USA TODAY
Brian Shane
Journalist
United States
Maryland-based reporter with 25 years experience in news writing, magazine features, public radio reporting, and more.
United States
Maryland-based reporter with 25 years experience in news writing, magazine features, public radio reporting, and more.
USA TODAY
The suspects are accused of trying to kill witnesses they believed were cooperating with police.
OCEAN PINES, Md. - Elmer Muth still remembers D-Day as "the most profound day of my life." "It's so vivid, it's just like it happened yesterday," said the 89-year-old Muth. "Everywhere you look, there are vessels going in, the sky is covered with planes, and they're bombing the beach.
THURMONT, Md. - As the story goes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were leaving the presidential encampment called Shangri-La - later renamed Camp David - when the two most powerful men in the Western world decided to make a stop on the drive back to Washington, at the Cozy Restaurant.
A trendsetting new company is blasting beachgoers high above the water in Ocean City, Md.
The list of 16 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom today from President Obama includes civil rights leaders, a TV star and philanthropist, a former U.S. president and a Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs baseball all-star. Members of Sally Ride's family say America's first woman in space fits right in.
Veteran suffering from PTSD was targeting his wife, who is a Senate staffer.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Carl Heimerdinger says it isn't uncommon for customers to bring scissors in for sharpening at his family's retail cutlery shop that were purchased there decades ago, by a parent or grandparent. "It's heartening to know that quality has endured for 100 years or more," said Heimerdinger, 58, the fifth-generation proprietor of Heimerdinger Cutlery in Louisville.
PUBLIC RADIO
Delmarva Public Media's Brian Shane explores the debate surrounding the merits of encrypting local police scanner channels.
As the proposed offshore wind farm off the coast of Ocean City enters into a mandatory public comment period, reporter Brian Shane looks at the latest arguments in this decade long debate about the pros and cons about an offshore wind farm on the Atlantic coastline and explores whether or not there's an end in sight.
Community Raises Money for His Recovery
One Operation in Maryland
There's a program in Worcester County that gets young people out on the beach to teach them about more than just surfing. Delmarva Public Media's Brian Shane reports on "Surf Into Integrity".
Host Bryan Russo speaks with reporter Brian Shane about the ongoing discussion about a recent move to encrypt police scanner channels in the name of police safety. But, what does that mean for public transparency?
Delmarva Public Media's Brian Shane reports on Ocean City's recent election which saw two new councilpersons win seats, as well as re-election wins for the Mayor and Council President.
Traditional arcades along the boardwalk still thrive despite the dominance of our 21st century digital world. Delmarva Public Media's Brian Shane explores the experience of dropping a quarter into the slot for one more play at Ocean City's Playland.
With the winter weather ahead Delmarvans will be depending on forecasters more and more each day. Delmarva Public Radio's Brian Shane has a look at forecasting and the impact of the changing weather on the peninsula.
NEWSPAPER
Special Report: A drunken driver cruising up Coastal Highway. An optimistic Towson University student stepping off the curb. How two lives intersected in tragic fashion, and the ripples that remain. SNOW HILL, Md. - The letter arrives at the Worcester County courthouse on July 20, 2012, a few weeks after the car accident that took Matthew Cheswick's life.
Hushed six-figure theft brings new accounting procedures for Worcester County teacher's union OCEAN CITY, Md. - Denise Owens spent her days as a special education teacher at Stephen Decatur Middle School. In her free time, though, she would sit for hours on end gambling in Delaware, mostly on slot machines.
Fire overtook the building so fast that maintenance man Marvin Johnson had to kick in his tenants' doors, ushering them to safety, because knocking wasn't going to be quick enough. So fast that Dave Kroon could feel the flames on his neck as he rushed down the stairs with his eight-months pregnant girlfriend.
David Weatherholtz ran a community theater in West Ocean City. Police say he used his position to groom young boys for sexual abuse. WEST OCEAN CITY - The sheriff's office investigation started in an unlikely spot: a personal ad posted to the "casual encounters" section on Craigslist.
