Jan Alderton, Managing Editor
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The Cumberland Times-News is one of 575 newspapers worldwide that every day submit their front pages for posting on The Newseum’s Web site.
Located in Washington, the Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism. It is operated through funding from the Freedom Forum, a non-profit foundation dedicated to “free press, free speech and free spirit of all people.”
To look at today’s Times-News front page or any of the other 500-plus newspapers, go to www.newseum.org and look for Today’s Front Pages.....
There has been talk about charging a toll for motorists traveling on US 522, US 340 and WV 9 in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle. But for Route 9 and Route 340, the idea seems to be dead.
A study for the West Virginia Department of Highways found that the 4.7-mile section of Route 9 between Martinsburg and the Virginia border does not appear to be feasible due to the short distance, low traffic volumes and diversions of existing traffic to other routes. The same factors appear to make the Route 340 toll idea not feasible.
Still being discussed is Route 522, which covers 19 miles between the Virginia border in the south and the Maryland border in the north....
Every year, GMAC Insurance polls drivers in all 50 states to see how many would be able to pass a written driver’s test exam if it were given today. Maryland drivers ranked 42 out of 50 states and West Virginia drivers came in at No. 43. Pennsylvania was only slightly better at No. 36.
In Maryland, drivers had an average score of 76.8. New Jersey was last with an average score of 69.9.
The survey polled 5,524 drivers in all 50 states and D.C., using actual questions from state motor vehicle department exams.
Based on the results, GMAC said an estimated 33 million licensed Americans may be unfit for roads....
The “economic stimulus” checks most of us are getting are coming at a big price tag. The federal government estimates the cost of printing, mailing and administering the program will reach about $1 billion.
Scripps Howard News Service said the estimated price for postage, printing and tech support will be $202 million. Another $95 million will be paid to the Financial Management Service and the Social Security Administration to help publicize the program.
But the biggest expense, $565 million, will result from the reassignment of hundreds of IRS collections staff to stimulus-check duty. That sum is the amount those staffers would normally recover from deadbeat taxpayers.
So far, the IRS has mailed out more than 76 million checks worth a total of about $64 billion....
Cumberland is getting ready to embark on a street improvement program. Unfortunately, it is coming at a time when rising oil prices mean higher road repair costs.
Some states, cities and counties say their road-repair budgets didn’t anticipate prices that are up more than 25 percent from a year ago, according to USA Today.
The mix used to resurface roads consists of gravel and sand held together with a binder called liquid asphalt, which is made from crude oil....
More than 12 percent of City of Frederick employees will retire by the end of this month through a voluntary buyout program, according to the Frederick News-Post.
The buyouts were offered to employees who are within five years of normal retirement age. The city expects to save about $1.5 million over the next year because of the departures. Sixty-seven of 75 employees offered the buyout are leaving....
Seen on the Internet — Funny puns and jokes:
* I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
* Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
* There was a sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center that said “Keep off the Grass.”
* Police were called to a daycare where a 3-year-old was resisting a rest.
* When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
* I couldn’t remember how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me.”
Jan Alderton is managing editor of the Cumberland Times-News. His email address is jpalderton@times-news.com.
