Maryland is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over upstream pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh joined counterparts in Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia in accusing the agency of failing to require New York and Pennsylvania to develop bay restoration plans under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. "Earlier this year, I directed the attorney general to take this legal action in keeping with our generational responsibility and shared obligation to enhance, protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay," Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement. "The bay is a national treasure, and our administration has committed an historic $5 billion…

Many Marylanders will mark the 19th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on Friday. Harford County Executive Barry Glassman is inviting all county residents to join in a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. in a gathering of county employees outside of the county administrative building on Main Street in Bel Air. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball will be joined by members of the county police and fire departments and sheriff's office at 8:46 a.m. at Centennial Park's Garden of Hope in Ellicott City. They plan to honor and pay tribute to all who lost their lives during…

U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, and Kweisi Mfume today announced $10 million in federal funding for the Maryland Port Administration to improve infrastructure at the Port of Baltimore.    Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation FY20 Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) Grant program. It will be used to enhance critical flood mitigation systems at the Dundalk Marine Terminal by constructing approximately 4,000 feet of box culverts and installing 15 backflow preventers and perimeter barriers to prevent storm surge from threatening the terminal’s berths.   “The Port of…

WCBC News has confirmed that two papermaking machines at the site of the former Verso Luke Mill have been purchased by a Turkish company. The mill ceased operations in June 2019 due to foreign competition, increasing operating costs and a decline in demand for the type of coated paper being produced. During its peak production years, the Luke mill had nine papermaking machines in service.   According to the Cumberland Times News, three companies have expressed interest in acquiring parts of the former mill, which has infrastructure in Luke, Westernport, McCoole and Piedmont, West Virginia.  

On September 10th, 2020 officers of the Cumberland Police Department served a Criminal Summons on Rachel Nicole Dolly. The Criminal Summons was issued by the District Court after an officer filed for charges against Dolly when she transported contraband into the Allegany County Detention Center. Dolly was issued her paperwork and is pending her trial at District Court.   Arrest: Rachel Nicole Dolly, age 32, Cumberland Maryland. Charge: Possession of Paraphernalia, Possession of Contraband in a Place of Confinement.

Governor Larry Hogan announced Thursday that Maryland has signed a deal with Becton Dickinson to secure 250,000 advanced rapid antigen tests for the coronavirus. Maryland will be the first to receive the BD Veritor tests, with nine other states to follow as part of an interstate testing compact. The Rockefeller Foundation supported Maryland's purchase. Hogan said that this is the latest state of the art technology in rapid testing which will help to slow the spread of COVID-19 and help states to speed up economic recovery…

In just a few months, the Downtown Development Commission should have a more concrete idea of exactly how much the redesign of the mall will cost. Latest estimates have been in the $9.6 million range- however that price is more than double the projected cost when the project was first discussed several years ago. The Baltimore Street Renovation Project, as it is known, is expected to get underway in early spring of next year. The project includes reinstalling Baltimore Street through the downtown pedestrian mall- allowing for vehicular traffic and limited parking. During Thursday’s DDC meeting, CEDC executive director Matt Miller said that…

Last month Governor Larry Hogan announced $10 million in grant awards to support expanded broadband access for education in Maryland. $8 miilion of that will be used to increase internet access for Maryland public school students. The grants will be used in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, students who are underserved will be able to gain access to the Internet from an existing provider, while in the rural areas grants will be used to provide wireless access to students with cellular hotspots. In spite of those dollars, in Allegany County, with all schools opening virtually to start…

It’s been nineteen years, but the memories are as vivid as yesterday for Lisa Peskin, a Cumberland native who was in the South Tower of the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001 when Al-Qaida attacked the United States. Peskin was in New York City for a three-week long training session when the terrorist attack happened.  She was on the 61st floor of Tower 2 on a coffee break when the first plane hit Tower 1. Shortly afterward, Peskin remembers that  it was announced that Tower 2 should evacuate. Peskin reached the 48th floor when another announcement said it was safe…

Dr Kim Kalbaugh, Chief Academic Officer for the Allegany County Board of Education, acknowledged that while there have been some glitches with online learning in this opening week of the new school year, they are not widespread and are being addressed. A number of parents contacted WCBC Radio expressing concern with problems they have experienced with the new “schoology” program being used by the system. Board member Deb Frank said that when using a new program some growing pains can be expected, but they are not serious problems….   Information provided by a board spokesperson indicated that overall the technology has…