Hyattsville

The body of a Hyattsville man was pulled from White Marsh Creek in Edgewater, authorities said Thursday. Natural Resources Police spokesman Sgt. Brian Albert said the man was identified as William Eckert, 70. He said Eckert's wife was unable to reach him on his cell phone Wednesday evening while he was cleaning his boat at Holiday Hill Marina, and she asked a friend to check on him, he said. The friend called 911, Albert said. Anne Arundel County firefighters responding to the 8 p.m. call pulled Eckert from the water, and pronounced him dead, a fire department spokesman said.

The body of a Hyattsville man was pulled from White Marsh Creek in Edgewater, authorities said Thursday. Natural Resources Police spokesman Sgt. Brian Albert said the man was identified as William Eckert, 70. He said Eckert's wife was unable to reach him on his cell phone Wednesday evening while he was cleaning his boat at Holiday Hill Marina, and she asked a friend to check on him, he said. The friend called 911, Albert said. Anne Arundel County firefighters responding to the 8 p.m. call pulled Eckert from the water, and pronounced him dead, a fire department spokesman said.

Maryland's second-largest foster care provider failed to track background checks, training and other requirements for its foster parents, putting the children at risk, according to state officials who are moving to suspend new placements in its homes. Ian Patrick Hines, spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, which oversees foster care and adoptions in Maryland, confirmed that Hyattsville-based Contemporary Family Services, which has 232 parents and 157 foster children in its network, was notified of a pending sanction last week and that the agency's inspector general is investigating.

The plan to move 450 jobs from the Financial Management Services facility in Hyattsville to the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., has been postponed for five years, members of the Maryland congressional delegation announced Thursday. The move — proposed by the Obama administration to save $96 million over five years — was set to begin in February 2014, but the Maryland congressional delegation negotiated with the Treasury Department for the delay. "We must have a more frugal government, but not one that hangs our people out to dry," Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski said in a statement.

Prince George's County police are investigating a weekend shooting in Hyattsville that left two men dead. Officers responding to a call about the sound of gunshots in the 5300 block of Quincy St. at 11:11 p.m. Saturday arrived to find two men with multiple gunshot wounds, according to Cpl. Kim Brown. Jose Martin Fernandez, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene. The second victim, taken to Prince George's Hospital, died at 2:05 a.m. yesterday, Brown said. His identity was withheld pending notification of relatives.

HYATTSVILLE -- Prince George's County police charged 30 members of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue with criminal trespass yesterday for impeding the operation of a Hyattsville clinic.About 70 members of the group were outside Reproductive Health Services on Riggs Road when the medical facility opened at 7:30 a.m., authorities said. Seventeen adults and 13 juveniles were charged with trespassing and interference.Several of the protesters forced their way into the building, shackled themselves together and refused to leave.

Redevelopment projects in Hyattsville and Crisfield have been tapped for state help under "Priority Places," the Ehrlich administration's version of Smart Growth focused on revitalizing existing communities in Maryland. The two projects -- one to revive the U.S. 1 corridor through Hyattsville, a Prince George's County community, and the other to build homes and shops along the waterfront in Crisfield, Somerset County's faded "crab capital of the world" -- would receive state planning assistance and priority for any state funds that might be available, though none specifically accompanies the designation.

Maryland lawmakers are protesting a plan by the Obama administration to eliminate 450 federal jobs in Prince George's County, but it is unclear whether they will be able to reverse it. The move to consolidate the Financial Management Services facility in Hyattsville with the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., is expected to save taxpayers $96 million over five years, according to the U.S. Treasury. The plan by the Treasury and the General Services Administration is set to begin in February 2014 with the relocation of 50 positions to West Virginia.

On Monday, December 13, 2004, SANTINA MARIE "SHORTY" MIZELL, of Hyattsville, MD; beloved wife of the late Harold Mizell; mother of the late Joseph F. Balsamo; sister of Sr. Frances Theresa Balsamo, CGS; grandmother of Gary, Joe and Harry Balsamo. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at Sacred Heart Home, 5801 Queens Chapel Rd., Hyattsville, MD on Wednesday, December 15, at 9:30 A.M. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Arrangements by De Vol.

A 64-year-old Baltimore man was among six people convicted this week at a federal trial in Greenbelt of being members of a large cocaine and heroin ring, prosecutors announced yesterday. At the center of the case was Paulette Martin, 59, of Takoma Park, whom prosecutors accused of taking out insurance policies on her drug contacts and then cashing in hundreds of thousands of dollars when some of them died. In addition to Martin, those convicted late Thursday by a federal jury were Learley Reed Goodwin, 63, of Hyattsville; Reece Coleman Whiting, 64, of Baltimore, Derrek Lewis Bynum, 34, of Hyattsville; Lavon Dobie, 46, of Washington; and LaNora Ali, 53, of Hyattsville The jury was unable to reach a verdict for one remaining defendant, Ruby Bertine Harden, 34, of Dundalk.

