A Show of Support For St. Mary's College

Other events will include a 5K race and golf tournament sponsored by the team and two other fundraisers at the stadium. In addition, the Blue Crabs will let hospice officials use a luxury suite to host donors.

State Champions in High School Football, Golf to Be Recognized

The state champion Westlake High School football team and the North Point High School golf team were to be formally recognized by the county this week.

The Westlake Wolverines upset the favored Wilde Lake High School Wildcats from Columbia 13-0 last week in Baltimore. Westlake won its first 3A state championship after a 12-2 regular season. It was the school's first football title in nine years in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference.

In October, the North Point Eagles won a 2A state championship in golf. Playing on the team's home course, Waldorf's Potomac Ridge, the team beat every competitor in the field -- including 4A state champion Churchill, from Potomac -- and scored a 36-stroke landslide over 2A runner-up Glenelg.

The two Charles County teams were to be recognized by county commissioners yesterday, after the Extra went to press, with members of both teams attending the board's meeting.

Boost in Funding to Help Low-Income Energy Program

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), joined by U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), announced recently that Maryland's energy assistance program is expected to help about 102,400 households this year because of a significant boost in federal funding.

The state has received $110 million in federal money for the Maryland Energy Assistance Program, an increase of $75 million over the past fiscal year.

The state Department of Human Resources operates the program to help low-income residents pay their heating bills and make energy costs more affordable. The program served 89,108 households in fiscal 2006. By fiscal 2008, the number was 93,175. Program officials expect to aid 102,472 households this year.

A Maryland household of four making up to $37,100, or a single person making up to $18,200, is eligible to apply. Applications are accepted from July through May. A turn-off notice is not necessary to apply for assistance.

Applications for energy assistance are available at http://www.dhr.state.md.us/meap. Completed applications must be returned in person or by mail to county offices listed at the site.

For information, call 800-352-1446.

St. Mary's College Plans to Raise Tuition by 5% for 2009-10

St. Mary's College trustees voted this week to raise tuition by 5 percent next year.

The college is the first higher education institution in the state to announce a tuition increase for 2009-10. Tuition, fees, room and board will cost $22,874, up from $21,559.

School officials said the increase is the result of the economic recession, higher operating costs and the college's endowment drop of 9.6 percent in the first 10 months of this year. The college saved about $1.7 million in part by leaving positions vacant through attrition and deferring staff and faculty salary increases.

"We've done the very tough work of finding ways to cut our costs and increase revenues without jeopardizing the academic quality of the honors college or the residential life of our students," college President Jane Margaret O'Brien said in a statement. "We remain firmly committed to our core mission and will not let any budget challenge deter us."

Habitat for Humanity to Open Secondhand Store in Hughesville

Habitat for Humanity will open a secondhand store in Hughesville on Saturday, the group said last week.

The store will accept donated clothes and household goods for resale to benefit home construction programs in the county. Agency leaders said the opening comes at a crucial time, because many residents need discounted goods and the homes that the sales will help fund.

The store is also expected to be a boon to Hughesville, with a commercial corridor that has struggled since construction began on the cross-county connector. Town leaders have pushed for small businesses to open, saying they want to revive the village feeling the town had during the past century.