Looking back over the weekend, the Heritage Days Festival in Cumberland’s Historic District along Washington Street drew record crowds for the annual event. Becky McClarran, one of the organizers, told WCBC that the festival found a sweet spot in the number and type of businesses participating this year… “They love the festival foods and we had such a wide variety this year, a much wider variety than we’ve ever had, I think in the arts and craft and the commercial vendors and you know we had a lot of non-profit vendors as well that had information so it was quite…

Despite a global pandemic, tourism spending in West Virginia has grown more than 40% – or nearly $2 billion in annual spending since 2017.  Governor Jim Justice announced that the industry’s total economic impact approached $9 billion in 2023. Tourist volume to the state reached 75 million visitors last year.  During the Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Charleston, state Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby presented the Governor with a lifetime achievement award for his assistance to tourism… “The West Virginia Tourism industry has never had a champion for tourism like Governor Justice.  The Governor has supported the industry like no one…

Cumberland’s Economic Development Corporation is looking for marketing assistance through a grant recently received.  The CEDC’s Executive Director, Matt Miller, explained the details of how the grant will be used during a recent board meeting, saying the grant will help to further efforts already underway… ”The CEDC was awarded a $50,000 grant to generate and implement a strategic marketing plan to promote past, current, and future projects and initiatives throughout the city of Cumberland. For example, the marketing effort will highlight the comprehensive revisioning of Baltimore Street while raising awareness of opportunities that exist for private investment within the district.”…

A new record has been set at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, just one month after a record-setting month.  For July, almost 2.7 million passengers traveled through BWI, making it the busiest month in the history of the airport.  The previous record had just been set in June.  BWI provides nearly 300 daily nonstop departures to about 90 domestic and international destinations. The airport produces a total annual economic impact of $11.3 billion dollars. BWI Marshall and its passengers generate, support and sustain more than 107,000 jobs throughout the region.

One firefighter was injured on Sunday while crews fought a residential fire on Crellin Mine Road in Oakland.  The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s office indicated the fire was discovered by a neighbor and a family dog was rescued from the house when firefighters arrived. A roof collapse sent one firefighter to Garrett Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in the area of the front porch. Total loss is estimated at $200,000.

A fire in Cumberland’s North End is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s office.  Firefighters responded to the 1000 block of Piedmont Avenue Sunday afternoon for a residential fire.  The two-story single-family residence incurred approximately $40,000 in damage. The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze that appears to have originated in a second-floor bedroom.

Medical waste continues to wash ashore on Delmarva beaches.  It was first discovered Sunday.  The town of Ocean City made the following announcement:   Ocean City Beach Patrol, Public Works and Emergency Services have been actively monitoring the waste washing onshore. As of this (Monday) morning, the waste and medical debris on the beach is considerably less than yesterday. Out of an abundance of caution, the ocean will remain closed to swimming and surfing at this time. We appreciate the public’s cooperation and will continue to provide updates as they become available.

Friday, September 6, 2024 Galen Lee Garrison, 48 of Eckhart Mines, was arrested as a Fugitive From Justice due to a warrant out of Mineral County WV for traffic related offenses. Garrison waived extradition and was later released to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office. Tuesday, September 10, 2024 Jenry Rodolfo Miguel Raymundo-Brito, 22 of Alexandria, VA was arrested on a District Court Bench Warrant for Failure to Appear. His original charge was for Driving Vehicle While Impaired by Alcohol, Failure to Drive Vehicle on Right Half of Roadway When Required, Driver Failure to Obey Propertly Placed Traffic Control Device Instructions,…

While Allegany County and the state of Maryland are developing ways to come up with new housing to meet demand, the housing shortage is also prevalent in neighboring Pennsylvania. Over 60% of housing in the state was built before 1970. Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration has launched a Housing Action Plan designed to identify and develop strategic plans to address their housing issues…  “But here’s the thing – right now across Pennsylvania, we don’t have enough safe, affordable housing for Pennsylvanians. We’re not building enough housing to keep up with demand, and right now we believe we need 100,000 additional housing…