Bad News

Wear green today for St. Patrick's Day Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you wearing green? With all the talk of green, I can't help but look outside and appreciate that Mother Nature has started to don a bit of green lately and I could not be more pleased. Serve up a healthy portion of corned beef today and let's all bring out a bit of Irish in us. Good news, bad news about town happenings OK, do you want the good news or the bad news first? Personally, I would prefer the bad news and then the good news.

Hello readers, my last two columns have been about the desired character traits of those new leaders who are taking over important positions within our community. To date, I’ve touched on “moving the community forward” and “doing your duty.” Both are very positive traits. Before I leave the topic of leadership, let me dwell for a moment on one trait that could be deemed “negative.” Sometimes, you just have to tell folks, and that includes the public as a whole, things they don’t want to hear.

The Maryland General Assembly's fiscal advisors gave Governor-elect Martin O'Malley some good news and bad news this week. The good news is that because outgoing Gov. Robert Ehrlich left the state with $1.6 billion in cash reserves, the legislature won't have to do anything drastic in 2007. And the bad news? The state's structural deficit - the projected gap between revenues and expenses over the next four years - has increased from $4 billion to $5.8 billion. On Wednesday, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller told The Associated Press that 2007 will be "a very challenging year for Governor O'Malley.

It was a case of good news, bad news for North Hagerstown baseball coach Shawn Reynolds on Friday. The good news was the inconsistent Hubs finally started hitting the ball. The bad news was so did the Brunswick Railroaders. North jumped all over Brunswick starter Justin Smith, slugging three home runs in the first inning, and then hung on through the Railroaders' comeback attempt and the rain to take an 8-5 MVAL Antietam victory. Orland Dean led off the bottom of the first with a solo blast to deep center field on a 1-1 high fastball and North was off and running.

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. - There was a good news, bad news scenario when Southern Fulton boys basketball coach Kent Hendershot found out Northern Bedford was the Indians' opponent in the opening round of the PIAA District 5 Class A playoffs. The good news was that Southern Fulton won its first district title under Hendershot in 2003 in a nail-biting one-point decision over the Panthers. The bad news was that in the three previous years, Northern Bedford had ended the Indians' season.

A man goes to his doctor for an annual physical. Afterward, the doctor says, "I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?" "Give me the bad news," the distraught man replies. "You have only three months to live," the doctor reports. "What is the good news?" asks the man hopefully. The doctor replies, "You have just been appointed to the county planning commission so it will seem like three years. " Jefferson County (W.Va.) Planning Commissioner Todd Baldau would appreciate that joke.

The emails from Kim Reno, the chief financial officer at The Herald-Mail Co., contained good news and bad news. The good news: the hideously old carpet in our building is being replaced. The bad news: all employees need to pack the contents of their desk drawers into boxes so our desks can be moved while the carpet is being placed. I share a desk with Herald-Mail columnist Tim Rowland. We typically work opposite shifts - hence the reason we can share a desk - so I sent him an email asking how he wanted to handle the packing.

Joe Tischer is not what you'd call an unsung hero. The Hagerstown businessman has been the target of a roast at Hagerstown Community College, spearheaded the fund-raiser for the new Humane Society shelter and even participated in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge swim years ago. When he was younger, he ran marathons and sweat his way through triathlons. He's out there. Lovin' life. And yet Joe gives back to the community. A few weeks ago I was at a Sunday Mass at St. Ann's Catholic Church when Joe got up in front of the congregation and asked parishioners to volunteer an hour a week at the Adoration Chapel, which is in the former convent, adjacent to St. Maria Goretti High School.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say Whether it's global warming or a shortage of Mallo Cups, scientists are always worried about something, and now this -- robots might take over the world. Well, if you're going to worry about something, worry big, I always say. At a recent conference, specialists in artificial intelligence and robotics said there's good news and bad news. Well, bad news and bad news, to hear them tell it. Since robots are capable of doing more and more, there will be less work for actual humans.

HAGERSTOWN -- The Hagerstown Community College women's basketball team nearly gave away a big lead Wednesday night, but the Hawks hung on to win a 61-58 nailbiter over Frederick in a Maryland JuCo Conference game at the HCC athletic complex. "It was a typical Hagerstown-Frederick game," HCC coach Marlys Palmer said. "It went down to the wire. We didn't make a lot of free throws, but we made just enough to get the win. " Hagerstown (3-1, 1-0) led by 10 at halftime and by as many as 13 in the second half, but Frederick's Kylie Late buried a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to narrow the gap to 60-58.