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Reuters

[...]
Burrell, along with many of what the Department of Labor says are 235,000 unemployed veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has run into a vexing problem.

Many U.S. companies, and sometimes veterans themselves, do not know how to translate military experience into civilian skills. There is a disconnect between companies demanding a college degree and veterans giving confusing descriptions of their military experience to civilian employers.

That disconnect has contributed to veterans having an unemployment rate 2.6 percent higher than the general population, according to September’s Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment report.

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

3.05 [1:30 p.m.] Briefing: County Protected Lands Map (Mr. Peter Aloutto, Director/Mr. Steve Ball, Planning Director, Department of Planning & Growth Management)

Protected Lands Presentation November 2011.pdf (3,246 KB)

...Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

3.04 [1:15 p.m.](VOTE) Follow-up Work Session/Approval of Amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program (Mr. Peter Aluotto, Director/Ms. Aimee Dailey, Planner III, Department of Planning & Growth Management)

BILL 2011-11 SRA#0914 PROPOSED TEXT OCT 2011.pdf (255 KB)

BILL 2011-12 ZTA#07-88 PROPOSED TEXT OCT 2011.pdf (2,092 KB)

CRITICAL AREA PROGRAM UPDATE PROCESS FLOW CHART.pdf (303 KB)

CRITICAL AREA PROGRAM UPDATE STAFF REPORT.pdf (229 KB)

Critical Area Work Session Presentation.pdf (2,177 KB)

SRA#0914 CHART OF AMENDMENTS.pdf (42 KB)

ZTA#07-88 CHART OF AMENDMENTS.pdf (232 KB)

Joan Biskupic ― USA TODAY

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to return to the divisive question of when religious symbols are allowed on government property, rejecting a dispute over the placement of large white crosses on Utah roads to commemorate fallen troopers.

Over the lone dissent of Justice Clarence Thomas, the court left in place a lower court decision that said the Utah crosses violated the separation of church and state.

Hank Silverberg ― WTOP

There’s a new tactic in the battle over a treehouse in Fairfax County: A national online petition drive is under way to try to convince the local zoning board not to have it torn down.

Iraq war veteran Mark Grapin kept the promise he made to his two boys before he went off to war. He built them a treehouse on the side of his house in the Broyhill Park area of Fairfax County.

He spent $1,400 on materials and more than $2,000 more on permits once the zoning board told him he had violated the rules.

The board’s decision spread quickly on the Internet after WTOP first reported the dispute. Now, Army Sgt. Cameron Dunbar-Yamaguchi in Oregon has started a petition drive to help Grapin with his appeal.

Ben Giles ― Washington Examiner

Car theft victims face steep fines in Prince George’s County when they go pick up their stolen vehicles at impound lots, often forking over hundreds of dollars before their cars are returned.

Basic towing fees cost a minimum of $175 when Prince George’s County police contract local companies to tow away stolen or abandoned vehicles, and storage fees can add up to $50 a day in charges.

It doesn’t take long before the costs of retrieving a stolen vehicle can rise into the hundreds of dollars, and if there’s any hiccup in the process of notifying a car owner, bills can get out of control. Insurance companies may cover those expenses, but victims of auto theft without the proper insurance are responsible for the fees on their own—though by law, all vehicles registered in the state of Maryland must be insured.

Brian Shane ― Daily Times

A California company is proposing a massive field of solar panels to be located outside Berlin that could deliver clean, renewable energy across the state of Maryland by 2015.

Worcester County’s Technical Review Committee will review on Nov. 9 a proposal from Intrepid Solar Energy LLC to built a 12.6-megawatt solar power generation facility. The 93-acre site would be located on existing farmland, just off the junction of Route 50 and Old Ocean City Road, northwest of Berlin.

DANE SCHILLER ― HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Group called Anonymous demands release of one of their own who was kidnapped

An international group of online hackers is warning a Mexican drug cartel to release one of its members, kidnapped from a street protest, or it will publish the identities and addresses of the syndicate’s associates, from corrupt police to taxi drivers, as well as reveal the syndicates’ businesses.

The vow is a bizarre cyber twist to Mexico’s ongoing drug war, as a group that has no guns is squaring off against the Zetas, a cartel blamed for thousands of deaths as well as introducing beheadings and other frightening brutality.

ANDREW POLLACK ― Houston Chronicle

These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill - their own children.

Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood.

The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.

But the research is arousing concern about possible unintended effects on public health and the environment, because once genetically modified insects are released, they cannot be recalled.

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

3.03 [1:00 p.m.](VOTE) Follow-up Work Session: Zoning Map Amendment #10-41 (Moreland Property) (Mr. Peter Aluotto, Director/Ms. Shelley Wagner, Program Manager, Department of Planning & Growth Management) 

ZMA 10-41, George & Christina Moreland.pdf (371 KB)

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

3.02 [1:00 p.m.] (VOTE) War of 1812 Grant (Mr. Peter Aluotto, Director of Planning & Growth Management)

Grant Application.pdf (776 KB)

support letter with easement and matching funds.pdf (173 KB)

transmittal with matching funds.pdf (63 KB)

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

3.01 [12:30 p.m.] Briefing: Benedict Waterfront Village Revitalization Plan (Mr. Peter Aluotto, Director/Mr. Steven Ball, Planning Director, Planning & Growth Management/Mr. David Bennett, Consultant, AECOM)

1108_PlanCommRecomDraft[2].pdf (9,718 KB)

111024_Bibliography_Appendices[1].pdf (1,715 KB)

111101_Benedict_County_Commissioners[1].pdf (7,669 KB)

Board Docs - Nov 01, 2011 - Charles County Commissioners’ Meeting

1.07 [9:35 a.m.] Briefing: General Funds Operating Budgets for Period Ending 9/30/11 (Ms. Deborah Hudson, Director/Mr. David Eicholtz, Chief of Budget, Department of Fiscal & Administrative Services)

FY 2012 September GF Report.pdf (21 KB).

Amy Jeter ― Virginian-Pilot

[...]
When she heard about the national health law’s new pre-existing condition insurance plan, Brown thought she may have found a solution.

Research showed it was her best option, with a premium around $400. But the $2,500 deductible was a deal-breaker.
[...]
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is meant to provide health coverage for people denied insurance or quoted extremely high rates because of their medical conditions. The program is scheduled to run until 2014, when private plans would be prohibited from excluding people because of pre-existing conditions.

Virginia and 22 other states opted for the federal government to run their plans. The remaining states - some of which already ran high-risk insurance pools - manage their own.

JIM KUHNHENN ― Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

President Barack Obama is directing the Food and Drug Administration to take steps to reduce drug shortages, an escalating problem that has endangered patients and raised the possibility of price gouging.

Patient deaths have been blamed on the shortages, which tend to affect cancer drugs, anesthetics, drugs used in emergency medicine, and electrolytes needed for intravenous feeding. Hospitals have been forced to buy from secondary suppliers at huge markups. Surgeries and cancer treatments have been delayed.