existing medical marijuana businesses to sell recreational cannabis as well — if they pay a new fee based on the size of the business. Those businesses could begin selling recreational marijuana as soon as July 1, the soonest recreational cannabis can legally be sold in the state. Supporters stressed that the…

Allegany County Emergency Services reports that County fire units have responded to fires near Old Cumberland Road in Flintstone and fires in Morgan County West Virginia and Fulton County PA

Running bamboo grows so fast and is so invasive that it’s rooting up headstones in cemeteries, crossing neighborhood property lines and becoming a "major issue" in Maryland parks. Bamboo overgrowth was so bad for one Maryland resident that the constituent contacted Del. Linda Foley, D-Montgomery, for help with a neighbor’s bamboo crossing the property boundary. Now Foley, a member of the Environment and Transportation Committee, has introduced a bill to regulate the invasive species. Foley said she hopes the bill will educate people about the invasive nature of bamboo and encourage gardeners to take appropriate measures before they decide to plant it. The…

West Virginia’s Republican supermajority House of Delegates passed a bill Friday banning gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy for minors, a day after crowds descended on the state Capitol to decry the proposal. The legislation passed 84-10, with all ‘no’ votes coming from the body’s shrinking delegation of Democrats, who accused GOP lawmakers of putting children’s lives at risk to score political points with the national conservative movement.

WBAL reports police report multiple shootings in the city over the past two days. A 17-year-old boy on Argonne Drive near Havenwood walked into a local hospital seeking treatment just after 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He was shot in the hand and leg and walked to the hospital. A 24-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound on Cedarhurst Road near Eugene Avenue a little after 3 p.m. on Thursday and was treated at a local hospital. At 7:12 p.m., officers responded to the 1200 block of W. Fayette Street for a shot spotter alert and found an unidentified male suffering from a gunshot wound to his body….

America’s employers added a robust 517,000 jobs in January, a surprisingly strong gain in the face of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive drive to slow growth and tame inflation with higher interest rates. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.4%, a new half-century low. Friday’s government report added to the picture of a resilient labor market, with low unemployment, relatively few layoffs and many job openings even as most economists foresee a recession nearing. Though good for workers, employers’ steady demand for labor has also helped accelerate wage growth and contributed to high inflation. January’s job growth, which far exceeded December’s 269,000…

On February 2nd, 2023 at approximately 1:20 pm officers of the Cumberland Police Department responded the 400 block of Broadway Street for a reported assault. Upon officer’s arrival they spoke with the victim in the incident. The victim advised that they were in an argument with Cassidy Richardson when Richardson began to assault them. The victim further advised that Richardson jumped on their back and attacked them. Officers were able to observe evidence of the assault and placed Richardson under arrest. Richardson was taken before a District Court Commissioner where she was released on her own recognizance. Arrest: Cassidy Danielle…