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June 8, 2023

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

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Ecosystem Eco Portal Lead News News Homepage

The Mid-Shore Faces Code Red

June 8, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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Photo by Spy Agent 7

As of Wednesday, a majority of Maryland is under an air quality advisory due to smoke wafting in from raging wildfires in Eastern Canada, and state environment officials are warning that Marylanders should limit their exposure outside.

“Fires over Quebec continue to produce prodigious smoke which is being continuously funneled on northerly flow towards the Mid-Atlantic. Presently a concentrated plume of smoke is working south through Pennsylvania and New York towards the eastern half of Maryland,” according to the state’s Department of the Environment’s most recent air quality forecast discussion.

The smoky air began rolling in Tuesday evening, bringing in fine particles that are lung irritants, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

High concentrations fine particles brought in through wildfire smoke can lead to a variety of symptoms, ranging from “relatively minor (e.g., eye and respiratory tract irritation) to more serious health effects (e.g., exacerbation of asthma and heart failure, and premature death),” according to the EPA.

Additional health effects attributed to short-term wildfire smoke exposure includes coughing, phlegm, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.

While more Northern cities are experiencing the brunt of the smoke and suffering from reduced air quality due to the wildfires in Canada, Maryland is catching a fair amount of smoky air.

Air quality is indicated through the air quality index (AQI), a metric that ranges from 0 to 500 AQI, with lower numbers meaning better air quality, according to AirNow, a partnership between federal environmental and health agencies. “Good” air quality index ranges from 0 to 50.Maryland Department of the Environment reports that most of Maryland is experiencing “unhealthy” air quality due to wildfires in Canada. Credit: Maryland Department of the Environment

In Maryland, Garrett and Allegany counties are under a “moderate” air quality advisory, at 89 AQI, the Maryland Department of the Environment reports. In this area, people who are uniquely sensitive to air quality are recommended to reduce outdoor excursion.

At 112 AQI, Washington County’s air quality is considered “unhealthy” for sensitive groups, which includes children, older adults and people with respiratory disease or heart disease. These groups are recommended to take precautions and limit prolonged outdoor exertion, according to AirNow

All of Maryland’s remaining counties and Baltimore City are under a Code Red at 151 AQI, meaning that all residents should limit prolonged outdoor exertion and sensitive groups should avoid outdoor activities, according to AirNow.

The governor’s office released a list of tips to keep healthy during poor air quality:

• If you have lung or heart disease, stay indoors.
• Air conditioning can improve the air quality indoors.
• Masks (like N95s, KN95s) will reduce the particles that you breathe, but they can also make it harder to breathe.
• Be alert for breathing problems in children, especially children with lung problems like asthma.
• Check on neighbors and relatives with chronic health problems.

“The health and safety of Marylanders is our top priority. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information is available,” Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in a statement.

Current projections from the state environmental department indicate that some reprieve from smoky air is likely to arrive between Thursday and Friday, when a majority of the state is expected to move from an “unhealthy” air advisory to “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

By Danielle J. Brown

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Eco Portal Lead, News Homepage

Federalsburg’s Lawrence DiRe Named Chestertown’s new Town Manager

June 6, 2023 by James Dissette 1 Comment

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Federalsburg Town Manager, Lawrence DiRe, has been selected as the new town manager for Chestertown, according to Mayor David Foster. The decision was made through a unanimous vote by the town council, and DiRe is expected to assume his new role by the end of June.DiRe will succeed Bill Ingersoll, a town manager who dedicated four decades of service to shaping the community we cherish today.

Online research reveals DiRe’s impressive background, which includes previous positions such as Town Manager for Cape Charles, Virginia, Director of Civic Engagement and Research at the non-profit organization Open Local Illinois, consultant to the University of Maryland, and College and Career Advisor/Volunteer for the Delmarva Education Foundation. He holds a BA degree in History from St. John’s University and an MA and ABD degree from Loyola University Chicago.

