Saturday, March 8, 2008 --

• Wicomico County could be awarded a half-dozen brewery pub licenses as soon as next week, depending on the actions of the Maryland General Assembly. Granting a microbrewery license to the owners of restaurants that already have liquor licenses could clear the way for the Knorr brothers, owners of Sobo’s Wine Bistro, to renovate Salisbury’s old train station as a brewery site. Lawmakers also appear poised to allow restaurants to sell wine for retail sale, instead of being restricted to in-house consumption.  
• Ten high school teams competed Friday in the Comcast Academic Challenge, held at Wor-Wic Community College. The team representing James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury took first place, winning $5,000 for the school and an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national championship. Second place went to the team from The Salisbury School.
• For the next few weeks, motorists will notice some changes taking place at the intersection of Parsons Road and Pemberton Drive. A new traffic light is being installed, which will also prompt a reconfiguration of traffic lanes and stop lines. City Traffic Systems Manager Ray Birch said the changes are designed in a way to accommodate future growth along the roadways.
• A coin toss has decided the seeding between Wicomico and Elkton high schools in the 2A East regional basketball playoffs. Wi-Hi won the flip and will be the No. 1 seed entering tonight’s game and will host Elkton at home beginning at 6 p.m. Both teams finished the season with identical 20-4 records. Wi-Hi coach Butch Waller said he doesn’t have much sympathy for Elkton, pointing out that he has lost five similar coin tosses in a row during his career.
• Salisbury’s Mayor and City Council members said they are baffled as to why a Salisbury University student is suddenly leading a petition drive to remove them from office. Most said they have never spoken to 21-year-old student Jordan Reisman of Columbia, Md., who is conducting three recall petition drives.  Reisman is targeting Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman, Council President Louise Smith and Council Vice President Gary Comegys. Reisman said his petition focuses on long-term issues, including annual problems with the city’s audit, overspending on the new Fire Department Headquarters and neglect of vital services.