I have two dogs, Gus and Annie, who are frequent inspirations for my columns. These two dogs could not be more different. Gus is a 12-pound little Maltese prince who believes the world revolves ... [Continue Story]
Public Affairs
1st District GOP Candidates Debate without Incumbent Andy Harris at LWV Forum
Two forums were planned for last Sunday at Chesapeake College for Democratic and Republican candidates running in this year’s primary elections for ... [Continue Story]
- Congressman Harris Votes No on Bill Supporting Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan
- Spy Report: Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc Hosts Public Update Session
- County Council Update: Lakeside Resolutions Discussed and More
- House, Senate Send $63 Billion Budget to Governor
- Maryland House and Senate leaders Say They have a Budget Agreement
- Going on 15 Years: A Chat with Talbot Interfaith Shelter’s Julie Lowe
Spy Highlights
From and Fuller: On NY Times David Brooks Pessimism on Biden and Speaker Johnson’s Survival
Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment. This week, From and Fuller discuss David Brooks’s New York Times op-ed that suggests serious pessimism about his chances of winning reelection as a result of his Gaza policy, persistent consumer inflation, and […]
- When Whistler looked at City Streets with the Curator David Park Curry and AAM’s Lee Glazer
- Chicken Scratch: Are You Feeling Stressed Today? By Elizabeth Beggins
- The Art and Importance of Festivals at the CBMM with Shannon Mitchell
- From and Fuller: Speaker Johnson’s Foreign Aid Pickle and Trump Trapped in the Courtroom
- Dedicating the Original Choptank River Bridge with FDR and the Sequoia
- Let’s Talk About It: Human Trafficking on the Mid-Shore with Beth Anne Dorman
The Arts and Local Design
Spy Art Reviews: From Heirlooms to Master Antiquity Prints by Steve Parks
Heirlooms are defined in dictionaries as “valuable objects that belonged to a family for generations.” The word “valuable” in that description is ... [Continue Story]
- Spy Review: They’re All Winners in this Contest by Steve Parks
- TAP Time: Tred Avon Players Liz Clarke and Cavin Moore on “Vanities”
- Two Art Grants Programs that Might Change Lives with Talbot Arts’ Joan Levy
- Spy Music Review: Concerto to Die For by Steve Parks
- Spy Arts Diary: A Stands for Art in April by Steve Parks
- Spy Concert Review: The Final 3 in MSO Concerto Playoff by Steve Parks
Chesapeake Ecosystem
QAC County Takes Major Step in Building Bike and Hiker Trails System
Last night, the Queen Anne's County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board presented their new master plan to county commissioners, outlining a vision ... [Continue Story]
- Maryland’s Oyster Sanctuaries Show Promising Signs by Joe Zimmermann
- Deena Kilmon Appointed Executive Director of Waterfowl
- The Eagle’s Owl Nest: After Years of Teasing, This Great Horned Owl Couple Finally Delivers
- Mid-Shore Ecosystem: Record Breaking Farm Land Saved by QAC but Future Funding Looks Bleak
- Md. Offshore Wind Project Loses Energy: Developer Announces ‘Repositioning’ Of Project
- A Conservation Journey From Cordova to Palaka and Back to Delmarva by Norman Greenhawk
Maryland News
Here are Some Bills to Watch on the Final Day of Session
The General Assembly session began on Jan. 10 with dire news over projected deficits. It will end Monday with a total eclipse of the sun. In ... [Continue Story]
- Should People with Severe Mental Health Needs get Court-Ordered Treatment?
