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Master Gardener Plant Sale Shop for herbs and hundreds of other plants at the Master Gardener Plant Sale, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center, 7303 ... via Herald-Mail

The Central Maryland AFL-CIO Council, which covers Washington and Frederick counties, will honor fallen workers Monday on Workers Memorial Day at 10 a.m. at council headquarters, 511 E. Franklin St. via Herald-Mail

"We're somewhere on the edge, but we're not in imminent danger of collapsing."

The great protein factory that was the Chesapeake Bay is sputtering. The shad, once abundant enough to feed George Washington's army, are struggling to survive. Oysters are at historic lows. There are hardly any sturgeon left. Eels and clams have dwindled.

Could the blue crab be next?

The Chesapeake's iconic crustacean is in big trouble, with pollution and development contributing to the lowest baywide crab harvests in decades. But some scientists say crabs don't have to go the way of almost every other once-productive species in the bay. Read more

"People are very creative, and their sentiments seem to very heartfelt"

Nearly half of Maryland's 27 Democratic superdelegates remain uncommitted to either Sen. via Daily Times

The Maryland Republican Party is looking for a new executive director.

John Flynn resigned this week to become general counsel for Americans For Prosperity, a public interest group in Washington.

Flynn took over as executive director at a low point for the party -- January 2007, when Governor Martin O'Malley took office after defeating incumbent Republican Robert Ehrlich.

Later that year, the party reported that it was nearly broke. But state GOP Chairman Jim Pelura says Flynn helped turn things around. He says Flynn drew more small donations, allowing the party to pay off its debts. Read more

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Marc Freedman, age 49, of North Potomac, Maryland, today to 63 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for wire fraud and money laundering ... via Federal Bureau of Investigation

"We certainly have heard anecdotally that there are extremely worrying instances of different kinds of social ills developing - prostitution, human trafficking, human smuggling"

The United States remains on track to accept 12,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September, despite having fallen sharply behind the pace needed to meet that resettlement pledge, administration officials said yesterday.

The Bush administration fell well short of last year's target of admitting 7,000 Iraqis and has resettled fewer than 3,000 in the first half of the current fiscal year. But Ambassador James Foley, the top State Department official on Iraqi refugees, said the government is now able to process many more candidates for admission. Read more

Thursday, April 10, 2008 WBAL Radio as reported by Robert Lang The statue of George Washington in the Old Senate Chamber. via WBAL-AM Baltimore

Mattawoman Creek, west and downstream of the proposed new $60 million highway. I have a story in today's paper about a proposal in Southern Maryland to build a highway over one of the Chesapeake Bay region's ... via The Baltimore Sun

"There are hundreds and hundreds of them involved - this is tax dollars at work"

With the Jan. 31 retirement of Shanon Wolf, Suzette Snyder has taken on the job of labor exchange administrator in the Western Maryland One-Stop Job Centers. via Herald-Mail

"And it's easy to be against something that's bad, but what's hard is to make the hard decisions that implement those actions."

Maryland's tax on computer services is headed for repeal. The General Assembly has passed a measure that would repeal the tax before it even takes effect. via Daily Record

Yikes, we almost had an adverse economic event there. But we'll soon be wading in dough, thanks to the grown-ups in Washington and Annapolis. via The Baltimore Sun

A Maryland jury found a former Army Ranger guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday in the shooting death of a fellow Ranger he had served with in Afghanistan. via Daily Record

"Zekiah Swamp has been recognized by numerous authorities as one of the most significant ecological areas in the Chesapeake Bay watershed"

A power plant ash dump in Southern Maryland leaked toxic pollutants into a wetlands described by the state as one of the most important in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, according to a complaint filed yesterday.

In the legal notice, environmental groups and Charles County residents advised state and federal environmental agencies of their intent to sue the Mirant power company over runoff from the Faulkner fly ash landfill.

The groups assert that Mirant's own records show that the dump's runoff of toxic pollutants such as selenium and lead into Bowling Creek, which flows into Zekiah Swamp and the Wicomico River, violated water quality standards 12,677 times in 2006 and 2007. Read more

"This is the first part in a four-act play, and we respect that the other bodies need to act and we certainly urge them to give a favorable report to this so we can get to a full repeal"

A plan to repeal an extremely unpopular tax on computer services cleared a hurdle Wednesday when a Senate panel voted to replace it with a new tax on the very wealthy, budget cuts and money from the state's transportation fund.

The 10-5 vote in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee was the product of weeks of tough discussions about how to make up for an estimated $200 million that the so-called tech tax would have raised.

The bill includes a new tax on people who make a million dollars a year. The tax, which would be in effect for three years, would generate roughly $100 million. Read more

"It also makes you more likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking."

Scientists say they have pinpointed a genetic link that makes people more likely to get hooked on tobacco, causing them to smoke more cigarettes, making it harder to quit, and leading more often to deadly lung ... via The Baltimore Sun

"Every time you put up a plaque, you're putting in something that inherently interferes, detracting from the authenticity of the place. ... On the other hand, we have 2 million visitors to Annapolis each year that want to learn."

In the latest move to focus on Annapolis' rich history, city officials want to install markers -- possibly with audio -- at selected sites with architectural or historical significance.

Alderman Richard E. Israel, who represents much of the city's historic district, introduced the ordinance, which is scheduled to be voted on during the City Council meeting April 14.

'What I tell people is that we cherish our collection of venerable old buildings, and we're proud of them,' Israel said. 'And we need to understand what happened there. We're not living in a museum. We want to make the point that the events happened, and lives were lived.' Read more

WASHINGTON If statistics hold true, almost half of the Maryland guardsmen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will face mental problems within a few months of coming home. via The Recorder

Author Tom Clancy's home was damaged by a fire that burned a second-floor deck Saturday, a spokesman for the Maryland fire marshal's office said.

Clancy, the author of popular thrillers such as "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games," and "Clear and Present Danger," was home at the time, but was not injured in the noon blaze, spokesman Joe Zurolo said.

"The smoke alarms are what alerted him to the fact there was a fire," Zurolo said.

The cause of the fire, which caused about $10,000 in damage to the rear of the three-story stone home, has not been determined, Zurolo said. Read more

"I, Sonya and our family look forward to being among you as fellow travelers in this exciting journey."

Members of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland elected the Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton, canon pastor of Washington National Cathedral, as its 14th bishop today.

Sutton, 54, will be the first African-American to lead the diocese, which has about 44,000 baptized members.

The election was held this morning at St. James' Church in Lafayette Square. About 500 people attended, 370 of whom were able to cast votes for the five nominees. Voters included clergy and laymen.

Sutton, in addition to his post at the Washington cathedral, is director of the Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. He has also served as assistant to the bishop in the Diocese of New Jersey. Read more