Maryland
Maryland’s new chance to improve Chesapeake Bay’s health | READER COMMENTARY
The Whole Watershed Act is a swift and positive response on behalf of the Maryland General Assembly to innovate its approach to regulating and supporting watershed health in the Chesapeake Bay (“Overview of the Whole Watershed Act of 2024,” April 16).
It’s encouraging to see scientists, lawmakers and regulators working together to bring evidence-based reasoning to new forms of watershed governance. The strength of the new approach is dual fold. It will localize the scale at which projects are conceived and implemented, empowering those who live, work, and play on waterways. The second strength is necessitating an integrated project that targets multiple benefits and outcomes of clean water — not the pollution reduction itself — but other critical characteristics of healthy watersheds such as recreation, access to waterways and healthy fisheries.
At Washington College’s Center for Environment and Society (CES), we are training the next generation of environmental stewards and change agents through interdisciplinary, place-based learning. The Center’s Natural Lands Project has converted over 2,000 acres of marginalized cropland across the Eastern Shore into diverse native meadows, wetlands and forests to increase diversity and improve water quality.
Our Chesapeake Places Program strengthens regional links with students and communities coming together to foster preservation and planning of cultural and natural resources. And the center is presently broadening its research scope to encompass food systems and regenerative agriculture, acknowledging the abundant agricultural potential within our region.
As sustainability is at the heart of our mission here at Washington College, CES sees this legislation as a chance to propose timely, interdisciplinary educational and research projects that can merge natural science and cultural studies to improve, appreciate and understand our place in the watershed. We are excited to see what’s next for the Chesapeake Bay region and happily endeavor to be good stewards and citizens who live and work in this one-of-a-kind natural resource.
— Valerie Imbruce and Beth Choate, Chestertown
The writers are, respectively, director and deputy director of Washington College’s Center for Environment and Society.
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A University of Maryland (UMD) football player was arrested for harassment, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
Dontay Joyner, a defensive back and rising senior at UMD, was charged with telephone misuse for making repeated calls, electronic communications harassment, and violating release conditions, a misdemeanor offense, according to court records.
Joyner’s attorney is calling the ordeal “outrageous,” saying “[Joyner] has been locked in a cage in Harford County for seven nights after being charged with a misdemeanor for telephone misuse for texting his longtime girlfriend during an argument. This is simply outrageous.”
Joyner’s attorney, Former Attorney General Douglas Gansler, said the 21-year-old has never been in trouble with the law and does not own a handgun. According to Gansler, Joyner’s girlfriend is “fully supportive of him and does not want to press charges.”
According to the UMD Terps website, Joyner is a Lakeland, Florida, native who previously attended Arkansas State. In the spring, Joyner was given the Nick Cross Defensive Back Award in a tradition that honors “past terrapin greats.”
According to court records, Joyner was held without bond.
WJZ has reached out to UMD officials for comment.
In Maryland, residents can find parades, concerts, history programs, fireworks, volunteer opportunities and family-friendly celebrations leading up to Independence Day.
America250, the national semiquincentennial initiative, is encouraging communities to take part through local commemorations, block parties, service projects and July 4 events. State and local commissions, historical societies, museums, libraries, parks departments and civic groups are also hosting events tied to the milestone.
Open primaries advocate Jeremy Gruber says nearly 100,000 independent voters in D.C. remain locked out of primary elections despite voters overwhelmingly approving open primaries in 2024. On The Final 5 with Jim Lokay, he blames the D.C. Council for refusing to fund the change and says similar efforts are gaining momentum in Maryland, where more than one million independents are also excluded from primaries. Gruber argues that in many one-party jurisdictions, the primary is effectively the election, making voter access even more critical.
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