Calvert County

Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown became the first candidate to join the 2014 Maryland governor's race Friday with a call to close the gap between rich and poor in education, health and economic opportunity. Before a crowd at Prince George's Community College that organizers estimated at 2,500, the Democrat outlined priorities that could have come straight out of the playbook of Gov. Martin O'Malley, Brown's term-limited partner in Annapolis. Brown is the first candidate, Democrat or Republican, to formally announce his candidacy, and he did so in uncompromisingly liberal terms - pledging to maintain Maryland's No. 1-ranked school system, to keep college tuition low and to invest aggressively in infrastructure and career training.

Robert M. Douglass, former chief engineer of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, died Monday of cancer at his home in Port Republic, Calvert County. He was 88. The son of an electrical engineer and a homemaker, Robert Mann Douglass was born in Hartford, Conn., and raised in Wethersfield, Conn., where he graduated in 1942 from Wethersfield High School. He served as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne in the Pacific and with occupying forces in Japan during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., where he earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1950.

Frost is on the pumpkin, leaves are changing hue, and somewhere in the countryside, paulownia tree rustlers are tuning their chain saws.A top-grade Paulownia qomentosa log can bring hundreds or even thousands of dollars because the wood is so highly prized in Japan. There it is used for many things, especially the traditional bridal chest, or tansu.Fall brings out the paulownia rustlers because the pale wood is no longer discolored by the sap that flows in warmer weather."Now's the time, when the colder weather starts coming, that people should be more aware," said Lt. Tommy Buckler of the Calvert County Sheriff's Department.

Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown became the first candidate to join the 2014 Maryland governor's race Friday with a call to close the gap between rich and poor in education, health and economic opportunity. Before a crowd at Prince George's Community College that organizers estimated at 2,500, the Democrat outlined priorities that could have come straight out of the playbook of Gov. Martin O'Malley, Brown's term-limited partner in Annapolis. Brown is the first candidate, Democrat or Republican, to formally announce his candidacy, and he did so in uncompromisingly liberal terms - pledging to maintain Maryland's No. 1-ranked school system, to keep college tuition low and to invest aggressively in infrastructure and career training.

State health officials say today that lab tests confirm all four members of a Calvert County family striken with a severe respiratory illness in recent weeks had the H3N2 strain of influenza A, a strain of the flu that has been going around this season. Three have since died. At least two of the cases were complicated by bacterial infections with methicillin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, according to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene . Additional lab testing and investigation continue, but the health officials said there still have been no other clusters of severe respiratory illness in the state discovered.

A tornado was spotted over the Patuxent River in Calvert County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The "waterspout," as tornadoes over water are known, was seen moving west over the river about 5:55 p.m. by law enforcement, said Heather Sheffield, a NWS spokeswoman. After the spotting, which came amid thunderstorms in southern Maryland, a short-lived tornado warning was issued for parts of Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's and Prince George's counties, Sheffield said.

DUNKIRK -- A Calvert County man has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of another man, which was witnessed by a woman with whom each had been involved, Maryland State Police reported.George Evans, 56, was stabbed five times in the chest late Saturday at his home in Dunkirk, state police said.Paramedics were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead early Sunday at Calvert Memorial Hospital, Maryland State Police reported.A woman who had been dating Mr. Evans witnessed the stabbing, and her former boyfriend was arrested at his home about a mile away, said state police Trooper Greg P. Cameron, who investigated the stabbing.

The sun blazed and the deerflies attacked at the top of the hill, but here at the bottom, the air is 10 degrees cooler, bugs don't bite and the creek ripples placidly around cypress roots.Down here, you're in the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary, a 100-acre "primordial world," as a Calvert County tourism pamphlet calls it."Cypress has been at Battle Creek thousands of years," says Andy Brown, 29, senior naturalist at the swamp's nature center. "The mystery is why it's here. Most cypress stands are found in river valleys.

A fourth person died yesterday as a result of a crash that rocked the tight-knit community of Lusby in Calvert County. Donald Lee Roberts, 35, of Lusby died yesterday at about 12: 45 p.m., state police said. Roberts was driving a U-Haul truck Jan. 27 when it was hit head-on by a Ford Mustang driven by Michael Keith Vito, 17, who also died in the accident along with his girlfriend, Rachel Thomas, 15, and his stepsister, Jacqueline Suzanne Rose, 14. The accident shocked Lusby's waterfront neighborhood of Drum Point, where Roberts had lived before beginning a move to North Carolina.

Calvert County schools Superintendent William J. Moloney has been in Maryland for only a year, but watch out! He's marching to a tune guaranteed to terrify defenders of the status quo.In the past few weeks, Dr. Moloney has:* Negotiated an unprecedented four-year contract with Calvert teachers with cost-of-living raises averaging 2.8 percent, a big cut in beginning teachers' pay and an increase in teachers' contributions to their health care coverage.*...