On his LinkedIn page, DiRe describes himself as a senior-level public service professional with expertise in various areas, including civic engagement, conflict analysis and resolution, mediation, town and gown relations, social entrepreneurship, local government transparency, land use planning and zoning, property rights, governing board codes of ethics, budgeting and finance, FOIA, and RLUIPA.

Additionally, DiRe is an active member of organizations such as the Maryland Municipal League (MML), the American Planning Association and its state chapter, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), and Strong Towns. He currently serves a three-year appointment to the Maryland Green-Blue Infrastructure Advisory Commission and has previously held the role of co-chair of the Cybersecurity subcommittee of the MML Hometown Emergency Preparedness Ad Hoc Committee from 2020 to 2021.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Mid-Shore Monthly: Counties looking for Blueprint Answers with MACo’s Michael Sanderson

June 5, 2023 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

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Editor’s Note: Every month, the Spy Newspapers teams up with our public affairs partner, WHCP Community Radio in Cambridge, to produce a monthly podcast on the some of the real public policy challenges facing the Mid-Shore counties of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen’s Anne’s and Talbot.

In the wake of recent elections and the ongoing implementation of Maryland’s Education Blueprint, concerns and anxieties have emerged regarding the financial implications for county governments.

The ambitious 10-year program, with an estimated cost of around $8-9 billion, aims to provide substantial funding for education in the state. However, the burden of financing the blueprint has raised questions about the ability of counties to meet the financial requirements.

In light of the impact the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future will have on Mid-Shore county governments, we invited Michael Sanderson, executive director of the Maryland Association of Counties, to participate in a interview to discuss the sometimes confusing and potentially destabilizing budgetary requirements they must meet to fulfill the Blueprint’s aspirations.

The Spy’s Jim Dissette, Dave Wheelan, and WHCP’s Kevin Diaz, talked to Michael by Zoom last Friday.

This podcast video is approximately 19 minutes in length.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Maryland Motorists Will Have to Dig a Little Deeper at the Gas Pump Starting July 1

May 31, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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The state tax rate of a gallon of gas will increase to 47 cents per gallon, an increase of more than 10% compared to the current rate. Over the last two years, the rate has increased by 30% due to inflation and surging fuel prices.

Owners of diesel-powered vehicles will experience a similar increase with the state gas tax increasing from nearly 43.5 cents per gallon to nearly 47.8 cents per gallon on July 1. Over the last two years, the state tax on diesel has increased by more than 29%.

“The fact that in a Maryland economy that Governor Moore himself has recognized isn’t performing well, Democratic leaders are OK with allowing large automatic tax raises to occur that will cost the average Maryland family hundreds of dollars per year and raise costs and prices for many small businesses is beyond disappointing,” said House Minority Leader Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany).

The increase that takes effect July 1 would add about 65 cents to the fill-up of a 15-gallon gas tank, or about $33.54 more in additional state gas taxes on an annual basis. In all, motorists with that same weekly fill-up would pay more than $366 annually in state fuel taxes.

Revenue generated by the tax goes into a dedicated fund used to pay for statewide roads and highways projects. Democrats have warned of a coming reckoning as changing driving habits will likely render the trust fund and the gas tax less effective at paying for projects.

Additionally, Gov. Wes Moore (D) in March announced Maryland would require all new car sales in the state to be electric vehicles by 2035.

A spokesman for Moore did not immediately comment on the tax increase.

“You can’t be the party of the middle class if you keep promoting radical environmental policies that raise taxes and the cost of living,” said Buckel. “Everyone can’t afford a Tesla, or wants to live next to a Metro stop. For the millions of Marylanders who need to use their standard, gas-powered cars to go to work and feed their families, Maryland Democrats just raised your taxes.”

The increase also gives Maryland the distinction of having the fourth highest gas tax in the U.S. behind California, Pennsylvania and Washington state. The tax is the second highest in the Mid-Atlantic.