My most unforgettable assignment ever as a reporter was to write a first-person essay about my experience riding in a fighter jet. WALLOPS ISLAND - I just got my butt kicked by an F-16. Take the most rollicking amusement park ride you've ever experienced, and then multiply that by a billion.
OCEAN CITY - The woman who set up her own pole-dancing operation on the Boardwalk last weekend says she's well within her rights to do so, and she's not going to stop anytime soon.
WEST OCEAN CITY, Md. - You can send your letters to the North Pole, but Santa's real workshop is inside a Route 50 motel. George Ganzzermiller is a Santa Claus look-alike so convincing that he turns heads young and old while working as a maintenance man at Comfort Suites.
OCEAN CITY, Md. - Exterior: trailer park, afternoon. Ocean City police are looking for evidence in a rash of burglaries from the night before. Uniforms are everywhere, rolling out the yellow tape. Neighbors are rubbernecking at 24th Street. The late-day sunlight burns orange across Coastal Highway.
OCEAN CITY, Md. - As crews demolish Ocean City's Boardwalk to its sandy base this winter, treasure hunters armed with metal detectors are arriving in droves, seeking valuables lost between the planks over decades. "This year, there's a lot of people coming down," said Roland, 64, who declined to give his last name.
Picture them laid out on a brown paper-wrapped picnic table: Steaming hot Maryland blue crabs, covered in Old Bay.
What does it mean to be alive for a century? How can any of us possibly hope to make it that long? For Natalie Channel, she says she got there by learning how not to worry. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen," said the Salisbury centenarian as she marked her 100th birthday on Dec.
The young man is slathered in gold paint: sport jacket, slacks, sneakers, cap, sunglasses, not to mention his face and hands. He's sitting on a golden tricycle, facing the ocean. A gold bike helmet lays before him on the Boardwalk and serves as his tip jar.
OCEAN CITY, Md. - The Rev. David Dingwall's funeral came on a brilliant and shining December afternoon, a day so lovely that Ocean City officials decided to hold outside the press conference outlining the cause and manner of death for both the pastor and the man who set his church ablaze.
If Jim Mathias is restrained jungle cat, then Mike McDermott is a charging rhino.
"I think the colt is maybe going to go," Turner says. "Yup. And with that, she's off - breaking into a run, scrambling across the soggy marsh in her green Park Service winter pants and jacket, clapping her hands and hollering.
MAGAZINE
A program that puts golf clubs in the hands of combat veterans brings them a peaceful release.
A former Marine Corps photographer finds a new career in the Secret Service.
SALISBURY, Md. - For an up-and-coming architect, Jake Day was building an impeccable résumé. As an undergraduate at Maryland, he was elected national president of a top professional student organization. For grad school, he landed a spot in a prestigious program overseas at Oxford.
When her name is called, the packed arena of wrestling fans roars to life. Her theme song rings out from the speakers. The announcer introduces her as the sassy Southern belle! She sashays down the ramp, climbs over the ropes, flings off a wide-brimmed hat, and gets ready to do battle.
From deep inside a hand-dug trench, cannon blasts rattle you and shrapnel rains down all around. The smoke is so thick, you can hardly make out the Union soldiers on your left scrambling to reload their rifles. On your right, a lieutenant screams, over the din of whooping Confederates downrange, for his men to stay at the ready.
Jaxson Jordan's extraordinary journey of service to others began at the lunch table in elementary school. When he noticed one of his friends didn't have anything to eat, Jaxson started bringing extra food in his lunchbox to share.
Inspired to enlist after 9/11, Dan Patron joined the Marines and became an explosive ordinance disposal technician. On his third tour of duty, with only months to go before his discharge, Sgt. Patron was killed trying to defuse a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. He was just 26 years old.
Ric Feehley might be the coolest Santa you'll ever meet. On a bright afternoon outside the Berlin public library, he arrives in a scarlet SUV - a modern-day sleigh, if there ever were one. He dons a bright-red fedora and chunky black sunglasses, a perfect complement to his bushy, white beard.
