Faster, better…

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Two children were likely dead since at least last fall and their bodies moved several times to different homes before their remains were found in a basement freezer in their mother’s house in southern Maryland, authorities said Wednesday.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich.
—A new study finds no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun-related homicides or suicides. The University of Michigan and University of Maryland study also shows that tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearms-related deaths.

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human-resources managers who run the meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

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Four people were killed when a medical evacuation helicopter crashed in suburban Washington early Sunday, fire officials said.

Also see this link at WBAL-TV. This was the TROOPER 2 MSP helicopter. Two police officers and one medical staffer dies along with one of two patients from an automobile crash in Waldorf, MD

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In the largest fish kill in Maryland this year, about 100,000 dead menhaden blanketed a cove off Aberdeen Creek near Annapolis this weekend, killed by a fatal drop in oxygen levels in the water.

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Maryland painter Pamela Miller is offering her popular “Happy Hour Series paintings through fine art gallery, House of Frames and Fine Art in Prince Fredrick, MD.

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Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses. She shut down her equine massage practice in a Washington suburb after state officials told her state law only allows veterinarians to perform such services…

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Maryland worked with Disney Publishing Worldwide and its educational division last year to develop a pilot project to put Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics in eight third-grade classrooms.

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I’ve lived in Maryland for seven years. This last week I went back to California for a few reunions with friends and relatives. Much to my amazement driving in California was still safer and easier than driving in Maryland. There was an increase in the number of careless lunatics, but over all California is still safer. I found the most careless drivers in and around the San Francisco – Oakland areas. The unsafe drivers seem to prefer the BMW.  While I hate to profile anyone it was a common denominator that was hard to escape. What was really great to see was that California’s law enforcement officers in public safety vehicles still obey the traffic laws unlike those on the East coast. I hate to point that out having worked in public safety for twelve years but it is true from my experience – another very public observation that is hard to deny if you really open your eyes and look.

The roads in the SF Bay Area are much worse than they were seven years ago. The Sacramento area and the gold country seem to be in reasonable good shape. Highways like 680, 101, 80, and 4 are in terrible shape.  Driving the small rental car was like driving a bumper car at an amusement park, particularly on the levy roads of Highway 4 between Stockton and Antioch. Something I’ll never do again unless I have a larger car.

One thing that is very disconcerting about the 680 corridor between Oakland and the Carquinez Bridge is the amount of graffiti.  The vandalism on this corridor is extreme compared to 2001. It was hugely disappointing not to see  Contra Costa County Sheriff, Concord PD, and Pleasant Hill PD at the NoGraffiti Conference hosted by Santa Rosa Police and the NoGraf Network.  The NoGraf Network got it’s start in Pleasant Hill and once-upon-a-time Pleasant Hill was doing something about graffiti. <sigh>

Maryland House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol yesterday and received unsupervised probation but no jail time in a plea agreement that allows the matter to be expunged from his record if he stays out of trouble. (Washington Post)

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