Vastly outnumbered and constantly thwarted by Democrats, Republicans in the House of Delegates ousted longtime Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell Tuesday and replaced him with Anne Arundel County Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke. After a meeting that dragged on more than two hours, Republicans also replaced House Minority Whip Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, from the Middle Eastern Shore, with Harford County Del. Kathy Szeliga. Republican delegates met behind closed doors in the House office building.

A tornado touched down in the Largo area of Prince George's County during storms that passed through the region Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed Monday. Meteorologists had previously confirmed another tornado in Northern Virginia. The Largo tornado touched down at 7:26 p.m. in the Marlboro Ridge neighborhood, uprooting trees, blowing out windows and garage doors and walls. The tornado traveled about half a mile, lasting less than a minute, according to the weather service.

Annapolis police have released the names of a shooting victim and two men who died of suspected drug overdoses on Sunday, all three of whom appeared to be from Calvert County. Police believe John Donnel Ray, 32, of the 4600 block of Rolling Hill Road, Huntingtown, was shot in his car in the 200 block of Victor Parkway, according to Detective Richard Truitt. He was found dead in the vehicle. He said detectives think there may be witnesses to the crime. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Charles Bealefeld at 443-986-5561.

A man was found fatally shot in a car in Annapolis on Sunday afternoon, a case detectives were investigating as a homicide, Annapolis police said. The man was shot in the 200 block of Victor Parkway in the parking lot of a condominium complex, police spokeswoman Detective Amy Miguez said. The shooting was reported about 4:30 p.m. Police on Monday identified the man as John Donnel Ray, 32, of the 4600 block of Rolling Hill Road in Huntingtown in Calvert County. Anyone with information about the homicide may call Detective Charles Bealefeld at 443-986-5561.

Hurricane (now Tropical Storm) Sandy has forced the cancellation of a public hearing Tuesday on a controversial proposal to curtail the coastwide catch of Atlantic menhaden. Fisheries officials decided Monday that predicted storm condtions precluded going ahead with a hearing from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Easton Armory. The Tuesday session was one of two forums in Maryland - and one of a series along the Atlantic coast - to take public comment on a proposal to reduce the catch of menhaden by up to 50 percent.  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission , which regulates near-shore fishing, is slated to decide the issue in mid-December in Baltimore.  Conservationists and others are urging a sharp reduction in catch, while cuts are opposed by Omega Protein , which operates a large menhaden fishing fleet out of Virginia.  Commercial watermen in Maryland also oppose cuts, arguing that menhaden are essential as bait for the crabbing industry.

More than 200 rabbits were seized from a Calvert County rescue because of poor living conditions, police said Thursday. A veterinarian, accompanying the Calvert County Sheriff's Office, determined that 43 rabbits were healthy enough to stay at the Bunny Magic Rabbit Rescue and Wildlife Rehabilitation in the 1300 block of Tongue Cove Lane in Lusby, police said. The veterinarian examined the rabbits and determined that 222 needed further medical care. A woman who answered the phone at the rescue Thursday said she had no comment.

Calvert County officials have declared 1997 the Year of the Family because some members of the county's League of Women Voters thought children in their communities were spending too much time on their own.In this once-rural county now home to more and more two-commuting-parent families, children grow up spending less time with parents or other adults than did previous generations, the league noticed.League members saw more children leaving and entering empty homes before and after school.

A contractor for the Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works began a $1 million expansion last week of the Chesapeake Beach Waste Water Treatment Plant in Calvert County. The expansion is part of an overall $9.8 million capital project that will provide public sewerage to about 500 properties in Rose Haven and Holland Point, Anne Arundel's southernmost communities. "Although the residents will be customers of [Anne Arundel County's] public utilities, they will be served at the Chesapeake Beach plant through an inter-jurisdictional agreement with Calvert County and the towns of North Beach and Chesapeake Beach," the department said in announcing the start of work.

A tornado was spotted over the Patuxent River in Calvert County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The "waterspout," as tornadoes over water are known, was seen moving west over the river about 5:55 p.m. by law enforcement, said Heather Sheffield, a NWS spokeswoman. After the spotting, which came amid thunderstorms in southern Maryland, a short-lived tornado warning was issued for parts of Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's and Prince George's counties, Sheffield said.

Proposed traffic improvements to the main artery of southern Anne Arundel County have stoked fears that a better road will undermine efforts to keep the area undeveloped. "We're trying to stop that," said Lothian resident Charlotte Smutko, who was on the citizens panel that helped devise the county's plan on how the area should grow. "That's our motto: Keep South County rural. " More than 80 people crowded into the Deale library branch recently to scrutinize the $10 million worth of projects state officials have proposed for Route 2, also known as Solomons Island Road.