Results tagged “maryland”

Last year, we had a laugh or two about the signs that Maryland required registered sex offenders to post during last year's trick-or-treating hours, in order to let parents know which houses to avoid. We even had deeply offensive musical accompaniment! But despite last year's positive results, the signs were not required this year, according to WTOP. Why's that? "[T]he sign was confusing because it had a pumpkin," said the coordinator of the sex offender registry for the county sheriff's office. So confusing that you'd miss the large, green "NO CANDY AT THIS RESIDENCE" text which lies directly on top of the pumpkin's face?

Both President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have been known to stop by local D.C. schools to visit with area students over the last year, but today was the first day the President visited a school in Maryland, according to the Post. Obama made a surprise to the lunchroom at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring today. He reportedly spent about 30 to 45 minutes chatting with 3rd and 5th graders at the school about what books they were reading.

by DCist contributor Brett Gellman The Coastal Division of the ACC is representing the conference well, as two teams are currently ranked in the Top 25. It's going to be a real battle between Virginia Tech, Miami (FL), and Georgia Tech to see who will ultimately reach the conference championship game in Tampa Bay. As for the Atlantic Division? Well, it's just an utter mess.

While most fans in the area, if not the country, will be watching the marquee ACC matchup of Virginia Tech vs. Miami, two struggling programs will take the field in College Park when Maryland (1-2, 0-0 ACC) faces Rutgers (2-1, 0-1 Big East) in the Terps' final non-conference game of the season.

• Maryland 1, North Carolina 0: Leading with college soccer? You bet. 6,946 -- an attendance record for a Maryland soccer match, and more than 1,500 more spectators than last night's D.C. United match -- and soccer nuts watching on Fox Soccer Channel saw the Terrapins win a rematch of last season's NCAA men's championship game, which they also won by the same score. It was pure drama at the expanded Ludwig Field, as fifth-year senior captain Kevin Tangney headed in with two minutes left to settle matters. North Carolina's Billy Schuler, who has scored as a member of the United States' U-20 team (soccer fans, don't forget: the U.S. opens their 2010 U-20 World Cup tomorrow against Germany in Egypt) missed a penalty kick in the 55th minute to set up the dramatic ending. Said Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski, "that was one of the best moments of my 17 years here."
• Braves 4, Nationals 1: The Nationals got some ink earlier this year for statistically being the unluckiest team in the bigs, though losses like last night's only reinforce that idea is influenced by a lot of errors. John Lannan allowed but two unearned runs in the first inning thanks to two errors, and still found himself with a loss. Braves starter Javier Vazquez went the distance to keep Atlanta's slim hopes of a playoff berth alive. Vazquez worked quickly and shut down the Nats' offense, allowing only three hits in his third complete game of the year.

Virginia vs Southern Miss: I gather that the U. of Virginia took note when Southern Miss adopted the rugby-style punt last year. The Golden Eagles soared on that tricksy-looking punt, turning the season around after an awful start marked by dreadful special-teams performances and eventually nabbing a ticket to a bowl game. When the 0-3 Cavs deploy the rugby punt, though, it doesn't feel like Southern Miss's quick-fix for a special-teams problem. Of course, nothing against UVa sophomore kicker Jimmy Howell; hell, the rugby punt's the best play that offense has.

• Middle Tennessee State 32, Maryland 31
  Southern Mississippi 37, Virginia 34
  
  These are not typos, I swear. Sorry, Cavs and Terps fans -- it might be time to pack it in until hoops season kicks off. In other scores, #13 Virginia Tech dramatically beat #19 Nebraska after going 91 yards on two plays in the final minute of the game and Georgetown (yes, they have a football team) lost.
• Fever 81, Mystics 74 (OT): The Mystics' season came to an end after losing a decisive Game 2 to Indiana on the road. The Fever sank Washington thanks to a 17 point advantage from the free-throw line and Tamika Catchings' 24 points and 16 rebounds. While the loss ended the Mystics season, they can at least say they went out with a good fight against a team that was almost unbeatable at home during the regular season. Crystal Langhorne highlighted for Washington with 15 points and 10 boards.
• Mets 3, Nationals 2: Man, this one was a snoozer which had some fans questioning the sanity of the manager; appropo for two teams whose fans have endured two of the more star-crossed seasons in recent memory. On the positive end: Adam Dunn earned his 100th RBI of the year, a pretty good number for a guy that seemingly nobody else wanted to sign in the offseason.