Information regarding the tax increase was published on the state comptroller’s website this week. A letter was sent to Moore, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore) informing them of the July 1 increase.

In the letter, Robert J. Rehrmann, director of the Board of Revenue Estimates, said the increase was driven almost equally by inflation and the average price of a gallon of gas over the last year.

Inflation rose 7.1% between May 2022 and April 2023 — just shy of the 8% limit built into a decade-old law. That increased the per gallon state surcharge by 2.1 cents per gallon.

Rehrmann said high motor fuel prices — based on the average price of a gallon of gas — added another 2.2 cents to the state tax.

The increase is on top of the federal tax of 18.3 cents per gallon for regular fuel and 23.4 cents per gallon for diesel. Those tax rates have remained in place since 1993.

By law, the comptroller’s office must set the new state gas tax rate by June 1. It’s based on a formula that takes into account the annual rate of inflation as well as the average cost of a gallon of gas over a year.

A spokesperson for Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman (D) said an announcement had not yet been made. The comptroller’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the increase.

Maryland’s motor fuel tax has been tied to inflation since 2013. That year, the legislature passed the first increase in the tax in more than two decades.

Lawmakers that year, in an effort to avoid future votes on a politically charged tax, linked future increases to a calculation of annual inflation. At the time, sharp rises in inflation were few and far between.

Last year, that trend ended as gas prices rose at the pump and inflation increased to levels not seen in four decades. The result was a 6.7 cents per gallon increase.

Republicans in the legislature over the last couple of years have unsuccessfully mounted efforts to repeal the automatic increase tied to inflation. In March, Republicans in the Senate unsuccessfully attempted to decouple inflation from the gas tax by offering an amendment to legislation that removed the inflationary calculation on automatic transit fare increases.

“Senate Republicans provided an opportunity to offer relief to Maryland motorists by offering a floor amendment to repeal the automatic annual gas tax increase,” said Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore). “However, Democrat leadership squashed that, refusing to take accountability for their propensity to increase taxes. Maryland motorists deserve transparency on the taxes imposed on them.”

By Bryan P. Sear

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: News Homepage

Consumer Guide Criticized for Saying ‘Avoid’ Chesapeake Oysters

May 27, 2023 by Bay Journal Leave a Comment

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The Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population is still a long way from what it once was, but lately it’s shown signs of a rebound. Maryland and Virginia watermen harvested more of the bivalves in the most recent season than they had in more than three decades.

So why is Seafood Watch, a widely consulted guide to sustainable seafood, recommending that people avoid eating wild-caught oysters from the Bay?

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which produces Seafood Watch, isn’t saying. A spokesperson for the California aquarium declined a request for an interview to answer questions about its draft report, which includes a recommendation to shun oysters from Maryland or Virginia.

“At this time, we are not able to comment on the draft assessment as the report may change based on feedback we receive in the public comment period,” the spokesperson said by email.

The aquarium was taking feedback through May 22. Since making its draft report public in April, it has received an earful from watermen, fishery managers, scientists and even other conservationists. Critics contend it erroneously portrays the Bay’s oyster population as overfished and poorly managed, a characterization they say even in draft form is hurting the region’s seafood industry.

“They have no idea what they’re doing,” said Robert T. Brown Sr., president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, “… and they’re interfering with people’s livelihoods.”

Since 1999, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program every few years has been offering what it says are science-based recommendations on which fish and seafood across the United States are sustainable “best choices” or “good alternatives” — and which should be avoided because of the risk of that species’ depletion or of harm to the marine ecosystem. It distributes about 2.5 million printable online guides every year aimed at influencing the purchasing decisions of nonprofit organizations, businesses and consumers.

Based on its last assessment in 2018, Seafood Watch currently rates oysters from Maryland and Virginia a good choice, despite some concerns, for those who care about sustainable seafood.

