Bob Blubaugh

The presumably final total for Holiday Hope is $198,304 going to Access Carroll, Carroll County Food Sunday, Carroll Hospice, Human Services Programs of Carroll County and The Shepherd’s Staff to help the less fortunate during the holidays. Concluding its 22nd year, the most money previously raised during one campaign of Holiday Hope had been a little more than $141,000 in 2018.

A Washington, D.C., man is charged with two felonies, theft of $25,000 to $100,000 and providing fraudulent identification in the theft of $25,000 to $100,000, as well as two misdemeanors, according to electronic court records.

The Carroll County Health Department announced Thursday that another Carroll countian has died, an over-65 member of the community. That makes eight deaths over the past week and 207 in all attributed to the coronavirus.

The school system’s data dashboard showed that 85 members of the CCPS community tested positive for the novel coronavirus between this week and last, 24 staff members and 61 students. That number was 112 last week and 113 the week before.

The health department announced 35 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. There have been 87 total cases this week, down from 104 at the same point last week.

A Maryland State Police trooper was treated and released after being involved in a two-car collision on Sunday afternoon.

Carroll saw 293 cases for the week beginning Jan. 17, a drop of more than 20% from the 372 cases reported the previous week. Carroll reported a record 503 cases the week of Jan. 3.

Frank Andrew Hein Jr., 41, of the 2900 block of Arizona Way, is charged with five felony counts of promoting/distributing child pornography and eight misdemeanor counts of posessing child pornography, according to electronic court records.

According to a Carroll County Sheriff’s Office news release, sheriff’s deputies and Taneytown police and fire/rescue personnel responded at about 8:40 p.m. Sunday to a call about a truck going off the road and hitting a tree in the 4600 block of Harney Road.

For a day or two, the left forgot about Trump, the right forgot about the election, we all forgot about our differences and the entire country just enjoyed memes featuring a cold, grumpy-looking Bernie seated at the inauguration, wearing a ridiculous pair of multi-colored mittens.

Thirty-eight new cases were reported Friday. More than three weeks past the holidays that produced a surge in cases, it appears the number of positive tests will drop for a second straight week.

Carroll County saw 426 overdoses in 2020, a 1.8% decrease compared with 2019 based on year-end data compiled by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office reflecting all overdoses reported to law enforcement. The total number of fatal overdoses (45) decreased by 18.2%.

Eleven residents and one staff member at Country Companions Assisted Living in Taneytown have tested positive for COVID-19 as congregate living facilities in Carroll County saw 19 new cases after having seen only four this week prior to Thursday.

Carroll County Health Officer Ed Singer said the county received 1,100 COVID-19 vaccine doses the week of Jan. 3 and 1,500 the week of Jan. 10, and all doses were administered. He said 1,400 were received this week and are being given out during clinics, and he expects another 1,400 next week.

The Carroll County Health Department reported 39 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. Carroll has seen 134 total cases this week.

Family was everything to him and I can only imagine the impact of not being able to see any of us since before Christmas, due to restrictions, had on him. I know the impact having to say goodbye to him in a parking lot in front of a hospice center had on us.

The legislation Krebs, fellow District 5 delegates April Rose and Haven Shoemaker and District 5 Sen. Justin Ready were touting ahead of the session — which will be conducted largely online — includes bills focused on business, health care, crime and election security.

“To stand here and tell you that the state of the county is currently strong would be misleading,” Commissioner President Ed Rothstein, R-District 5, said. “With that said, I believe that Carroll countians are extremely resilient, and by working together, neighbor to neighbor ... we will be successful through county citizenship."

The post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases predicted by local health officials seemingly began to show itself as the Carroll County Health Department released data Monday afternoon showing that last week produced a new high for positive tests.

Violence breaking out because of election results? Insurgents storming the center of government, disrupting processes held sacred? Bombs found, law enforcement ignored, people calling for the death of a high-ranking official? That could only happen in some developing country in South America or Africa, or a country with a long history of unrest in the Middle East or Eastern Europe, right?

The plan was to largely go on hiatus after the election, but when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on Wednesday, the hiatus went on hiatus and the rally-goers returned to Main Street, Westminster, on Saturday.

Carroll County has seen 377 total cases this week through Friday afternoon. That’s already more than last week’s 338 or the prior week’s 355. Those two weeks were down from the 428 the week of Dec. 13 and 422 the week of Dec. 6.

Carroll’s first supply of 103 doses was administered to first responders at the testing center in the final week of 2020. Prior to this past week, he said, Carroll received 1,100 doses and that on Wednesday they vaccinated 274 people in a morning clinic and 253 during an evening clinic. The health department also held morning and evening clinics for those qualified to receive the vaccine on Friday, with some 600 people registered.

