This is hosted by Lighthouse Counseling & Consulting Services. Tickets are $5, with a dollar donated to a local youth ministry (Save the Youth), however, ages 5 and under are free and may be purchased in advance, by calling 410-957-4200 or at the door.
Their three destinations: The nearby site of the crash of Flight 93, the Pentagon and, eventually, ground zero in New York City.
The participants visited a temporary memorial set up at the Flight 93 crash site about 10 miles away. Construction is under way on a permanent memorial there, and the first phase of it is expected to be completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks next year.
Former Virginia lacrosse players George Huguely V and Yeardley Love got into a physical altercation and exchanged e-mails in the days leading up to Love’s May 3 death, according to search warrant affidavits released Wednesday.Huguely, a 22-year-old Chevy Chase native who had been a member of the men’s lacrosse team at Virginia, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Love, his former girlfriend of more than two years. A hearing in Huguely’s case has been set for Oct. 8.
According to the affidavits, an unidentified witness told police the day after the alleged murder that Love had told her about an e-mail Huguely sent to Love in the previous week.
The witness told police she may have seen the e-mail while she and Love were in Chicago. The Virginia women’s lacrosse team, of which the 22-year-old Love was a member, played at Northwestern on April 30 in Evanston, Ill. 
Following the physical altercation at Love’s off-campus apartment on the night of her alleged murder, Huguely took Love’s personal computer, he later told police. Huguely said he threw Love’s computer into a dumpster after leaving Love’s residence that night.
Two Charlottesville detectives recovered the computer shortly thereafter in a dumpster on Sadler Street in Charlottesville, according to the affidavit. The computer’s serial number matched records of a computer previously sold to Love that were provided by Dell Inc.
During a forensic search of Love’s computer that was consented to by Sharon Love, Yeardley’s mother, police discovered fragments of an e-mail with a statement that was redacted in the affidavit. A fragmented e-mail is "a partial portion of an email that has been retrieved from the deleted files of a computer that was previously sent or received," according to the affidavit.
Police believe the e-mail was sent in response to a previous e-mail sent by Huguely. Two other witnesses independently told police of their knowledge of recent e-mail correspondence between Huguely and Love.
Witnesses also told police Love lost her cell phone and a camera following a verbal argument with Huguely at his apartment in the days leading up to her alleged murder. A friend of Love’s stated she witnessed an altercation between Love and Huguely “a few days before Love’s death,” according to the affidavit.
“She stated that Love and Huguely were arguing and Love hit Huguely with her purse,” the affidavit stated. The witness, whose named was redacted, “stated that when Love’s purse hit Huguely all her stuff flew out of her purse.”
The witness helped Love collect her belongings and leave Huguely’s apartment. Love later told the unnamed witness that she was missing her camera and cell phone and that she thought the items had been left at Huguely’s apartment, according to the affidavit.
The witness said Love asked her to go to Huguely’s apartment and retrieve the items, which the unnamed witness attempted to do. The affidavit stated that the witness found the camera, but not the cell phone.
A security threat to an American Airlines plane in San Francisco Thursday was deemed "non-credible," according to the San Francisco Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.No one was arrested or "placed in handcuffs" in connection with a phone call threatening a hijacking of the flight in San Francisco, California, police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said.
Earlier, a source familiar with the investigation said that two passengers were being questioned further by authorities.
The threat was called in before the plane departed from San Francisco.
Flight 24, bound for New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, was taken to a remote location, and passengers were interviewed and re-screened, while local law enforcement officers inspected the aircraft, TSA said.
Randy Cohen, a passenger on the flight, said the people on the plane were calm in general, but that as the time went by on the tarmac, some became nervous.
Even when the pilot made an announcement, "you could tell the angst in his voice and the uncertainty," Cohen said.
Cohen said he saw authorities remove a large garbage bag from an overhead bin in the back of the plane.
Once police arrived, the passengers were removed from the plane, six at a time.
Another passenger said they waited on the isolated plane for three hours after being diverted from the runway.
Lt. Bill Scott of the Alameda County, California, Police Department said his department became aware of the threat when a clerk at a local business called to report it.
The clerk had received a call that included a threat from "a suspicious male," Scott said. The police then called the FBI.
Scott said he could not comment on the specifics of the threat and whether it included a threat to hijack the plane said, "It was significant enough for us to notify the FBI."
