**Mistakes made in prison strip search

 

     ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's top corrections official says a

strip search of 9 prison employees in western Maryland was flawed,

and he's promising it won't happen again.

     Gary Maynard, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public

Safety and Correctional Services, wrote about the Aug. 12 search in

an opinion piece in The (Hagerstown) Herald Mail on Wednesday.

     He says the search at Maryland Correctional Training Center near

Hagerstown was done because of a recent series of drug seizures and

inmate overdoses that included a fatality.

     Maynard writes that he has met with lawmakers, who have

encouraged the department to continue an investigation into the

search.

 

**Climate Change Report Predictions

 

     ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - A new state report outlines how climate change could pose significant environmental problems to Maryland's  coastline from rising sea levels and health problems due to warmer temperatures over the next century.  The Maryland Commission on Climate Change released its "Climate Action Plan" Wednesday.  The report says the largest economic impact on Maryland will be  on its coastal infrastructure and development.

 It says an estimated 6 percent of Maryland's 4,360 miles of

coastline is vulnerable to flooding by 2100.  Stronger storms and  flooding also could put a strain on coastal development.

     The report also says higher temperatures could increase the

number of heat-related health problems in cities.

 

 

**PG Co. cracks down on students skipping school

 

     WASHINGTON (AP) - Prince George's County school officials are

cracking down on students who skip class.

     The county's Board of Education plans to run television, radio

and print advertisements instructing adults to call police if they

notice students out of class during school hours.

     In most cases, police who find truant students take them back to

school.

     The 130,000-student school system has the second-highest truancy

rate in Maryland after Baltimore. State data shows in the 2006-07

school year, more than 4 percent of county students were habitually

truant.

     School board member Pat Fletcher says she hopes to cut the total

number of 6,000 truants in half this year.

     A school system spokesman says the cost of the advertising

campaign would be nominal.

 

 

**Crab tagging part of regulatory program

 

     NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) - Virginia's belt-tightening has delayed

a state plan to better regulate blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay.

     The plan by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission would have

required watermen to put a new colored tag on each of their crab

pots every year.

     The tag would make it much easier for marine officers to enforce

illegal crab pots and for the commission to keep track of how many

pots are in the water.

     But now, the commission's deputy commissioner, Jack Travelstead,

said Tuesday it's clear the General Assembly will not be able to

provide the approximate $300,000 needed to run the program.

     Earlier this year, the Marine Resources Commission put in place

regulations designed to cut the female crab harvest by 34 percent.

 

**Elkton couple charged in thefts from shelters

 

ELKTON, Md. (AP) - A husband and wife from Elkton are scheduled

to go on trial separately this fall in the alleged thefts of

thousands of dollars from local homeless shelters where they

worked.

     Court records show 40-year-old Kristine Roston faces 10

theft-related counts and is scheduled for trial Sept. 30. She is

accused of stealing food, gift cards and cash donations from the

Wayfarer's House, where she worked as a supervisor.

     Forty-seven-year-old Donald Roston is accused of committing

similar offenses at the Settlement House. He faces two charges. and

his trial is set for Oct. 6

     The shelters are owned and operated by Meeting Ground Inc., a

nonprofit organization.

 

 

**Phelps photograph reinstalled at Portrait Gallery

 

     WASHINGTON (AP) - A large color photograph of Michael Phelps is

being reinstalled at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in

Washington.

     The photograph on view Wednesday shows the Olympic gold medalist

underwater with bubbles streaming from his nose.

     Phelps won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

Combined with his six gold medals from the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens, the swimmer from Baltimore now holds 14 gold medals and two

bronze.

     The Phelps photograph was taken by Ryan McGinley in 2004 for the

cover of The New York Times Magazine. It was first shown at the

museum when the gallery reopened in July 2006, following a

renovation.

     The photograph will remain on view at the Portrait Gallery

through January.