Portal:Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is one of the 50 states in the United States, and is located in the Mid Atlantic region of the East Coast. It is made up of 23 counties and the independent city of Baltimore and has four main regions: the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, Western Maryland, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore. Its varied terrain, ranging from the mountains in the west to the flat plains of the Eastern Shore, gives it the nickname "America in Miniature".
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The Government of Maryland is conducted according to the Maryland Constitution. The United States is a federation; consequently, the Government of Maryland, like the other 49 state governments, has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders, except as limited by the Constitution of the United States.
Power in Maryland is divided among three branches of government:executive,legislative,and judicial. Unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's counties.
Most of the business of government is done in Annapolis, the State capital. Virtually all state and county elections are held in even-numbered years not divisible by four, in which the President of the United States is not elected—this, as in other states, is intended to divide State and Federal politics.
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A farm in Carroll County, Maryland.
In the news
- November 1, 2007 - Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay US$11 million to family of fallen US soldier
- September 30, 2007 - Interview with gay marriage movement founder Evan Wolfson
- September 1, 2007 - Four jackpot winners confirmed in US 'Mega Millions' lottery drawing
- May 20, 2007 - Horse racing: Curlin wins 2007 Preakness Stakes
On this day...
Selected biography
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Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was a U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. He was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. Evidence revealed after Hiss's conviction has added a variety of information to the case, and the question of his guilt or innocence remains controversial. Some reliable sources have suggested that those who believe in Hiss's innocence are in the minority of scholarly opinion.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Mary Lavinia Hughes and Charles Alger Hiss, Alger Hiss's early life was repeatedly marred by tragedy. His father committed suicide when Alger was 2 years old, his older brother Bosley died of Bright's disease when Alger was 22, and he lost his sister Mary Ann to suicide when he was 25. His father had been a middle class wholesale grocer, and after his death Mary Hiss relied largely on family members for financial support in raising her five children. The Hiss family lived in a Baltimore neighborhood that was described as one of "shabby gentility."
Hiss was educated at Baltimore City College high school and Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was voted "most popular student" by his classmates. In 1929, he received his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was a protégé of Felix Frankfurter, the future Supreme Court justice. Before joining a Boston law firm, he served for a year as clerk to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. That same year, Hiss married the former Mrs. Priscilla Hobson, a Bryn Mawr graduate who would later work as a grade school English teacher.
In 1933, he entered government service, working in several areas as an attorney in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, starting with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). Hiss worked for the Nye Committee, which investigated and documented wartime profiteering by military contractors during World War I, and served briefly in the Justice Department.
Did you know?
- ...that unlike most other American courts, the judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals wear crimson (not black) robes, and neck bands, reminiscent of British court dress?
- ...that Kent Island was founded in 1631 as part of Virginia, three years before St. Mary's City was founded?
- ...that the Thomas Viaduct (pictured) over the Patapsco River was the first multi-span masonry railroad bridge in the United States when it was constructed between 1833 and 1835?
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Maryland - History - Government - Music - Flag - Seal - Motto
Counties: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Saint Mary's, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico, Worcester
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