You can now count Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss among those who has received a COVID-19 vaccination. Morriss reported on the experience during his weekly Coronavirus update…      

At Monday’s news briefing, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice took aim at Senator Joe Manchin, saying the Democrat is not a champion of bipartisanship, and that he did not represent the people of the Mountain State well at all in voting for the American Rescue Act…

Vaccinations are up, while both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are down dramatically in Maryland, West Virginia, and in most parts of the country. Last week, President Biden said he anticipates every adult in the nation being vaccinated by the end of May. However, most health officials are cautioning Americans about letting down their guard. Dr Matthew Simmons, a leader in managing the care of infectious disease patients at UPMC Western Maryland, told  WCBC’s “Dave Norman Show” that although there reason for optimism, the pandemic is not yet over…  

Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford is bemoaning  residents who do "vaccine shopping" but said the state can't really do much to stop them from getting their COVID-19 vaccines if they are entitled to get them under Phase 1 of distribution. On the plus side, Rutherford said it appears that vaccine anxiety is lessening as COVID numbers drop across the board…

Fully-vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance Monday. The guidance is designed to address a growing demand, as more adults have been getting vaccinated and wondering if it gives them greater freedom to visit family members, travel, or…

Gov. Larry Hogan is asking lawmakers for permission to give state employees a bonus. The governor on Monday submitted a $74.1 million supplemental budget that would provide a $1,000 bonus for all state employees. Hogan said the bonuses were made possible by early belt-tightening taken last year before projected revenue hits from COVID-19. “This supplemental budget recognizes the hard work of our state employees, who have overcome significant challenges to deliver essential services to Marylanders during this public health emergency,” Hogan said in a statement. “We have been successful in weathering this storm without having to implement any layoffs or…

Not surprisingly, the West Virginia Beverage Association is expressing strong opposition to Governor Justice’s proposal to replace the state income tax, partially, with a higher sales tax on soft drinks. The association warns the tax would negatively impact small businesses trying to recover financially from the pandemic.  For the past several years, West Virginia has applied a tax on soft drinks amounting to a penny per 16.9 fluid ounces. The governor has proposed cutting income taxes by 60 percent starting next year and eventually phasing out the state income tax altogether.

There was more good news for Maryland on Monday regarding COVID-19, as hospitalizations related to the virus dropped to their lowest point since November, with less than 800 residents receiving hospital care because of coronavirus infections.  The seven-day positivity rate was essentially unchanged at 3.36%. Over one million first doses of the coronavirus vaccine have gone out so far, with 10,781 first doses received in the last day. Over 500,000 second doses have gone out, with 6,613 administered in the last day. The state added 716 coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 388,035. Eight more Marylanders have died, a total of 7,781.

State Treasurer Riley Moore today praised the Legislature’s unanimous passage of a bill proposed by his office that will make online payments for state or local government services available statewide in the coming years. The House of Delegates voted 98-0 Monday morning to pass Senate Bill 280; it will now go to Gov. Jim Justice for his signature. The bill unanimously passed the Senate on Feb. 22. Senate Bill 280 would require all county and local governments to give citizens and businesses the option to make payments online through the State Treasurer’s electronic payment system. The bill would guarantee that by March 1,…

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has reached a multistate settlement to stop a massive, sham fundraising operation that relied on mostly unlawful robocalls. The operation involved multiple defendants bombarding 67 million consumers with 1.3 billion deceptive charitable fundraising calls since at least 2008. One of the companies made more than 13.5 million calls into West Virginia between 2016 and 2019. Nearly 7,000 of those calls were made more than 100 times per year to the same number. “This agreement demonstrates that we remain vigilant in our pursuit of bad actors who seek to dupe generous West Virginians into spending money…