In Maryland, There's a Town That Simply Will Not Drown

Nestled between the Hudson, Tiber and New Cut branches of the Patapsco River, Ellicott City sits in a valley of granite with walls that funnel the branches’ waters through the community to merge with the Patapsco. On a quiet day, it would be hard to tell that water flows under and around the mix of specialty stores, restaurants, galleries and antique shops along Main Street. Glimpses of yellow signs featuring a figure running to higher ground are the first clue. The 10 vacant buildings at the bottom of Main Street — gutted by deadly floods in 2016 and 2018 — solidify water’s dangerous presence in the historic district.

A groundbreaking ceremony attended by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball earlier this month marked the start of the multi-phased Ellicott City Safe and Sound flood mitigation plan. Estimated to cost between $113 million to $140 million, the plan includes the creation of several dry ponds, the installation of a milelong underground tunnel and the demolition of four Main Street buildings to provide space for the creation of a new culvert.

The state has committed more than $20 million to Howard County to assist in flood mitigation and resilience efforts, including $2.4 million for the creation of the 13-acre-foot H7 pond, which began Aug. 16 at the Route 40/Route 29 interchange. Designed to hold water and then release it slowly once the danger has passed, five dry flood ponds, ranging in size from the 10-acre-foot Quaker Mill pond off Rogers Avenue to the 70-acre-foot T1 pond on the Tiber tributary, are included in the plan. Each acre-foot is approximately 326,000 gallons of water…

The north tunnel, which Ball calls the “single most impactful project in our Safe and Sound plan,” will be buried 60 feet to 80 feet down, starting at the 8800 block of Frederick Road and running parallel to Main Street for 5,000 feet to exit at the Patapsco River. Ranging between 12 feet and 15 feet in diameter, the tunnel will help maintain the Hudson’s water levels by splintering the water flow during heavy rains to prevent the branch from flowing over its banks.

“All my floors have sump pumps,” Gibson said.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce….

… has continued to defend the use of ivermectin — last week at an assembly meeting and again Monday when he made an appearance on Duane Bannock’s Sound Off radio show on KSRM. “What I’m asking for is that the … world view of the various treatments that are being researched and looked at outside of and including vaccinations be looked at from a more open perspective,” he said on air. “Let the doctors experiment with perhaps some things that haven’t been signed off by the Food and Drug Administration.” He backed the use of ivermectin, saying it is “a very inexpensive medication” and encouraged listeners to research the drug further.

Every year, students researched current issues, proposed and debated their own public policy, and competed in a mock legislature and elections process for statewide offices. Since the program’s arrival to McKinney in 2005 as a club, seven of the district’s middle school students have been elected governor — the program’s top honor — at the statewide conference in Austin. In 2017, the district added an elective option: Seventh and eighth graders in two of the district’s middle schools could now receive course credit for participating in the program.

But in June, the district canceled the elective option in response to a social studies law passed during this year’s regular legislative session. In an email to middle school administrators obtained by The Texas Tribune, a social studies curriculum coordinator wrote that “in light of” the new law’s ban on political activism and policy advocacy, “we will no longer be allowed [to] offer Youth & Government as an elective course for credit.”

Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, veterinarian and director for continuing education at Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, said the drug should be used for the species on the label…We commonly would see it in dogs and cats for heartworm prevention would be a common use for ivermectin," Biggs said. "And we regularly use it in other species like cattle and horses to treat internal and external parasites."

While there is a form of ivermectin that can be prescribed for humans in a one-time dose to treat worms, Biggs said, what people are buying from local farm supply stores isn't it. "Any of our animal products, they always, on the label, say, 'Not For Human Consumption,'" Biggs said. Four Green Country (northeast Oklahoma) Tractor Supply stores said they were out of ivermectin and that sales and demand increased during the coronavirus pandemic.