A security official told CNN that the caller claimed the flight would be hijacked, but nothing has been found yet to back up that assertion.
Federal air marshals were aboard, according to a source familiar with the incident. The source did not know whether the marshals had to break cover because of the incident.
A witness in the trial of a man accused of killing a camp counselor 19 years ago in northeastern Pennsylvania has cast doubt on the prosecution's claim that it has the murder weapon.
Another wonderful crowd at Melson Tractor Pull/Mud Hop Saturday night (August 14)along with some great competition in both groups of racing.
Tractor Pulling If you have never seen tractor pulling before this probably looks like one boring and unexciting sport, but I guarantee that most times this can get quite hair raising and the winner of the event will sometimes surprise you! If you own a tractor and think you can pull a large amount of weight with it, or if you just want to give it a try, bring it to the next event! New entries are always welcomed.......... (I find it amusing when the old clunker looking tractors sometimes suddenly break loose and race down the track making the nicely groomed John Deere tractors look like wimps!)
.....because this is what you find at the bottom of the other side of the hill. MUD! Keep in mind that after a rainy week this hole is sometimes covered with water and the driver must get through this with speed and not get stuck!
Welcome to the 1st Annual "Help Midway Drive Out Breast Cancer" Charity Walk, to benefit Women Supporting Women - a local, non-profit group that provides support to those in our community who have in some way been affected by breast cancer.
(http://www.easternshorenews.com/)
Craig's comments: "I think this song sums up the way many of us feel. The music is very haunting. The lyric reminds us there's a battle between exploiting our natural resources and protecting our environment; between holding the guilty accountable and yet keeping the jobs these companies provide; between cheap oil and expensive consequences. This war touches the lives of many, but particularly those who are the casualties on the front line, as well as the seacoast itself. "
Thelma Peterson's video can be found on YouTube: I Am At War - Thelma Peterson
What a wonderful way for our sentiments to be sent than through this song.................Vote for Thelma Peterson.......Let's show America how strong the Eastern Shore can be!
CRISFIELD -- City police are continuing their investigation into a macabre discovery under an old house this week.Workers who were tearing a porch off a house on Pine Street found human bones lying in a ditch underneath it.
"They called me all panicky," said Noah Bradshaw, the city inspector, who went over to the house, then quickly called in the Crisfield Police Department.
After the scene was processed by police, the skeletal remains were recovered and another portion of the area was dug to recover additional bones.
The remains consisted only of various leg bones and joints. No other parts of the body, such as a skull, were found at the site, police said.
The State Medical Examiner's Office identified the bones as human remains, and will take them to their Baltimore office for further analysis.
The house where the skeletal remains were recovered is 100 years old and has been in the same family for a long time, Bradshaw said. The owner, Sarah Wise, lives out of state and the house is currently vacant.
Bradshaw said the bones could pre-date the house.
"They're petrified, they're so old." he said.
Although there is an open missing persons case in Crisfield, police said they so far do not suspect the remains to be those of Gordon Nelson Sr., who disappeared in October 2007.
"We don't know anything yet," Lt. Stanley Harmon said. "We're just trying to get the bones identified."
Police consider Nelson's disappearance to be suspicious.
Last year, Crisfield police excavated a property on Canal Drive outside city limits where Nelson once lived. Although a trained cadaver dog hit on a spot in the yard, no remains were found.
Nelson, who was living inside city limits at the time of his disappearance, was last seen at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced today that the 2010 harvest of small grains is complete and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will now measure farmers' final production of those grains, including wheat, oats, barley and rye.
CRISFIELD, Md.- Authorities say workers tearing down an old porch at a Crisfield house on Tuesday discovered human remains under the structure.Crisfield police were called to the house on 338 Pine Street after being informed that various bones had been located in a ditch under the porch. After the scene was processed, the skeletal remains were recovered and another portion of the area was dug up to recover additional bones.
According to police, the skeletal remains consisted only of various leg bones and joints. No other parts of the body were recovered such as a skull or upper torso.
Police say the Maryland State Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore was contacted and the bones were identified as human remains.
The remains will be taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office for further analysis and classification.
According to police, the house where the skeletal remains were recovered is more than a century old. The case remains under investigation.
Baltimore City police are investigating several acts of vandalism in Northwest Baltimore last weekend in which swastikas and other messages were spray-painted onto cars, said a police spokesman. Cars were tagged on Strathmore Avenue, Clarinth Road and Labyrinth Road between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, said Kevin Brown, the spokesman.
