Maryland

ANNAPOLIS – Sharon Benoliel has been practicing shiatsu, a Japanese healing art based on traditional Chinese medicine for 17 years, and she’s done well enough to help buy a house and pay for her 4-year-old daughter’s expenses

WASHINGTON – A federal judge refused this week to throw out a 5-year-old agreement that prevented Montgomery County fire and rescue workers from “two- hatting” — working for the county and donating time at volunteer fire departments

WASHINGTON – Maryland’s economy is healthy and robust despite signs of a national economic downturn, according to an independent analysis released Wednesday

ANNAPOLIS – With 13 of the original 33 sponsors withdrawing their support, a constitutional amendment to give additional budgetary power to the General Assembly failed to win the 29 votes it needed to pass the Senate Tuesday

ANNAPOLIS – When her 3-month-old son started screaming in hunger, a Riestertown mother recently sought out a bench in the front of an Owings Mills toy store to nurse

ANNAPOLIS – A car accident left Jerry Lynch of Rockville with a glass eye and no job

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland’s drunken-driving law would get a makeover under legislation approved by a House panel Tuesday

WASHINGTON – Even though she said she hasn’t slept since Sunday, Adela Acosta expected to be wide awake Tuesday night as she sat with first lady Laura Bush for the president’s first speech to Congress

WASHINGTON – President Bush’s first address to Congress called for sweeping tax cuts, but few Marylanders see that as a top priority, according to a new poll

WASHINGTON – Maryland lawmakers split along largely partisan lines on President Bush’s first address to Congress Tuesday night, with Republicans hailing it as “very good” and Democrats calling it “too good to be true