BERLIN – Hudson Farm owners Alan and Kristin Hudson violated state law by placing potentially polluting materials too close to waters of the state, a state agency has concluded, and have been fined $4,000 for the transgression. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) hit Perdue chicken raiser Hudson Farm, a Confined Animal Feeding Operation… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City woman, charged in January with attempted suicide and reckless endangerment after allegedly causing the blast that destroyed her Montego Bay-area mobile home and severely damaging others, was sentenced to 18 months in jail, all of which was then suspended in favor of probation and a heavy fine.Carol Lynn Blackshear,… Read more »

BERLIN – Professors at the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland Law School will not surrender client names or accounts of money spent.“We won’t disclose confidential information,” said Rena Steinzor, past director and professor of the Environmental Law Clinic. “We are lawyers first and professors second.”Future clients do not need to fear that… Read more »

OCEAN CITY — The newest layout for the proposed performing arts auditorium at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center could be the key to getting even the harshest naysayers on board with the idea.Convention Center Director Rick Hamilton said a new concept, which he has pitched to the Mayor and Council, the Maryland Stadium Authority,… Read more »

OCEAN CITY — The Fire Marshal’s office said this week compliance with the town’s carbon monoxide detector law has quadrupled since last fall.Ocean City Fire Marshal Sam Villani told The Dispatch this week he has received compliance reports from 79 percent of the town’s 32,000 dwelling units (up from just 17 percent in September 2009)…. Read more »

ANNAPOLIS – With the 2010 Maryland General Assembly session entering its final stretch, several bills germane to the area finally started moving this week as the deadline for proposed legislation to cross from one chamber to the other rapidly approaches.Crossover Day, or the point in the session calendar when legislation introduced in the House must… Read more »

OCEAN CITY — If you’ve got a secret or not-so-secret desire to be in show business, you might get your shot in April, as a New York City-based filmmaker is shooting the first season of a new web series in Ocean City.Al Thompson, a former University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) graduate and New York-based… Read more »

FENWICK ISLAND – For the second time in a week, a deceased whale washed up on a local beach, this time in Fenwick Island with similar circumstances surrounding its ultimate demise.On Saturday, March 13, a sub-adult female humpback whale washed ashore in Ocean City first at 5th Street and later at 3rd Street after the… Read more »

BERLIN – A new stormwater ordinance mandated by the state would not affect proposed development projects in Berlin, according to town staff.There are no projects in Berlin that have reached a stage where stormwater management has been set, so nothing has to be changed, or grandfathered into the ordinance.“They’re not far enough along that anybody’s… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – A federal lawsuit claiming free speech violations over less than flattering remarks about the management of the Ocean City Municipal Airport, which led to the withholding of a hangar lease at the facility, was formally closed this week when both parties agreed to a settlement.On Jan. 29, Berlin resident and airport regular… Read more »