Maryland
Assateague Island to star in special episode of Outdoors Maryland on Maryland Public TV
Watch Decatur players celebrate their big Maryland semifinals win
Decatur survived a comeback attempt from Milford Mill to win the 2A State Semifinal 35-34. See the play that cinched the win and the celebration here.
Curious about the history, wildlife and geology of Assateague Island? Tune into Maryland Public Television this December for a special episode devoted to just that and more.
Maryland Public Television’s award-winning original series Outdoors Maryland, now in its 35th anniversary season, will launch an episode about the one and only Assateague Island — the 37-mile-long island along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia — on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.
During the Dec. 5 episode of Outdoors Maryland, viewers will be transported to the unique and complex destination, the public television station shared in a news release. Outdoors Maryland is produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
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Learn about Assateague Island’s history, wildlife and geology
Originally connected to Ocean City, Maryland, Assateague Island was formed abruptly in 1933 when a major hurricane carved the Ocean City inlet, firmly establishing Assateague’s reliance on change. Then, in 1962, a powerful storm dashed plans of an oceanfront development, leading to a sale of the land to the federal government.
Even the earliest inhabitants of the island were transient, likely visiting only seasonally to hunt and fish. Assateague Island’s animals and plants rely on the slow transformations brought by the sea and storms, but its very existence is threatened by the acceleration of climate change.
Throughout much of the Assateague Island special episode, Outdoors Maryland will share with viewers the island’s complicated, often contradictory relationship to change.
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Assateague Island’s animals will be stars, especially its horses
A rare constant on the island is its rich and storied diversity of animals and plants.
This special episode provides an introduction to the piping plover, a small coastal bird whose federally threatened status is held at bay by National Park Service staff on the island; the ribbed Atlantic mussels who make their home in Assateague’s marshes and who serve as filters for surrounding bays; and a pair of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles released into the island’s waters by The National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Assateague Island’s most famous residents, the wild ponies, also have a starring role in this episode. Their history is murkier than the marsh water, but the feral horses’ appeal is clear. More than three million visitors flock to the island annually, in large part for an up-close look at the horses roaming free through the Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague State Park.
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Protecting Assateague Island from climate change and more
The Assateague Island special highlights the work of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service to protect the island from the dangers of its natural fragility and the accelerated impact of climate change.
While there are regular efforts to replenish the island’s unique sandy beaches, secure its shifting dunes, and stave off a fluctuating saltwater balance that threatens the bottom of a complex food chain, there is also an embrace of the storms that periodically bathe the sands in seawater and the winds that create small but regular shifts in the island’s footprint.
Throughout the episode, viewers will come to learn that one mission of Assateague’s protectors is to defend the natural forces of change and let the mercurial island do what it is destined to do.
How to watch episodes of Maryland Public Television’s Outdoors Maryland
Since debuting in 1988, MPT has produced more than 700 Outdoors Maryland stories on topics ranging from science-oriented environmental issues to segments about unusual people, animals, and places around the state, as well as earned more than 50 awards over nearly 35 years of production.
Outdoors Maryland airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Concurrent with their broadcast debut, episodes are also available to watch on demand using MPT’s online video player and the PBS Video App.
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Olivia Minzola covers communities on the Lower Shore. Contact her with tips and story ideas at ominzola@delmarvanow.com.
Maryland
Maryland state champion Fort Hill forfeits five football games
Fort Hill, the three-time reigning Maryland Class 1A state football champions, has forfeited five victories due to an ineligible player.
According to a report by the Cumberland Times-News, Fort Hill received an anonymous report early last week that a player on its varsity football team was not a resident of Allegany County (Md.) which is a violation of Allegany County Public Schools and Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) rules.
The Allegany County school system determined that the student in question was residing in another state, and enrollment information provided to Fort Hill’s administration contained fraudulent information.