In the 2800 block of W. Strathmore Ave., a swastika was spray-painted on a vehicle, along with the phrase "IH8U," while an expletive was found on the side of another vehicle in the same block. A third vehicle was keyed a block away, Brown said.
Swastikas and "Hitler" were painted on two vehicles in the 3900 block of Labyrinth Road and the 3700 block of Clarinth Road, Brown said.
Friday, Aug 20th Sat, Aug 21st
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) -- A Montgomery County Agricultural Fair official says a boy and ride operator were hurt in an accident on a swing ride.
DENVER—The Colorado man detained in Pakistan while trying to track down Osama bin Laden says he wants to try again.Gary Faulkner said Tuesday it could be weeks or months before he makes another trip and still has to raise money for it.
The 51-year-old unemployed construction worker says he wants to bring the al-Qaida leader to the United States.
Faulkner was detained June 13 in Pakistan after he was found with weapons and night-vision equipment. Pakistan released him without charges and he returned to the U.S.
Faulkner says he believes he'll be allowed back into Pakistan. The Pakistani Embassy in Washington said no one was available to comment Tuesday.
Faulkner has kidney disease and needs regular dialysis.
SEATTLE (AP) - A passenger aboard a float plane that violated the airspace around Air Force One while President Barack Obama was in town Tuesday was stunned to find out about the fuss that resulted, saying the incursion wasn't intentional.The military scrambled fighter jets, and the two sonic booms from the Oregon Air National Guard F-15s startled many people in Western Washington.
The Cessna 180 float plane was flying to a seaplane base on Lake Washington, next to Seattle, from Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington, said passenger Laura Joseph. She told The Associated Press that neither she nor the pilot, Lee Daily, knew about Obama's visit or the air restrictions that accompany such a high-profile trip.
The Secret Service interviewed Daily after he landed at Kenmore Air on the north end of the lake, which had been shut down for the duration of the presidential campaign stop.
North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman John Cornelio said the civilian aircraft left the restricted area before the two jets arrived from the Portland, Ore.-based 142nd Fighter Wing and that there was no intercept. He confirmed the jets produced the sonic booms.
In a statement Tuesday evening, the Oregon Air National Guard said the jets were cleared to accelerate to supersonic speed minutes after takeoff. The Guard said the booms were heard by people from Longview, Wash., to the Puget Sound area.
Joseph, of Normandy Park, said she saw an F-15 outside the window as the plane approached Seattle."I saw a jet, just a white jet going by," she said. "I thought it was kind of odd to see a military jet."
The fighter only passed by the float plane once and didn't take any other action, Joseph said.
Joseph said she and Daily didn't know anything was wrong until they landed and were told they had to talk to the Secret Service. She also said she didn't hear the sonic booms.
"Oh my God, I can't believe -- is this the top news thing?" she said.
Joseph said she and Daily were allowed to leave after being interviewed by the Secret Service and haven't heard anything yet about possible sanctions.
Obama was in Seattle to stump for Sen. Patty Murray on a three-day campaign swing for endangered Democrats. Air Force One was on the ground at King County International Airport/Boeing Field in south Seattle at the time of the incident shortly after 1:30 p.m. The president's plane departed Seattle at 3:47 p.m.
The Air National Guard said the jets returned to Portland shortly before 3 p.m.
The two sharp booms, a few seconds apart, rattled windows in Seattle. Fire and police officials throughout the region said they were swamped with calls.
Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. John Hughel said the F-15s were scrambled by NORAD from Portland International Airport. He said the guard has two fighters always on alert to patrol the air space from central California to the Canadian border.
A new Facebook scam is making the rounds, and it's taking advantage of a non-existent Facebook feature many users crave: the dislike button.
First, let's clear things up: There is no such thing as an official Facebook dislike button. It's possible that Facebook will implement a similar feature in the future, but right now it simply doesn't exist.
So, if you see a status update containing the message "I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!" or "Get the official DISLIKE button now" followed by a link, you should know that it's another one of many scams that aim to extract your personal data.
If you click on the link, you'll land on an elaborate Facebook dislike button "install" page (note that if the dislike button were real, you wouldn't need to install it; Facebook would automatically add it to user profiles). If you follow the instructions, you'll be asked to give the app permission to run, after which you'll be asked to complete a survey, similar to the surveys found in many other scams we've seen recently.
