The Cumberland Times News reports two felony charges against Allegany County's suspended Department of Emergency Services EMS chief, who was charged in connection with what some have called the largest deer poaching case in West Virginia's history, were dismissed Friday in Mineral County Magistrate Court. “I’m feeling like today is a small victory,” Christopher Biggs said outside the Keyser courtroom. “I think the judicial system got it right." West Virginia Natural Resources Police conducted the investigation that led to 223 charges against Biggs and seven other area residents and involving at least 27 antlered bucks being illegally taken in Mineral, Grant and…

This week, Congressman David Trone (MD-06) voted to secure urgently needed relief for small businesses across Maryland. The Relief for Restaurants & Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act will deliver $55 billion to replenish funding for Maryland restaurants and establish a new program supporting other small businesses impacted by the pandemic.   “Small businesses are the lifeblood of Maryland’s economy and are helping power our historic recovery,” said Congressman Trone. “In our American Rescue Plan, we created the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which has been a lifeline for over 2,000 Maryland businesses, helping them pay their staff, feed their communities, and…

Gov. Larry Hogan has some decisions to make as Friday is the deadline for him to sign or veto 40 separate bills passed by the legislature. Many of them passed with veto-proof majorities in the legislature, so even if he vetos them, lawmakers could vote to override the vetoes and enact the laws anyway. Lawmakers would take override votes Saturday and Monday when session ends. Some bills include the Abortion Care Access Act, Time to Care Act of 2022, Juvenile Interrogation Protection Act and more.  

For the 7-day period of April 1-7, 2022, there were no schools that met the definition of a School Wide or Cohort Outbreak of COVID-19.  ACPS had zero staff members and 3 students reported as positive for COVID-19 during this time.  ACPS had 1 staff member quarantined as a close contact.  There were no students reported as a close contact to a positive person and required to quarantine. 

THE ALLEGANY COUNTY FAIR AND AG EXPO HAS ANNOUNCED THE GRANDSTAND ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE 2022 FAIR. ON MONDAY, JULY 18TH, DOVE AWARD WINNERS AND GRAMMY NOMINATED CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN ARTISTS “NEWSBOYS” WILL BE IN CONCERT. TUESDAY, JULY 19TH  “GET THE LED OUT”, AMERICA’S PREMIERE LED ZEPPELIN TRIBUTE ACT WILL BE FEATURED. AND, WEDNESDAY JULY 20TH, COUNTRY SINGER-SONGWRITER NIKO (NEEK-O) MOON WILL BE IN CONCERT. TICKETS FOR ALL THREE SHOWS WILL GO ON SALE MONDAY APRIL 18. TICKETS AND INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT  alleganycofair.org.

Maryland house of delegates yesterday rejected a bill that would extend the gas tax holiday. Washington County Republican delegate Brenda Thane proposed the amendment which would have extended the holiday into memorial Day weekend. The suspension of gas tax saved motorists 36.1 cents per gallon on regular gasoline and 36.85 cents per gallon for diesel fuel. The gas tax holiday will expire on April 16th

The phone situation in our region as it currently stands according to Verizon is a third party problem with the local telephone line maintainer. While Verizon continues to receive calls and issue trouble tickets, the third party maintainer is responsible for the necessary repair. The persisting issue of outgoing phone calls to local extensions currently affects the downtown Cumberland area specifically residents, businesses and government facilities.  The City of Cumberland’s Public Buildings are Experiencing another Extended Phone Outage The City’s public buildings, including City Hall, the Public Service Building, the Service Center and the Wastewater Treatment Plant have been experiencing…

On Thursday, April 7, 2022 at approximately 3:00 AM, officers of the Cumberland Police Department responded to a residence on Altamont Terrace for an assault.  Officers contacted the parties involved and separated them.  It was reported to officers that a victim had been assaulted by Jesse Kennard.  Officers observed that the victim had sustained injuries consistent with her statement.  Kennard was arrested and transported to the police station for processing.  He was then taken to Central Booking.  Kennard was later seen by a District Court Commissioner and remanded to the Detention Center, held without bond.   ARRESTED:  Jesse Lee Kennard          …

It has been nearly a quarter of a century since Allegany County lowered the piggyback tax rate- but a $4.2 million budget surplus and a significant increase in income tax revenues has county commissioners president Jake Shade pushing for the cut. For the second consecutive public meeting, Shade discussed lowering the county income tax from 3.05% to 3%. He said the county has spent the last few weeks examining potential problems with implementing such a reduction- and there appears to be no roadblocks in moving forward… As he did two weeks ago, Commissioner David Caporale offered some resistance, saying the…

The funding puzzle for the re-opening and redesign of the downtown mall continues to be pieced together- with city officials voting this week to accept $6.3 million in state grant assistance. The funding is being issued through the Maryland State Highway Administration's Transportation Alternative Program.  Baltimore Street was bricked over and closed to traffic in 1977 to create a pedestrian mall. Total project cost at last estimate is in the ten million dollar range- and that will include installing Baltimore Street; replacing aging underground utility lines and creating a new streetscape that will include trees, shrubs and redesigned parklets. Cumberland…