Grants totaling $7.4 million to support wildlife habitat, climate resilience, and community conservation partnerships will be used to protect and preserve the Chesapeake Bay and watershed. The Chesapeake WILD program was established through legislation authored by Senators Van Hollen and Shelley Moore Capito and enacted into law in 2020. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation representative Jake Reilly says the grants will have a huge impact on conservation…    

Amazon will buy renewable energy from a solar project in Garrett County being built on the former site of a 120-year-old coalmine. Developer Competitive Power Ventures is investing $200 million in a brownfield in Garrett County. The new project will create 200 jobs and include more than 300,000 solar panels, making it the largest solar farm in the state.  Amazon will use the new facility to power its Amazon Web Services data centers as well as fulfillment centers and physical stores. It will also provide clean power to local communities. It is one of 78 new solar and wind projects…

Citing a “challenging fall,” and “loss around the world and in our own community,” University of Maryland President Darryll Pines has decided a longer Thanksgiving break would do the Terrapins some good.  An email went out to faculty and students advising them that Monday, November 20th classes would now be online while Tuesday classes were cancelled and Wednesday would be an administrative day. President Pines told students to rest and recharge.

The sweet sound of Salvation Army bell-ringers starts this weekend, but a not so sweet story is unfolding.  Captain Ronnette Smith was a guest on the Dave Norman show this week and talked about the Army’s struggles to meet community needs this year… To help our area Seniors, Dave Norman is buying 5 of the $50 gift cards needed to serve our older population and you can help as well –  send checks made out to the Salvation Army to WCBC at P.O. Box 1290 Cumberland and our staff will make sure they get to Captain Smith for Seniors’ Christmas meals……

Allegany County Tourism took home the ‘Best Website Award’ for mdmountainside.com during the 42nd Annual Maryland Travel and Tourism Summit’s Awards in Owings Mills. The Summit is Maryland’s annual tourism industry conference that brings together all sectors of the hospitality industry to learn new strategies in advancing the state’s tourism industry. The ‘Best Website Award’ goes to a recipient whose website demonstrates a creative implementation of a brand that is visually pleasing, unique, captures the spirit of the brand, and is user-friendly.

Allegany County is working through its first year of the Blueprint For Education.  School Superintendent Jeff Blank says the schools are doing well so far in the first year of implementation and talked about one of the five pillars of the program – College and Career Readiness… If a student is instead planning a trade career, there are benchmarks for that as well…

Many questions have been raised about the differences between the proposals for the housing development on the old Allegany High School Site. The West Side Neighborhood Association is in favor of an intergenerational housing concept with green space and room for community events.  While the winning bid for the project went to housing giant D.R. Horton of Texas, County Commissioner Bill Atkinson said both Horton and the Live Together group proposal were similar in what they imagine for the site… Atkinson said the projected number of housing units and the different types of dwellings seem right for the project…

The following students from Mount Savage Middle School made the Honor Roll for the first marking period of the 2023-2024 school year: 8th Grade All A Honor Roll Wade Beeman, Aubree Bittner, Kylee Bittner, Penelope Bogart, Kamden Brode, Gabriella Cheshire, Chloe Davis, Kaitlyn Davis, Chase DeWitt, Datnhan Do, Zoey Drew, Kyla Farris, Lucy Glass, Ryder Growden, Addyson Haines, Kilahni Hanna, Ashlynn Hawkins, Aynsley Hawkins, Lily Hensel, Trent Hetz, William Hughes, Charles Katz, Madalyn Keesee, William Keiling, Connor Kennedy, Allisandra Kifer, Lyla Lauder, Peyton Lewis, Bex Litton, Abigail Malone, David Malone, Jonathan Malone, Willow McCleaf, Rylee McKenzie, Mason Morgan, Jakob Rice,…

The following students from Mount Savage Elementary School made the Principal’s Choice for the first marking period of the 2023-2024 school year: Pre-K Emma Allison, Grayson DeVore, Blayke Durst, Ruby Fletcher, Amelia Porter, Ezra Rosenberger, Gunner Scott, Landon Silver, Lane Stahlman, Cleo Walsh Kindergarten Hannah Allison, Blake Broadwater, Tyra Brown, Mollie Crabtree, Kai Crawford, Josie D’Atri, Parker Douty, Ramsey Fletcher, Grayson Jones, Aria Koontz, Ardelia Lehr, Livia Miller, Kynslee Sines, Naomi Swanger, Isabella White, Kyler Zimmerman 1st Grade Emersyn Barnard, River Barnard, Adalyn Beal, Kyson Beeman, Paisley Brailer, Caiden Brown, Kiawna Deneen, Colton Detrick, Nevaeh Emerick, Rose Filer, Jonathan Garry,…

The following students from Cash Valley Elementary School are Academic Achievers for the first marking period of the 2023-2024 school year: 3RD GRADE Paisley Harmon, Kyle Hewlin, Madisyn Shircliffe, Henley Whitacre, KeMyren Battle, Isla Cunningham, Axel Kinnie, Colton Sheaffer, Aubria Spiker, Maverick Wagoner, Owen Wines, Noah Lutz, Abigale Arnold, Kali Datri, Hannah Davis, Ava Ricker, and John Stottlemyer 4TH GRADE Warren Graham, Olive Snider, Darius Taylor, Kinley Wengerd, Reid Wengerd, Harleigh Mason, Landon McDonald, Rylee Shadwell, Derrick Smith, Arianna Gartrell, Douglas Johnson, Karson Skidmore, Amari Metheny, Lakyn Stevenson, Owen Wengerd, Isaiah Georg, Ava Graham, Cayden Hook, and Jacob Wills 5TH…