Interestingly enough, the app ultimately points you to an existing Firefox add-on called FaceMod, which dubs itself the "Facebook Dislike Button (the Original)," but the add-on doesn't seem to be connected to the scam. We haven't verified whether the add-on works as advertised or if it's dangerous, but one thing is certain: It is not coming from Facebook and it is not an official Facebook dislike button.
As usual, we advise you not to click on suspicious links on Facebook, especially if they promise something that sounds impossible or unlikely. Do not give away your personal information, unless you're absolutely sure why and who you're giving it to. If you've fallen for the scam, remove the offending app(s) from your Facebook profile; furthermore, remove the related message from your status, News Feed, and your Likes and Interests in the "Edit my Profile" menu.
ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. David Paterson expects to meet in the near future with developers of a proposed Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near Manhattan's Ground Zero, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, but a key voice in the discussion denied to Fox News any plans to relocate."Paterson last week offered his help and the possibility that state land could be used for an alternative site for the project.
The Post reported Tuesday that Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said that the governor's staff is talking with developers, but no formal discussions have taken place on the the $100 million building.
"However, we expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future," he said.
After a similar report appeared Monday in an Israeli newspaper, Sharif El-Gamal of SoHo Properties, which owns the property at Park 51, said it's absolutely wrong to suggest that the site is being abandoned.
"No. No. No," El-Gamal said.
'The reports that we may be abandoning the project are completely incorrect. We are committed to our plans of building Park 51 to serve the community of lower Manhattan. Our mission is one of peace, understanding and tolerance," he said.
The 13-story Islamic cultural center and mosque that would be located two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood until Sept. 11, 2001, has raised a national argument over the First Amendment and anger over the terror attacks.
Supporters say the mosque and its founders do not represent the beliefs of anyone associated with the attack on the U.S. that day, and its construction will represent the freedom of religion that America prizes.
Opponents say it's not a constitutional question, but one of right and wrong since no one wants to deny the Muslim community the right to practice its religion, but to show a greater respect and sensitivity for the tragedy.
The issue has caused a major debate among politicians, including President Obama, whose various comments over the weekend have forced lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to stake positions on whether they support the mosque's location or prefer the developers to move it.
Congress and the White House have no recourse to prevent its construction, and local officials last week approved new construction at the site, which is currently an old Burlington Coat Factory building that suffered damage from landing gear from one of the planes that hit the Twin Towers.
Late Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is in a tough race for re-election, suggested SoHo Properties find an alternate location. The statement was cast as a break from the president on an increasingly unpopular issue.
The White House said Tuesday it got the heads-up from Reid that he was going to side against the mosque's site.
"We had a sense of what they were going to do," White House spokesman Bill Burton said, describing Reid as an independent individual and strong leader in the Democratic Party.
However, one imam who complained that Muslims are being prevented from building mosques elsewhere around the country chastised Reid.
"It has political capital, but very negative political capital. It speaks to the worst of politics to advance aspirations for the White House, Senate or House or people already in the Senate, the majority leader of Senate, because the race is so close in Nevada. I'm talking about Harry Reid," Mahdi Bray, executive director of Muslim American Society Freedom.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who strongly opposes Park 51 as the site for the mosque, will attend a previously scheduled appearance at a fundraiser Friday night for Chris Gibson, a GOP congressional candidate in upstate New York, who says political opponents have tried to distort his stance that there should not be a mosque near Ground Zero.
"As someone who wore our nation's uniform and helped fight against those who share the extremist views of our attackers on that fateful day, I am disappointed political operatives would distort my words on the matter of how we best honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks," he said in a written statement.
"I do not support the construction of a mosque and have always felt it's neither the time nor place for it," he said.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials on Tuesday of turning their backs on the reconstruction of the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, while the controversial mosque near Ground Zero moves forward. The sidelined project is the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a tiny, four-story building destroyed in 2001 when one of the World Trade Center towers fell on top of it. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has for the past eight years been trying to rebuild its house of worship.
While the mosque project cleared red tape earlier this month, negotiations between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the church stalled last year -- and will not be revived, according to government officials. Though the particulars of the two projects are completely different and on the surface unrelated, the church and its supporters see a disconnect in the way the proposals have been handled.
An archdiocese official said Tuesday that the situation has created "consternation" for those still struggling to jump-start talks over the church.
