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John Tesh
John Tesh
10:00am - 3:00pm
Intelligence For Your Life

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Rita Rich

Rita Rich is the former award-winning news director of WNAV Radio under the station's previous owner, Pat Sajak. She's contributing to this website because of a desire to stay in touch with the community she's grown so fond of.
Rita produces podcasts for others and is also a guest booker for a nationally syndicated radio talk show.

Rita Rich's Blog:

St. John's liberal arts College in Annapolis has a new President

German-born Nora Demleitner is the new President of St. John's College in Annapolis. She's the 25th Annapolis president in the college’s 325-year history, the ninth since the inception of the current Program of Study in 1937, and the college’s first female president. The president was inaugurated in ceremonies that were also streamed online on Saturday.  Presi...
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Two stories regarding the safety of the Bay, one from the State, one in the Annapolis City Council

Two stories regarding sediment and potentially dangerous pollutants finding their way into the Chesapeake Bay collide on Monday in Annapolis. First, state lawmakers say local jurisdictions can prohibit wastewater from being released into Baltimore’s sanitary sewer system. But, the U.S. Constitution’s interstate commerce clause allows toxic waste to be transported to a...
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Off-duty D.C. cop gets 18 month sentence for vehicular manslaughter in Lothian

The Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's office announced that Washington, D.C. police officer Austin Kirk Smith was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Friday for two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter in a 2021 crash that killed a young couple at a Lothian intersection. Smith, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, was off-duty and driving a Dodge Charger o...
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BWI not immune from runway mishap as FAA reports a near miss happened in January

The Federal Aviation Administration says a plane nearly hit an ambulance on the runway at BWI Marshall Airport in January. The mishap involved a Boeing 737 operated by Southwest Airlines that came within 200 feet of the aircraft rescue ambulance. The FAA report says there was a miscommunication between the tower and the ambulance driver. Reportedly the ambulance was told to stop before reaching...
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Bill to prevent price gouging in Maryland during emergencies, like pandemic advances in Annapolis

A bill has moved further along in the legislative process that would prohibit price increases above 15% during a state of emergency.  The general assembly is considering bills based on a proposal from Democrat Attorney General Anthony Brown before the end of the legislative session in a few weeks. In March 2020, shortly after the first case of Covid19 was diagnosed in Maryla...
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Fed judge says that Anne Arundel gun dealers must provide prospective buyers give customers suicide prevention and conflict resolution literature

A federal judge has thrown out a complaint from a lobby group, Maryland Shall Issue, challenging an Anne Arundel County ordinance that requires gun dealers to give customers suicide prevention and conflict resolution literature. U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher ruled that the law, ...
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Peeping Tom investigation at BWI area hotel

Anne Arundel County police are investigating a report of a "Peeping Tom" who pointed his phone camera under a stall door in a women's room of a  hotel near BWI.  Officers said they got the call Wednesday around 4:40 p.m. and responded to an unidentified hotel in the 1300 block of Concourse Drive in Linthicum Heights. The female hotel guest reported that th...
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Annapolis Police have launched a homicide and gun violence dashboard

The Annapolis Police Department launched a Homicide and Gun Violence Dashboard on its website. It displays gun violence data including homicide, non-fatal shootings, and reports of shots fired for the City of Annapolis from 2015 to the Present. The dashboard contains dropdown boxes to filter by year, incident type, and demographic data. Information is updated weekly and provides ...
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Anne Arundel County has signed a contract to purchase the Lothian Grain Elevator from Perdue

Purdue announced it would be closing the Lothian grain elevator Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced that the county is buying it, to the relief of Southern Maryland farmers.   Mr. Pittman says Purdue has 90 days to consider its proposal, valued at $1, 250,000 to buy the elevator. Many farmers across the country and locally are hopeful that once the elevator is...
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Tonii Geden named as acting Anne Arundel County Health Commissioner

A three-year health department official is named interim Anne Arundel County Health officer by County Executive Stueart Pittman. This comes after  Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman announced he was taking a position with the State Department of Health.  Ms. Gedin has been with the health department for the past three years and helped lead the county’s pandemic response, including wor...
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Follow-Up: Buckley business partner's mixed use project approved

