BERLIN – Rumors pegging developer Troy Purnell as a candidate for the vacant District One Berlin Town Council seat are almost true, with Purnell saying this week that he is thinking about a town council run but has not made up his mind yet.“I have not decided,” Purnell said. “I’m considering it carefully. I think… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – “Foodies” might be sitting pretty when they do decide to dine out, as restaurants from Coastal Highway to California are jockeying for position by offering the best deals to potential diners, despite skyrocketing food costs.The National Restaurant Association is projecting that 2009 will be the “most challenging for the industry since 1980”,… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – A record number of voters turned out both locally and nationally in Tuesday’s historic Presidential election, making it the biggest percentage voter turnout in a century.With 88 percent of precincts in on Wednesday, over 136 million people cast votes in Tuesday’s Presidential election, which saw Senator Barack Obama of Illinois elected as… Read more »

OCEAN CITY – Local residents looking to see where the money is coming from and just how local government is spending it now can view the 131-page annual Ocean City financial report or the eight-paged “easy-to-read” version.City Finance Administrator Martha Lucey presented the report, which has earned a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial… Read more »

BISHOPVILLE – Crop disease soybean rust has been found for the first time in the state of Maryland in a sentinel field in northern Worcester County, but experts say the disease should not affect the 2008 soybean crop.“It happened at the very end of the growing season, and in fact frost had already damaged the… Read more »

WEST OCEAN CITY – The Worcester County Humane Society in West Ocean City fell victim to a burglary this week when an unknown suspect or suspects broke into a storage facility and a van on the property and wiped out the facility’s supply of pet food and other goods.Worcester County Humane Society staffer Kristy Haley… Read more »

SNOW HILL – Methane gas is building up at the capped Berlin landfill facility, but the concentrations are small and not harmful, county staff said this week.“It’s not heading to the west,” said Public Works Director John Tustin. “It’s not migrating toward the community.”The two exceedences detected have migrated closer to the southwestern property line,… Read more »

SNOW HILL – An overview of how the draft rezoning implements provisions of the 2006 Worcester County Comprehensive Plan has essentially provided a preview of the provisions of the anxiously awaited rezoning ordinance.The rewritten zoning and subdivision codes, which are necessary to implement the 31-month old plan, have not yet been released to the public…. Read more »

OCEAN CITY – Private usage of alternate energy sources, namely small wind turbines, could become a reality in Ocean City by next year.Ocean City Planner Jesse Houston brought an ordinance before the Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday, outlining guidelines and regulations for the permitted usage of small wind turbines as an accessory source of power… Read more »

SNOW HILL – Pre-trial posturing in the first-degree murder case against a man charged in the beating death of a Berlin teen in May continued last week in a motions hearing.Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Theodore Eschenberg last Friday ruled favorably on several pre-trial motions in the first-degree murder case against Dominic Richard Canale, 22,… Read more »