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Maryland Launches Tax Year 2020 Energy Storage Income Tax Credit

February 21, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has opened the application period for the Tax Year 2020 (TY20) Maryland Energy Storage Income Tax Credit Program. This program is designed to encourage the deployment of energy storage systems in the state. In Tax Year 2019, MEA issued 175 residential and commercial tax credits certificates for energy storage systems totaling more than two megawatts which is enough stored energy to power 3,000 microwave ovens.

“Maryland made national news in 2017 when it debuted the country’s first energy storage income tax credit, and after only two years we are seeing a 100% subscription rate,” explained Mary Beth Tung, Director of the Maryland Energy Administration. “The energy storage income tax credit is an undisputed success for the state and our residents.”

The program is available to eligible residential and commercial taxpayers who have installed a qualifying energy storage system on their residential or commercial property in Maryland during TY20 (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2020). MEA may award up to $750,000 dollars in energy storage tax credits on a first-come, first-served basis while funding is available. Tax credits are calculated as 30% of the total installed cost of the energy storage system, up to $5,000 for residential systems and $75,000 for commercial systems, whichever is lower.

The TY20 online application is available now. The deadline to apply and submit an application is Jan. 15, 2021 at 11:59 PM EST. For more information, visit the Maryland Energy Storage Income Tax Credit online.

Maryland Energy Administration On behalf of Governor Hogan the mission of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is to promote affordable, reliable and cleaner energy for the benefit of all Marylanders. To achieve its mission, MEA advises the Governor, General Assembly on matters relating to energy policy. MEA administers grant and loan programs to encourage clean energy technologies in all sectors of Maryland’s economy: Residential, Commercial, Agricultural, and Transportation. For more information about the Maryland Energy Administration, visit Energy.Maryland.gov

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Prayer Service for Racial Reconciliation

February 21, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

As part of the Black History Month, there will be a Prayer Service for Racial Reconciliation at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 N. Cross Street, Chestertown, on February 28, 2020 at 7:00 PM. This event is co-sponsored by Emmanuel Episcopal Church and Janes United Methodist Church. At this service we will Renew our Commitment to eradicating the racial inequities that continue to haunt and plague our society, through paths of reconciliation and love.

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Maryland Forest Service Backyard Buffer Program

February 21, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is offering free tree seedlings to help improve water quality in targeted Eastern Shore communities.

Landowners in Kent and Queen Anne’s counties who have a creek, drainage ditch, stream, or other waterway on or near their property are eligible for free tree seedlings through the department’s Backyard Buffer program.

Trees planted along waterways help improve water quality by absorbing excess nutrients, reducing sediment, lowering water temperatures, and stabilizing stream banks.

Each “buffer in a bag” contains bare-root, native tree or shrub seedlings suited for planting in moist soil conditions. Homeowners can choose from a small bag of 10 with two of each species and a large bag of 25 with five of each species. The bundle will include eastern redbud, silky dogwood, persimmon, swamp white oak, and hackberry. Loblolly pine will be bagged separately in quantities of 10 per bag. All seedlings are 1 year old and about 8 to 10 inches tall.

Tree protection tubes will again be available for purchase on orders in both counties through the Queen Anne’s County Forestry Board. The tree shelters will include a 4-foot tube, bird net, and 5-foot wooden stake. Tree tubes provide a number of beneficial purposes including blocking deer rubbing, discouraging animals from chewing on the seedlings, protecting the seedlings from frost damage, providing markers to identify the trees when mowing, and functioning as small “greenhouses” promoting increased height growth.

All requests must be received by March 20, and pickup will be scheduled in early April. Quantities are limited so reservations will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Additionally, a free workshop on tree buffers will take place March 26 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Price Community Center, 121 Rabbit Hill Road, Church Hill. Landowners will have the opportunity to learn about the the Backyard Buffer program and its benefits, tree spacing, species selection, tree planting, deer protection, maintenance, cost-share opportunities, where to purchase bare-root tree seedlings, and more. The workshop is limited to 30 people.

To reserve seedlings or participate in the workshop, interested homeowners should call the Maryland Forest Service Centreville office at 410-819-4120 or email Brittany Haas at brittany.haas@maryland.gov.

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The Church Hill Theatre Announces Green Room Gang Directors

February 20, 2020 by Church Hill Theatre Leave a Comment

The Church Hill Theatre, Inc (CHT) is pleased to announce the directors for their 2020 Green Room Gang (GRG) summer theatre camp program. Iz Clemens will be returning as the director of GRG Sr. for students entering grades 6 to 12. Returning for her fifteenth year, Becca VanAken will direct GRG Jr. for students entering grades 1 to 5. The GRG, Sr. camp will be on Mondays – Thursday 9:00-3:00 starting June 22 and the GRG, Jr. camp will meet Mondays-Thursdays 9:00-12:00 starting June 24.

