Features (News)

Article - News; by Margaret Tearman - 7/7/11

High Five for Maryland’s Animals

America’s No. 1 animal rights advocate joins state activists to celebrate a landmark legislative year It has been a very good year to be an animal in Maryland. Propelled by the volunteer organization Maryland Votes for Animals and bi-partisan support, five animal protection bills became law in 2011. “This year was unprecedented,” says Carolyn Kilborn, founder and chair of Maryland Votes for Animals. It’s about time. The national...

Article - News; by Margaret Tearman - 7/7/11

The Museum Behind the Music

Mixing rock, country and comedy to feed Bubbles and Squeak

For a quarter-century, music fed Calvert Marine Museum’s otters and salaried its staff. In service of the museum’s twin causes of local history and science, Los Lobos howled, Crosby Stills and Nash harmonized, Bob Dylan growled and the Allman Brothers jammed. Calvert brought Southern Maryland the big names of rock and country music, and if some of them were slightly off their prime, the fans didn’t care. The classics...

Article - News; by Margaret Tearman - 6/30/11

Legally Local

It’s easier to say that popular word than to define it

Buying local is all the rage. But what is local? Until now, there has been no way to guarantee that what you’re buying is grown locally — whatever that is — or even grown in Maryland. Now, thanks to a new law taking effect June 27, foods sold in Maryland as “locally grown or produced” must be identified by state of origin. Raw meat, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, shellfish and processed dairy products all fall under the law. ...

Article - News; by C.T. Schwink - 6/30/11

Countdown to the Fourth

The work starts early each year to make bombs burst in air on Independence Day

Every July, Americans celebrate our nation’s birthday with fireworks. The crowd gets quiet as the sun goes down, waiting for the countdown to illuminate the sky in a bombastic and awe-inspiring yearly birthday ignition. It only takes a moment to ignite a firework, the touch of a match or more accurately, the push of a button. It takes far longer to organize a large-scale celebration. Starting July 5, event planners will be working on next year...

Article - News; by C.T. Schwink - 6/16/11

Where to Take Your Swimming Lessons

Anne Arundel County Arundel Olympic Swim Center - Swim lessons for adults and kids. Children must be a least three years old and potty-trained: 410-222-7933. Truxton Park Swimming Pool - A variety of swimming programs for adults and children: 410-263-2958. North Arundel Aquatic Center - Swim lessons for adults and kids. Children must be a least three years old and potty-trained: 410-222-0900. Severna Park Swim...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 6/16/11

Cleaning a River Takes Heart and Brains

Report from the 24th annual Patuxent River Wade In

“We’re all Fowler’s Followers,” said Congressman Steny Hoyer, as 86-year-old retired state senator Bernie Fowler led the 24th annual Wade In to his beloved Patuxent River. Hoyer had already proclaimed the river’s health — C- to D- as measured by the Patuxent Riverkeeper — “not good enough.” When the procession of Followers had waded into the rain-fed river from Jefferson Patterson Park, Fowler announced “the news is...

Article - News; by C.T. Schwink - 6/9/11

The Show Will Go On!

But your cash will put more flash in July 4th Annapolis

Fireworks almost didn’t explode over Annapolis last year. With budget constraints and a lack of donations, the show looked doomed. With the clock close to expiring, the city and local business came through with the cash to fund the show. “I credit the city for keeping up with their participation,” said Chris Weir, the man in charge of July 4th Annapolis 2011. “It’s such a signature piece...

Article - News; by Dotty Holcomb Doherty - 6/9/11

For the Birds

Volunteer birders stalked their prey for five years to create the new Atlas of Breeding Birds in Maryland

New osprey heads are popping over edges of nests all over Chesapeake Country. Puffs of tiny brown Carolina wren fledglings erupt from our porches and shrubs, the second brood since April. Soon, beneath our feeders, cardinal babies, whose sprouts of downy feathers remind us of our own bad-hair days, will beg for food from their parents. Evidence of nesting is easy to find when the birds hop about our doorsteps. But most of Maryland and D.C.’s 206 species of breeding...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 5/12/11

Give a Kid a Chance

The cause behind the Naptown barBAYq

No one really knows why kids get cancer. But they do, some 14,000 of them a year. Go to Parole Rotary’s Naptown barBAYq May 13 and 14, and you’ll be helping “give a chance of living a nice long life” to the 200 kids cancer sends each year to The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore. Like Tracie Lewis. The fifth-grader at Severna Park’s Folger Mckinsey Elementary School has been a patient at...

Article - News; by Matt Driscoll - 4/21/11

Close Call for Newly Restored Cove Point Marsh

Recent storm spares freshwater marsh

Just over a month ago, a new sand barrier was topped off with 60,000 plants of native grass to protect the fragile Cove Point freshwater marsh in Calvert County from the open Bay. Mother Nature had breached the barrier in 2004 and 2006, and once again this month, she has proved that she is in charge. With driving rain, powerful wind gusts and waves over seven feet, the Bay saw Victory-at-Sea conditions on Saturday April 16. At the Gooses Reef Buoy just north of Cove Point,...