A UMBC Institute of Politics poll finds that more than half of Marylanders surveyed think the state is a good or excellent place to raise a family and obtain a good education.  However, 53% added that they would consider moving out of Maryland because it’s not a good place to start a business or retire.   Just 46% of Marylanders say the state is a good or excellent place to find a good-paying job. Overall, Democrats are more positive about the state than Republicans. 

Advocates are praising Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for winning a lawsuit to restore $2 billion dollars in federal funding for his state. The Trump Administration has frozen federal funding for several key projects. Grants for electric school buses remain frozen. Joanne Kilgour with Ohio Valley Institute cautiously calls the lawsuit a win…     “The economic impact of this funding freeze was immediate and severe. Local contractors had to pause weatherization work. Environment cleanup projects were put on hold. Job-creating initiatives were thrown into chaos.”

On 03/03/2025, at approximately 0221 hours, Deputies with the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling on Pratt Street, Luke, Maryland.  Upon making contact with the occupants, Deputies observed several factors consistent with criminal activity.  Furthermore, Deputies learned that the operator of the vehicle was driving on a suspended license. Probable cause to search the vehicle was also established on scene.  During the course of their investigation, Deputies located a quantity of suspected Methamphetamine, and Fentanyl, and Heroin in sufficient quantity to indicate possession with intent to distribute the same. Pursuant to the investigation, Deputies…

On Sunday, March 2, 2025 at approximately 8:05 PM, officers of the Cumberland Police Department responded to a residence on W. Oldtown Rd. for an assault.  Police contacted Braylin Rhodes and Keairra Turner and learned that a mutual assault had occurred.  After further investigation, Rhodes and Turner were placed under arrest and transported to police headquarters.  They were later seen by a District Court Commissioner and remanded to the Allegany County Detention Center without bond. ARRESTED:  Braylin Nasir Rhodes       AGE:  18         Cumberland, MD CHARGES:  Assault-2nd Degree ARRESTED:  Keairra Skye Patience Turner     AGE:  20   …

Last year, the City of Cumberland held the water rate increase for city customers to 20%, knowing the raise was still not enough to cover costs for water service.  Recently Mayor Ray Morriss shared with WCBC one of the reasons for the increases in water rates that will most likely happen again this year within the new city budget…     “Since COVID, we’ve had a 240% increase in the cost of the chemicals that we use to treat our water which obviously is a concern on the cost side for our water treatment facility. That doesn’t look favorable for…

A bill currently in the Finance Committee of the West Virginia Legislature would remove consumer sales tax on the processing of meat products, saving Mountain State farmer thousands of dollars each year. Dwayne O’Dell with the West Virginia Farm Bureau says it would be true benefit for farmers…     “Cost or production is high, labor costs are high. So this would be an effort to try to offset some of that and allow some extra money to be kept at the farm level. It would be beneficial to young farmers who are trying to get started, to be able…

A public informational meeting is set for March 13 at Savage River Lodge to hear about potential impacts on wildlands, forests, streams, and other natural resources from the proposed Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link – a power transmission line that may run through Western Maryland.  Next Era Energy has not yet determined the path of the new line. The line would run from Virginia up to Greene County, Pennsylvania to strengthen the regional electric grid. The meeting will be open-house style with no formal presentation, starting at 4:30pm.

When Governor Wes Moore testified before a joint committee in Annapolis about his proposed budget, close attention was paid to his tax reform ideas.  Of particular interest to House Minority Leader Jason Buckel was concerns about doubling the standard deduction for taxpayers, though there was agreement on other points…   “I think we share some of the common goals, but we can’t vote for things that the experts statistically come back and tell us that one out of every three families making $100-200,000– their taxes are going to go up.” Governor Moore countered by saying he also has experts saying…

More acreage has been acquired for the growing Wills Mountain State Park on the edge of Cumberland.  The Maryland Board of Public Works approved $205,000 to buy 103.8 acres from the Navarre Minerals Company.  With the recent acquisition of the former Artmor Plastics property, the park now has around 625 acres. The land will be managed by the Maryland Park Service. Public access to the land for hiking, biking, and other activities has yet to be established and it is presently closed to the public.

The Allegany County Library System is cautious about what their future may hold. Director John Taube tells WCBC they intend to ask for full funding of just over $1.2 million dollars for FY26 but are fairly certain that won’t happen. A recent meeting at the Westernport library had over 100 attendees, including the county commissioners. Taube said confusion about fundraising needed to be clarified…     “The misconception was that we were asking the communities to raise the money that in fact we were asking the county commissioners for.  So we wanted to clarify that any fundraising done by the…