CHT is currently looking for two college students to fill internship positions for the GRG camps. These positions are paid internships. Responsibilities include assisting the GRG Directors in all aspects of the theatrical experience including working with the children, coordinating props and costumes and Stage Management responsibilities for the run of the productions. Hours are 8:30-3:30 Monday thru Thursday starting June 22 and running until July 29. A generous stipend is included. These internships offer college students an opportunity to gain valuable theatrical experience in a friendly community theatre while also encouraging young people to enjoy the magic of live theatre. Further details and an application form may be obtained by contacting the Church Hill Theatre office at 410-556-6003.

Continuing this year, CHT is also offering volunteer apprenticeships for High School students. Applicants must be 16 years old, at least a rising junior in HS and have a basic understanding of technical theatre. Responsibilities will include working approximately 8-10 hours a week with the producer, directors and technical director in the capacity of instruction and technical apprentices. Applicants must be available to work on Fridays and to help run the productions, which are scheduled for July 23, 24, and 25, 2020.

Please contact Church Hill Theatre at 410-556-6003 during office hours, Tuesday thru Friday 11:00-4:00 for further information and an application forms.

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HomePorts Presents: Using the Mind-Body Connection to Cope with Stress

February 20, 2020 by HomePorts Leave a Comment

Join our guest speaker, Dr. Regan King, licensed psychologist from High Street Psychotherapy, in exploring the biology behind our response to stress. Dr King will demonstrate and lead some relaxation strategies to help with stress

Thursday, March 5, 2019, 11:00 a.m., Chestertown Town Hall, 1st Floor, 118 N. Cross Street, Chestertown, MD 21620

The talk is free. Please make a reservation by contacting Karen Wright at 443-480-0940 or email at Karen@homeports.org

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Assistant Professor Cole Jones to Speak at Washington College March 5

February 20, 2020 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Assistant Professor Cole Jones

The treatment of prisoners of war during the American Revolution, and how issues surrounding that treatment helped escalate the conflict’s violence, is the topic of a talk on March 5 at Washington College. Cole Jones, assistant professor of history at Purdue University, will speak on “The Problem of Prisoners of War in the American Revolution.”

Sponsored by the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Washington College’s Department of History, the event at 4:30 p.m. in Hynson Lounge is free and open to the public. Jones will be discussing the research that has gone into his new book, Captives of Liberty: Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance in the American Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020).

Jones will take listeners from the meeting rooms of the Continental Congress to the prison camps of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, revealing the factors that coalesced to transform the conflict into a war for vengeance and precipitously escalate its violence. During the eight-year conflict, American forces captured over 17,000 British and allied Germanic soldiers, as well as thousands more loyalist civilians and British mariners. The number of enemy prisoners in American custody often exceeded that of American soldiers in the Continental army. These prisoners proved increasingly burdensome for the new nation as the war progressed, creating a series of thorny political issues that compounded the logistical difficulties of confining, housing, feeding and caring for them.

A National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the New York Historical Society in 2015-2016, Jones is also the author of Loyalist Rising: The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge (under contract, Westholme Press), as well as “Violence and Trauma” in The Cambridge History of the American Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2021), and “Citizen for Citizen: The Problem of Political Prisoners in the American Revolution” in From Colonial Encounters to the Iraq War: Prisoners of War and their Place in American History (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, forthcoming 2020).

About Washington College
Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 39 states and territories and 25 nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

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Charity Auction at Unitarian Universalists February 22, 6 p.m.

February 20, 2020 by Unitarian Universalists Leave a Comment

Art lovers in Kent County can follow up on the Chestertown “Art Crawl” with a visit to the Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River’s fund- raising auction, which highlights the work of several local artists, on Saturday, February 22, at 914 Gateway Drive, Chestertown, in the Crestview development. Admission is free and the public is welcome.

Doors open at 6 pm, when auction goers will enjoy a spread of hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and desserts as they explore Silent Auction items before the Live Auction begins at 7 pm. Visitors can bid on a wide array of donations, including pastels, water colors, photographs, oil paintings, prints, and crafts by local artists Mary Pritchard, Marcy Ramsey, Cindy Brittain, Marilee Taussig, Larry Schroth, Anne Register, Betty Kerr, Georgette Toews, and others.