The new draft assessment downgrades those recommendations, citing “high concern” for the abundance of oysters in both states and deeming their public fisheries management ineffective. It even finds fault with the methodology Maryland has used in assessing the abundance of its wild oyster stock and whether it’s being overharvested.

Officials with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources say no one from the aquarium contacted them in developing the new assessment, and they were stunned to learn of the “avoid” recommendation.

“There’s missing information, there’s outdated information. They have misinterpreted information, and they have failed to live up to their own standards of using the best science and collaborating,” said Kristen Fidler, assistant DNR secretary for aquatic resources.

Agency officials defended the state’s oyster management, which they say is based on a science-driven stock assessment that has been reviewed favorably by a panel of outside scientists.

Mike Wilberg, a fisheries scientist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who led the development of DNR’s stock assessment, said he thought the Seafood Watch drafters applied an overly broad and uneven brush when rating the sustainability of oyster stocks along the East Coast. He said they failed to appreciate the complexities of the Bay’s oyster population and how it varies from one place to another.

“Some of the things we were criticized for [by Seafood Watch] are things we were praised for in the expert review of our stock assessment,” he noted.

“I applaud their efforts to get consumers to make conscious decisions [about sustainability],” Wilberg added. “Unfortunately, with all this stuff, the devil is in the details.”

Roger Mann and Mark Luckenbach, a pair of veteran oyster biologists with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, likewise contend that the Seafood Watch ratings of their state’s fishery are “based on old data and are entirely inappropriate.” The data cited by the report’s drafters in deeming oyster abundance “a high concern” was more than a decade old, they pointed out.

JC Hudgins, president of the Virginia Waterman’s Association, said that the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and members of the seafood industry “do a lot to keep the Eastern oyster a sustainable species,” even as the state’s harvest from public fishery areas in the 2022–23 season topped 300,000 bushels for the first time in 35 years.

Since 2018, when Seafood Watch rated Virginia oysters a good choice, the fishery has steadily improved every year, Hudgins said. Last year, he noted, reef surveys found oyster densities at levels not seen since before diseases struck in the late 1980s and triggered a catastrophic decline in population and habitat.

Brown, head of the Maryland watermen’s group, said he believed the Maryland oyster recommendation was also based on outdated information. In the six-month 2022–23 season that ended March 30, watermen harvested more than 600,000 bushels, the most since 1986–87.

In the recently ended season, Brown said, “a lot of people were still catching their limits [early] at the end of the season. That’s telling you we had plenty of oysters there.” He also noted that since the first stock assessment in 2019 that found widespread overharvesting, the state has reduced daily catch limits. “We’ve got a good management plan,” he said.

Even conservationists, who have at times voiced their own criticisms of oyster management in the Bay, have qualms about the draft Seafood Watch recommendation.

Allison Colden, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Maryland director and a fisheries biologist, said she thinks the aquarium may be jumping the gun because a fresh update of the state’s oyster population is due to be completed and released within a matter of weeks. She noted that conditions for oyster reproduction and survival have been on the upswing lately, with very low mortality rates from the once-devastating diseases MSX and Dermo.

Even so, Colden said, the Seafood Watch assessment “does highlight some of the lingering concerns CBF has had and still has with the fishery.” Though only a few areas are still experiencing overfishing, one of those is Tangier Sound, where the majority of Maryland oysters are harvested.

And while oyster reproduction has been good to excellent the last few years, Colden said, caution is warranted because the fishery has undergone boom and bust cycles in the past.

Colden said she was in wholehearted agreement with another Seafood Watch recommendation — a blanket endorsement of farmed oysters as a “best” choice for consumers concerned about the sustainability of the reef-building bivalves.

“We have long recommended that consumers choose farmed oysters from the Chesapeake Bay,” she said, “because that eliminates any possibility of concerns about sustainability or about oyster recovery.”

