Search bayweekly.com Search Google

---

Way Downstream

---

On Chesapeake Bay, boaters would be wise to keep in mind that Congress — which giveth and taketh away — left in place two income tax deductions. The membership organization BoatUS reminds boaters that their vessel can be treated like a second home for tax purposes, provided that it has a galley, head and sleeping berth. That means mortgage interest is deductible. Second, you can take a federal deduction for state income tax paid on a new or used boat. But 2007 might be the last year for this deduction, so seize it if you can…

In Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley will now use the Internet to hold his agencies accountable. Much as BayStat keeps tabs on the Bay’s health, StateStat scrutinizes how our tax money is spent. Check StateStat to find out, for example, how many juveniles are incarcerated in Maryland or where the fatal car crashes have occurred: www.statestat.maryland.gov…

In Anne Arundel County, methane gas spewed by the Millersville Landfill gains useful reincarnation as energy at Fort George Meade. The landfill emits some 1,000 cubic feet per minute of the gas, which up until now has been burned off. Fort Meade agreed to buy the methane gas for $1 per decatherm as well as to pay for building the gas lines and other infrastructure. Emitted methane — a byproduct of decomposition — will then be cleaned and piped to Fort Meade to generate electricity for new buildings. The military base will pipe in some 200,000 to 300,000 decatherms a year, says Jim Pittman of Anne Arundel County…

Also in Anne Arundel County, the Department of Health says we’re too fat — way fatter than at the millennium but not quite so fat as last year. Entering 2008, 63.5 percent of us are overweight or obese. Believe it or not, that is slightly less than a year ago — but much higher than seven years ago. See for yourself in the department’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey at www.aahealth.org…

In Annapolis, some 300 global warming activists endured a near-blizzard on January 18 to urge lawmakers’ support for the Global Warming Solutions Act. This bill would require Maryland to reduce its world-warming pollution 25 percent by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050, cuts recommended by Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Commission on Climate Change. The cuts would make ours the nation’s strongest law. To drive their point home, environmentalists brought along a 12-foot-tall smokestack, a mini wind turbine, an hourglass crafted from two water cooler bottles and a canoe (to prepare for rising waters). Legislators who signed on strolled down a green carpet…

Also in Annapolis, Stop Slots Maryland is bulking up to defeat the gambling referendum on the November ballot. The anti-slots team this week added Scott Arceneaux, a former Louisiana political operative who managed Doug Duncan’s unsuccessful campaign for governor, and Martin Hamburger, a media consultant who has worked for the likes of Sens. Ben Cardin and Debbie Stabenow as well as The Nature Conservancy…

In Calvert County, Broomes Island folks can relax and open the mail. Their post office, officially a Maryland Historic Property, will remain open after a letter-writing campaign and pressure from Maryland politicians on the Postmaster General in Washington. Had the Broomes Island P.O. closed, the community’s 350 residents would have been taking their mail at St. Leonard’s, 10 miles away…

Our Creature Feature comes from London, where biologists warned of the potential extinction of the olm, a big-headed, six-foot-long blind Chinese salamander. The olm, which can live for 10 years without food, and the tiny, purple Gardiner’s Seychelles frog, topped a list of the ten most endangered amphibians drawn up by the Zoological Society of London.

“These animals may not be cute and cuddly, but hopefully their weird looks and bizarre behaviors will inspire people to support their conservation,” said Helen Meredith, who headed the project.

Other weird and endangered amphibians included: the South African ghost frog, the lungless Mexican salamander, the Malagasy rainbow frog, the Darwin frog of Chile and the Betic midwife toad, whose male carries fertilized eggs on his hind legs.