Look, far be it from me to downplay the importance of monitoring young college students to prevent them from overindulging in alcohol -- but sweet fancy Moses, this Post piece about policing the University of Maryland's drinking scene is nearly laughable. Some of the lowlights recorded by reporter Jenna Johnson: "But the most obvious clue that they are freshmen? No red cups in hand, Ecker said. They haven't learned to bring their own cups to keggers." (Oh, those adorable freshmen! When will they ever learn that wearing high school shirts and not carrying your own cup is a dead giveaway for the po-po?) How about the anecdote in which the two underaged women walk directly past the Lieutenant which Johnson interviewed, openly discussing where to procure fake IDs -- to which the officer can only muster an "I am standing right here!" Much less hilarious: the department's Homer Simpson-esque solution to a brick wall where men gather to cat call and assault women: lobbying College Park to install "no loitering" signs and reminding officers to please crack down on "undesirables" who routinely get grabby with ladies. Why not just, you know, assign a police officer to stand at the wall? College Park, it's a hell of a town.

by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

Three area Men's soccer squads made Soccer America's Preseason Top 25, led by the defending national champion Maryland, at #8. The Terps lost a number of stars from last year's title team (its second in four years), but return enough talent to merit the top ten ranking. They're also one of three ACC teams in the first ten. George Mason is ranked #19, and actually claimed a solid 1-0 exhibition win on the road at Virginia last week. The Patriots are coming off their first Colonial Athletic Association title in 20 years and open the season by hosting the annual D.C. College Cup, featuring American, George Washington, and Howard. Loyola (Md.) also feature in the Top 25, coming in at #17. The Greyhounds are picked to take home the MAAC crown again this year, and return preseason player of the year Jamie Dervill.

Truly charming news out of Hagerstown: the AP via WTOP reports that the Secret Service detained a Maryland man who showed up to one of Sen. Ben Cardin's health care reform town hall meetings with a sign reading, "Death to Obama." And wait, it gets even charming-er! The sign also reportedly read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." Thanks for classing up the joint, unidentified 51-year-old Maryland man. We're sure everyone appreciates your erudite contributions to the health care reform debate.

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted unanimously today to add the Purple Line to its long-range transportation plan, a key approval in the lengthy process to build the new line. Whether the proposed 16-mile line connecting Bethesda to New Carrollton will be light rail or bus rapid transit is still an open question, but a decision on that could happen as early as the end of the summer, assuming the next step, an environmental review process, doesn't drag on and on.

by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

So reports the Baltimore Sun: as the District considers its own same-sex marriage legislation, our neighbors to the north are currently stuck in limbo -- Maryland law clearly defines marriage as between a man and a woman, but also strictly recognizes marriages performed elsewhere. Recently, both D.C. and New York state have passed similar laws which would recognize same-sex unions performed in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa (as well, ostensibly, as both Vermont and Maine when those states' laws go into effect this fall). Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, a proponent of same-sex marriage, is expected to release an opinion on a recognition law in the coming weeks. Efforts to grant equal marriage rights in the Old Line State have been consistently buried in legislative committee; many activists believe that state lawmakers are unlikely to change course until after the 2010 midterm elections.

Is this going to become a yearly thing for Jim Graham?

A member of the White House advance team and his family are also preliminarily being looked at as swine flu patients, reports AP. But just like the World Bank employee, the White House staffer and his family all live in Maryland, so this too is not counted as a District of Columbia case. "We still have no known cases of H1N1 in the District," D.C. Department of Health spokesperson Dena Iverson said this afternoon. Of course, given that these people all work inside the District, that's a technical distinction you could argue doesn't have very much of a difference.

