Closings

If school's closed, you've got e-mail The Washington County school system is using a free e-mail service that notifies parents immediately of school closings or opening delays. continued Schools-Out.com, started in 1996 by a group of Frederick County parents, automatically e-mails up-to-date information about late openings or school closings. Parents can access the Web site at no charge. The site provides information on school closings and the weather.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Busy parents in Berkeley and Jefferson counties now have one more way to check on school closings for their children - the World Wide Web. The West Virginia Department of Education has launched a Web site that lists school closings and delays due to inclement weather. The site, which officially debuts today, has been up for about a week on a trial basis, according to state schools spokeswoman Kim Lawrence. The site is: http://wvde.state.wv.us/closings . Participating counties have been given access to the state web site and can input information about closings and delays as soon as decisions have been made, Lawrence said.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Martinsburg, W.Va. - Starting next month, parents of students in Berkeley County should be able to start receiving e-mails from the school system, notifying them of any school closings, specifically those related to inclement weather. The program is aimed especially at parents who work in Washington, D.C., or any place where they may not be able to hear such information on local radio stations, said schools spokeswoman Mary Jo Brown. "It will ease the minds, I think, of a lot of parents," Deputy Superintendent Frank Aliveto told Berkeley County Board of Education members at their meeting Monday night.

The State Highway Administration on Monday will begin a $1.1 million project to improve the intersection of U.S. 40 at Md. 63, which is Huyetts Crossroads, Spokesman David Buck said Wednesday. The project includes adding right turn lanes in both directions, resurfacing the road, drainage improvements and new traffic signals. Buck said the project is slated to last 120 days and should be completed by the end of the year. Shoulder and lane closings may occur along U.S. 40 and Md. 63 (Spielman Road)

Name of business: ClearVue Settlements LLC Owners: Anna Couffer and Audrey Horn Address: 13626 Cambridge Drive, Hagerstown Opening date: March 1 Products and services: Real estate settlement services to Realtors, lenders, builders, investors and the general public. Services consist of resale settlement services, refinance settlement services, traveling settlement services, simple deed transfers, witness and notary closings, and full short-sale services.

School officials said they will no longer use a new alert system to call parents about morning school closings and delays after some said Tuesday they would prefer not to receive the calls. Washington County Public Schools spokeswoman Carol Mowen said parents were already using other types of alerts to learn about delays and closings, including the school system's Web site and local media. She said a call that went out in error early Tuesday was not the reason officials chose to discontinue the morning calls.

E-mail alerts available for school closings MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - With a snowstorm predicted for Friday, those with children attending school in Berkeley County might want to sign up to have school closing information e-mailed to them at home or work. To be added to the list of those who receive e-mails when schools are closed, opening late or dismissing early, go to http://boe.berk.k12.wv.us/subscribe.htm Frequently updated information about school closings also can be found on Berkeley County Schools' Web site at http://boe.

By LISA GRAYBEAL Staff Writer, Chambersburg CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - After a decade's absence, Weis Market is coming back to town with a new superstore and 100 full- and part-time jobs, according to officials with the chain. The store is scheduled to open around November on Wayne Avenue. The new 53,000-square-foot store, being built close to the Interstate 81 overpass across from the Kmart shopping plaza and the Giant supermarket, replaces the former Weis store on Lincoln Way East, which closed in 1987.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- With Golden Gate Capital taking over ownership of U.S. Silica last week, no moves or office closings are anticipated. John Ulizio, U.S. Silica chief executive, said he has "every expectation" the offices will remain at the Berkeley Springs plant off U.S. 522. The plant will stay open, he said. The industrial sand producing company employs about 83 people at the plant and about 50 people at its corporate offices. Ulizio said the majority of the plant employees live in Morgan County, and just a few corporate office employees are from Berkeley Springs.

Washington County Commissioner John Munson has a solution to the slow pace of redevelopment at the former Fort Ritchie: Give up and send the deed back to Uncle Sam. It's the sort of thing one might say after a long frustrating day, but it's not a strategy and it's not what citizens pay the commissioners $30,000 a year to do. The old fort was closed in 1998, costing the area 2,000 jobs. The PenMar Development Corporation, a citizen group appointed by the commissioners to redevelop the base, has had to deal with some unexpected problems, notably unexploded ordnance and the litigation involved with Role Models Academy.