But even there, Maryland officials say, the Seafood Watch guides don’t make it clear enough that their “avoid” recommendation doesn’t apply to the state’s farmed oysters.

“We have a successful and growing oyster industry, both wild and aquaculture,” Fidler said. The “avoid” recommendation “could be incredibly damaging to the industry and really a major and unnecessary setback, especially with all the progress we’ve made.”

by Tim Wheeler

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Eco Portal Lead, News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Eylie Sasajima Wins Washington College’s Sophie Kerr Prize

May 20, 2023 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

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Eylie Sasajima ’23 earned the prestigious honor with a portfolio of poems, academic work and creative non-fiction.

The Prize caps a college career that included editing Collegian, Washington College’s student-run literary and art journal; serving as a poetry reader for the College’s national literary magazine, Cherry Tree; and conducting research as an English major on Frank Herbert’s Dune.

During the award ceremony Friday night, Sasajima, from Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, read several poems from her prize-winning portfolio, which she said she had curated with a conscious focus on assembling a manuscript, using the process of applying for the Sophie Kerr Prize as an opportunity to not only showcase her diverse writing, but also to strive to make the portfolio overall coalesce as a larger work.

“Poetry is the genre that I really speak best through. My goal for college was always to grow and mature as a poet,” Sasajima said. “I am right now looking at a career in editing and publishing. Something I’m thinking a lot about is putting together manuscripts.”

Sasajima began working as an editorial intern at Alan Squire Publishing of Bethesda during her last semester and will continue working there after graduation. Liz O’Connor, associate professor of English and acting chair of the department, said that is more of a continuation of Sasajima’s literary career than the beginning of it.

With her work for Collegian and Cherry Tree, as well as her scholarly work and writing, Sasajima has shown “substantial engagement in the literary community of Washington College,” according to O’Connor, and the broad approach to literary endeavors shows through in her poetry.

“In Eylie Sasajima’s poetry, the Sophie Kerr Committee recognized a young writer’s promising creative talents guided by critical acumen as an editor and intellectual engagement with the issues interrogated in the writing. In explorations of climate change, identity, gender, and power, Sasajima deftly translates between the ecologies of the self and the larger communities of our natural and social environments,” O’Connor said. “Eylie Sasajima is a poet and thinker worthy of our attention.”

Sasajima’s thoughtfulness is apparent when she discusses her work as well. Across the genres represented in her portfolio, Sasajima noted that the work deals with themes of gender, apocalypse, and home, including her homeplace of south-central Pennsylvania and her Japanese American heritage. Throughout the topics she addresses, Sasajima sees complexity, danger but also beauty, conflict but also pride.

James Hall, associate professor of English and director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House, serves on the selection committee that reviews student submissions and awards the Sophie Kerr Prize. He saw that complexity, as well as a special rigor and drive in Sasajima’s work.

“Eylie Sasajima’s poems explore the self in our modern world, confronting topics like climate change and oppression that are far-ranging and deeply impressive. As impressive as her writerly vision is the craft of her work: the attention to well-deployed imagery, to meaningful and burnished sonic textures, to poetic form that highlights and develops the wise intellectual and emotional arguments—these are all characteristics of an Eylie Sasajima poem,” Hall said. “And while Sasajima questions what it means to have a self shaped by socio-political powers, she also believes that poetry can restore the world’s beauty: to take from the ruins and build something better.”

While Sasajima won the Sophie Kerr Prize, both Hall and O’Connor noted the overall excellence and versatility of this year’s entrants, especially the five finalists, who also included Queen Cornish of Wilmington, Delaware; A.J. Gerardi of Wayne, Pennsylvania; Sophia Rooks of Williamsburg, Virginia; and Amara Sorosiak of New Milford, Connecticut.

“It was very difficult to narrow down to five finalists,” Hall said. “Reading these finalists’ work is to recognize how good writers draw from every genre and manage to mix in their own imagination to make the world feel new.”

