Western Maryland

Gambling started Wednesday afternoon at the Rocky Gap Casino Resort right after the state approved the opening of its fourth casino, one that Western Maryland leaders hope will lure not only gamblers but also their families to a region eager for more tourist dollars. "It's open and jamming," said Scott Just, the general manager of the resort near Cumberland. "There's a couple hundred people in there. They were pressing up against the ropes. " The $35 million casino, located in what was the lakeside golf resort's conference center, will be open around the clock.

Gambling started Wednesday afternoon at the Rocky Gap Casino Resort right after the state approved the opening of its fourth casino, one that Western Maryland leaders hope will lure not only gamblers but also their families to a region eager for more tourist dollars. "It's open and jamming," said Scott Just, the general manager of the resort near Cumberland. "There's a couple hundred people in there. They were pressing up against the ropes. " The $35 million casino, located in what was the lakeside golf resort's conference center, will be open around the clock.

Opponents of Maryland's tough new gun-control law said Wednesday that they will not seek to petition it to referendum and instead will back a lawsuit planned by the National Rifle Association. "This is a constitutional right that should not go to the citizens to vote on," said Republican Del. Neil Parrott of Western Maryland, founder of the mdpetitions.com group that has successfully petitioned three other laws to referendum in the past two years. Flanked by representatives of the NRA, Maryland-based gun-rights groups, and other Republican lawmakers, Parrott announced the plans to a crowd of 70 at a Jessup fundraising event for mdpetitions.com.

The storms that have ravaged Oklahoma and other Plains states the past few days could reach Maryland and the mid-Atlantic by Wednesday and Thursday, albeit weakened, according to the National Weather Service. The region faces slight risks of severe weather Wednesday and Thursday as a cold front moves toward the hot, humid air that has been settled over the region this week. The weather is still going to get more muggy before the cold front arrives, with highs possible in the lower 90s Wednesday and dew points nearing 70 degrees in Baltimore.

CUMBERLAND -- A special train will take Oriole fans from Cumberland to the Camden Yards stadium four times this summer, a happy Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced yesterday.Mr. Schaefer, a railroad buff and Oriole fan himself, announced the special arrangement outside the Cumberland station of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, which runs from Cumberland Frostburg.A Maryland Rail Commuter train will haul up to 500 passengers to Oriole Park at Camden Yards June 28, July 26, Aug. 23 and Sept.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will be campaigning in Western Maryland ahead of Tuesday's primary. Gingrich is scheduled to hold a rally at the Frederick Motor Company at 11 a.m. Monday and to speak at Hood College at 2 p.m. Hood spokesman Dave Diehl tells The Frederick News-Post that Gingrich's campaign called the college's director of student activities to schedule the visit. Gingrich will meet with student Republicans after his speech. Gingrich has conceded that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican nominee, and his campaign laid off one-third of its staff last week to save money.

State officials were right last week to postpone approval of a Department of Juvenile Services contract to increase the capacity of the privately owned Silver Oak Academy juvenile residential treatment facility in Carroll County. The department wants to double the number of beds there, from 48 to 96, in order to reduce the backlog of youthful offenders awaiting treatment in overcrowded lockups. Getting more troubled young people out of detention centers and into treatment where they can receive the help they need is certainly a worthy goal.

It's a wet, snowy day in Western Maryland. The storm may not dump as much snow in Maryland as expected, or as much as has already fallen a bit further north, though. Traffic cameras show slick roadways and white on everything else. Forecasters are calling for 2-4 inches in Allegany and Garrett Counties, according to the National Weather Service. Two inches were reported in Frostburg as of 7 a.m., according to a weather spotter report to the National Weather Service.

Western Maryland residents may see snow overnight, as forecasters are calling for a possibility of snow mixed with rain. The National Weather Service forecast is calling for a possibility of snow in higher elevations in Garrett County. Temperatures were hovering just above freezing. Although the chance of precipitation was 100 percent, little to no accumulation of snow was expected. Andrea.siegel@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

All who hate mosquitoes and garden pests should be pleased with the news that the "Bike trail will spare bat refuge" (July 27). The last thing the best bat cave in the East needed to face was construction for a bike path and a steady stream of bikers. People can pedal elsewhere. Whole bat species are struggling to survive against the march of white nose syndrome. This fungus has decimated bat populations in the Northeast and is relentlessly spreading. Mortality is over 90 percent once a winter roost is infected.

I found your editorial on Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman's decision to veto the storm water bill very unprofessional ("Neuman's reckless stormwater veto," April 29). To disagree is one thing, but to call her decision "reckless" and to say that her action "represents a failure of leadership" is highly insulting. She had the courage to temporarily veto the bill which would impact her county, but not touch other polluters, such as people in Western Maryland whose runoff from roofs, driveways and parking lots into streams and the Patapsco River can also lead to pollution.

