http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/index/ Blogging from the subterranean conduits of Charles County, Maryland en Sam1mail@aol.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-05T14:58:56+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/small_local_business_enterprise_legislation/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/small_local_business_enterprise_legislation/#When:14:58:56Z Board Docs - Feb 07, 2012 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting 3.04 [10:00 a.m.] Work Session/Introduction: Small Local Business Enterprise Legislation (Mr. Gene Lauer, Acting Interim Director of Economic Development/Ms. Barbara Holtz, County Attorney) 2012-03 SLBE Resolution and procedures 2.2.12.pdf (81 KB) Bill 2012-05 Purchasing and Procurement_Small Local Business Enterprise.pdf (90 KB) county employers by the numbers Jan 2012.pdf (175 KB) SLBE Preference MatrixFINAL.pdf (252 KB) Small Local Business Enterprise Prog Concept Pape.pdf (321 KB) Maryland, Charles County 2012-02-05T14:58:56+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/work_sessionintroduction_bill_number_2012-02/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/work_sessionintroduction_bill_number_2012-02/#When:14:48:41Z Board Docs - Feb 07, 2012 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting 3.03 [9:45 a.m.] Work Session/Introduction: Bill Number 2012-02 Erroneous References to Parcels Rezoned by Bill No. 2009-09 (Chapter 297)(Ms. Liz Theobalds, Deputy County Attorney) Bill 2012-02 correction to Bill 2009-09 PEP Zoning(Chapter 297).pdf (69 KB) Bill 2009_09 and Dec and Order.pdf (2,976 KB) IHS&TP Exhibit_revised_2.pdf (3,595 KB) Maryland, Charles County 2012-02-05T14:48:41+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/resolution_number_2012-04/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/resolution_number_2012-04/#When:14:43:49Z Board Docs - Feb 07, 2012 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting 2.04 Resolution Number 2012-04 - Ethics Commission Member Staggered Terms (Ms. Barbara Holtz, County Attorney) Ethics Commission Resolution.pdf (195 KB) Maryland, Charles County 2012-02-05T14:43:49+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/as_the_railroad_industry_thrives_pittsburgh_companies_profit_and_add_jobs/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/as_the_railroad_industry_thrives_pittsburgh_companies_profit_and_add_jobs/#When:14:34:05Z Back on track The railroad industry is picking up steam again, after losing ground decades ago to the nation’s trucking industry. And Pittsburgh’s expertise and history in the business—Andrew Carnegie and the city’s other industrialists needed good ways to move their steel a century ago—has put the region on track to benefit from rail’s resurgence. Western Pennsylvania is home to companies that build railroad cars, make parts to run the cars and fix the tracks beneath their wheels. Railroad signalling—a key element in helping trains avoid running into each other—keeps engineers busy on the South Side, while a company in Sharon refurbishes train wheels and couplers for reuse. “Go to any railroad or any subway or transit station in North America and you will see that we have [products] in every locomotive, every freight car, subway car or transit bus,” said Albert Neupaver, president and CEO of Wabtec, a Wilmerding-based rail equipment supplier with nearly $2 billion in revenue last year. Pennsylvania 2012-02-05T14:34:05+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/mikulski_introduces_bill_to_fund_alzheimers_research/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/mikulski_introduces_bill_to_fund_alzheimers_research/#When:14:30:11Z Research into Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases would win a boost under a bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. The bill is designed to spark innovative research by allocating money to find cures for these ailments. Mikulski, D-Md., was joined at the Capitol Hill announcement by USAgainstAlzheimer’s founder George Vradenburg, as well as the bill’s co-sponsors: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., are also co-sponsors, but did not attend the news conference. Feds, National 2012-02-05T14:30:11+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/22_senators_propose_lockbox_for_transportation_funds/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/22_senators_propose_lockbox_for_transportation_funds/#When:14:27:48Z After Gov. Martin O’Malley proposed a 6% sales tax on gas to pay for infrastructure projects, Sen. Rob Garagiola and 21 other senators moved to make the tax more salable with a proposed constitutional amendment to safeguard the Maryland Transportation Trust Fund, which governors have repeatedly raided to balance the general fund budget. “In recent years, the Transportation Trust Fund has been depleted,” Garagiola, D-Montgomery, said in an e-mail. “This legislation proposes a constitutional amendment to create a firewall for current and future Transportation Trust Fund monies. It is critical that we act now to address our infrastructure needs.” The amendment aims to stop transfers out of the fund and mandate gas tax revenue go specifically to transportation projects — essentially creating a lock box. Maryland, Maryland Statewide, Md. General Assembly, Md. House of Delegates, Md. Senate, Politics 2012-02-05T14:27:48+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/westlake_senior_is_finalist_in_national_achievement_program/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/westlake_senior_is_finalist_in_national_achievement_program/#When:14:23:41Z The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently named Felicia Dillard, a Westlake High School senior, as a finalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program. As one of more than 800 national finalists, Dillard will receive a one-time $2,500 scholarship award. Dillard was selected as an award finalist from a nationwide pool of more than 1,300 semifinalists for high academic performance, student and community leadership activities, principal recommendation and SAT scores. Dillard was recently accepted to attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall, and plans to study Biology and neuroscience. Maryland, Charles County 2012-02-05T14:23:41+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/taking_more_seats_on_campus_foreigners_also_pay_the_freight/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/taking_more_seats_on_campus_foreigners_also_pay_the_freight/#When:14:19:24Z This is the University of Washington’s new math: 18 percent of its freshmen come from abroad, most from China. Each pays tuition of $28,059, about three times as much as students from Washington State. And that, according to the dean of admissions, is how low-income Washingtonians — more than a quarter of the class — get a free ride. With state financing slashed by more than half in the last three years, university officials decided to pull back on admissions offers to Washington residents, and increase them to students overseas. That has rankled some local politicians and parents, a few of whom have even asked Michael K. Young, the university president, whether their children could get in if they paid nonresident tuition. “It does appeal to me a little,” he said. National 2012-02-05T14:19:24+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/in_afghanistan_u.s._plans_a_shift_to_special_forces/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/in_afghanistan_u.s._plans_a_shift_to_special_forces/#When:14:16:37Z The United States’ plan to wind down its combat role in Afghanistan a year earlier than expected relies on shifting responsibility to Special Operations forces that hunt insurgent leaders and train local troops, according to senior Pentagon officials and military officers. These forces could remain in the country well after the NATO mission ends in late 2014. The plan, if approved by President Barack Obama, would amount to the most significant evolution in the military campaign since Obama sent in 32,000 more troops to wage an intensive and costly counterinsurgency effort. Military/Veterans, National 2012-02-05T14:16:37+00:00 http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/millions_of_containers._now_find_the_boom_box/ http://delusionalduck.com/index.php/site/millions_of_containers._now_find_the_boom_box/#When:14:07:03Z They look harmless enough. And, so far, they have been – just the same old shipping containers we’ve seen rumbling along our highways for decades. The one rattling by in the lane next to you could be loaded with anything from fruit to furniture. Mark Laria dwells on the tiny chance that it carries the next 9/11. Laria is port director at the Norfolk field office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the 10 years he’s been here, roughly 10 million containers have come and gone. None has been the dreaded “boom box” – the one security experts warn could be rigged with a terrorist bomb. Virginia 2012-02-05T14:07:03+00:00