After President Mike Sosulski announced that Sasajima had won the Sophie Kerr Prize, the other finalists turned to her with smiles and encouragement as she covered her mouth then rose to speak. Her remarks accepting the prize were heartfelt expressions of gratitude that reflected the importance of community in the Sophie Kerr tradition.

“This is an honor I never really expected for myself. and I can’t really put my gratitude into words. But I will try. Thank you to the Sophie Kerr committee for the support and for considering my work. I’m just so indebted to the English faculty here and to the Lit House staff. So thank you to all of them for their guidance, for their mentorship and for their support,” Sasajima said. “Amara, A.J., Sophia, and Queen are such amazing writers who exemplify how strong our literary community here is. And I certainly wouldn’t be here without some other members of that community…who made me feel welcome here and who are pretty wonderful writers who I look up to.”

 

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Washington College Academy of Lifelong Learning Expanding to Summer

May 15, 2023 by WC-ALL Leave a Comment

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For the first time, the Washington College Academy of Lifelong Learning (WC-ALL) will be offering summer programming, starting at the end of May. Organizers hope the new classes and simpler enrollment options will introduce the opportunities through WC-ALL to a broader audience.

There are two courses, one in-person and one online, and a number of single session learning opportunities, all of them free for WC-ALL members, but with a new option for non-members to pay per course as a way to try out what WC-ALL offers.

The changes come as Washington College is making new efforts to expand WC-ALL and engage members of Chestertown and surrounding Eastern Shore communities with the College. In a simple but important step, one of the summer opportunities is a campus tour, free to both WC-ALL members and non-members. Shane Brill, the lifelong learning and communications coordinator running WC-ALL at Washington, will lead 90-minute tours of campus on three different dates during the summer.

“We’re hosting summer campus tours to introduce people to the College and invite them to return for fun learning experiences,” Brill said. “Then individuals can sample WC-ALL with affordable a la carte programs, and our streamlined fee structure makes the benefits of annual membership accessible.”

The two courses this summer are A Short Guide to Trees and Tree Identification (in-person in June) and Why We Meditate: The Science and Practice of Clarity and Compassion (online in July). There are also two lectures as part of the summer programming: WC-ALL Table Talks presents Fabulous Fearsome Fentanyl with retired cardiologist Ray Vergne and Learn@Lunch! Averting Armageddon on the Fourth of July: The story of the Kargil War in 1999 with former advisor to four U.S. presidents and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Bruce Riedel.

Vice Chair of the WC-ALL Council Jeff Coomer will be teaching the tree course and is working closely with Brill to increase WC-ALL engagement. Coomer is a Washington College alumnus, chairs the WC-ALL Curriculum Committee, and has taught a number of courses on Buddhism, Stoicism, and poetry.

“We’re hoping this summer’s courses and talks will be just the beginning of a new range of offerings aimed at introducing more people to the joy of lifelong learning that’s at the heart of WC-ALL,” Coomer said. “I’ve designed the course I’ll be teaching on trees to be both informative and fun for the people taking it.”

Register for WC-ALL summer courses here:

The potential for deeper engagement with WC-ALL extends beyond this summer, of course. WC-ALL courses are taught by experts from both the College and the community, like Coomer, and proposals for courses are being accepted through June 15.

“As WC-ALL expands its on-campus and virtual offerings, we’re searching for instructors to join our ranks,” Brill said. “We invite individuals with expertise and passion for a subject to consider submitting a course proposal for the fall semester.”

Fall will feature two six-week sessions, mostly with four to six classes meeting once per week at 4:15 p.m. Interested instructors can submit a course proposal at washcoll.edu/wc-all-proposal.

