Southern Maryland

Maryland's MARC commuter trains, which have always operated Monday through Friday, will begin offering weekend service between Baltimore and Washington on the Penn Line in coming months. The expansion - put on hold in 2008 when the recession hit - is possible as the result of the new transportation revenue law that raises the state's gas tax, officials said. The governor signed the bill Thursday. The news was welcomed by Baltimore officials, who said it would offer city residents a less expensive means than Amtrak of traveling to Washington for weekend events while also encouraging D.C. residents to travel to Charm City.

Forecasters are watching for development of potentially severe thunderstorms across Maryland late Thursday, though the strongest chances for severe weather were expected in Southern Maryland. Warming temperatures are expected to fuel the atmospheric instability, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. Temperatures reached 84 degrees at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in St. Mary's County by 1:30 p.m., while it was 77 degrees at BWI Marshall Airport. An area of Southern Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore, along with parts of Central Virginia, is expected to have a 15 percent chance of severe damaging wind gusts.

A 23-year-old Forestville woman was killed early yesterday in a two-car collision in Oxon Hill, state police said.About 3:45 a.m., Kimberly Marie Daniel was driving a Dodge Daytona that was hit on the passenger side by a Ford Mustang near Indian Head Highway in Oxon Hill, police said. Ms. Daniel and her two passengers, Brian McClean of Alexandria, Va., and Sherri Lynn Reynolds of Waldorf, were thrown from the car.Ms. Daniel was pronounced dead at Greater Southeast Hospital in Washington, D.C., police said.

Maryland's MARC commuter trains, which have always operated Monday through Friday, will begin offering weekend service between Baltimore and Washington on the Penn Line in coming months. The expansion - put on hold in 2008 when the recession hit - is possible as the result of the new transportation revenue law that raises the state's gas tax, officials said. The governor signed the bill Thursday. The news was welcomed by Baltimore officials, who said it would offer city residents a less expensive means than Amtrak of traveling to Washington for weekend events while also encouraging D.C. residents to travel to Charm City.

I would like to add my support for the Maryland Agricultural Certainty Program, which is a balanced approach to protecting farmland for a certain period of time while recognizing the importance of environmental practices. This bill will provide farmers with relief that's badly needed as long as they're contributing to the clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay by reducing pollution from their farms. I've heard critics cite the number of farms being impacted by state regulations as "minimal.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will open a new outpatient clinic for veterans in Southern Maryland next year, Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said Thursday. The facility in Charlotte Hall is intended to serve the large veteran population in Southern Maryland, home to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Naval Support Facility Indian Head and other military installations. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer welcomed the announcement. He said the current VA outpatient clinic in Charlotte Hall is over capacity and "cannot fully meet the needs of our community.

HUGHESVILLE -- Prince George's County voters told the governor's Redistricting Panel Tuesday night that Representative Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.-5th, should be given a new district that includes Southern Maryland.Last night Southern Maryland said thanks, but no thanks.More than 100 residents and local political leaders -- almost all Republican -- came out to say that Mr. Hoyer can forget migrating south to find a safe seat."We do not consider ourselves to be a pawn in this process," said Mark Frazer, a former Calvert County commissioner and GOP congressional candidate.

The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to give Maryland one of the toughest gun laws in the nation, passing a bill that would ban the sale of assault-type weapons, set a 10-bullet limit on magazines and require fingerprints and a license to buy a handgun. Delegates altered the Senate's bill during more than 10 hours of emotional floor debate that lasted over two days. Key lawmakers said they expect the differences to be resolved quickly and the legislation sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his promised signature.

State tobacco farmers were celebrating a legislative victory yesterday that they say will go a long way toward stabilizing the Southern Maryland agriculture economy."

Deep in the dirt from North Carolina to Connecticut, billions of cicadas have been waiting 17 years for a few weeks of sunshine, singing and sex in the treetops. Their time has finally come, and they began turning up Friday in Calvert and St. Mary's counties.These revelers hatched back in 1979 and have spent the intervening years awaiting the right moment to make their appearance.For squeamish humans, of course, there's never a "right" time for millions of big, noisy bugs to crawl out of the dirt.

