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Comcast Deepens Investment in the Community with $40,000 Donation to Two Hagerstown-Based Nonprofits for Digital Skills Training

HAGERSTOWN, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comcast today announced a major expansion to connect more than 50,000 homes and businesses in the Hagerstown, MD area to reliable, high-speed, symmetrical Internet. The project brings Internet, mobile, entertainment, and security services from Xfinity and Comcast Business to residents and businesses for the first time.

Comcast’s network expansion includes all homes and businesses in the City of Hagerstown, as well as surrounding communities such as Cavetown, Fairplay, Funkstown, Smithsburg, Tilghmanton and Williamsport.

“Fast, reliable Internet is critical to our region’s ability to attract businesses and meet residents’ ever-expanding technological needs,” said Mayor William “Bill” McIntire, City of Hagerstown. “We are thrilled to have a new provider offering advanced connectivity solutions and applaud Comcast for this significant investment.”

Xfinity and Comcast Business services are already available to thousands of addresses across the Hagerstown area, with additional homes and businesses rolling out in phases. Residents can visit Xfinity.com/mytown to enter their address for additional details on construction timing and upcoming service availability.

“We’re proud to expand our reliable, secure and peak-performance network to more than 50,000 homes and businesses across the Hagerstown area – bringing choice for high-speed Internet, business solutions, entertainment and more,” said Ray Roundtree, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Beltway Region. “We have a dedicated team of local experts who are excited to help more residents and businesses get connected to Xfinity and Comcast Business services.”

What It Means for the Hagerstown Community

Comcast’s commitment to communities goes beyond building the network and aims to increase economic mobility for the local community and its residents. That’s why Comcast created Internet Essentials, a broadband adoption program that offers eligible households low-cost, high-speed Internet and affordable computers.

Additionally, Comcast is deeply committed to advancing digital opportunity in the communities it serves and announced a donation of $40,000 to Horizon Goodwill Industries and the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County, two nonprofits based in Hagerstown. These investments are focused on helping people build digital skills, accelerating career development opportunities and funding connectivity and Internet adoption programs.

A Network You Can Trust to be Reliable, Fast and Secure

Comcast’s state-of-the-art network is built to enable residents and businesses to thrive in today’s constantly connected world. Hagerstown joins the 64 million homes and businesses across the country to have access to a network that is trusted by essential community organizations like hospitals, schools, transportation systems and first responders, and federal agencies like the Department of Defense and FEMA. It delivers gigabit Internet speeds, 99.9 percent reliability and built-in security to help keep customers safe from cyber threats.

Introducing Xfinity for Consumers

Comcast’s residential services are marketed under the Xfinity brand, and consumers in the Hagerstown area will be able to take advantage of Xfinity’s full suite of products including Internet, video, mobile, voice, and home security. With gigabit Internet speeds, powerful WiFi that reaches every corner of the home, and super-responsive connections with low lag available with Xfinity plans, customers have a great experience using their connected devices to stream their favorite sports and entertainment content, video chat with coworkers and friends, learn from home or simply surf the web.

Comcast Business to Power Hagerstown

For local businesses, Comcast Business offers a suite of connectivity, communications, networking, cybersecurity, wireless, and managed solutions to help organizations of all sizes achieve their business goals. Industry analysts and associations have consistently recognized Comcast Business as a leader and innovator in flexible, scalable options as well as one of the fastest-growing providers of Ethernet services.

About Comcast Corporation

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company. From the connectivity and platforms we provide, to the content and experiences we create, our businesses reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. We deliver world-class broadband, wireless, and video through Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky; produce, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through brands including NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock, and Sky; and bring incredible theme parks and attractions to life through Universal Destinations & Experiences. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

Contacts

Media: Charlie Schoenthaler Charlie_Schoenthaler@comcast.com (571) 386-8034

HAGERSTOWN, MD (February 21, 2025) – Hagerstown Regional Airport (HGR) announces Allegiant’s Spring-Fall 2025 flight schedule, featuring robust service to popular destinations. Travelers will enjoy increased convenience and flexibility throughout the upcoming travel season.

Key Updates:

St. Pete–Clearwater, FL (PIE): Flights currently operate on Sundays and Thursdays. Beginning May 27th, a new Tuesday service will be introduced, running through August 12th. There will be a brief pause in service throughout September. Flights will return on October 2nd, continuing on Sundays and Thursdays.