An Anne Arundel County man is facing 19 charges, including seven felony rape charges, related to alleged incidents over the course of several months with a then-13-year-old girl in Mount Airy.

On Thursday afternoon, the Carroll County Health Department reported 110 new coronavirus cases, making 282 total cases so far this week. That’s on pace to be higher than last week’s 338 or the prior week’s 355.

As Carroll County’s Board of Commissioners met in open session Thursday for the first time in 2021, with Ed Rothstein taking over as commissioner president from Stephen Wantz, the nature of that transfer wasn’t lost on them in light of Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Jeffrey McQuay Caples, of the 2600 block of Day Spring Drive, made his first in-person appearance in court since being charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 2 death of Kelly Ann Caples.

“We are in the worst spot we have ever been in during this pandemic, with the number of cases, hospitalizations, and community deaths we are seeing each week,” County Health Officer Ed Singer said Tuesday.

The resident at Copper Ridge was the sixth COVID-19 fatality at the facility, the 187th among Carroll countians. It brought to 152 the number of residents at Carroll’s congregate living facilities who have died of the virus.

Just as America became well acquainted with Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020, suddenly everyone in Carroll knew Health Officer Ed Singer’s name.

With the 68 new cases reflected in Carroll County Health Department data on Thursday afternoon, Carroll has seen 5,053 total cases. It took about three months for Carroll to pass 1,000 total cases, announced on June 10, nearly four more months to reach 2,000, Oct. 5, another month-and-a-half to get to 3,000, Nov. 23, and three weeks to get to 4,000, Dec. 14. The latest 1,000 positive tests came in 17 days.

Carroll Hospital President Garrett Hoover says the facility's 12-bed critical care unit has been full since late November. And the total number of patients hit 170 on Thursday, compared to averaging 115 last May, at the peak of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The significance of the coronavirus wasn’t clear even as public schools were shut down and executive orders from Gov. Larry Hogan began placing limits on what Marylanders could do. That all changed March 28, when an outbreak infecting 66 residents at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mount Airy was announced, placing Carroll at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Maryland.

Three of the deaths were residents of elder care facilities — one at Copper Ridge in Eldersburg, one at Brightview Westminster Ridge and one at Longview in Manchester. The other two deceased were members of the wider community, one man and one woman, both over 65.

While five homicides is more than what would typically be seen in Carroll, overall crime actually fell significantly in 2020. Most of that dip can be attributed to the second quarter of the year, from April 1 through June 30, when many businesses were closed and most citizens were sheltering in place, isolating, quarantining, trying to keep from catching COVID-19.

Start exercising? Learn a new hobby? Read more? Trust me, if you haven’t done any of that in the past nine-plus months amid the pandemic, while largely stuck at home, you never will. What most of us long for is not so much 2021, but rather resuming the way things were in 2019.

The Carroll County Times' annual fundraising campaign, Holiday Hope, closed with more than $175,000 raised, shattering the record for the most money collected in the 22 years since its inception.

Donations of $1,500 from Max and Gloria Bair in honor of their loving family and $1,000 from Jennifer Yang have Holiday Hope on the cusp of $150,000 raised.

An anonymous donation of $2,000 from a family and a donation of $1,000 in honor of Robert T. Scott pushed Holiday Hope past the $135,000 mark.

The Carroll County Health Department is changing its process for COVID-19 test registrations because of the increase in demand, with a stated goal of focusing on those who’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or are showing symptoms and asking those seeking tests for other reasons to look into other options.

A 5,000 donation from a local business that requested to remain anonymous has helped push Holiday Hope past its goal with a few days remaining to contribute.

A Sunday night house fire in the 1800 block of Gillis Falls Road in Woodbine displaced a family of four.

A $1,000 anonymous contribution helped Holiday Hope climb to within $2,000 of its goal with three days remaining to donate.

Santa is certainly well-intentioned, but no way he’s going to be doing all the right things to mitigate the spread. You think he’s going to keep a safe 6-foot distance? No way. He sees a child, that child will be in his lap in no time.

With another 30 donations, Holiday Hope is nearing the $110,000 mark in funds raised with less than a week left to contribute.

With another 30 donations, Holiday Hope is nearing the $110,000 mark in funds raised with less than a week left to contribute.

In addition to increased hospitalizations and deaths, another byproduct of the massive increase in cases since early November has been the scaling back of contact tracing.

A $500 donation from Dave and Conni Highfield in honor of Access Carroll staff and volunteers pushed the Holiday Hope campaign past $105,000 in funds raised, within $20,000 of the goal.

A pair of $1,000 donations helped Holiday Hope reach a major milestone: $100,000 in funds raised with a week remaining to send in donations.

An anonymous donation of $15,000 pushed Holiday Hope past the $90,000 mark.