Articles by Emily Myron

Article - People; by Emily Myron - 5/16/13

Giving It All Away

Free deposits and free withdrawals keep this bank solvent

Last year, Bruce Michalec’s bank gave away $1.25 million. It was his busiest in 27 years, but 2013 is on track to break the 2012 record. That’s because hunger and need are the forces that drive the growth of Anne Arundel County’s central food bank. Hunger is an everyday thing, says Michalec, whose bank started small back in 1985 with “a truck, a freezer and a place to put it all.” That first place was a building rented from the Cedar Grove...

Article - News; by Emily Myron - 4/18/13

Oysters 1; Crabs 0

Winners and losers in this year’s General Assembly

Not everyone made out well with environmental legislation this year. “This session started with a landmark legislative win for the environmental community when the offshore wind bill sailed through both chambers,” said Karla Raettig, executive director of Maryland League of Conservation Voters. “Unfortunately, the General Assembly killed or weakened many other environmental priorities.” The pieces will finally...

Article - News; by Emily Myron - 4/11/13

Rivers in Reach

Bridges to become waterway access points

As cars rumble over newly built bridges, Marylanders will be paddling beneath them. As soon as 2014, bridges will no longer be only routes over rivers. They will also be places where Marylanders can safely get down to the water to fish, canoe and kayak. That’s the result of one of more than 350 bills passed by the Maryland General Assembly this year. Passed almost unanimously, only three nays were cast, all in the House, one by Calvert Del. Tony O’Donnell....

Article - People; by Emily Myron - 4/11/13

Back to the Water on the Captain John Smith National...

John Maounis marked the trail for you

The Chesapeake Bay is not any old park. When is the last time you saw a park that was entirely on the water? When John Maounis started work as superintendent at the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay office seven years ago, he had never seen such a thing either. His job was to find the best way for the National Park Service to be a part of Bay protection. Maounis was no stranger to parks. He’d worked at parks and historic sites across the country...

Article - News; by Emily Myron - 3/7/13

Take Me to the River

Waterway Access Bill would get Charlie Stek — and you — safely to the water

Charlie Stek wanted his son to experience nature, fishing and paddling rivers. With Maryland’s 10,000 miles of rivers and streams — crossed by 5,176 bridges — that ought to be easy. Yet there was no safe way to get to the water. To fish the Patuxent, Stek and his son Alex had to park on blind curves, jump guardrails and scamper down banks. “We had this incredible asset right down the road that kids, families and...