- MD House Fiscal Leader Can’t Rule Out Extended Session on Budget
- Maryland’s Budget Compromise Languishes As Annapolis Debate Revenues
- A Check in with Cambridge Mayor Steve Rideout: The Resignation of a Highly-Respected City Manager
- Key Bridge Update: Six Workers Presumed Dead
Health
Compass in Review: A Chat with CEO Heather Guerieri
Every year, the Spy makes it a point to talk to Heather Guerieri, the CEO of Compass, the Mid-Shore's largest nonprofit hospice organization, for an ... [Continue Story]
- Working Together on Senior Care: A Chat with Talbot Health’s Carrie Ottey and Upper Shore Aging’s Andy Hollis
- Mid-Shore Health: The Road to Recovery at Shore Medical Center’s Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Clinics
- Mid Shore Health Improvement Coalition Launches Health Careers Website
- Mid-Shore Health: The New Science of Orthopedic Care with Drs. Myron Szczukowski and Dr. Sheila Taylor
- The Moore Budget Shows $100M for Proposed Medical Center
Education
Breakdown Of Funding For Blueprint Plan Comes Into Focus
To help pay for the Blueprint plan through fiscal year 2027, the legislature also approved the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act, known as the ... [Continue Story]
- Horn Point Professors Named U.S. Fulbright Scholars
- Maryland Blueprint: Implementation in Dorchester County
- Blueprint Implementation Continues: New Plans Reveal Ongoing Challenges For Schools
- Chesapeake Forum’s New Era of Lifelong Learning with James Adams and Claudia Dziobek
- Building a Pathway to Serve with MD’s Service and Civic Innovation Secretary Paul Monteiro
Food & Garden Highlights
Food Friday: Strawberries
I am off galavanting this weekend, so this is a lightly re-worked essay from a couple of years ago. It will give you some time to plan for strawberry ... [Continue Story]
- Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: I Hear the Avalon is Sold Out for that Show
- Wine of the Week by Jenn Martella: Bricco Bartolomeo Cortese Colli Tortonesi DOC
- Letter to Editor: Using All of St. Michaels Accommodations Tax Revenue on Marketing is Wrong
- Letter to Editor: Why I’m Running for St. Michaels Commissioners
- The Tidewater Singers Spring Concerts
Brevities
Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: I Hear the Avalon is Sold Out for that Show
Exciting time at the Avalon Theater on Dover Street Easton, Maryland in 1950! The movie “ Stars in My Crown” was a Western Drama released in 1950 and ... [Continue Story]
- Agent 86 Reconnaissance Footage: Chestertown by Air
- COVID 2024 by Kate Emery General
- Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: Getting Ready for the Big Game
- Move Over Horny Goat Weed, Here Comes Pollen
- Earth Day by Kate Emery General
- Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: Waiting for the Train in Royal Oak
Commerce
Food Friday: Strawberries
I am off galavanting this weekend, so this is a lightly re-worked essay from a couple of years ago. It will give you some time to plan for strawberry ... [Continue Story]
- Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: I Hear the Avalon is Sold Out for that Show
- Wine of the Week by Jenn Martella: Bricco Bartolomeo Cortese Colli Tortonesi DOC
- Letter to Editor: Using All of St. Michaels Accommodations Tax Revenue on Marketing is Wrong
- Letter to Editor: Why I’m Running for St. Michaels Commissioners
- The Tidewater Singers Spring Concerts
Community Notes
The Spy to Offer Election Interviews with all St. Michaels Commissioner Candidates
The Talbot Spy is offering Zoom election profiles/interviews this month to those running for St. Michaels Commissioner on the May 6th ballot. As ... [Continue Story]
- CBMM to celebrate first responders & frontline workers May 13-17
- YMCA of the Chesapeake Announces Changes to Leadership Team
- Tilghman Watermen’s Museum Opens May 11
- Waterfowl Festival Celebrates Volunteer Week
- John Lewis, Headmaster of Gunston School, will be speaking about “Artificial Intelligence and Disinformation.
- Eastern Shore Land Conservancy Celebrates Trails
Senior Life Highlights
Could Your Core Be Getting Frail? By Susan Covey
As you probably know, a weak core impacts everyday life...but maybe more than you think. If basic functional movements like getting out of bed or ... [Continue Story]
- Working Together on Senior Care: A Chat with Talbot Health’s Carrie Ottey and Upper Shore Aging’s Andy Hollis
- Senior Life: Stepping Out by Susan Covey
- Cruisin’ with Christine: For the Love of Rotary at Londonderry with Robert Grill
- Londonderry on the Tred Avon Welcomes Brian Cotter to Board of Directors
- Housekeeping Team Contributes to Superior Lifestyle at Londonderry on the Tred Avon
- Cruisin’ with Christine: A Kitchen Inspection at Londonderry
Arts Notes
The Tidewater Singers Spring Concerts