After protesting at a nearby coal plant in 2008 and becoming discouraged with his own dependence on unsustainable energy, Charles County Commissioner Ken Robinson decided to build a wind generator on his coastal property and get off the grid. He became the first individual in Southern Maryland to build one on his land. After Mr. Robinson made the rounds to neighbors, the community embraced his idea. "Only slightly taller than a flag pole," the 33-foot turbine produces 30 percent to 40 percent of Mr. Robinson's power.

I remember the emergence of Brood X cicadas back in 2004 and hope to live long enough to see (and hear) them again ("Cicadas returning soon to Southern Maryland," April 8). These 17-year wonders should not be considered "winged pests" or just something to be "endured. " Instead, they should be celebrated. How any living creature can create a life cycle of nearly two decades underground is amazing, and their mating calls, though loud, last a very short while. And the fact that such a small insect can make such a din is in itself remarkable.

The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to give Maryland one of the toughest gun laws in the nation, passing a bill that would ban the sale of assault-type weapons, set a 10-bullet limit on magazines and require fingerprints and a license to buy a handgun. Delegates altered the Senate's bill during more than 10 hours of emotional floor debate that lasted over two days. Key lawmakers said they expect the differences to be resolved quickly and the legislation sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his promised signature.

I would like to add my support for the Maryland Agricultural Certainty Program, which is a balanced approach to protecting farmland for a certain period of time while recognizing the importance of environmental practices. This bill will provide farmers with relief that's badly needed as long as they're contributing to the clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay by reducing pollution from their farms. I've heard critics cite the number of farms being impacted by state regulations as "minimal.

Charles Mitchell had a rough film session Wednesday. Coach Mark Turgeon chewed him out for general laziness, imploring the freshman forward to up his effort and awareness. "I think every mistake he pointed out was me," Mitchell said with a chuckle moments after the Maryland men's basketball team notched a 70-53 win over Georgia Southern before 10,282 at Comcast Center on Saturday night. "He got after me so bad. " It didn't take Mitchell long to move forward. Playing against a handful of friends and acquaintances, the Marietta, Ga., native provided relentless energy off the bench en route to a career-high 13 points and 11 rebounds in the Terps' fourth straight victory.

The area of drought covering nearly two-thirds of the country shrunk only slightly as drought intensified in the Midwest and Great Plains, according to the latest weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Conditions meanwhile worsened in parts of Maryland, but could improve, according to forecasts. Sixty-three percent of the continental U.S. is in at least a moderate drought, down one percentage point from a week ago. In comparison, a year ago, 30 percent of the continental U.S. was in at least a moderate drought.

MARYLAND'S Critical Area Act of 1984 aimed to curb the explosion of development along the state's shorelines, to implement sensible environmental protection while allowing for reasonable growth and enjoyment of waterfront resources. It fostered the concept of clustered development in these fragile areas, concentrating communities in order to preserve the attraction of a natural, undeveloped shoreline.As The Sun's series on coastal development of Southern Maryland points out, the legislation exempted untold thousands of waterfront lots that can be developed outside that law's restrictions.

Earl "Buddy" Hance can trace his family to the 1700s when, as he puts it, "They got off the boat at St. Mary's City and began growing tobacco." For more than 250 years, the Hance family and most of its Southern Maryland neighbors labored to meet the growing demand from Europeans hooked on smoking. "We grew tobacco forever, as far back as six or seven generations," he said. But that ended abruptly a few years ago. Hance was one of the more than 800 farmers who decided to take part in a state program that paid them to stop growing tobacco.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will open a new outpatient clinic for veterans in Southern Maryland next year, Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said Thursday. The facility in Charlotte Hall is intended to serve the large veteran population in Southern Maryland, home to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Naval Support Facility Indian Head and other military installations. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer welcomed the announcement. He said the current VA outpatient clinic in Charlotte Hall is over capacity and "cannot fully meet the needs of our community.

In the 400-foot-plus turbines that a wind energy company wants to build on his tree farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Hall Coons sees a chance at a steady stream of income — and an opportunity to untether his economic fortunes from the ups and downs of the lumber market. But to the radar system at the Navy base across the Chesapeake Bay, the spinning blades of the towering pylons would look like aircraft — and interfere with the test range where the Navy studies how its planes appear to enemy radar, military officials say. Plans to harness the winds that blow across the Eastern Shore for cheap, clean, renewable energy are arousing concern at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.