"We have people that are saying, why isn't our church being rebuilt and why is there ... such concern for people of the mosque?" Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the archbishop, told FoxNews.com. He said "religious freedom" would allow a place of worship for any denomination to be built, but accused officials with the Port Authority of making no effort to help move the congregation's project along.
"Unfortunately, they have just been silent -- dead silent, actually," said Karloutsos, whose father was ordained at St. Nicholas. "They just simply forgot about the church."
The Port Authority and the church announced a deal in July 2008 under which the Port Authority would grant land and up to $20 million to help rebuild it in a new location -- in addition, the authority was willing to pay up to $40 million to construct a bomb-proof platform underneath.
Within a year, the deal fell through and talks ended. Port Authority officials told Fox News that the deal is dead.
The archdiocese and Port Authority offer sharply conflicting accounts of where things went wrong. The Port Authority has previously claimed the church was making additional demands -- like wanting the $20 million up front and wanting to review plans for the surrounding area. They say the church can still proceed on its own if it wishes.
"The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building," a spokesperson with the Port Authority told Fox News.
But Karloutsos called the Port Authority's claims "propaganda" and said the church has complied with all conditions. He said the government should honor agreements that date back to 2004, under former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Pataki, speaking with Fox News on Tuesday, agreed that the church should be rebuilt.
"I don't understand it," Pataki said. "Why the Port Authority now has so far put roadblocks in the way of its reconstruction is beyond me. It's not the right thing to do."
George Demos, a Republican candidate for New York's 1st Congressional District, has also drawn attention to the church negotiations. He released a written statement last week calling the Port Authority "disingenuous and disrespectful" for claiming the church project could go forward.
"For the last year, the Port Authority has refused to meet with church officials and is now reneging on its commitment to rebuild the church," Demos said.
Demos said the stalled church plans are an "outrage," considering New York City's Landmarks Preservation Committee vote in early August to deny historical status protection to the building where the mosque is set to be built, clearing the way for the project to move forward.
The church project has not attracted the kind of national attention the mosque has. President Obama injected the mosque into the national political conversation when he appeared to endorse the plans at a Ramadan dinner at the White House Friday. The White House later clarified that Obama was supporting the developers' right to build the mosque, not the project itself.
The president's comments set the stage for mounting criticism from Republicans, who widely oppose the project and now want other Democrats to declare where they stand on what for months was a largely local issue.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has supported the church as well as the mosque, defended the mosque proposal Tuesday.
"I think it will add to the diversity of the area," Bloomberg said. As for Obama's comments, he said: "He understands the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as anyone."
A trial is underway for a 47-year-old Virginia man long-suspected by police of raping and killing a Poconos camp counselor nearly 20 years ago.Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case that stymied them for nearly two decades, but they say new DNA testing procedures enabled them to link blood on a gun taken from Plishka's home in 1991 to Ronning. At the time, Plishka lived on a farm in Wayne County near the camp where Ronning worked. His opera-singing father was born in neighboring Lackawanna County in Old Forge.
Ronning disappeared in July 1991 after setting out on her day off to hike at Tanners Falls not far from Camp Cayuga, a 350-acre facility that caters to kids between 5 and 15 from New York City and Philadelphia. When Ronning failed to return to camp that night, state police initiated a search. Her body was found the next morning. Police say Plishka participated in the search and made bizarre statements about her disappearance during the search.
Although prosecutors said DNA evidence found on a gun taken from Plishka's home links him to the crime, Plishka's attorney says the sample could have come from someone else.
Court officials expect the trial, which started with jury selection Aug. 9, to last about two more weeks.
To refresh your memory here's an article written last year concerning the trial and charges..............
The Virginia's Eastern Shore Annual Motorcycle Rally will be this weekend, August 20 & 21st in Parksley.
POCOMOKE CITY — State troopers on patrol in a part of Pocomoke police say is a “high crime/open air drug market” arrested four men for possession of crack cocaine."The state police officers “approached four loitering suspects,” charging documents state, and “they attempted to walk away when spoken to.” As police were interviewing the men and checking for weapons, police said, “one of the individuals pushed the trooper’s hand away, which led to a full search.” Police said they found crack cocaine “on him and in the immediate area of the other suspects.”
