Jon Kelvey

Carroll County farmers once lead the world in the production of the oily, medicinal wormseed plant. Can newly legal industrial hemp play a similar role for local agriculture in the 21st century?

It was his sophomore year at South Carroll High School when the now-graduating senior Nicholas Bloch burst into the extracurricular scene, competing in basketball, soccer and power lifting. A year later he would take on leadership roles in school groups.

Graduating Winters Mill High School senior Addison Lomax has a philosophy in life exemplified by a simple rule of thumb: Why not?

The story of two Carroll County women who had been missing since April 6 appears to have ended in tragedy in West Virginia.

The Maryland presidential primary election and associated down ballot races, including the three-way race for a Carroll County Circuit Court judgeship, is currently underway — via the mail.

The town of Manchester has a budget for Fiscal Year 2021, following the town council’s unanimous passage of Ordinance 245 at their Tuesday meeting, conducted remotely over a video conference call. The adopted budget is balanced at $5,263,882 in total, with a general fund balanced at $3,217,849, a water fund balanced at $1,069,400 and sewer fund balanced at $976,633.

Carroll Hospital has new leadership in incoming President Garret Hoover. Hoover has more than 30 years of experience in health care administration and was most recently the president and chief operating officer of Corning Hospital, in Corning, New York.

The Town of Hampstead introduced its fiscal year 2021 budget during the Tuesday meeting of the mayor and council over Zoom. The town council will vote on adopting the budget at its June 9 meeting.

The Carroll County Health Department has begun hiring contract tracers to help with mitigation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democratic Carroll County voters have until June 2 to get their mail-in ballot post-marked and have their voices heard in the Democratic presidential primary election, but there is another race on the ballot open to all voters in the county: The seat on the Carroll County Circuit Court bench currently held by Judge Richard Titus.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been the prime focus of public health officials for more than two months, the opioid epidemic has not disappeared, requiring leaders to keep planning as best they can for a time when the COVID-19 pandemic abates.

When it comes to property law and enforcing private property rights, a lot of the law comes down to what is reasonable, according to attorney David Bowersox, but with each situation can come details that make deciding what was reasonable in a particular instance difficult. “This is more of a spectrum instead of a bright black and white dividing line applicable to all cases,” he said.

Joseph Brown has been named Carroll Hospital’s Nurse of the Year, an honor bestowed on him Wednesday, the first day of National Nurses Week, which runs May 6 through May 12.

Two Virginia men have been arrested in Westminster and charged with vehicle and identify theft. Bright Boateng, 39, of Fairfax, Virginia, is charged with one count each of identity theft of a value of $100,000 or more and the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, both of which are felonies, according to electronic court records. Daniel Owusu, 53, of Herndon, Virginia, is charged with one felony county of the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

National Nurses Week begins Wednesday and runs through May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday, and with health care workers in the spotlight and on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s going to be a very special celebration this year, even as the pandemic alters the way nurses celebrate.

Scott Lederer, of New Windsor, has recovered from COVID-19. Now his blood may hold the answer to helping keep others from getting sick.

A man and a woman, both of Westminster, have been charged with impersonating a doctor in an attempt to obtain controlled substances.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the attention of both the public and health officials, other health issues haven’t stopped and must be treated. Doing so has forced some changes on Carroll County providers.

A Taneytown man has been charged with assault after allegedly choking a woman to the point of unconsciousness Monday.

A Westminster man has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly chasing minors riding all-terrain vehicles on his property with his truck and firing a handgun in the air.

Lars Nolen is a chef by trade, so the COVID-19 pandemic left him at his Hampstead home without something to do. He quickly found something: making a small band of plastic known as an “ear saver,” for use with face masks.

Another Taste of Carroll tradition has been to name six Hospice Heroes, staff or volunteers that have been nominated by the peers for going above and beyond and who are honored at the Taste of Carroll event.

Dr. Bennet Myers has been named Carroll Hospital’s Physician of the Year. He spoke about working in the emergency room and what it feels like to be practicing medicine during the coronavirus pandemic.

More than a month since closing its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carroll County Food Sunday is back in the business of distributing food to people who need it.

