ACPS will hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2022 on Saturday, May 21, 2022. The Center for Career and Technical Education will hold its Certification Ceremony this evening, Thursday, May 19, 2022. The times and locations for each ceremony are as follows: Career Center, May 19th, 6 p.m., Canal Place  Fort Hill, May 21st, 10 a.m., Greenway Avenue Stadium or the auditorium Mountain Ridge, May 21st, 1 p.m., Mountain Ridge Stadium or the gymnasium Allegany, May 21st, 3 p.m., Allegany High School gymnasium (PLEASE NOTE THE LOCATION CHANGE) Allegany's ceremony has been moved from Greenway Avenue Stadium to the school's…

On Thursday, May 19, 2022 at approximately 12:30 AM, officers of the Cumberland Police Department responded to the 200 block of Charles Street in reference to a disturbance.  Upon their arrival, police contacted the resident who reported that she was assaulted by Crystal Rymer.  Officers observed that the victim had sustained injuries consistent with her statement.  Rymer was placed under arrest and transported to Central Booking.  Rymer was later seen by a District Court Commissioner and released on a $1,000 unsecured personal bond.   ARRESTED:  Crystal Nicole Rymer        AGE:  30          Cumberland, MD CHARGE:  Assault-2nd Degree

Parents in some Maryland districts are pushing back against their school boards’ efforts to adopt a state health framework that instructs educators how to teach about gender identity.  The framework broadly outlines how to teach health topics by each grade level; its family life and sexuality guidelines have been the most controversial. Under the guidance, pre-kindergarten students, for example, are taught to “recognize and respect that people express themselves in different ways.” It further advises school systems to teach kindergartners how to “recognize a range of ways people express their identity and gender.” Some school districts have not yet discussed the…

The reconstituted Carver Community Center Board has been meeting since February- beginning talks on the process of rehabilitating the dilapidated facility. Last week Matt Miller, executive director of the Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, was brought on board as treasurer and to get the CEDC perspective moving forward. Located at 340 Frederick Street the facility, constructed in 1921, has served as a high school; the original Allegany College and a community center. Ultimately it closed and the facility fell into neglect and disrepair, suffering vandalism which led to its closure in 2011. Miller says the current plan is too renovate and…

Fallen Heroes Day in Maryland was commemorated recently in an event attended by Governor Larry Hogan. Every year, the occasion is marked by a ceremony that honors first responders who gave their lives in the line of duty. This year, there was an unprecedented 15 fallen heroes, seven of whom died as a result of COVID-19. Locally, just one officer in the history of the Cumberland Police Department has been killed in the line of duty and that was well over a hundred years ago. It was in October of 1907 when officer August Baker responded to a nighttime disturbance…

The price of gasoline in Maryland continued to rise this week reaching an average of $4.49 per gallon for regular unleaded fuel. According to AAA Mid Atlantic, the average price for regular gas in Maryland is up $1.43 more per gallon than it was this time last year when it was $3.06 per gallon. The state, however, is  below the national average price of $4.52.  In Allegany County the average price Wednesday was $4.45.. A 30-day gas tax suspension holiday bill  approved by Maryland lawmakers in March made prices at the pump for motorists one of the cheapest across the country-…

Sitting at the corner of Baltimore and Mechanic streets- the Cumberland Times News building almost serves as a dividing line between the historic downtown mall and Canal Place. With the newspaper scaling back operations in recent years- the building is known to be available for purchase- and that may provide a boost for tourism and create a much needed connectivity between Canal Place and downtown. Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss…

The State of Maryland urges all SNAP, P-EBT, TCA, and TDAP recipients to take extra precautionary measures to protect their benefits. Maryland and other states report an increase in stolen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), and Temporary Disability Assistance Program (TDAP) benefits.   Fraudsters use illegal electronic devices to copy information from Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and withdraw cash or make purchases without the permission of the rightful benefit recipients. The theft of public assistance benefits leaves many families struggling to find food and cover basic household needs that SNAP and cash programs were designed…

The Cumberland City Police Department is requesting motorists to use caution in the downtown area from Harrison Street to Frederick Street on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 between the hours of 4:30pm-7:30pm.  Delfest is holding a second line march through the downtown area ending on Hanover Street where there will be a Delville block party.  Hanover Street will be closed on May 24th from 12:00pm-10:00pm.  Please expect an increase in vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area.  Please plan accordingly and as always be safe.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined 13 other state attorneys general in a letter Wednesday to congressional leadership in opposition to the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act, which, despite its stated goals of supporting charitable work, is a backdoor threat to donor privacy that would chill charitable giving.   The ACE Act is S.1981 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 6595 in the U.S. House of Representatives. The ACE Act would revise Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), which are used by many donors to maximize their giving. Donations to DAFs are disbursed to the charities over time, offering an immediate…