Arrested were James Edward Douglas, 20, of Bank Street in Pocomoke City; Mar-Tel L. Blake, 20; Jarren K. Hinmon, 21; and David D. Dickerson, 19. All four men were charged with crack cocaine possession, police said, and Hinmon also had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, issued in May and related to charges of armed robbery and assault. Hinmon was held on $50,000 bond. Court records show Douglas was also charged with malicious destruction of property.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Gov. Martin O'Malley has sworn in Maryland's first African-American woman appellate judge.She will represent the court's Fourth Appellate Circuit for Prince George's County.
Hotten fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James Salmon.
She has been an associate judge for Prince George's County Circuit Court for 15 years.
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. (AP) - A central Florida mom who thought it would be funny to post a picture of her baby with a bong on her Facebook page has been arrested.Nineteen-year-old Rachel Stieringer was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. A Texas resident called Florida's abuse hot line after seeing the picture online of the baby posing with his face in the bong.
Two weeks ago the mom had defended her actions , claiming there were no drugs or tobacco in the bowl, and her child was not breathing in smoke.
But child protection officers from the Florida Department of Children and Families launched an inquiry into her actions.
"We are alarmed that any parent would take pictures of their child next to what is obviously drug paraphernalia," said spokesman John Harrell.
The mother had spoken via the social networking site Facebook, and insisting the pictures were a joke.She said: "If u look at the picture u can see that there is no bowl in the TABACCO pipe.
"And i took a pic to show one (expletive) person and it was a mistake. I would never ever ever let him get high."
The mom said that as part of the investigation she was ordered to take a drugs test, and her son was being checked by doctors.
She added: "Do you realize how serious this is? i can go to jail and he can be taken away from me. WHY would you do something so (expletive) stupid?
"i know what i did was stupid but i would NEVER put by baby in harm. im so nice to everyone idk (I don't know) why you would do this to me."
Clay County Sheriff's deputies say Stieringer turned herself in July 29 and was released on $502 bond.
A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families said Monday the baby had no injuries and drug tests came back negative.
A message could not be left at Stieringer's home Tuesday morning. The phone number was busy on several attempts.
(The grandparents are now caring for the child.)
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - A South Carolina mother who claimed her children drowned when their car careened into a river was charged with murder Tuesday after authorities said she confessed to suffocating the two toddlers and then faking the accident.
The dark veins of algae have been reported from Mathews County south to Norfolk, as well as other areas of the bay. The cranberry-colored algae have lined the beaches of Newport News and seeped into deeper waters, where crabbers work.Environmentalists view algae blooms as a sign of a Chesapeake Bay in peril.
Christy Everett of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said last week the blooms are yet another sign that the bay's water quality is "out of balance."
The foundation provided to The Associated Press aerial photographs of the blooms taken July 31.
An excessive amount of nutrients washed into the bay by heavy rains help create dense patches of the cranberry-colored algae. Heat hastens the process. As the water cools, the algae decomposes and consumes oxygen while sinking to the sea floor.
If sufficiently dense, algae will remove all the oxygen and leave the water a dead zone.
While not harmful to people, dead zones can kill baby oysters, crabs, underwater grasses and schools of fish.
Margaret Mulholland, an oceanography professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, studies how algae blooms are formed and their environmental effects. She said it is not known if algae blooms have grown more common in the bay.
Species that can avoid the oxygen-depleting algae do, she said.
The first Baltimore Grand Prix will be run over Labor Day next year instead of Aug. 5-7, the city and Baltimore Racing Development announced today.
"I'm very pleased that BRD and IndyCar are now able to accommodate the city's preferred date for the Baltimore Grand Prix," Rawlings-Blake said in a release. "Labor Day Weekend will provide another full day for racing fans to enjoy all that Baltimore has to offer and with any luck, slightly cooler temperatures."
RICHMONDGov. Bob McDonnell, an outspoken critic of the federal health care overhaul passed by Congress, has appointed an advisory council to develop strategies for implementing it.
McDonnell on Monday named the 24 members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, assembling a group that includes hospital and insurance executives, business leaders, state officials and legislators from both parties. The group will help chart a plan for implementing the complex federal health care overhaul even as Virginia wages a court battle to overturn a key provision of the new law.
The panel will hold its first meetings this weekend in Roanoke.
Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a provision of the health care act that will require individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the government. But the court fight could drag on for years. In the meantime, McDonnell said, the health care bill "is the law of the land."
