Free Republic

Some local leaders predict that 2021 will be the year that Maryland rids itself of a Confederate-themed state song after nearly half a century of trying. “Chances are exponentially better that this time we’ll get that song repealed,” said Kobi Little, president of the Baltimore City branch of the NAACP.

Maryland lawmakers took a step Thursday toward scrubbing references to “Northern scum” and other Civil War-era phrases from the official state song. The Maryland Senate voted 37-8 for the changes, while also recognizing “Maryland, My Maryland” as the state’s historic song. Supporters of the measure, which now goes to the House, said it was a compromise that removes offensive language and recognizes history. …

New legislation is forcing gun manufacturing company Beretta to uproot and take their business elsewhere. Established in 1526, Beretta holds the distinction of being the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world. The U.S. factory is located in Accokeek, Maryland, and has been a staple of the local economy for years. Beretta warned that stricter gun control laws would push the company outside of state lines, but that didn’t stop Maryland legislators. Jeffrey Reh, a spokesman for Beretta who also serves as the President of Stoeger Industries under Beretta, announced that the company would begrudgingly uproot and take its business...

Maryland citizens – outraged by the disgraceful passage of the ‘Dream Act’ in-state tuition bill for illegal aliens – rose up and delivered a blow against Gov. Martin O’Malley’s sanctuary state agenda. Needing 56,000 signatures to block the act from taking effect on July 1st, opponents got well over 100,000 signatures! State elections officials say they have certified most of the nearly 56,000 needed to suspend the law and send it to a statewide referendum in November 2012. The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday, but it has been suspended while officials await a final tally on the...

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (CN) - A man who was hurt in a car crash but was misidentified as a cancer patient claims security guards at Prince George's Hospital beat him up when he tried to leave the hospital to avoid chest surgery he didn't need - "to have a potentially cancerous mass removed from his chest." He adds that one guard repeatedly called him "bitch" as he roughed him up. Joseph Wheeler says a June 23 car accident put him in the hospital, which is owned by Dimensions Health Corporation. When he woke up hungry on June 24 and asked...