Baltimore, Maryland - Wilkins McNair, age 52, formerly of  Ellicott City, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and witness tampering in connection with a scheme to defraud a client of  $950,000.

The Governor's State of the State speech [last] week was filled with new laws he wants to pass and more programs he wants to create. This, he proclaimed, is what it takes to move Maryland "forward out of recession and into better times."

Many of us in the General Assembly disagree with his plan to get us out of the recession. We believe a better approach is to re-evaluate the taxes and burdensome regulations on our small businesses.

Baltimore, Maryland - Scott Daniel Wilson, age 55, of Highland, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to arson.

According to Wilson’s guilty plea and other court documents, on October 31, 2008, Wilson set fire to a house at 7202 Mink Hollow Road. 

Howard County police are investigating the death of a man struck by a train last night in Ellicott City.  Detectives do not suspect foul play and believe the man may have been sleeping or passed out on the tracks when he was struck.

Investigators have identified the victim as a 41-year-old local homeless man, but are not releasing his name until next of kin can be located and notified.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." -Pogo Possum

On January 24, 1995, President Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address to a Congress that looked radically different than the body of representatives that the President faced only one year earlier. 

The Governor admitted in his State of the State address that Maryland is in quite a bad fiscal position, yet he bragged that the State still has a AAA bond rating.  On the surface, this seems good.  But the ability to borrow money means the ability to put more financial debt onto the taxpayers and future taxpayers -- our children and grandchildren -- so that they can continue to push their failed fiscal agendas.

Baltimore County Delegate Pat McDonough believes the recent E-Verify resolution introduced into the County Council is weak and non-productive. The East-side Lawmaker claims the E-Verify proposal should be legislation or law, not a non-binding resolution. Moreover, McDonough says “The County needs an outright ban on contractors using illegals as employees.” Such a ban already exists and has for years in Anne Arundel County.

On February 12, 2010, law enforcement officers from The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State and Westminster Police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint this Friday, Febuary 12. The checkpoint, which is designed to reduce the number of impaired and intoxicated drivers on Carroll County roadways, will occur on Route 140 at Market Street in Westminster, Maryland.

Most of us Americans have a deep and abiding respect and admiration for our country's fighting men who have served--and are serving--within the US Armed Forces. We appreciate their willingness to put themselves in harm's way for the preservation of our nation's liberty and independence. We honor their sacrifice. Indeed, many of us share that sacrifice with the deaths, dismemberments, and paralysis of our most cherished loved ones who were killed or injured in the line of duty.

Ever since I've lived in southern Maryland, the mantra has been that our region and state are recession proof because of our proximity to Washington, D.C. The preponderance of government and military installations, and the constantly upward trend of government growth, was supposed to be our economic ace in the hole. As we enter our second year of high unemployment and revenue shortfalls that led to our $2 billion budget deficit, I'm beginning to wonder if that dependency is more of a curse than a blessing.