Earlier today the World Bank announced that one of its D.C.-based employees had preliminarily tested positive for swine flu, but it turns out that should the case be confirmed by a second test, it wouldn't actually be counted as the District's first case. World Bank spokesperson David Theis confirmed that while the employee in question did enter the Bank's offices while sick on April 20, the employee technically lives in Maryland, and so this case would be counted toward the state's tally of confirmed swine flu patients. Per the relevant protocols, the World Bank is in contact with the D.C. Department of Health on this case, but ultimately, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will the one to keep track of it. We're still waiting on a call back from the Maryland health department to see if we can find out which county the World Bank employee lives in—they're having an understandably busy day over there.

A couple of years ago, I made some friends on one of our friendly neighborhood listservs -- and people were always asking for favors. After all, that's what neighbors do for each other. In any case, I got roped into babysitting occasionally. No big deal right? A free pizza, playing some Xbox 360, and some quality time spent engaging my inner seven-year-old -- to be honest, it wasn't that much different that my usual evening activities. (You know, just without the booze.) Really, the only downside to the whole shebang was when the two or three kids decided to break into a full-throated argument about which toys were whose, and who, at that very moment, had the right to monopolize the box they all laid in. Invariably, someone got hit, I'd have to step in; it was a considerable mess that accomplished nothing. Ten minutes later, they'd be back fighting again over the same things.

Less than one full day after yesterday afternoon's Metrobus/MARC train collision in Riverdale Park, another Metrobus came close to meeting the same fate today with a CSX train.

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

Any chance that Maryland had at knocking off second-seeded Memphis this afternoon is pretty much dead; at halftime, Maryland is losing by twenty points, 53-33. Memphis has shot an unbelievable 70% from the field, and Maryland is only 1-9 from behind the three point line -- the one make coming right at the halftime buzzer. If the Terps can somehow hit a whole bunch more shots from three and Memphis goes ice cold, the boys from College Park might be able to get back into the game -- but even then, it will take a Herculean effort to win. Barring such a miracle, the D.C. area is looking at the last twenty minutes of meaningful local men's college hoops that we'll see all year. Not that it's too much of a concern for participants in the DCist Reader-Staff pool -- none of the current top ten brackets had Maryland pulling the upset. So much for local pride, eh?

There's a report from the Associated Press that hit the wires a little while ago about how D.C. United fans rallied in Annapolis today to shore up support for the team's move to Prince George's County. The reporter counted about 60 people in attendance at said rally, the result of the team's push to get supporters to come out for hearings on the stadium issue set for today at the Maryland General Assembly. Earlier this month, United sent out a letter to fans begging them to support their move out of the city. We're curious, D.C. United fans: what did you make of the letter? Are you, at this point, in favor of the move? Or did you just feel like the team was asking you to support them abandoning the District? We've pasted the full letter, dated March 10, after the jump.

Not burgers. Not books. Frakkin' en-see-double-A basketball.

Maryland couldn't follow up Friday night's big win against Wake Forest with a similar effort against Duke, falling to the Blue Devils last night 67-61. Maryland hung tough for most of the game, but a 12-2 run midway through the second half proved the dagger for Maryland's ACC championship chances. It was arguably going to be rough going for the Terps with star Greivis Vazquez only getting 14 points on 6 of 17 shooting, but a honest night's effort on defense -- Duke only shot 36% from the field -- kept the score close. Maryland has to be glad that they probably won't have to play Duke again this year -- this was the third game this season which the Terps lost to the boys from Durham, who will play Florida State today for the ACC Championship.

Wake Forest guard L.D. Williams's vaunted defense couldn't stop Maryland's Greivis Vasquez from picking up 22 points in last night's big upset over Wake Forest -- a win that cleared the Terps for the conference championship and redeemed a close loss against the Demon Deacons earlier in the month.

>> The District of Columbia Bar wants an online directory of lawyers to cease and desist, citing violations of copyright laws and privacy, and the ability to rate the attorneys listed. [WaPo]

The Washington Post reports that the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee rejected Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to repeal the death penalty, the latest turn in the state's long back-and-forth history on capital punishment. It's hardly the last. In fact, it's not even the last legislative push Maryland will see before spring.

Report by DCist contributor Brett Gellman.