Teacher unions remain opposed to the idea, but West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito says the Centers for Disease Control are saying it is safe for students to return to classrooms, which have been shuttered for most of the last year due to COVID 19….

A series of police reform bills are expected to be debated by the Maryland State Senate in the days ahead.  The nine reform proposals which made it out of committee last week were denounced by the American Civil Liberities Union as inadequate.  The effort does have the support of many Democrats, including Jill Carter of Baltimore City, who acknowledged the proposals come up short of many things reforms advocates have been demanding. She says critics should not overlook the scope of the changes being proposed…. Bills passing with a level of bipartisan support include a ban on no-knock warrants and a repeal…

The battle has been under way for several years and a case against the state of Maryland is now in court, but 63-year-old Ken Fitch is not discouraged as he continues the fight to restore the prescription drug benefit program for state retirees. Fitch, 63, who retired from the Maryland Department of General Services in 2012 after more than 26 years, received a letter from the Department of Budget and Management in 2018, informing him and thousands of similarly situated retirees that a long-forgotten pension reform was now kicking in – and kicking him off the state’s prescription drug benefit program…

Allegany County hit the 10,000 mark of residents vaccinated on Sunday February 28th, 2021.     As of Sunday, 10,088 Allegany County residents had received the first dose of the vaccine, just over 14% of the population.  The second dose of the vaccine has been administered to 7,137 residents.      Jake Shade, President of the Board of County Commissioners, praised the Allegany County Health Department and UPMC-Western Maryland for their efforts.   “I believe we are running one of the best vaccination programs in the State of Maryland in terms of efficiency, the only thing that is holding us back from…

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan on Monday announced that more than 40% of Marylanders ages 65 and older have now received COVID-19 vaccines. “We continue to follow the science and make vaccinating older Marylanders one of our highest priorities as we work to ensure equitable access to vaccines,” said Hogan in a statement. “This will continue to be a long process, but we anticipate more supply coming that will help us increase this pace even further. I want to thank all of the vaccinators—the Maryland Department of Health, the first responders, the Maryland National Guard, our hospitals, local health departments, and…

(Cumberland, MD) – On February 26, 2020, the Allegany County Narcotics Task Force arrested Bethany Marie Rafferty on Interstate 68 in the area of Flintstone, MD. Rafferty was the subject of a CDS investigation for the distribution and sales of fentanyl in the Allegany County area. Rafferty was found to be in possession of a large amount of fentanyl. The approximate street value of the fentanyl found was over $7,000. As a result of the investigation, Rafferty was charged with the following: Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl Possession Large Amount Fentanyl Possession of Fentanyl Rafferty was held without bail…

Violet "Vi " Ripken, the mother of Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., died on Friday, one day before her 83rd birthday. She was married to Orioles coach and later manager Cal Ripken, Sr., for 42 years until his death in 1999. Mrs. Ripken survived a July 2012 kidnapping. She was abducted from her garage early on the morning of July 24, 2012. Aberdeen Police said Ripken was tied up, and driven around Central Maryland, before she was released near her home nearly 24 hours later. The case remains unsolved. Besides her son Cal Jr., she is also survived by her sons…

The next phase of the Allegany County Public Schools hybrid plan to return kids for in-person learning begins today with Pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, struggling and special needs students back in the classroom with an A/B split schedule. Because of the global pandemic, students have not regularly been in school buildings since March. The plan that is being used was actually submitted by the local board and approved by the state this past August. The plan will see students in grades two through five, six, nine and 12 return next Monday, March 8th; and grades seven, eight, ten and eleven return…

Planning continues for a new website for the city’s downtown district with an expected launch date in the spring.  Downtown Development Commission Executive Director Melinda Kelleher discussed details during the most recent meeting, announcing that the the DDC purchased the domain name for what will eventually become HistoricCumberlandCityCenter.com. The committee is in the process of curating the content for the website, including photos and written copy. The plan is to have it to the site designer by the end of this month. Once completed, the new website will feature pictures of the Baltimore Street pedestrian mall before and after the large-scale renovation…

Maryland opened it’s third COVID-19 mass vaccination site last week, and additional sites will be announced in the coming days for Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore. With supplies from the federal government increasing and more and more vaccines being administered each day- the state’s COVID metrics are all moving in the right direction. While all of that is good news, one possible problem resulting is a more relaxed attitude among the younger population who may feel getting a COVID shot isn’t necessary. Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford is urging everyone- young and old- who is  eligible to receive the vaccine-…