“The investigation didn’t reveal any wrongdoing or lack of diligence by the Fort Hill administration or football coaching staff,” a press release from Allegany County Public Schools said.
The press release stated the school system contacted the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to report the violation as required by the Code of Maryland Regulations 13A.06.03.05. which requires a school to forfeit all games in which an ineligible player participated.
The Times-News said the player in question did not participate in the Sentinels’ first game of the regular season.
According to the release, the Allegany County school system was to appeal the penalty to the MPSSAA Appeals Committee Monday.
The final MPSSAA football point standings along with the postseason brackets were released Monday morning, showing Fort Hill a 2-7 record in the final 1A West Region standings. The Sentinels were 7-2 after defeating league rival Allegany Saturday.
The Cumberland Times-News reported Monday afternoon that there wasn’t enough time for the appeal to be heard before the state playoff brackets were finalized.
Since 2021, every Maryland public school football team is eligible for the state tournament.
Fort Hill, which was the No. 1 seed in the West Region entering last week, is now the No. 6 seed and will play Allegany Friday evening at Greenway Avenue Stadium, a venue the two Cumberland (Md.) schools play home games.
The winner will play at No. 2 seed Clear Spring next weekend for a spot in the state quarterfinals.
Barring major upsets in the other 1A region playoffs, Fort Hill, ranked No. 17 in the latest Maryland Top 25 Maryland High School Football State Rankings, will be on the road through the state semifinals, something it hasn’t had to do during its championship run.
Fort Hill, seeking to match its 1A four-peat run of 2013 to 2016, last played a state postseason road contest in 2010. The Sentinels lost to Dunbar in a 1A state semifinal contest at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.
Fort Hill may be ready for a new path to the state final at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Sentinels played Dunbar, the three-time defending 2A/1A champ in Baltimore (Morgan State University) during the regular season and, last season, played at Briar Woods, a Northern Virginia power.
Maryland
Maryland AG Decries 'Creepy' Voting 'Report Cards'
People who have been receiving so-called “Voting Report Cards” in the mail are not happy about them, and now Maryland’s attorney general is warning the letters may violate state law. The “report cards,” millions of which were sent out according to CBS News, tell the addressee that public records show they are eligible to vote. “Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you voted is public record,” the letters say. “We’re sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation.” What follows is a record of whether the addressee voted in recent elections, as well as redacted information about whether their neighbors voted, the Baltimore Sun reports. Residents of other states have received the letters as well.
The letters have been called “creepy,” “threatening,” and “intimidating,” the Washington Post reports. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown recently sent cease-and-desist letters to the two nonprofit groups sending out the letters, the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, which are connected to one another (and are run by a longtime Democratic operative, though the groups claim to be nonpartisan). Brown warns in the letters that Maryland law prohibits “inappropriate attempts to compel voting behavior.” A senior official for the groups pushed back in a statement to the Post, saying, “It is not ‘intimidating’ or ‘threatening’ to promote voting by discussing neighborhood participation rates and stating that the records will be reviewed after the election to determine whether the recipient joined their neighbors in voting.” The groups insist such movements have previously driven voter turnout.
Meanwhile, in Texas, residents have reported receiving intimidating messages of a different sort, the Austin American-Statesman and Fortune report. “Greetings! YOU have been identified and are now in our National Database of miscreant Harris supporters, either by social interactions with your neighbors who are on our investigations team, or by yard signs, or vehicle bumper stickers,” read flyers that have been left on Kamala Harris yard signs. “Rather than the hangman’s noose of the old days, you are now guaranteed that once the magnificent Donald Trump assumes the Presidency again YOU will be IRS tax audited going all the way back to your very first tax return—and at a minimum—4 years of painful misery and attorney’s fees.” They are signed as being from the “Grand Dragon of Trump Klan #124,” but it is not clear if they are related to the KKK. Authorities are investigating. (More Election 2024 stories.)
Maryland
Chilly start to the week before warmup in Maryland
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