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Monday that Virginia will get a $1 million federal grant to improve its process for reviewing health insurance premium filings. The state's Bureau of Insurance will conduct targeted audits of insurers with the largest market share or those requesting the largest premium increases to determine whether changes are needed in the existing rate review process. The grant also will pay for technology upgrades.
McDonnell called the federal law "dizzying" and said the state has work to do to prepare for its full implementation in 2014. But the governor also wants the panel to look beyond the federal law and devise state approaches to improving health care services, reducing costs and addressing work force shortage issues.
"I'm hoping that this can be a model that other states can use..." McDonnell said.
One of the council's major tasks will be developing recommendations to contain the rapidly escalating costs of Medicaid, the state and federal program that serves the poor, elderly and disabled. McDonnell said the program has become the second-fastest growing expenditure in the Virginia budget, and spending likely will increase because of new eligibility standards in the federal law.
The group is expected to deliver initial recommendations to McDonnell by December. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel will chair the council.
Other members include Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, a pharmacist and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee; Jim Carlson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Amerigroup, the Virginia Beach-based managed care company; and Chuck Hall, the executive director of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board.
Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, also a council member, said he hopes the group can craft consensus solutions and "rise above the partisan fray" that clouded debate over the federal health care law.
"This gives us an opportunity in Virginia to take all that partisanship and put it in the closet, lay it aside and come together and work on a common issue that affects all Virginians," Houck said.
The Peace of Sunshine store off the main drag in Catonsville has lately been making more than half its weekly sales in K2, a "legal pot" known also as "spice." But owner Lawrence J. Zwick says he has sold his last bag. As soon as he heard Monday morning that Baltimore County might make it a crime to sell the smokable leaf, he says, he packed up his inventory of two boxes and shipped it back to the distributor."Oh, I'm going to miss it," said Zwick, a 44-year-old retired Coast Guard warrant officer who for four years has owned the the store specializing in T-shirts, jewelry, incense and hookahs. "But I'd rather run a legitimate business than not running a business at all."
Minutes before, Kevin Kamenetz, a member of the County Council, had wrapped up a news conference across the street announcing his plans to introduce a bill next month making it illegal to sell, distribute, possess, buy or use K2, or any product with chemical compounds that are known to mimic the effects of marijuana. The bill proposes penalties of $500 fine, 60 days in jail or both.
The potpourri-like product appeared in the United States about a year ago, and has already been banned in several states in the Midwest and across Europe. Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette A. DiPino says local shops there have been cooperating with her written request in June to voluntarily take K2 off the shelves.
The product sells in plastic bags for about $20 a gram. That's nearly six times the price of marijuana, according to Agent Donny Moses of the Baltimore Police Department.
Kamenetz, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive, said K2 "has become an issue for parents in this area. … If the state is not going to act, if the federal government won't act, local government" has to step in, he said, to "protect our kids and help our parents do a better job."
A former Baltimore prosecutor, Kamenetz says he got wind of the issue recently when a Catonsville newspaper did a story about K2 being sold in the area. He couldn't say how widespread the product is in stores in the county.
Susan Flaherty of Catonsville was troubled about the newspaper article that focused on Zwick's store, especially because she has two teenage sons.
"For them to be able to go into a local shop and buy this, it's ridiculous," said Flaherty. She said as far as she knows, her sons have not tried K2 — she said they hadn't heard of it until she spoke to them to warn them away from the stuff.
Zwick, who has two children of his own, says he's been selling K2 since January, and it's gotten up to $4,000 and $5,000 a week in sales. He said the customers are from "all age ranges," and he never sells to anyone under 18.
Kamenetz emphasizes reported side effects, including racing heartbeat, high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and headaches. He called K2 a "fairly dangerous drug."Jessica Wehrman, a spokesman for the American Association of Poison Centers, says the country's 60 poison centers have received 1,018 calls about K2 this year. As a comparison, in 2008, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, Wehrman says over-the-counter and prescription painkillers accounted for more than 331,000 calls.
Dr. Bruce Anderson, operations director at the Maryland Poison Center, says the center has received few calls about K2. Anderson said he was not dismissing the potential danger of K2, but he said many of the reports about the ill effects of K2 are "consistent with anxiety" reactions that could have more to do with user's psychological state than the substance itself. It's hard to know, he says, because it's hard to know what the ingredients are.
"It's not even regulated at all," said Anderson. "Who knows what it is?"
The Coast Guard rescued two men from a sail boat Monday morning after they ran aground near Hog Island.