A project proposed by a company called the West Village, the Annapolis Planning Commission, has been approved. The parcel of land is vacant and has been used for outdoor dining by Mayor Gavin Buckley's Thai cuisine restaurant.  While some planning commission members have criticized the project as not providing space for the storage of bicycles and for not allotting parking fo...
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Manhunt continues for former Hogan chief-of-staff Roy McGrath as "tell all" book is released

A federal manhunt is still underway, after starting a week ago,  for former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's ex-chief of staff. FBI and U.S. Marshals are both working on the search for fugitive Roy McGrath, which started two days after he was to appear in Federal Court in Florida, where he and his wife now have a home. Two days after former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s ex-chief of...
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Second Consecutive MacArthur student represent Anne Arundel County at Scripps Spelling Bee

Bella Van of Macarthur Middle School outlasted 27 other school-level spellers Saturday to capture the title at the 35th annual Anne Arundel County Spelling Bee. Bella correctly spelled the word “obloquy,” which means “strongly condemnatory utterance,” in the 13th round to win the AACPS Spelling Bee championship. Briant Patterson of Crofton Middl...
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Traffic Notice-Route 50 West Bound-bridge over Severn River

TRAFFIC ALERT: Md State Highway Admin is performing maintenance at Westbound US 50 bridge over the Severn River near Annapolis for the next few days -- weather permitting.  Work Includes Guardrail and General Bridge Repairs, March 20-25; The right lane will be closed until the work is completed. The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administrati...
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Weekend shooting at a West Street gas station

Anne Arundel County police report that this past Saturday, March18, 2023, at approximately 1:40 p.m., a shooting that just occurred in the 2000 block of West Street in Annapolis. The victims pulled in alongside a pump to get gas, and the adult male front-seat passenger went inside to pay. While the male was inside the business, the driver of the vehicle noticed several males get out of a w...
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Anne Arundel County Police arrest one of their own on St. Patrick's Day for DUI

A 15 year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police was arrested and charged with drunk driving.  AACOPD officers say that they located Detective I.Preece af the scene of a single-vehicle collission near Ritchie Highway and Jones Station Road, in  Severna Park. The vehicle struck a sign. And the officers noticed that the detective was impaired. Mr. Preece has been administrativel...
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Annapolis Police name homicide suspect in connection with incident in Obery Court

Police say 32-year-old Ronnisha Jacarra Harris, of the Annapolis area, has an active arrest warrant for 1st & 2nd Degree Murder, and other related criminal charges.  On Thursday, March 2, police responded to reports of shots fired. When they showed up to the 100 block of Oberty Court officers located an African American male victim, 48-year old Raphael Hilton Johnson Jr, suff...
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House of Delegates approve removing the smell of marijuana as probable cause for searches by police

The House of Delegates on Thursday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would bar police from detaining individuals simply because they smelled of marijuana. If the bill is passed, it would no longer mean that marijuana’s odor alone gives police neither reasonable suspicion nor probable cause to suspect someone of criminal activity. The smell, however, could still be a ...
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Severn teen arrested after shooting girlfriend and leading police on 17 mile car chase

Police have filed 32 charges against a Severn 18-year-old after he shot his girlfriend and led police on a 17-mile chase.  Police say that Andrew Chase Ridge Canova allegedly argued increasingly violently with his girlfriend. The last fight reportedly caused the girlfriend to demand the 18-year-old's girlfriend get his things and leave. Still, when he...
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Maryland is close to ending the civil statute of limitations for child victims of sexual abuse

The MD Senate just passed The Child Victims Act of 2023. If it passes the House and is signed by the governor, the Sun reports, it will provide a lookback window for survivors of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers in civil court. This bill has stalled in state senate committees for the past six years. Wes Moore says he'd sign it into law if it passes in the House and goes to the govern...
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Maryland's Attorney General sends harsh message to credit card companies rolling back merchant-code for gun sales

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sent a letter to the heads of American Express, Mastercard, VISA, and Discover, accusing them of buckling under the prospect of local legislatures threatening lawsuits. The Attorney General says the companies are backing away from a commitment that can help track the perpetrators of mass shootings. Mr. Brown writes, "Your companies process ...
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Flags lowered throughout Maryland to honor the late State Delegate Sheila Hixson

The state flag was lowered throughout Maryland in honor of former Delegate Sheila Hixson in appreciation for her life and legacy,  Hixson served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 45 years representing Silver Spring until 2018. A memorial was held for her in Annapolis on Wednesday, celebrating that she was the longest-serving woman in the House in Maryland history....
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Annapolis City Council urged to help with $6-million accessible boating project

Paul Bollinger, the executive director of CRAB or Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, presented a primarily positive status report on the Annapolis Adaptive Boating Center project, whose marina was built on city property two years ago. But Bollinger asked the Council to use their influence to help CRAB with a deadline: CRAB's current office lease at 177 Defense Highway expires, and o...
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Majority of Annapolis' City Council voted to approve and swear in the city's new director of Parks Dept.

