During his latest COVID-19 briefing, Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia reached 1,088 COVID-related hospitalizations on Thursday; once again setting a new all-time pandemic record. COVID-19 Dashboard | Coronavirus.wv.gov “We are flooding our hospitals,” Gov. Justice said. “If we don't watch out, we're going to have real problems. “Overwhelmingly, the people that are going to the hospital and the people we are losing are the people that are unvaccinated.” Gov. Justice continued. The Governor went on to announce that 275 West Virginia National Guard members have now been authorized to deploy to 34 medical facilities across the state as part of…

Governor Larry Hogan today announced that the State of Maryland will double the reward first announced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division for information about a person of interest in the fatal fire that led to the deaths of three firefighters earlier this week: “As we continue to mourn our fallen heroes, we are conducting an aggressive investigation into the cause of the fire that took their lives. “In coordination with our federal and local partners, the state is immediately doubling the reward for information in the case to $100,000. We urge anyone with tips…

Congressman David Trone (MD-06) sent a letter, alongside over 70 other Members of Congress, to urge House and Senate Appropriations leadership to prioritize funding for programs that address the severe shortage of school-based mental health professionals.  Last May, Trone introduced the Comprehensive Mental Health in Schools Pilot Program Act, which would fund pilot programs in primary and secondary schools to fully fund mental and behavioral health prevention and intervention programs aimed at mitigating mental health issues among students. Full text of the letter can be found here.  In the bipartisan letter to the leadership of House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Members emphasized the…

Photo by Tony Wheatley, submitted to the 2018 Maryland DNR Photo Contest.           The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that hunters reported taking 67 wild turkeys during the 2022 winter turkey season, which was open statewide Jan. 20-22. This year’s harvest was 24% lower than the 2021 winter total of 89 turkeys. St. Mary’s, Baltimore, and Caroline counties reported the highest harvests respectively, although turkeys were reported from most counties across the state. Adult males, or “toms,” comprised 30% of the harvest with the remainder being females and juveniles. Eighty-one percent were taken with a shotgun, but…

On Friday,  the Cumberland Police served an arrest warrant on Kerri Michelle Fisher, age 31 of Cumberland MD.  The warrant charged Fisher with Second Degree Assault from an incident that occurred in September of 2021 where Fisher is alleged to have pepper sprayed a male.  Fisher was placed under arrest and taken to the District Court Commissioner for her initial appearance.  She was released after posting a $5,000 bond.    Arrested:  Kerri Michelle Fisher Age: 31 Cumberland MD Charges:  Second Degree Assault   On Friday  the Cumberland Police served two arrest warrants on Douglas Scott Smith age 42 of Cumberland…

The number of Maryland residents hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide fell below 2,000 for the first time since late December, according to data from the Maryland Department of Health on Friday.  This and other improving COVID metrics were reported as the state surpasses 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to date. “We continue to see very encouraging trends in our key health metrics, including rapid declines in our hospitalizations, case rate, and positivity rate,” said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. “To continue our recovery, it is critical that all eligible Marylanders get their booster shot as soon as possible. No one should…

A major winter storm is hitting Maryland this weekend- but this time the western region is expected to dodge most of it. Steady snow began developing Friday nightand continue through Saturday afternoon. The Baltimore Metro area will see at least 1-3 inches of snow, and even heavier amounts to the east. Near the Bay, 3-6 inches of snow possible, and East of MD Route-50, 6-10 inches of snow is possible. The wind will turn breezy tonight, reducing visibility. Even stronger winds are likely on Saturday, with gusts to 40 mph. Locally Allegany County can expect less than a couple of…

Candidates for West Virginia’s May 10 Primary Election have until midnight Saturday to file. The election will be the first in the state since the 2020 Census and the congressional and legislative redistricting that followed. The legislature decided to go with all single member districts in the House of Delegates. Voters will be casting ballots in 100 separate districts instead of what used to be 67 districts. All House seats are up for election this year. There are 17 of the Senate’s 34 seats up for election. The state now has only two congressional districts and both will have contested…

WEEKLY COVID UPDATE: For the 7-day period of January 21-28, 2022, Mountain Ridge High School and Fort Hill High School both met the definition of a School Wide Outbreak of COVID-19 by having 5 cohort outbreaks within the school.   Northeast Elementary School and Westernport Elementary School each had cohorts that met the definition of a cohort outbreak.   ACPS had 14 staff members and 128 students reported as positive for COVID-19 during this time.  ACPS had 9 staff members quarantined as a close contact.  183 students were reported as close contacts to a positive person and required to quarantine.  This includes…

At approximately 1p.m. on Friday Allegany County law enforcement agencies were notified of a vehicle pursuit approaching this jurisdiction. Agencies were notified that the operator, Jared Austin Burgoyne,22 of Cumberland was actively wanted on a felony arrest warrant originating in Barbour County, WV.  It was further advised that the vehicle had apparently struck a law enforcement vehicle in the City of Philippi, WV where the pursuit began.  In response to the information Deputies and Troopers began to observe Interstate 68 in an attempt to locate the vehicle.  A short time later the vehicle was observed entering Allegany County in the area of Frostburg, MD….