UPDATE June 25 @ 3:20 a.m. Heidi Marie Studli has been located and returned home. Report June 11th and 16th, 2025. Heidi Marie Studli, 17, W/F, has been reported to the Cumberland Police Department as a missing/runaway juvenile. Studli was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.  She was last seen in the area of the 700 block of Maryland Ave in Cumberland at 3a.m. on 6/10/25. She is approximately 5'1" in height and weighs approximately 110 lbs. She also has shoulder-length black/red hair and blue eyes. If anyone has information on Powell's whereabouts, they are encouraged to contact the Cumberland…

Detour of eastbound I-68 starting at Exit 52 just before Allegany Aggregates will allow for pavement patching starting at 7 a.m today. The pavement repair project is weather permitting. Motorists will follow Maryland 144 to exit 56, back to eastbound I-68. Signs will guide motorists through the detour. 

For a change of scenery, the June interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature were held off site. This time the location was Stonewall Resort State Park in Lewis County. These occasional off-site meetings give legislators the opportunity to see firsthand the issues and economic development projects their colleagues have discussed, and offer a welcome break from the politics of Charleston. The first meeting convened was that of the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, which serves as the leadership committee for the entire Legislature. A key presentation was given by Nicholas Preservati, Director of the West Virginia Office of…

Allegany County Sheriff's Deputies were working criminal enforcement on interstate 68 near Rocky Gap when they observed a vehicle traveling westbound at speeds close to 100 mph. Deputies were able to safely stop the vehicle and make contact with the driver and other occupants of the vehicle. During the traffic stop, Deputies observed indicators of possible drug trafficking and they were able to conduct a search of the vehicle which resulted in a large amount of illicit drugs, a handgun with the serial number removed, and money being recovered.  Also, during the traffic stop, information was obtained that indicated the…

West Virginia’s meat and dairy industry may see a benefit from the spending bill being debated on Capitol Hill. If passed, the budget would include increase subsidies for meat and dairy industries – that’s the amount of money that producers receive through a federal price stabilization program. It would also expand the number of producers who are eligible for it, according to Andrew Decorlis with Farm Forward…     “If you’re a meat and dairy company, your biggest input costs are feed and these programs are going to subsidize effectively the cost of producing those feed crops.”

A virtual press conference on Tuesday revealed concerns that Maryland Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks have about President Trump’s spending bill. Specifically, cuts to Medicaid that would affect over a million Maryland residents. WCBC asked about specific impacts to Allegany County that Senator Alsobrooks addressed, saying deep Medicaid cuts will be on top of other expenses…    “Where Allegany County has about 34% of its population who are enrolled in Medicaid, it’s not just the cuts to Medicaid, it’s just overall. All of the increases to the cost of living – we expect for sure to see an…

More than three million personal income tax returns were processed in Maryland for the 2025 tax season, according to the Maryland Comptroller’s Office.  The agency took less than 3 days on average to process returns filed electronically, a 39% decrease from last year while paper returns were also processed quicker – a 35% decrease from 2024. Comptroller Brooke Lierman says nearly two-thirds of the three million returns were issued refunds from the state…    “As of April 15th, we processed over 2.5 million tax returns and issued $2.5 billion in tax refunds.”

The Maryland Municipal League is holding its annual convention in Ocean City this week.  Governor Wes Moore delivered the keynote address Tuesday.  Representing the City of Cumberland are Mayor Ray Morriss, Councilmen Jimmy Furstenburg, Brian Lepley, and Eugene Frazier, city administrator Jeff Silka, city clerk Allison Layton, and Historic Planner Ruth Davis-Rogers.

A small decrease in Maryland’s gas tax is coming in July.  New tax rates released by the Office of the Comptroller set the new tax rate on gasoline at 46 cents per gallon. The decrease of one-tenth of a penny is the second in two years and the fourth since a 2013 law was enacted that linked automatic increases to the rate of inflation.

The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) will open the 3.4-mile southern section of the four-lane US 522 Berkeley Springs Bypass in Morgan County by noon on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.  State and local officials had long been concerned about heavy truck traffic on US 522 through the community of Berkeley Springs. About 30 percent of the approximately 13,400 vehicles that use US 522 every day are trucks.