Queen Anne

The Today show announced yesterday to its national viewing audience which of four locales had been selected as the Hometown Wedding site for Southern Maryland sweethearts Sarah Raley and Mark Dale. The folks at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville had been informed a day earlier - under a vow of secrecy - that theirs was the chosen site. "They told us it had to be an absolute surprise," said club owner John Wilson. "They were very firm." Today producers decided to break the news to the club Thursday evening while setting up for yesterday morning's live telecast.

STEVENSVILLE -- It begins in the still-dark hours of the morning as a ribbon of headlights flashing across the graceful steel and concrete curve of the westbound Bay Bridge.The workaday trek to Annapolis, Baltimore or Washington is documented by 12,000 commuter tickets collected at tollbooths from motorists who have discovered they can have it both ways -- working in higher-paying jobs in or near the cities while enjoying the peace of an Eastern Shore lifestyle.While all five counties of the Upper Shore report increasing numbers of residents willing to drive from Easton, Denton or Chestertown to work "across the bay," it is Queen Anne's County -- especially Kent Island and other close-in communities along U.S. 50 and 301 -- that continues to lure new residents.

A woman sentenced to life in prison in a 1981 slaying won her release yesterday after her lawyer told an Anne Arundel Circuit judge that she was unfairly convicted and a prosecutor acknowledged that the case was too weak to be retried.Crystal Lynn Wessel, 34, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 1982, had those charges dismissed and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a binding agreement with Frank R. Weathersbee, the Anne Arundel state's attorney.Judge Lawrence H. Rushworth accepted the plea and, as part of the agreement, reduced Wessel's sentence to 21 years.

A Baltimore County parent who stepped in to bring warmth and cheer back to the high school that had a chilling cafeteria shooting was recognized Friday during the state's annual Parent Involvement Matters awards. The Maryland State Department of Education awarded Mary Kavanagh with the JoAnne L. Carter Memorial Award, in recognition of her special work with Perry Hall High School, according to a news release from the department. Kavanagh received the award, named in honor of Carter, a former deputy state superintendent who lost her battle with cancer in 2009, for a mural project she launched after a student opened fire at Perry Hall on the first day of school.

North County pitchers Chris Jackson and Scott Simmering combined for a no-hitter yesterday but the Knights lost, 5-4, to visiting Queen Anne's in a Class 4A East region playoff."

No. 12 Severna Park 12, No. 10 Arundel 8: The Falcons, whose coach had to watch the game from the stands after being given a one-game suspension for cursing in a game, won the Class 3A-4A East region title and will make their first appearance in the state final four at UMBC.Queen Anne's 7, No. 14 South River 6: Tom Simpler scored the winning goal in Class 1A-2A East with two seconds left after holding the ball the final four minutes.South River held a 5-3 halftime lead, before Queen Anne tied the game early in the third.

ConAgra Foods Inc. is shutting down a Queen Anne's County hot dog plant with 100 jobs, the largest employer in a small town and the latest in a string of factory closures on the Eastern Shore. The company, based in Omaha, Neb., said yesterday that it is moving the manufacturing and packaging work being done just outside Queenstown to a facility in Quincy, Mich. Workers were notified Monday. ConAgra plans to expand the Michigan facility. Julie DeYoung, a ConAgra spokeswoman, said the company plans to meet with the United Food and Commercial Workers to discuss the potential for transfers.

Behind the five-goal effort of sophomore attackman Mike Selawski, Mount Hebron made it to the state finals for the fourth time in five years last night, defeating Queen Anne's, 8-7, at UMBC.To win, they had to survive a strong overhand attempt from about 12 feet on the right side by Jason Bitter that sailed high with two seconds left.The difference in last night's Class 1A-2A state semifinal may have been scouting."They haven't seen us play, and we taped them and saw what they could do and took advantage of their weaknesses," Selawski said.

The financially troubled Queen Anne Belvedere apartments on Charles Street in Baltimore would become the University of Baltimore's first student housing complex under a proposal being considered by the city.The $6.3 million proposal, from a group called the Queen Anne Belvedere Revitalization Limited Partnership, is one of four submitted to the city by groups vying to buy and renovate the 69-unit apartment complex at 1202 to 1218 and 1301 N. Charles Street.Two other teams indicated that they also want to renovate the city-owned apartments to provide housing for university students and others, but they don't have the university's endorsement.

KENT ISLAND - As far as community activists like Winn Krozack are concerned, Tuesday's election in Queen Anne's County amounted to nothing short of a ballot-box coup, a legal revolution that rolled over three sitting county commissioners and a slew of other incumbents. In neighboring Talbot County, a zealous cadre of volunteers pulled off a similar sweep, knocking off the County Council president who had become a lightning rod in an increasingly bitter battle over growth. Come November, voters appear poised to elect a council that promises to keep a tight rein on developers.