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Way Downstream

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the population has increased to 16.6 million people, up 5.2 percent just since 2000, scientists at the Chesapeake Bay Program note with this editorial comment: “As the population continues to climb, so does pollution into the Bay, in the form of additional cars, buildings, power plants and septic systems. Those who have chosen to live and raise families in the Bay watershed because of its tremendous cultural, historic and natural beauty are in danger of loving this valuable resource to death” …

On the Delmarva peninsula, there also are a lot of chickens: 571 million of them raised every year, which produced some 600,000 tons of litter, a mix of manure and bedding straw, according to federal government figures underscoring one of the biggest pollution threats to Chesapeake Bay …

In Annapolis, holiday shoppers can once again this year spend their dollars downtown without spending their quarters on parking meters. From Thanksgiving until the New Year, parking meters are bagged and parking is free. New this season, parking in both city parking garages will be free on Midnight Madness nights (Dec. 7 and 14). To get even more people downtown, the Annapolis Department of Transportation upped the number of buses and expanded the free fare zone to include Compromise Street and Westgate Circle, with six buses an hour along inner West Street, all for free …

In Southern Anne Arundel, land at the intersection of Rts. 258 and 256 once was at the center of a General Assembly fight over plans by Safeway to build a big store and strip mall. The development was blocked by grassroots activists marching under the slogan No Deale Safeway. Now the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church has announced plans to buy the 16-acre parcel and lease it to a Methodist nonprofit that will operate a Family Life Center that includes a gym and basketball courts for use by county residents, who have few places in the region to play ...

In Maryland, farmers will soon get a new image from Maryland’s Best, a branding program to promote state products. Farmers from all over the state told Agriculture Secretary Lewis Riley about concerns of keeping farming profitable. One of Riley’s solutions is a new website, www.marylandsbest.net, to let consumers and wholesale buyers know why Maryland-grown crops are top-quality. He’s also asking for product information from every Maryland farmer …

Our Creature Feature comes from Siberia, where people this year are witnessing an unanticipated effect of global warming: insomniac bears. By now, the bears are usually in hibernation, where they remain for six months or so.

But in the snowless warm region southeast of Moscow, the sleepless bears are roaming forests and frightening locals not used to seeing them in November. The bears, too, are confused at the sight of budding trees and flowers blooming anew. To prevent problems, inspectors from the regional environmental agency are watching over the woods “to make sure there is no damage to farming and to local residents,” an environmental official told Reuters.