Funding

The Franklin E. “Wimp” Hamburg Scholarship was established by his children Christi (Hamburg) Weaver, Patti (Hamburg) Grimes and Dean Hamburg in the spring of 2000 following their father's death. Hamburg was a lifelong resident of Boonsboro and was active with the children and students who lived in the community. He was a co-founder of South Mountain Little League, Junior Basketball League and the Junior Olympics. In addition, he also coached many teams in the Boonsboro community.

Greenbrier Elementary School students recently presented $1,020 to the Humane Society of Washington County, the nonprofit organization of student choice after a presentation in a Gifted and Talented Education, or GATE, enrichment class of fourth- and fifth-grade students. Students researched 10 charities and gave a PowerPoint presentation, which led to a student vote in which the humane society was selected as the beneficiary of a fundraising effort. The “Make a Difference” coin drive coordinated by the class was conducted schoolwide.

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster has introduced legislation he said would stop the wasteful mismanagement of funds while securing work for Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg. Shuster, R-Pa., opposes continued development funding of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program. “MEADS is a failure, and we can no longer afford to continue spending millions of dollars on a program that DoD has stated they have no intention of completing,” Shuster said in a news release. While visiting the Chambersburg depot last week, Shuster said he would prefer funding designated for MEADS instead be invested in the Patriot missiles systems developed at Letterkenny.

The Borough of Waynesboro, which is working in conjunction with Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc., recently was awarded a Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Council Challenge grant for $3,500. The money will be used toward the purchase of 31 trees to be placed in the Eighth Street median, according to a news release. The borough anticipates completing the project this month. It will be planting 10 forest pansies, 11 sugar tymes and 10 ivory silks in the median, the news release stated.

The Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, recently extended conservation practices funding under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative to April 19. Funding selections are made at specific times throughout the year, with the next round of funding cycle deadlines set for May 17. Applications are accepted, ranked and prioritized based...

Without a staffed air traffic control tower, “there is going to be an incident” involving aircraft at or near Hagerstown Regional Airport, one concerned business owner said Thursday. “I feel very strongly that we are going to have an incident, and it's going to impact people on the ground as well as the crew in the aircraft when that happens,” said Austin Heffernan, owner of Royal Aircraft Services LLC on Airpark Road. Heffernan was one of five airport business officials who spoke Thursday during a news conference at the airport terminal, highlighting the local impact of proposed FAA cuts that would eliminate federal funding to 149 air control towers due to across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.

With Federal Aviation Administration funding cuts looming, Washington County officials have decided to seek state funding to help keep open the air-traffic control tower at Hagerstown Regional Airport. The tower is set to close May 5 if other arrangements are not made, according to airport Director Phil Ridenour, who met Tuesday with the Washington County Board of Commissioners to discuss options for keeping the tower operational. Hagerstown's tower was one of 149 federally contracted towers across the country selected for closure as a result of budget cuts necessitated by the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.

Construction for the last leg of a project that will complete a downtown bike loop was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Hagerstown City Council. A contract was awarded to Hagerstown company Henson & Son, Inc, in the amount of $79,786.50 for the construction of a 10-foot-wide multiuse path from South Prospect Street along Walnut Street to Park Circle, along the north side of Park Circle to Walnut Avenue. According to the city documents, the construction will connect existing bike lanes on South Prospect Street to Summit Avenue and cyclists will have the option of turning onto the West Lee Street bike lane or continuing north on a new Summit Avenue lane connecting to an existing lane on Jonathan Street.

The Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Department will now be able to better serve the community thanks to the support of local farmer Ben Flaherty and America's Farmers Grow Communities. Sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, which is the philanthropic arm of Monsanto Co., Grow Communities provides eligible farmers the chance to win a $2,500 donation for a local nonprofit organization of their choice.  Flaherty selected the Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Department to receive the $2,500 donation.

Standing in front of a newly modified Hawker Beechcraft surveillance plane, U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski on Tuesday announced $43 million in federal funding recently approved by Congress devoted to outfitting two additional multirole enforcement aircraft to protect U.S. borders. Mikulski, an advocate for border patrol and protecting American jobs, told about 100 attendees inside the manufacturing facility of Sierra Nevada Corp. at Hagerstown Regional Airport that the money serves to preserve the “passport of the middle class,” helping to protect about 200 jobs in Maryland, including many of the company's 500-plus workforce locally.