WASHINGTON – As chairwoman of the Maryland PTA’s Safety and Environmental Committee, Lisa Breece supports the association’s position that mandatory chickenpox vaccines for children will help create a healthy school environment

WASHINGTON – Carjackings in Maryland fell for a third straight year in 1998, the most recent year for which figures were available, according to Maryland State Police

ANNAPOLIS – At a time when Maryland is making progress in wiring classrooms, it still lags behind other states, studies show

ANNAPOLIS – Burkittsville, the home of moviedom’s Blair Witch, wants Maryland towns to be able to approve the use of their name by a filmmaker, the town’s mayor told state lawmakers Friday

ANNAPOLIS – Two state lawmakers from Calvert County – where a high school graduation last spring turned into a protest against a prayer ban – proposed a bill to allow student-led prayers at school-sponsored events

WASHINGTON – Heating oil prices in Maryland have jumped almost 72 percent since December, forcing some low-income households to choose between food, medicine and heating their homes, in the words of one lawmaker

ANNAPOLIS – Worcester County residents digressed into a sharp debate before a house panel Thursday over whether to elect or appoint members of the Board of Education

ANNAPOLIS – A nasal spray for the needle adverse may soon alleviate their flu suffering

WASHINGTON – Seventeen education and ethnic organizations this week urged the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that the Montgomery County school system could not use race as a factor in student transfer decisions

WASHINGTON – Maryland would lose $21 million in surplus federal gas tax revenues under President Clinton’s proposed budget for fiscal 2001, but state officials don’t seem to mind