The Tidewater Singers are pleased to present their Spring concerts on Mother’s Day weekend, Friday, May 10th, and Saturday, May 11th. The ... [Continue Story]
- Studio B Art Gallery Presents “Flourish: a Celebration of Spring”
- Chesapeake Music Announces Winners of 11th Biennial Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition for Young Professionals
- May Exhibit at The Artist’s Gallery: Treasures of the Chesapeake by Steve Bleinberger
- The Mainstay Welcomes Rex Fowler and Aztec Two-Step 2.0
- AAM Announces Spring/Summer Exhibitions
- Allegro Academy Block Party-May 11
Ecosystem Notes
Celebrate Trails Day in Queen Anne’s County: April 27, 2024
Queen Anne’s County is gearing up for Celebrate Trails Day on April 27. This event highlights the natural beauty and recreational opportunities ... [Continue Story]
Education Notes
Gunston’s Tony D’Antonio Named ‘Counselor of the Year’
The Gunston School is delighted to announce that Co-Director of College Guidance Tony D’Antonio has been named a Counselor of the Year by the Potomac ... [Continue Story]
- Get Your Groove On! Learn How to Jam With Others
- Drink Tequila, Explore the Serengeti or Read a Book In April at Chesapeake Forum
- Get Reel with Chesapeake Forum’s Lectures on the Shore this May
- Heron Pickleball Tournament Raises $7,000 for Gunston Athletics
- Darius Johnson Appointed to Maryland Historical Trust Board of Trustees
- Dr. Matthew Kibler Named as QACPS Assistant Superintendent
Health Notes
For All Seasons Inaugural Paddles Up for Mental Health Tournament Offers Former Raven Celebrity Match for Viewing
For All Seasons is inviting the community for a day of pickleball at its Paddles Up for Mental Health tournament on Saturday, April 27 starting at 8 ... [Continue Story]
- UM SMC in Chestertown in Becker’s Rural Access Hospital Listing
- Birthing Center at UM Shore Regional Health’s JADA System Proves a Lifesaver for Salisbury Mother
- Talbot Goes Purple will collect medications for National Take Back Day
- Shore Regional Health Celebrates Donate Life Month
- Queen Anne’s County Emergency Services to Host Community Emergency Response Team Training (CERT)
- Habitat Choptank Receives $450,000 Funding for Camper Street Neighborhood Project
Commerce Notes
Food Friday: Strawberries
I am off galavanting this weekend, so this is a lightly re-worked essay from a couple of years ago. It will give you some time to plan for strawberry ... [Continue Story]
- Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: I Hear the Avalon is Sold Out for that Show
- Wine of the Week by Jenn Martella: Bricco Bartolomeo Cortese Colli Tortonesi DOC
- Letter to Editor: Using All of St. Michaels Accommodations Tax Revenue on Marketing is Wrong
- Letter to Editor: Why I’m Running for St. Michaels Commissioners
- The Tidewater Singers Spring Concerts
- Adkins Arboretum Receives Grant to Fund Nature for All Golf Cart
Food Friday
Food Friday: Prepare for Al Fresco
We have had just enough warm weather this month to get us acclimated to the notion of summer, and now it is about to get cooler, but in a zesty, spring-y fashion. (We can wear ... [Continue Story]
Looking at the Masters with Beverly Smith
Looking at the Masters: Birds’ Head Haggadah
Birds’ Head Haggadah (c. 1300) This year the Jewish celebration of Passover begins at sundown on April 22, and it ends after nightfall on April 30. ... [Continue Story]
Design with Jenn Martella
House of the Week: Kentmore Park Cottage
I have featured Kent County’s Kentmore Park neighborhood once before so I welcomed another opportunity to visit this small private community with waterfront lots along the Sassafras River leading to the Chesapeake Bay. Before my tour, I parked my car at the community’s private beach by the pier and boat ramp. With my back to […]
From and Fuller Podcast
From and Fuller: On NY Times David Brooks Pessimism on Biden and Speaker Johnson’s Survival
Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment. This week, From and ... [Continue Story]
- From and Fuller: Speaker Johnson’s Foreign Aid Pickle and Trump Trapped in the Courtroom
- From and Fuller: A Deep Dive into Battleground State Wisconsin and MAGA Move for Trump Airport
- From and Fuller: Trump Antisemitism, Ohio Primary Results, and Hogan Poll Numbers
- From and Fuller: Biden’s SOTU Doesn’t Change Polls and the RFK, Jr. Third Party Threat
- From and Fuller: A Super Tuesday Download and the High Stakes of Biden’s State of the Union Address
- From and Fuller: The Politics of Isolationism and Commander’s Bites
Columnist J.E. Dean
Why is Trump Begging the Court to Convict Him? By J. E. Dean
The bizarre trial of Donald Trump, commonly referred to as "the hush money" case, will be written about 100 years from now. We call it the "hush money ... [Continue Story]