Despite damp weather to end the month, April 2013 was drier than normal, continuing a trend of below-average precipitation that has persisted since Hurricane Sandy's deluge last October. Through the end of the month, 10.4 inches of rain have fallen at BWI Marshall Airport so far in 2013. April's tally was an inch shy of normal, at about 2.2 inches. That was a third consecutive month of below-normal rainfall, and the fifth in six months. The trend began in November, a month after Hurricane Sandy helped bring nearly 9 inches of rain to BWI. January 2013 was also slightly above normal, at 3.64 inches.

Five air traffic control towers in Maryland that had been scheduled to shut down in June as a result of federal budget cuts are now expected to remain open, lawmakers said Wednesday — easing fears that the closures could back up flights at BWI Marshall Airport. A provision tucked into a high-profile bill approved by Congress last week to end furloughs of air traffic controllers — and the flight delays they caused — also leaves more than $30 million available for towers at 149 small airports nationwide, lawmakers said.

Maryland's gaming control commission granted Rocky Gap Casino Resort preliminary approval Friday to begin gaming operations on May 22, pending the results of a controlled demonstration two days prior. Rocky Gap would become the state's fourth casino, and its smallest. Evitts Resort, a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Lakes Entertainment, plans to have only 558 slot machines and 10 tables games available, and has said it will hire 250 employees for its gaming operation. The casino will be open 24 hours a day. Table games will include blackjack, roulette, three-card Poker, Mississippi Stud and craps.

Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign a law abolishing capital punishment in Maryland next week, though a referendum effort may be on the horizon. O'Malley's spokesman Raquel Guillory confirmed Thursday that the death penalty repeal law is scheduled to be signed on May 2. Maryland will become the sixth state in as many years to abandon state executions. Five men, all convicted of murders dating back to 1983, are on death row. O'Malley, who pushed for repeal, has said the men's fates will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Maryland has had a de facto moratorium on executions since a 2006 court ruling overturned details in the process for carrying them out. The last execution in Maryland occurred by lethal injection in 2005.  After hours of impassioned debate in the General Assembly earlier this year, lawmakers voted 109-76 for repeal.

Maryland regulators have approved a 24-turbine "wind farm" project to be built near Frostburg, the third land-based project in the state. The Maryland Public Service Commission gave the OK on Wednesday to Synergics Wind Energy, an Annapolis company that has a 20-turbine project near the West Virginia border. When it proposed the new project, the company said it hoped to begin building in April and finish by the end of the year. Synergics could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Some weather models are predicting snow in Western Maryland on Monday, on the tail end of the rainy system expected to move through this weekend. But the chances are slim and variable, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. Moisture from a storm moving up from the Carolinas could meet cold air coming from the north, potentially producing the most snow in western Pennsylvania and New York, AccuWeather blogger Elliot Abrams wrote. But AccuWeather severe weather blogger Henry Margusity cautioned   factors including "the temperatures in the lower level of the atmosphere, the time of day the snow falls and the intensity of the snow" could determine whether it's something or nothing.

An article in the March 1, 1913, edition of The Argus reported on the dreams of young runaways. James Rubin , 12 years old, Lakewood avenue; Louis Susosky , 11 years old, Hudson street, and John Noroacki , 15 years old, Hudson street, Baltimore, were locked up Saturday night at the Catonsville Police Station charged with being runaways. The boys were picked up by Patrolman Dennis Cavey near Ellicott City, where they were to board a freight train for Western Maryland. They had been reading dime novels and said they were going to the mountains for adventure.

To say that I was absolutely outraged when I saw the KAL's cartoon of April 14 is putting it more than mildly. To see Dr. Ben Carson falling flat on his face is showing such disrespect for a man who has spent half of his life using his surgical skills to heal and save the lives of so many children in this country. It is disgraceful to say the least. Apparently, this disrespect for the doctor is because he had the audacity to speak from the heart of his Christian values with regard to marriage.

Opponents of Maryland's tough new gun-control law said Wednesday that they will not seek to petition it to referendum and instead will back a lawsuit planned by the National Rifle Association. "This is a constitutional right that should not go to the citizens to vote on," said Republican Del. Neil Parrott of Western Maryland, founder of the mdpetitions.com group that has successfully petitioned three other laws to referendum in the past two years. Flanked by representatives of the NRA, Maryland-based gun-rights groups, and other Republican lawmakers, Parrott announced the plans to a crowd of 70 at a Jessup fundraising event for mdpetitions.com.