To learn more about the fall offerings once they are selected, potential students can attend WC-ALL’s Showcase of Fall Courses from 3 to 5 p.m. on July 20. Registration for the fall will open on that date.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Ed Homepage, Ed Portal Lead, News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Pulling It All Together: Mid-Shore Health Improvement Coalition

May 15, 2023 by Dave Wheelan Leave a Comment

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For centuries the Mid-Shore has always succeeded in whatever endeavor it seeks when it decides to work together, and that strategy is now being applied to the growing challenge of regional health for its residents.

Under the seasoned leadership Nicole Morris, a public health nurse with some 20 years of experience, the Mid Shore Health Improvement Coalition is bringing together over 150 individuals from more than 50 organizations, in a mission to address the health needs of Maryland’s Mid-Shore region.

The coalition, represented by health officers from Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties, focuses on critical issues such as diabetes, cancer, tobacco use, healthcare provider shortages, and transportation.

In response to the alarming statistic that one in three adults in this region is affected by pre-diabetes, the coalition has prioritized awareness-raising and lifestyle changes. An innovative online risk test helps individuals identify their risk, while medical providers have processes to screen and refer potential pre-diabetic patients to the National Diabetes Prevention Program.

This program, requiring a year-long commitment, supports individuals in making sustainable lifestyle changes, with the potential to prevent diabetes by up to 60%.

The Spy asked Nicole to stop by the Spy studio a few weeks ago to tell us more.

This video is approximately 5 minutes in length. For more information about the Mid Shore Health Improvement Coalition please go here.

 

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Filed Under: Health Lead, News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Miscommunication Delays Approving Blueprint Education Reform Plans

May 12, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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Approval of local plans for reforming Maryland’s public schools will be delayed until July because state education officials are taking additional time to assess them.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which met in person Thursday for the first time since December, could’ve begun approving some plans this month.

Board Chair Isiah “Ike” Leggett said the delay stems from “an unforced error” in communication, and that it is especially important to rectify any misunderstandings when dealing with a multi-billion-dollar plan to reform Maryland’s education structure.

“This is a major transformation. The Blueprint is not just simply dotting the I’s [and] crossing the T’s,” he said. “We are…making a huge change as it relates to education. We anticipate some challenges and disagreements.”

The miscommunication involves the process for assessing each Blueprint plan from the state’s 24 local school systems.

The state Department of Education continues to review school system documents based on “Criteria for Success” which emphasize early childhood education, recruiting and retaining high-quality and diverse teachers and leaders, ensuring that students are prepared for college and careers, and providing additional resources for students.

By state law, the department provides recommendations on the Blueprint plans and the accountability board grants final approval.

According to a timeline the department released Wednesday, plans would be reviewed between Wednesday and Monday and the department would submit recommendations to the accountability board by Tuesday.

If the state needs additional time to review plans — or plan revisions — beyond next week, review periods are scheduled for May 31-June 5 and June 21-June 26.

“MSDE’s Blueprint implementation team members have proactively engaged with AIB staff regularly and with great frequency since the AIB became operational to facilitate continued and appropriate collaboration…” according to a statement from the department. “The State Board [of Education] and MSDE remain committed to working with the AIB within the current statutory framework to deliver transformative educational outcomes for all of Maryland’s children and to help make Maryland the best place to live, learn, and succeed.”

Rachel Hise, executive director for the accountability board, said information has been shared. However, some Blueprint feedback has gone directly to local school systems (also referred to as local education agencies or LEAs), creating a “two-step process.”

“The hope was that the MSDE feedback and the AIB feedback would be given to the LEAs at the same time…so that there would be one revision process,” Hise said after the nearly two-hour meeting. “Now, there will be a two-step process and the potential that the AIB may ask LEAs to revise their plans again after they’ve revised them for MSDE. We’re trying to avoid that as much as possible.”

There also lies a small “quirk” in state law.

Blueprint plans can be reviewed but cannot be approved in the month of June, to avoid confusion about funding when a new fiscal year begins July 1.

“The month of June is like a no go in the statute,” Hise said.

The board isn’t scheduled to meet again until June 8.