The last time Sherry Tyler heard from her granddaughter, Danielle Tyler of Taneytown, was April 6. Now Sherry fears the worst — that this is more than just a missing person’s case.

Maryland’s presidential primary election, originally scheduled for April 28, has also been postponed. The Times recently caught up with Carroll County Elections Director Katherine Berry to learn more.

Grocery store clerks have become unexpected front line workers in the social war on the viral contagion. But here in Carroll County, some say they’re just doing their job.

On Wednesday afternoon, Carroll County saw the first clients for a new temporary medical respite center on the Westminster campus of East Middle School that aims to support homeless people threatened by the coronavirus.

Losing a loved one is a difficult process at any time, but as Kym Mozelack found when she recently lost her mother, grieving and finding closure during the COVID-19 pandemic can be that much more so.

Community members with sewing skills began coordinating — remotely — to produce and distribute cotton facemasks to nurses and first responders in late March, and now those with the necessary 3D printing technology are doing the same, but taking the manufacturing, and the mask technology, to the next level.

The Carroll County Health Department announced more new COVID-19 cases in the community Friday, including the second death of a person not associated with a long-term care facility.

Carroll County announced the eighteenth death of a resident of Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mount Airy and held its first-ever virtual town hall meeting to answer community questions about the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more than 25 years, the Westminster Good Friday Cross Walk has brought people of faith from multiple Christian denominations together for fellowship as they carry a wooden cross to locations across the city, stopping for prayers and meditations on Easter and Jesus Christ. This Good Friday, April 10, 2020, the Cross Walk will for the first time be a virtual one, with participants synchronizing their meditations at home through the use of pre-recorded videos by the clergy of the Westminster Ministerium, a collection of area churches.

Four more people have died from COVID-19 in Carroll County, officials said, including the first death of a person outside of the two local elder care facilities most affected by the novel coronavirus so far.

Commissioner Stephen Wantz will host the first Virtual Town Hall to answer questions about Carroll County’s coronavirus response.

It’s a very different mode of operation than they ever anticipated, with much more virtual communication in lieu of 12-hour shifts manning a command center,

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have surveyed Carroll County Agriculture Center’s Shipley Arena for potential use as a temporary hospital. And the Westminster armory building will be used as a medical respite location for at-risk people.

Westminster police shot a man who allegedly pointed a rifle at them Friday.

The Carroll County Health Department Thursday afternoon announced nine additional cases COVID-19 in the county, bringing the total confirmed cases to 129. They also announced six recoveries in people who had been in isolation.

As cases of the coronavirus continue to rise, health care workers and first responders have been forced to extremes to deal with shortages of personal protective gear. And now some people in the Carroll County community are stepping up to help.

The Carroll County Health Department announced nine new confirmed cases of the coronavirus Wednesday evening, bringing the total number of cases in the county to 103.

The first signs of the coronavirus’ strain on the health care system in Carroll County appeared Tuesday morning, with one unit at Carroll Hospital reaching its current capacity with patients.

Carroll County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Henry Taylor in a Q & A about the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.

Carroll County food banks and pantries are altering operations in order to continue to serve their clients at a time when large groups can no longer congregate.

With social distancing the order of the day, Carroll County businesses and their customers are adapting to the realities posed by the coronavirus also known as COVID-19.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s Monday order to close all non-essential businesses in the state exempts direct support professionals working the 25 Carroll County group homes for people with developmental disabilities.

Even as measures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus take their toll on small businesses and families across the state, the most vulnerable of the population are being affected even more.

TownMall of Westminster, subject to changes in ownership, the fading fortunes of retail and constant rumors over the past few years is now subject to Gov. Larry Hogan’s COVID-19 mandate. The mall, like all others in Maryland, shuttered its doors at 5 p.m. Thursday, and it is not clear when it may reopen — and how many tenants will reopen with it.

As Carroll County deals with the ripple effects of the coronavirus, sheriff’s deputies are wearing gloves, most court cases are on hold and the detention center is taking temperatures of new inmates.

Faced with a statewide order from Gov. Larry Hogan to close shop for the foreseeable future to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus, Carroll County restaurants and bars are doing their best to cope — for themselves, their employees and their communities.