College Tuition

Local scholarship essay deadline set for April 18 The Washington County Retired Educational Personnel Association announces that applications are available for students entering or attending college in the 2008-2009 school year. Applications are available in the guidance offices of all Washington County Public Schools. They can also be picked up at the main office at the Board of Education, or go to www.wcboe.k12.md.us/content/main_downloads.cfm , and look under Student Services.

Building and preserving a good credit file is essential. Your credit record is a permanent one that starts as soon as you begin paying bills (e.g., rent, car payment) and borrowing money. Skip your bill payments, pay bills late or abuse your credit and credit companies will enter a black mark into your credit report. cont. from lifestyle Your credit report is distributed to someone to whom you apply for credit; for example, to buy a car or pay college tuition, and prospective employers even may request your credit report before they hire you. When you purchase big-ticket items like a car or a home, chances are you are doing it with a bank's money.

What will keep students from leaving W. Virginia? A year after members of the West Virginia Senate's finance committee expressed frustration with the way the state does business, the legislature has formed a select committee to devise a master plan for economic development. Though the committee has been charged with looking at three major areas - the tax base, education and workforce development - the committee the more difficult question of how to keep the students and workers it trains from taking that training elsewhere.

The Maryland Rural Health Association and the Western Maryland Area Health Education Center will hold HealthSpell for middle-school students in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties. Students can attend public, private or home schools. The event will take place Saturday, June 4, at Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg, Md., at 10 a.m. HealthSpell is a spelling bee using words indigenous to the various health fields. With the help of the National Rural Health Association and local private and public partners, MRHA will award scholarships for future college education in the amount of $6,000 to the winners of the event ($3,000 for first, $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third)

Don't play politics, put people to work To the editor: This is an open letter to U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett. Dear Congressman Bartlett: We watched in helpless horror while this ugly, partisan debate over debt and default spooled before our eyes. Now we are forced to live with the consequences of Congress' foolish brinkmanship. Washington has wrought a credit downgrade, retirement fund shrinkage and another black eye to Uncle Sam's reputation.

For a few local students, the Hagerstown Hispanic Festival is not just a celebration. It could help them pay their college tuition, explained Diana Reyes, event organizer, a founder and president of the Hispanic Association of Hagerstown. The third-annual Hagers-town Hispanic Festival is set for Sunday at Hagerstown's Fairgrounds Park. The event celebrates the shared cultural experience among the region's growing population of Latinos and is hosted by the Hispanic Association of Hagerstown, a local volunteer-run group.

Potential Congressional candidate picks up endorsements State Sen. Robert J. Garagiola hasn't committed yet to running for the 6th District Congress seat, yet on Monday, his campaign released a list of 17 Democratic state senators and delegates endorsing him, including two in the Washington County delegation. Monday's news release says Garagiola, the Senate majority leader, “is seriously considering a run for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District.” Last week, the Maryland General Assembly approved new congressional boundaries for the state.

An annual review of the state legislative session turned lively Tuesday night, as philosophical differences within the delegation sparked heated debate. Del. John P. Donoghue was animated in defending decisions he and other Democrats in Annapolis made in crafting and supporting a fiscal 2013 budget plan. While Republicans noted that the approved “doomsday” budget still means $700 million more spending, Donoghue argued that $500 million in cuts from the projected budget are real and will lead to college tuition increases, police layoffs and rising crime.

Mary Via of Charles Town received a check Friday from the state's unclaimed property program — money that had been tucked away for years in accounts belonging to Via's late mother.  Via received the check for an undisclosed amount from State Treasurer John D. Perdue at a brief ceremony at Shepherd University. He was in town to promote the state's Smart 529 College Savings Plan, a tax-break program that encourages residents to save for college.  Perdue said Friday that he will run for governor this year or in 2012, whenever a decision to hold a special election is made, to replace Joe Manchin who resigned as governor in November after appointing himself to succeed the late Robert C. Byrd in the U.S. Senate.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - In their second election contest in eight years, John P. Donoghue and Paul Muldowney differently interpret central issues, such as health care, medical malpractice and crime. Donoghue, a Democrat, is seeking his fifth four-year term in Maryland House of Delegates Subdistrict 2C, which roughly matches the city of Hagerstown's boundaries. Delegates serve four-year terms. The annual salary is $43,500. The general election is Nov. 7. Donoghue named as important campaign issues: keeping children safe from sexual predators on the Internet, college tuition costs, health care and crime.