A continually updated list of auction items is available on the UUCR website at http://www.uuchesterriver.org — click on the “Auction Banner” at the top of the page.

For additional information please contact:

The Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River
914 Gateway Drive
Chestertown, MD 21620
(410) 778-3440 or 410-639-7811
E-mail: uuofchesterriver@gmail.com or janewhardy@gmail.com

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Applications Now Accepted for Summer/Fall 2020 “Great Task” Leadership Program

February 20, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

In his immortal Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln challenged all Americans to advance the ideals of the Declaration of Independence – “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us.” In the spirit of Lincoln’s most famous speech, Gettysburg National Military Park created the “Great Task” Youth Leadership Program. Geared for at-risk student and youth organizations, from grade levels 7 to 12, the Great Task offers intensive leadership and character-building experiences that go beyond traditional curriculum-based field trips. By utilizing the battlefield as an outdoor classroom, participants are immersed in the stories of leadership, heroism and civic responsibility embodied by those involved in, and affected by, the battle.

And thanks to a new partnership with the American Battlefield Trust, and the multi-year financial commitment of the Bowe Stewart Foundation, this already successful and award-winning program will be substantially expanded — virtually, geographically and thematically — between 2020 and 2025. Peter Bowe of the Bowe Stewart Foundation commented that “The mission of these two great organizations is so clear, the opportunity so valuable, and their teams so strong, that we are fortunate to partner with them.”

Garry Adelman, the Trust’s Chief Historian explained, “The education goals of the American Battlefield Trust and the National Park Service at Gettysburg are one and the same: to create model programs for the next generation of leaders to learn directly from America’s battlefields. We are proud to join forces to make that happen for an ever-broadening circle of youth.”

A park ranger leads a Great Task education group through marching drills. NPS Photo

Alongside Park and Trust educators and living historians, youth will explore the 7,000-acre battlefield park, and participate in hands-on learning activities that bring the past to life, while illuminating the possibilities of the future. Expansion plans for the partnership include: a virtual component designed for those who cannot physically make it to Gettysburg, but that will also better prepare those who can; the addition of at-risk youth from Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, Illinois, among other key cities and regions; classroom and library materials for participating organizations; and the application of this leadership and service model to other American battlefields.

A visit to a historic site can be a life-changing event, and history can do much more than instruct; it can inspire! The Great Task offers young people the chance to get into an outdoor learning environment, where they will be immersed in history and civics, while exploring their roles as leaders in their schools, communities and throughout their lives,” explained Barbara Sanders, education specialist for Gettysburg National Military Park, National Park Service.

Applications for the program will be accepted through April 30 for one or two-day excursions from July through October, customized to match the mission and objectives of each youth organization. Limited travel and accommodation scholarships will be available through the financial support of the American Battlefield Trust and the Bowe Stewart Foundation. To learn more about these opportunities, group leaders and teachers can email the Education Office at Gettysburg National Military Park at gett_education@nps.gov or visit the American Battlefield Trust at www.battlefields.org/great-task.

About the American Battlefield Trust
The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 52,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War — including 1,183 acres at Gettysburg. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.

About Gettysburg National Military Park
Gettysburg National Military Park preserves, protects and interprets for this and future generations the resources associated with the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, during the American Civil War, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, and their commemorations. Learn more at www.nps.gov/gett.

About The Bowe Stewart Foundation
The Peter Bowe and Barbara Stewart Foundation funds organizations located primarily in Baltimore and Chicago that share the goal of helping individuals improve their lives and their communities. The Foundation’s primary focus is closing the opportunity gap for the working poor by supporting organizations that emphasize education, training, and work experience, creating opportunities for “earned success.” Learn more at Bowestewartfoundation.com

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Soroptimist International of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties New Member

February 20, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

On February 19, Charlotte Zang was inducted into the Soroptimist International of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties during the organizations February meeting. Meetings are held the third Monday of each month, September through June. The meetings are held at the Amy Lynn Ferris Adult Activities Center in Chestertown at 6 pm. Visit the Soroptimist International of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties Facebook page for more information and events.

L-R: Soroptimist members Wendy Bramble, Debbie Conner, Charlotte Zang (new member), Connie Jones, and Louise Skinner.

A global volunteer network of women working to improve the lives of women and girls. Our club gives a grant to a female, high school student based on volunteerism at each of the 3 local high schools. Also, our “Live Your Dream” award is given to a female head of household, enrolled in college or a certificate program, and has financial need. Our club sponsors a Kent County family at Christmas, and a Queen Anne’s County from Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. Carnations are delivered to the local nursing homes on Mother’s Day.

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