Sadiqq Abdullah was recently named the new senior pastor at South Potomac Church in White Plains. Since joining the church in 2009, he has served in different capacities and joined the pastoral staff in 2016. He was selected by the South Potomac Church Board of Elders, which included seven people, in conjunction with a pastoral search committee. Abdullah and his wife, Tashia, are parents to six children and reside in Welcome. Services at South Potomac Church are held Sundays at 10 a.m. For more, visit www.southpotomac.org.

Taylor Hill, a senior, keeps the band on beat as they practice their pieces before taking the stage. The St. Charles High School Performing Arts Program competed in the 2024 Music in the Parks event where they took home four 1st place trophies and two 2nd place trophies. After their performances the students spent the day at Kings Dominion.

Multiple police agencies mobilized Tuesday to find a missing teenager in Charles County. La Plata’s Police Department sent out a critical missing person alert the morning of April 23, saying that 18-year-old Gernard McCormick, a La Plata High School student, was missing. The initial post, made around 8 a.m., said that he was believed to be wearing a black jacket, gray sweatpants and gray shoes. ...

General Smallwood Middle School may soon be no more. The Charles County Board of Education reviewed the process to change the name of the school and the price tag associated with it at their April 16 meeting because concerns had been raised over Gen. William Smallwood being a slave owner. Jack Tuttle, a content specialist for the school system, elaborated on Smallwood’s history from his findings in the Maryland state...

Inside the Milton Somers Middle School gymnasium for four weeks each spring members of several Charles County elementary schools have the chance to compete in a series of unified basketball games each Saturday afternoon in contests where the final score is secondary to the outcome. Special education teachers throughout the county are accustomed to working with students who have various disabilities, such as autism or Down Syndrome. During the games those students are paired with other students from the school who give them instruction and...

Candidates for Charles County’s only election this year — an at-large seat on the board of education — faced off at a forum last week. Dottery Butler-Washington, a member of the Charles school board, moderated the forum, which was hosted over Zoom by the Phi Alpha Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. “For over two decades, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a teacher,” candidate Christopher O....

Bishop from France to visit church in Waldorf Bishop Olivier Leborgne, who oversees a Catholic diocese in northern France, will celebrate Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Church at 100 Village St. in Waldorf on Sunday, April 28, at 11:30 a.m. After the Mass, there will be a reception and talk, with a question-and-answer session. Leborgne will discuss the current situation of the Catholic church in France. Leborgne accepted the invitation of the Father Martin Society, a group that celebrates the legacy of the...

Here is what is happening at museums around Southern Maryland this week. Charles The Historic McConchie One-School committee is looking for school alumni and friends and relatives of alumni who are willing to be interviewed. The school is looking for experiences and plans to make a collection of videos after the rehabilitation to the school is completed. Contact Delores Walls at 301-932-5416 or akapc71@verizon.net. ...

Members of the Charles County NAACP and National Council of Negro Women held a meeting with the region’s delegates Tuesday evening to discuss the now-concluded 2024 Maryland General Assembly session. Sen. Arthur Ellis (D-Charles) shared the progress made on maternal health this past session, as he sponsored the 2024 Maternal Health Bill. Ellis told attendees that African Americans are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. ...

Firearms, large quantities of drugs recovered On April 9, detectives assigned to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force served a search warrant relating to a drug investigation in the 2600 block of Academic Court in Waldorf and at a business in the 8000 block of Matthews Road in Bryans Road. During the search, investigators allegedly recovered two handguns, an assault rifle in pistol form, an AK-style assault rifle...

Commissioner Gilbert “BJ” Bowling (D) held a roundtable discussion with local and regional entities on April 11 to discuss employment for younger demographics, share county information and find new ways to promote “synergy” between agencies. Representatives from Charles County Public Schools, the Tri-County Council, the Charles County Military Alliance Council, the Patuxent Partnership and Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head were in attendance. The growth and economic redevelopment of Indian...

School budget town hall planned The Charles County Board of Education will host a town hall on Tuesday, April 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the school system’s Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building at 5980 Radio Station Road in La Plata. Parents, staff, students and community members can attend to ask questions or provide comments about the fiscal 2025 proposed operating budget or other education-related topic. A summary of the 2025 proposed operating budget request is posted on the school system’s website at www.ccboe.com. ...

Charles County residents could see substantial hikes in their water bills over the next five years. The April 9 meeting of the Charles County commissioners began presentations on the budget, which is scheduled to be adopted on May 14. If the current budget is approved, then fiscal year 2025 would see a 3% increase in the average quarterly user fee, going from $236 in 2024 to $243 in 2025. However,...

Woman allegedly steals check from mail, forges new amount On Sept. 23, 2023, officers were contacted for the alleged theft of a check from a construction office’s mailbox at 12615B Crain Highway in Newburg. After interviewing the manager, officers obtained surveillance footage of a white Honda Civic allegedly driving up to the mailbox and removing items from it, charging documents say. The Honda was then observed leaving southbound on Route...

Pair of town halls set for April 25 Charles County Commissioner Amanda Stewart (D) will host a town hall on April 25 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church, located at 2671 Mattawoman Beantown Road in Waldorf. The topic of discussion will be Waldorf Station (Greenberg Gibbons will be in attendance). Also Commissioner Gilbert “BJ” Bowling (D) will host a town hall on April 25 from 6 to...

Here is what is happening at museums around Southern Maryland this week. Charles The Maryland Veterans Museum at Patriot Park will host John Peter Thompson, who will give a lecture titled “Power Women 2” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, at 11000 Crain Highway in Newburg. Go to www.mdvets.cc/. General William Smallwood’s Retreat House and...

The Rev. Lawrence Olin Watt recently published his book “The Historicity of the Old Testament Messiah By Whose Authority” through Dorrance Publishing. The Upper Marlboro resident said he has “a strong belief that the truth of Scripture may be found in research of history, science, and geographic sciences. I know that there is a Supreme Creator who has given me guidance throughout my life journey.” He said he has also...

A mysterious painting, a relic from a dark night in history, a keepsake from a World War II vessel and a piece of candy. These are just some of the mysteries at Southern Maryland museums. Visitors to the Bayside History Museum in North Beach can learn about Camp Roosevelt, Maryland’s first permanent Boy Scout camp, see a list of each of the passengers on the Mayflower and an 1876 Wooten desk. But one everyday object on display has a mysterious background. ...

Theresa Mitchell Dudley, vice president of the Maryland State Educators Association, recently visited Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School to donate 20 books to the school library on behalf of MSEA and read a book to Amy Segars’ fifth-grade class. Dudley was joined by Sean Heyl, president of the Education Association of Charles County, and Dedra Van Gelder, content specialist for library media for the Charles school system, who also read to and played the ukulele with Higdon chorus students.

Yolanda Wilson was officially inaugurated as the sixth president of the College of Southern Maryland on March 28. Wilson has served as the president since Jan. 3, 2023, and is the first African American to have the job in the college’s 65-year history. Before becoming the president of CSM, Wilson was vice president of instruction at the Ashe Campus and Alleghany Center of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, N.C. She...