The "Hold Harmless" Provision Transfers Millions of Tax $ Generated in Prince George's County to Baltimore City

And, there is no "Sunset" to this provision - it goes on forever!
"Hold Harmless" provision:
This provision was billed as ensuring that Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County would not be harmed by the opening of the MGM gaming facility in Prince George’s County. It created a formula, without a sunset clause, designed to make certain that their revenues would be no less than before MGM opened.
Since MGM’s opening, both Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County have seen their casino’s gaming revenues increase. Despite their prosperity, the hold harmless provision has resulted in Prince George’s County receiving far less in benefits than its neighbors. Baltimore City, which now generates more than a million dollars more per year today in local impact grant fund revenues than before MGM’s opening, now receives approximately $11M more per year in local impact grant fund revenues distribution as a direct result of the hold harmless provision. Prince George’s County (MGM) generates approximately the same VLT local impact grant fund revenue as Anne Arundel County (Maryland Live), yet we receive about $11M less in distribution because of the hold harmless provision.
Thanks to Jay Krueger for the explanation and analysis.

Please Support the Conservancy of Broad Creek

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Find out what the Conservancy does at http://www.theconservancyofbroadcreek.org/about.html

Harrowing delirium afflicts millions after surgery, especially the elderly

(Click on the image for Muriel Dobbin's Washington Post article)

"It is a ghost disease.
More than 2 million Americans are haunted every year by postoperative delirium, a strange, creeping state of confusion that the medical profession admits it neither understands nor can cure.
It is a problem that affects the brain, divorces its victims from reality and plunges them into a state of derangement — and few doctors can tell them why. Indeed, physicians usually cannot even see the symptoms of this disease until the patient already is in its grip.
I know about this harrowing syndrome because it overtook me last summer after I was sent to the hospital following a fall in my apartment building. I had surgery to repair my hip as a result of the fall, but the greater injury was the delirium associated with that hospitalization. It turned my life upside down, leaving me in a lingering state of confusion, anxiety and befuddlement, flailing for answers."

Seniors were sold a risk-free retirement with reverse mortgages. Now they face foreclosure.

(Click on the image for  Nick Penzenstadler and Jeff Kelly Lowenstein's USA Today report)

In a stealth aftershock of the Great Recession, nearly 100,000 loans that allowed senior citizens to tap into their home equity have failed, blindsiding elderly borrowers and their families and dragging down property values in their neighborhoods.
In many cases, the worst toll has fallen on those ill-equipped to shoulder it: urban African Americans, many of whom worked for most of their lives, then found themselves struggling in retirement.
Alarming reports from federal investigators five years ago led the Department of Housing and Urban Development to initiate a series of changes to protect seniors. USA TODAY’s review of government foreclosure data found a generation of families fell through the cracks and continue to suffer from reverse mortgage loans written a decade ago.

Piscataway Bioenergy Project

(Click on the image for the Prince George's Community Television video report)

From WSSC:
An exciting project currently in the design phase at the Piscataway Water Resource Recovery Facility is transforming the way WSSC handles waste from five existing treatment plants. The Piscataway Bioenergy Project - the largest and most technically advanced project ever constructed by WSSC - will employ innovative technologies to recover resources and produce green energy. In the coming years, our Piscataway plant will evolve into a bioenergy production facility that uses efficiency, technology and sustainability to enhance the financial and environmental health of the region. This $262 million project will serve our customers for the next 100 years.
The Bioenergy Project will transform how WSSC handles biosolids -- the nutrient-rich organic materials resulting from the wastewater treatment process -- from five existing WSSC water resource recovery facilities (formerly known as wastewater treatment plants). Using cutting-edge “green” technology, the new facility will significantly reduce the amount of biosolids left over from the treatment process, thus reducing costs to haul and dispose of the product. The remaining biosolids will be significantly cleaner (Class A), making the disposal process much easier and allowing the final product to be sold and distributed as fertilizer. With cleaner Class A biosolids, WSSC will also save money by eliminating the use of lime, which is currently applied to Class B biosolids to control odor. This new process will save money for our customers by reducing operating costs by more than $3 million per year.
As an added benefit, the process to create the Class A biosolids will generate renewable fuel to help run the plant. This new process produces methane gas providing green energy that will help run the Piscataway Water Resource Recovery Facility. The new process will reduce WSSC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent.
In addition to critical sustainability benefits, WSSC’s investment in bioenergy is a conscientious investment decision to spend now in order to save going forward. Bioenergy will demonstrate significant cost savings over the long term by reducing power consumption from fossil fuels and reducing disposal costs. The Piscataway Water Resource Recovery Facility will become WSSC’s showcase for achieving optimal value by investing in a green future.
Phase One of the project is now underway and includes design and early construction, which entails demolition of existing on-site facilities and relocation of existing utilities. Phase Two is expected to be awarded fall 2019. The entire project should be complete and operational in spring 2024.

Deadly Falls in Older Americans Are Rising. Here’s How to Prevent Them.

(Click on the image for Katie Hafner's New York Times report)

As the population ages, the number of older Americans who die following a fall is rising. A study published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA found that for people over 75, the rate of mortality from falls more than doubled from 2000 to 2016.
Here are some measures you can take to help prevent a fall:

• Exercise! (You knew that)
• Mind your meds
• Re-accessorize
• Eliminate tripping hazards
• Early and often to the bathroom

A Cut Above: How to Get the Perfect Lawn

(Click on the image for advice from Consumer Reports)

Senate report reveals nearly 400 troubled nursing homes

(Click on the image for the report)

From the WTOP/AP article on the report:
"About 1.3 million Americans are nursing home residents, cared for in more than 15,700 facilities. The senators’ report noted that problem nursing homes on both lists account for about 3 percent."

The senators' list includes 5 providers in Maryland and 5 providers in Virginia.