Orlando–Sanford, FL (SFB): Service will continue year-round on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, between April 9th and May 21st, Wednesday flights will be temporarily paused, while Monday and Friday service remains unaffected. After resuming on May 21st, Wednesday flights will continue until August 6th, when they will conclude for the season. Monday and Friday flights will remain available, with three additional Wednesday flights offered on October 8th, 15th, and 22nd.

Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR): Flights will return on Friday, May 23rd, with service offered on Mondays and Fridays. Beginning June 5th, an expanded schedule will be available, adding Sunday and Thursday flights through September 1st. After this period, Monday and Friday service will continue until the season ends on November 3rd.

Continued Growth and Fleet Enhancements in 2025

There has been a 10% growth in total number of flights offered in 2025. A large portion of these flights will be operated on Allegiant’s new Boeing 737 Max 8 200 aircraft, featuring the Allegiant Extra premium offering. With a larger cabin and improved passenger experience, these modern aircraft will drive increased enplanements and deplanements.

Travelers are encouraged to plan their Spring, Summer, and Early Fall 2025 getaways, taking full advantage of the increased flight options available at the Hagerstown Regional Airport.

For more information about Hagerstown Regional Airport, please visit www.flyHGR.com.

The Tri-State area is experiencing a rise in several viral illnesses, with the flu being the most prevalent, according to a community announcement from Meritus Health.

Healthcare providers across the system also are encountering an increased number of respiratory syncytial virus and norovirus cases. COVID-19 cases are being reported as well, though the numbers are significantly lower than during the pandemic’s peak.

The flu has seen a significant surge since January, with cases reported at Meritus Medical Center, Meritus Urgent Care and Meritus primary care providers. Flu season typically runs from December through February, as cold weather forces people indoors and into closer contact with each other. Vaccines are given in the fall to help control the spread.

“This year we have noticed a variant strain not completely covered by the vaccine,” said Dr. Anand Budi, Meritus' chief medical officer. “As a result, we are seeing people who are vaccinated also getting sick with flu.”

To help stop the spread of the virus, Budi advised regular handwashing and avoiding close contact with those who are sick.

As with most viruses, treatments are limited. Oseltamivir, known by the brand name Tamiflu, can treat the flu, but it typically only shortens the length of illness by a day.

“The best thing to do is to rest, drink plenty of fluids — especially water — and use over-the-counter medicines,” Budi said.

While there is some indication that vitamin C and zinc can help ease symptoms, Budi advised against taking cough suppressants, unless it’s needed to help with sleep.

“You want them to bring that phlegm out of their lungs,” he said, noting expectorant medicines would be better. He also said drinking more fluids is helpful because it can thin mucus, making it easier to expel.

‘They brought me back to life:’ Man survives heart attack thanks to nurses at club

Because the flu and other viruses going around are very contagious, Budi recommends staying home and treating symptoms yourself.

“Visiting the doctor can spread the illness to other patients and healthcare providers,” he said.

However, seek medical attention if you are in respiratory distress, have a high fever (102.5 degrees or higher), have a severe cough that lasts for more than four days, or are no longer eating or drinking a reasonable amount.

Meritus offers several treatment options, including the emergency department at Meritus Medical Center, urgent care centers on Crayton Boulevard and at the Valley Mall, and a virtual option called MeritusNow. This allows patients to schedule an online appointment with a care provider using a computer or phone camera. Details to set up an appointment can be found by going to meritushealth.com/now.

“If you or a loved one does become ill, we want to remind you that Meritus is prepared to support your care needs,” said Maulik Joshi, president and CEO of Meritus. “Our mission is to improve the health of the community by providing expert care, no matter where you are.”

This story was created by Janis Reeser, jreeser@gannett.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at https://cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Just off the highway and down the road from the sheriff's office, there's a large warehouse and greenhouse compound locked behind barbed-wire gates.

If you're driving by at certain times, you might catch a whiff of what's inside: Some call it skunky, some call it gassy. It's the unmistakable smell of weed.

The complex is the grow facility for District Cannabis, which produces 15,000 pounds of cannabis flower each year. "It's our weed factory — a dream come true," says Andras Kirschner, founder and head grower.

Inside the factory, it's not all skunk. There's the earthy smell of plants growing and botanical notes of citrus and lavender. In recent years, that strong signature skunky funk of pot has given way to scent profiles of new cannabis strains that skew toward fruits, fresh herbs and candy.