Columnist Howard Freedlander
Out and About (Sort of): Good Deed, Awful Behavior by Howard Freedlander
When Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the Berkeley School of Law and a strong advocate of free speech, invited sixty graduating students to his home, one of them rewarded his and his wife’s kindness with appalling behavior. Using her own microphone in Chemerinsky’s backyard to plead the plight of Palestinians, she and ten other students showed […]
- Out and About (Sort of): Wondering by Howard Freedlander
- Out and About (Sort of): Calming the Waters in Oxford by Howard Freedlander
- Out and About (Sort of): Compromise and Cars by Howard Freedlander
- Out and About (Sort of): Noteworthy History by Howard Freedlander
- Out and About (Sort of): Race To Watch by Howard Freedlander
- Out and About (Sort of): No Age Limit on Romance by Howard Freedlander
Columnist Hugh Panero
Top 15 Indicators That You Are Too Old For Technology by Hugh Panero
15. You refuse to upgrade your Mac operating system because you are terrified it will have bugs and screw up your computer. You only do it when you ... [Continue Story]
- Dune Part 2 and My Son Got Me Back Into a Movie Theater by Hugh Panero
- Governor Moore is About to Have a Moment by Hugh Panero
- The List of the 15 Most Upside-Down Things of 2023 by Hugh Panero
- New Hospital Dreams and Long ER Wait Time Nightmares by Hugh Panero
- New Hospital Dreams and Long ER Wait Time Nightmares by Hugh Panero
- America’s Crash Course on the Law by Hugh Panero
Columnist Craig Fuller
A Technologically Driven Holistic Approach to Healthcare: Craig Fuller Chats with Dr. Rubin Pillay
In a recent insightful interview with Dr. Rubin Pillay, an innovative voice in modern healthcare, the Spy's Craig Fuller was offered a glimpse into ... [Continue Story]
Columnist Jamie Kirkpatrick
A Writer’s Life by Jamie Kirkpatrick
Just over a year ago, I decided to begin work on a sequel to my debut novel, “This Salted Soil.” In that book, I introduced readers to a young Irish ... [Continue Story]
Columnist Laura Oliver
This Wild Heaven By Laura J. Oliver
Laura Oliver will be reading her work at the Stoltz Listening Room at the Avalon Foundation in Easton on April 24th at 6 pm as part of our Spy Nights ... [Continue Story]
Columnist Angela Rieck
Looking for Zebras by Angela Rieck
I have two dogs, Gus and Annie, who are frequent inspirations for my columns. These two dogs could not be more different. Gus is a 12-pound little ... [Continue Story]
Columnist Al Sikes
A Small Light by Al Sikes
There was a time when a single channel offered a blockbuster movie or series. Think broadcast TV and, for example, one of my favorites, Lonesome Dove. Or, maybe, The Sopranos. The shows were promoted extensively, if not excessively, and became what we called “appointment TV.” I have just now caught up with “A Small Light,” […]
Opinion
When Peace Visited War: A Christmas Story by Tom Timberman
Americans approach Christmas 2023 in a dark angry environment that has divided millions, even families and friends. Bethlehem, even Santa Claus and ... [Continue Story]
- A Christmas Carol 2023 by Maria Wood
- The Carbon Darwin Award by Bob Moores
- America’s Civil War of Weaponized Words and the Middle East by Tom Timberman
- Here’s a Test: Can You Recognize a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? By Maria Grant
- What Happens Next to Israel, Hamas, Palestinians and the US? By Tom Timberman
- Still No Planning? By Carol Voyles
- America is Losing Control of the Israel/Palestinian Global Narrative by Tom Timberman
- Things To Do In A Deer Stand by Rob Etgen
- Towards A National Directory Of Gun Violence by Stan Salett
- Wars, Political Chaos, Confusion and Anger: What to Do? By Tom Timberman
- Are We Judged by the Company We Keep? By Maria Grant
- October 7 Perspective by Bob Moores
- Rockfish Conservation by Rob Etgen
- Thoughts from the Mayor Of Crisfield on the Tawes Crab Feast and Clam Bake by Darlene Taylor
- The House is Dysfunctional; Where’s the Contingency Plan? By Tom Timberman
Letters to the Editor
Letter to Editor: Using All of St. Michaels Accommodations Tax Revenue on Marketing is Wrong
As concerned residents of St. Michaels, we were shocked to learn about an important development in the race for Town Commissioner. Several ... [Continue Story]
- Letter to Editor: Why I’m Running for St. Michaels Commissioners
- Letter to Editor: Farmers, Watermen, and Citizens Around the Bay Need More Effective Shoreland Zoning And Funding.
- Letter to Editor: Rename the Francis Scott Key Bridge
- Letter to Editor: Legal Challenge To Striped Bass Regulations Gets Wide Support
- Letter to Editor: Planning Commission Decisions On Lakeside This Tuesday
- Letter to Editor: Your Personal Guide to the Colossal Lakeside Mess and the Way Out