Eastern Shore

Maryland Live! Casino at Arundel Mills will have its grand opening at 10 p.m. June 6, casino officials announced Thursday morning. The grand opening still requires approval by the Maryland Lottery, which will oversee a trial run to take place before June 6. The announcement comes as the state slots commission on Thursday considers a bid to open a casino in Rocky Gap, in Western Maryland, by Evitts Resort LLC. The commission also has yet...

Sporadic rains have helped moderate drought conditions that had spread across most of the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor . As of May 22, all of the Baltimore region was considered “abnormally dry” except for southern Anne Arundel County. It had previously been under moderate drought conditions. Most of the Eastern Shore remains under moderate drought conditions, however. Five days out of every seven in May, at least a trace of rain has fallen at BWI Marshall Airport.

On the wave-tossed banks of the Eastern Shore, treasure washes onto the sand every day —ordinary glass thrown into the water decades ago, where it was broken and beaten by the sea for years, emerging finally as rare and beautiful "sea glass. " Some call sea glass "Tears of the Mermaids," and once you see its luminous glow against the sand, you understand why. My interest began last October, when my sister and niece proposed a sea-glass hunt at Tolchester Beach near Chestertown on the Eastern Shore.

Patrick McGlinchey heard “great things” about Derrick Hayward before the young linebacker/defensive end ever set foot in the Wicomico weight room as a freshman.  Just minutes into the first meeting between player and coach, McGlinchey could sense that reports of Hayward's potential were not exaggerated. “I could tell he was going to be a great athlete with his work ethic in the weight room,” said McGlinchey, who has served as a varsity assistant and JV head coach at Wicomico.

The new alcohol tax will harm businesses, especially on the Eastern Shore, where unemployment is already at 15 percent. The tax will also increase highway fatalities due to people driving to Delaware and other states to save 3 percent. M. Link, Baltimore

The current flap over the Miles Point Property development in St. Michaels ("Drawing up battle plans," Aug. 16) reminds me of the old saw: What do you call someone who wants to build a cabin in the woods? That's a no good lousy developer. And what do you call someone who already owns a cabin in the woods? That's an environmentalist. Allan G. Scott, Towson

The recent guilty plea of a man accused of being part of the far-reaching South Side Brims Bloods gang reveals an Eastern Shore meeting between members of at least three gangs - a reminder that while gangs and drug organizations make news for warring over turf and debts, they also sometimes work together.  The meeting, according to the plea agreement, took place inQueen Anne's Countyin 2008 and included members of the Latin Kings, the Thunderguards (characterzied...

The Eastern Shore is under a drought watch, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Below-normal snow- and rainfall has the MDE closely observing precipitation, stream flow, groundwater levels and reservoir storage. But there are no restrictions being placed on water usage -- at least not yet. MDE encourages people to be aware of their water use and to use less water. Local water jurisdictions could place restrictions, but haven't yet, according to the department.

The lower Eastern Shore, the driest part of Maryland this year, saw the most significant rainfall from the system that moved through Wednesday. Amateur weather watchers reported rainfall levels up to 1.23 inches in Wicomico County and 1.03 inches in Somerset County, according to rain-counting collaborative CoCoRaHS. National Weather Service hydrology charts show upwards of 2 inches in Worcester County, with up to 1.5 inches across Somerset and Wicomico. The lower Eastern Shore is under a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

You might expect winter on the Eastern Shore to be slow. I know I did. So even though it was Presidents Day weekend, I told my husband that the holiday wouldn't be a hindrance to a quick two-day trip to the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay, a resort I've been meaning to visit for a while. Plus, I said confidently, Bay Bridge traffic would be a breeze compared with summer. We'd get a great rate — the Hyatt was offering a promotion with rooms starting at $99 a night. It's a huge resort, so we'd likely have at least some portion of it to ourselves.