It's a trend that has blossomed with the increasing use of cannabis for recreational purposes, says Pamela Dalton, a smell scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a nonprofit research institute that focuses on smell and taste. "People take all sorts of drugs that are unpleasant to taste or smell, but for recreation, you want something pleasurable in all facets," she says. "That's driving some of the hybridization and evolution [of cannabis] – to make something you like smelling, that's pleasant and reinforces the ease of relaxation."

At the District Cannabis grow facility, batches of young cannabis plants are grown to maturity, harvested and dried, then processed and packaged for retail sale.

On a recent weekday morning, Kirschner gave NPR a tour of the operations. In a warm, humid room, 1,500 cannabis plants were in bloom, giving off a fruity, musky scent.

Kirschner won the 2024 grand champion title in a competition with weed growers from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia with a strain called Layer Cake. This one, perfuming the indoor grow room, is a cousin named Gelato Cake. Kirschner says, it's "one of the more popular top-selling strains in the D.C. and Maryland markets for a number of years now."

"This is definitely one of our more complex profiles," says Kyle Perrell, the general manager of operations at the facility, describing the scent as sweetness and grapes with cognac and "a fresh kerosene kind of smell on the back end."

Pien Huang/NPR

Much of the scent and flavor variety among cannabis strains is attributed to terpenes, which are chemical compounds found in a lot of plants such as herbs, citrus and pine trees. For the Gelato Cake strain, Perrell says the dominant terpenes are caryophyllene, limonene and linalool, which give off floral, clove and citrus scents.

And while the signature "gas" or "skunk" smell of cannabis used to be attributed to a "skunky terpene," research over the past few years has pointed to a different culprit, says Monell's Dalton. "They found out that it was actually a sulfur compound – which, to my thinking, would absolutely be responsible for a sulfur odor – the smell of skunk spray or anything like that," she says.

It's the sulfur note, mixed with the fresher, more aromatic terpenes, that gives weed its signature smells. In some strains, though, that skunk note dominates. "We are extremely sensitive to sulfur compounds," Dalton says, "So if you have a range of compounds in your cannabis, it's likely that what you're going to smell first are the sulfur compounds."

The classic weed smell was what cannabis breeders and growers in the past were going for, Kirschner says, "and so a lot of the strains started to really exhibit that skunk smell."

In more recent years, there's been a trend in cannabis cultivation toward new strains and hybrids that are more pleasant-smelling to more people. "Now there's a wide diversity from berry to citrus, lemon lime, cherry. A lot of the popular strains are a combination between the gas and another flavor," says Kirschner.

Dalton has observed this trend, too. "I'm almost 70 years old, and the cannabis I smelled when I was 13, 14, 15 was way skunkier than anything I experience now," she says.

The evolution of scents and flavors has converged on what Jamila Hogan, a longtime weed educator and head of the cannabis experience company Ebony Green, describes as "Runtzacakelato."

Pien Huang/NPR

"It's the Runts (like the candy), cake, gelato profile. You know it because the buds are often a little bit purple, super frosty," she says, referring to the abundance of resinous glands that coat the mature cannabis plants.

Hogan says this scent and flavor profile – "musky, gassy, sweet and skunk" – has become dominant in the past five or so years. "Before this profile, it was the gas," she says, "Before the gas, it was fruity, and before the fruit was the kush."

At the District Cannabis grow facility, every room smells like a different combination of musky, fruity gas. In the greenhouse, a strain called Pavé gives off an "overwhelmingly kushy, earthy, almost a little spearminty" scent, according to Perrell, the general manager.

In the cure room, stalks of Cherry Limeade Cake hang upside down to dry. In the trim room, workers prune the buds of a new strain called Berry Payton. Kirschner describes it as "tropical Runts times Gary Payton [another strain]," producing a fruity blueberry-scented hybrid.

But nobody buys weed just to smell it. The cannabis grown here is destined for the local market. Some of it gets packaged and sold as flower, or extracted for edibles and vapes, or pre-rolled by an automated machine that can make 4 million joints a year, Kirschner says: "We're currently not selling that much — but we can make them."

In Maryland, where cannabis has been allowed for recreational use since 2023, consumers have spent more than $180 million on cannabis products in the first two months of the year.

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