A briny oyster, perhaps dappled with hot sauce or a horseradish-cocktail saucy combination, deliciously disappears in the blink of an eye - as do the remaining oysters of the order. But consider the years of work that led up to that mouthwatering moment: Oyster farmer Bennett Mumford, 27, says the amount of time it takes to grow farm-to-table oysters might just blow your mind.
A former Air Force reservist and career police officer on Maryland's Eastern Shore now finds himself in a career he never would have pictured for himself: happily teaching teens the ropes of police work, and finding satisfaction in sourcing the next generation of law enforcement jobs for his community.
Longtime Lewes Historical Society Executive Director Mike DiPaolo champions an effort to not only bring the past to the present but also to show that in many ways, we're not so different today Mike DiPaolo is giving a tour of the Lewes History Museum when he stops at an oversized black-and-white photo hanging from a wall.
Less than seven miles separate downtown Ocean City from the high school in the neighboring hamlet of Berlin, but in so many ways, they're worlds apart. The former, the world-famous seaside resort and commercial center; the latter, the quaint and folksy "coolest small town in America."
ONLINE
Among acres of palm trees, tropical drinks, and reggae music at Seacrets in Ocean City, owner and founder Leighton Moore wants patrons to feel like they've been transported to Jamaica. Now, Moore has built another such immersive illusion for Baltimoreans and others heading to the ocean: the Seacrets Distilling Company.
The minivan driver, itching to make a left onto the Route 29 ramp, admitted to police that he saw the oncoming Orbea Orca road bike headed his way - but decided he could beat the cyclist, and took the turn anyway. The ensuing T-bone collision in July 2017 sent cyclist Nigel Samaroo to the R.
A massive reimagining of Baltimore's historic Lexington Market remains on track for completion in early 2022, with developers pushing their vision of boosting small business ownership for communities of color.
Michael Meredith swears the nearly 40-foot tall statue he built in his Springfield backyard isn't intended to be a representation of the Virgin Mary. But the pilgrims have come to his doorstep anyway. They must have seen his blog dedicated to chronicling his adventures in constructing the statue.
The stillness of a wooded area beside Hollin Meadows Elementary School is broken by a brigade of screaming, giggling first-graders. Science teacher Jason Pittman is showing his rambunctious students how earthworms and fungus make their home inside the rotting, hollowed-out centers of tree trunks.
In less than two years as the executive chef of Clifton's upscale Trummer's On Main restaurant, Clayton Miller has crafted an adventurous menu that's won him accolades as one of America's top up-and-coming chefs. But to hear him tell it, he was lucky to even find himself pursuing a culinary career, one he fell into with a little bit of luck.
In celebration of some local cyclists may ride along the 8.5-mile section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway between the Beltway and Mount Vernon to get themselves to work on Friday. And though cycling along the George Washington Memorial Parkway is technically prohibited by the National Park Service, some say the inadequacy of the adjacent Mount Vernon trail leaves local riders little choice.
When Ashley Wagner attended West Potomac High School, she said her peers barely knew her name. They could soon: Wagner, 20, is a lifelong figure skater who has her eye on competing for gold in the next Winter Olympics. Wagner recently relocated from training in Wilmington, Del., to join famed coach John Nicks in southern California for full-time training.
In 1981, Mark Bendorf was student-teaching at Mount Vernon High School, where Bruce Patrick was the head football coach. When Bendorf introduced himself in the teacher's lounge, they got to talking football for a while. "As soon as we got out of that meeting," Patrick said, "I was just so impressed with his command presence.
Members of Durga Temple in Fairfax Station held a Hinduism Summit to show the community about their faith and to answer questions about what it means to be Hindu. "The Durga Temple is quite keen to get to know its neighbors and them to get to know us," said Sant Gupta, past president of the temple's executive board, via e-mail.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved new regulations that will give home child care facilities more leeway to administer medication to children under their watch. The two measures are aiming to comply with bills passed in the General Assembly this year, and were subsequently adopted into code by the board at its June 21 meeting.