Meanwhile, the board approved a $76,747 expenditure to hire Ad Adstra Inc. of Montgomery County to transcribe all of this year’s Blueprint plans into Spanish.

Hise said school districts reported that Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language behind English.

The goal will be to review future long-term contracts with Ad Adstra or other companies to transcribe future Blueprint plans and other documents into more languages, board members agreed.

Thursday marked the first meeting for Justin K. Robinson, whom Gov. Wes Moore (D) appointed to join the seven-member board.

Robinson currently serves as the only educator on the board. He teaches eighth grade math and helps mentor other teachers in Prince George’s County public schools.

By William J. Ford

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Ed Homepage, Ed Portal Lead, News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

Report Details why Progress on Bay Clean Up has been Slow

May 10, 2023 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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A new report from the Chesapeake Bay Program says states need to flip the script in order to achieve pollution reduction goals for the Chesapeake Bay.

The 133-page report released by the program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee offers a range of findings about why progress toward those goals has been slow and why water quality improvements “are proving more challenging than expected.”

Among those findings are that pollution reductions from farmers have been insufficient, plans need to better take into account climate change and different habitats within the watershed with unique characteristics, and future conditions will impact the Bay differently in years to come.

Under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia and the District of Columbia agreed to meet specific goals to reduce pollution from entering the 64,000-square-mile watershed. Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that the 2025 goals are not likely to be met.

While pollution reductions have resulted from upgrades to wastewater treatment plants, most of the remaining reductions must come from so-called nonpoint sources, or those that are spread widely over geographic areas. Nonpoint sources include runoff from agricultural fields, urban areas and impervious surfaces, explained report co-editor Kurt Stephenson, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Tech.

“It is the major challenge confronting water quality management now and into the future,” Stephenson said. “Three-quarters of the [pollution] loads entering the Chesapeake Bay come from nonpoint sources. The largest majority is from agriculture.”

The report finds that existing efforts to reduce pollution from the agricultural sector through the use of best management practices have not been effective. According to the report, tens of millions of pounds of nitrogen reductions are needed to achieve the Bay water quality goals, but since 2010 best management practices have only produced 3 million pounds a year of nonpoint source reductions.

“The extensive history of nonpoint policy illustrates the limits of relying on voluntary actions,” the report states. “New and refined requirements … may be necessary to achieve substantial progress in reducing nonpoint source loads.”

Stephenson said that instead of instituting policies that incentivize farmers to implement certain practices, states could reward farmers for achieving greater pollution reductions.

Practices like planting riparian buffers “are highly cost-effective from a public standpoint in terms of getting reductions per dollar,” said Stephenson. “They can be highly effective. But nobody has any incentives to adopt things that have high upfront costs and no personal benefit.”

The report also finds nutrient reductions haven’t achieved the water quality improvements expected.

One reason for that is that “tipping points,” or periods when small changes yield big responses, haven’t been hit yet, explained Denice Wardrop, report co-editor, executive director of the Chesapeake Research Consortium and a professor of geography and ecology at Penn State University. Rising temperatures linked to climate change that offset roughly 6% to 34% of the nitrogen reductions that have occurred could also play a role.

“The Bay of the future is not the Bay of the past, and we have no historical precedent and model to go off of,” said Wardrop.

Improvements in resources like fish and wildlife populations can be achieved through additional management actions that don’t need to apply across all habitats, the report notes. Instead, states might embrace different reduction goals for different habitats or incorporate the benefits of restored wetlands or living shorelines into load reduction calculations.

Uncertainties lie ahead for the Bay, the report authors note, given climate change, population growth and economic development.

“Refining restoration goals over time should be considered as knowledge evolves about what future conditions are possible, what local communities and the partnership at-large see as priorities, and what is required to attain those possible futures,” the report says. “Uncertainty is inherent in each of these.”

By Charlie Paullin

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: News Homepage, News Portal Highlights

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