Maryland lawmakers are protesting a plan by the Obama administration to eliminate 450 federal jobs in Prince George's County, but it is unclear whether they will be able to reverse it. The move to consolidate the Financial Management Services facility in Hyattsville with the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, W.Va., is expected to save taxpayers $96 million over five years, according to the U.S. Treasury. The plan by the Treasury and the General Services Administration is set to begin in February 2014 with the relocation of 50 positions to West Virginia.

State officials said Tuesday that they would not renew Contemporary Family Services' license to place foster care children, alleging that the Hyattsville-based company falsified minutes of board meetings and failed to pay its foster parents and employees on time, among other issues. But the state said it would work to minimize the effect on foster children in the care of the company, the second-largest foster care provider in Maryland. The Department of Human Resources outlined the issues and proposed action in a letter to the company's executive director, John L. Monroe.

Maryland officials plan to announce this week whether the state will sever ties with the state's second-largest foster care provider, a decision that also could determine whether the company keeps its contract in the District of Columbia. Officials with the Maryland Department of Human Resources, the agency charged with protecting the state's 7,400 foster children, is expected to announce a decision on renewing the license for Contemporary Family Services. The Hyattsville company's contract in D.C. depends on it retaining its Maryland license, according to officials with the District of Columbia's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Maryland's second-largest foster care provider failed to track background checks, training and other requirements for its foster parents, putting the children at risk, according to state officials who are moving to suspend new placements in its homes. Ian Patrick Hines, spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, which oversees foster care and adoptions in Maryland, confirmed that Hyattsville-based Contemporary Family Services, which has 232 parents and 157 foster children in its network, was notified of a pending sanction last week and that the agency's inspector general is investigating.

— First Lady Michelle Obama applauded the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster Thursday for pledging to cut calories and sodium at its restaurants over the next 10 years. Speaking at the Olive Garden, a restaurant known for its all-you-can eat pastas and breadsticks, Obama called the move by Darden Restaurants, the world's largest full-service restaurant company, an industry "breakthrough" and a key step in her campaign against childhood obesity. "What's good for kids and families can also be good for business," she said.

Hank's Tavern & Eats is the fun beer-drinking cousin in the Chef Geoff family of restaurants, a group of white-tablecloth establishments in D.C. and northern Virginia. It opened in 2008 in University Town Center, one of those walkable developments that combine residences, movie theaters, retail shops and restaurants without feeling like a movie-set Main Street. A large bar dominates the cavernous space, and plenty of televisions along the walls are tuned in to sporting events, but Hank's isn't one of those sports bars serving nothing but gloppy dips and deep-fried everything.

On May 7, 2005 LOENA A. DRYDEN "Peggy" of Hyattsville, MD, wife of the late Leslie Powell Dryden, loving mother of Leona Baumgart of Los Gatos, CA, Ann Scoles of Hyattsville, MD and Barbara Meehan of Brookeville, MD, sister of Dorothy King, grandmother of Shawn Scoles, Damian Scoles, Kevin Meehan, Stephen Baumgart, Michael Meehan and David Baumgart, great-grandmother of Nicholas Scoles and Sarah Scoles. Relatives and Friends may call at GASCH'S FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 4739 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD on Friday, May 13 10AM to 12 Noon, where Services will be held at 12 Noon.

Annapolis police have arrested four men in connection with yesterday's early-morning shooting of an Eastport man. Michael Lee Davis, 22, was found in the 1300 block of Tyler Ave. yesterday with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Charged are James Leroy Downs, 24, of Annapolis; Wilmer Anderson Rendon, 19, of Mount Rainier; Earl Mangus Victor, 17, of Hyattsville, who was charged as an adult; and Sesame Demon Sorrells, 21, of Hyattsville.

An 18-year-old Hyattsville man has been charged with raping a 15-year-old girl at the Laurel private school they both attend, Howard County police said yesterday. John Louis Rivers Jr. of the 1800 block of Cedarwood Court was arrested at his home Monday and is being held on $100,000 bond in the county detention center, the county state's attorney's office said. Rivers was charged with first- and second-degree rape and second-degree assault. The attack occurred Friday afternoon at the Phillips School on Whiskey Bottom Road, police said.

Stephen A. Seard, a Polytechnic Institute graduate enrolled in a university engineering program, died of heart disease Saturday while playing in a church-sponsored league basketball game. The Randallstown resident was 20. Family members said Mr. Seard had a coronary artery defect that contributed to his death. Born in Baltimore and raised in Randallstown, he graduated in 2006 from the Polytechnic Institute, where he played varsity football. At his death, he was a junior at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., where he was majoring in engineering.