The lower Eastern Shore, the driest part of Maryland this year, saw the most significant rainfall from the system that moved through Wednesday. Amateur weather watchers reported rainfall levels up to 1.23 inches in Wicomico County and 1.03 inches in Somerset County, according to rain-counting collaborative CoCoRaHS. National Weather Service hydrology charts show upwards of 2 inches in Worcester County, with up to 1.5 inches across Somerset and Wicomico. The lower Eastern Shore is under a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Spring's time for planting more than flower and vegetable gardens.  it's oyster planting time, too. Last week, the Oyster Recovery Partnership put 31 million baby oysters in Harris Creek, near the mouth of the Choptank River. The oysters were bred at the University of Maryland's Horn Point hatchery , and primed for planting once they had settled as "spat" on old oyster shells. It was the first of a series of plantings the Annapolis-based nonprofit hopes to make this year, seeding Harris Creek, the Severn River and possibly a couple other spots in the Chesapeake Bay with a projected 300-500 million bivalves.

State banking regulators closed two Maryland banks Friday, the first two bank failures in the state since 2010. The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation shut down the Bank of the Eastern Shore in Cambridge and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. The FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Eastern Shore to allow customers to access their deposits until May 25. The state financial commissioner also closed HarVest Bank of Maryland in Gaithersburg, whose deposits and other assets were acquired by Sonabank in McLean, Va. HarVest's four branches will reopen during normal business hours as Sonabank's branches.

Key senators reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to save a mail processing center considered significant to the Eastern Shore economy but left the fate of more than a dozen post offices in the Baltimore region uncertain as they considered a sweeping bill to overhaul theU.S. Postal Service. The underlying bipartisan legislation, which is poised for a vote in the Senate Wednesday, would allow the cash-strapped mail service to inch closer to ending Saturday delivery after a two-year waiting period and also restructure the way it pays retiree health benefits - potentially saving the agency billions of dollars a year.

A developing drought across the eastern half of Maryland could worsen without a few periods of soaking rain, and drizzle like that seen Wednesday won't be enough to cut the rainfall deficit. At Carter and Draper Farms on the Eastern Shore, John Draper is used to dealing with a summer drought once every few years. But rarely has he been in his current predicament: There has been so little spring rain, he fears if he plants 225 acres of corn as planned, it quickly will die. A few inches into the sandy soil, there is moisture.

The Eastern Shore is under a drought watch, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Below-normal snow- and rainfall has the MDE closely observing precipitation, stream flow, groundwater levels and reservoir storage. But there are no restrictions being placed on water usage -- at least not yet. MDE encourages people to be aware of their water use and to use less water. Local water jurisdictions could place restrictions, but haven't yet, according to the department.

One Maryland shore town is deciding whether to create a municipal website. Commissioners of Mardela Springs tell the Daily Times of Salisbury that they're considering a website to promote open government and to keep residents informed about events and meetings. The town currently spreads information by mailing out monthly newsletters. Commission president Stanford Robinson says the town is concerned about possible startup costs. He says it won't be able to start the site if it would cost the town $400 to $500 a year.

Federal banking regulators have ordered an Eastern Shore bank to take measures to establish adequate capital levels, which could include finding a buyer, merging with another institution or selling shares, among other options. The Bank of the Eastern Shore has 60 days to comply with the prompt correction action issued this week by the Federal Reserve Board, which found the institution undercapitalized at the end of April. The order said that the Cambridge-based bank reported a net loss of almost $3.2 million at the end of June from December 2010 and that its equity capital declined to $7.7 million from $10.9 million.

Maryland's House of Delegates just passed a bill that doubles the "flush tax" -- a fee on water use -- sending it to Gov. Martin O'Malleyfor his signature. Passing the bill was a key part of the governor's agenda this year. The bill increases the fee from $2.50 per household per month to $5. Funds will be used to upgrade wastewater faciliites. It passed the House 89 to 48. The bill ( HB 446 ) was amended to exclude parts of the state, like Garrett County and parts of the Eastern Shore, that are not part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The federal government is considering closing dozens of rural court sites across the country, including one that serves Maryland's Eastern Shore — a move that would force people to drive up to 110 miles to the nearest courthouse to have their cases heard. "It would be a grave inconvenience to litigants to have them come to a federal court in either Baltimore or Greenbelt. It makes no sense," said Deborah K. Chasanow, chief judge of Maryland's U.S. District Courts. The potential closures, 60 of them spread throughout 29 states, are being considered as a cost-cutting measure within the federal judiciary.