Ward 3's Rhonda Pindell Charles cast the lone no vote and explained that it was not a vote against the new director but rather a vote in protest of the process Mayor Buckley used to pick her. Roslyn Johnson, who has served in a similar role in Baltimore County.  She succeeds Archie Trader, who will be stepping aside after six years in the top job and 16 years with the de...
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3-plus million more dollars for Annapolis City Dock revitalization project

During the Monday night council meeting, it was announced that more federal dollars would be coming to the city to help construct a new city dock area. Construction is expected to start in the fall.  Maryland's two U.S. Senators presented Mayor Gavin Buckley with a giant fake check for $3.46 million at a ceremony yesterday. The area is prone to tidal flooding.  ...
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More good news for Luminis AAMC

Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center (LHAAMC), the hospital serving the Annapolis region for more than 120 years, has once again been named one of the best hospitals in the United States. Newsweek's World's Best Hospital List recognized 414 hospitals nationwide for consistently attracting the best people and providing exceptional healthcare for patients. &...
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Manhunt underway for former chief of staff of Governor Hogan

Roy McGrath, who briefly served as former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s chief of staff, did not appear in court Monday for the beginning of his trial on federal fraud charges. So, the judge issued an order for his arrest. McGrath was indicted for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state when he was at the helm of the government-owned nonprofit Maryla...
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Annapolis City Council holds special meeting tonight

  PUBLIC HEARINGS CA-1-23 Finances - Third Party Indebtedness and Bonds - To allow the City of Annapolis to issue Third Party bonds, generally related to City bond authority.  O-6-23 City of Annapolis Cellular Antenna Lease with New Cingular Wireless - ...
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Coastal Flood Advisory until 1:30 am tonight

After this morning's floods closed down Commerce and Dock Streets in downtown Annapolis and made for hazardous driving to and from Eastport, the National Weather Service has issued a tidal flood warning for areas along the Chesapeake and tidal Potomac areas: This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, Tidal Potomac River, and I-95 corrido...
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Is it too soon to talk about Springing Forward?

Daylight savings time will ruin your plans to sleep in this coming Sunday morning. Sorry. Suppose you're reading this online using an app or a browser that gathers personal information about you. In that case, the poster of this update apologizes in advance for all the sleep remedies, calm-breathing techniques, and bed and pillow advertisements you will soon be subjected to...
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State emergency funds for natural disaster relief proposed by Anne Arundel lawmakers

Remember the tornados of 2021? So do Annapolis and Anne Arundel-based state lawmakers. They were never declared a disaster by local and federal officials. So it took longer for those who needed help to get financial aid. Annapolis state senator Sarah Elfreth is a co-author of Senate Bill 650, which would create a State Disaster Recovery Fund to provide disaster-related assistance to "...
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Second man sentenced for rape that happened behind the Shell gas station on West Street in Annapolis

This past July, witnesses heard a woman's cry and saw one man assaulting her while another acted as a "lookout." Now the two have been sentenced to time behind bars, and the younger of the two may be deported because he is an undocumented immigrant. The crimes took place behind the Shell gas station on West Street in Annapolis. The two men, 53-year-old Jose Alexande...
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AAMC Luminis Hospital has a new V.P. of its foundation

AAMC Luminis says it took a nationwide search to find their new Vice President of the hospital's foundation. She's Elizabeth Gross, and she and her team aim to raise money to support LHAAMC, Pathways, J. Kent McNew Family Medical Center, and our community. Gross has been working since 2014 with the foundation and has climbed up the ladder, having served as the Foundation&rsquo...
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Kill the Spotted Laternflies, says Maryland Dept. of Ag

 The Maryland Department of Agriculture expanded its spotted lanternfly quarantine to include the following counties: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Washingto...
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