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This Hour: Latest Maryland and Delaware news, sports, business and entertainment

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SLOTS-ROCKY GAP

Rocky Gap Casino opens doors in western Maryland

FLINTSTONE, Md. (AP) - The newly christened Rocky Gap Casino Resort is opening its doors to the public in western Maryland.

The casino opened its doors Wednesday after winning approval from state gambling regulators. It is Maryland's fourth casino and will add 250 jobs to the resort formerly known as the Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort.

The new casino features more than 550 slot machines and 10 table games. The resort also is unveiling a renovated lobby, hotel rooms and restaurants, and it features an 18-hole golf course.

The four eateries include an upscale restaurant with views of the mountains and nearby lake and more casual bars and restaurants.

Lakes Entertainment Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn., is operating the casino. It will offer gambling and alcohol 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

DEADLY VAN CRASH-ILLINOIS

5 dead in Ill. van crash part of Christian group

VANDALIA, Ill. (AP) - Five Baltimore men killed when their van careened off of a southern Illinois freeway and overturned several times were members of a Christian ministry returning from a weeklong international conference in California.

Philip LaCrue of San Dimas, Calif.-based Victory Outreach International says the victims of Monday's wreck on Interstate 70 near Vandalia east of St. Louis took part in the Mighty Men of Valor 2013 event in Ontario, Calif.

The coroner of Illinois' Fayette County has identified the dead as 54-year-old Emerson Baldwin, 53-year-old Andrew Canada, 42-year-old Antonie Mitchell, 52-year-old Mark William and 29-year-old Thomas Coleman. The six others in the 15-passenger van were injured.

Illinois State Police aren't saying what may have caused the crash, citing their ongoing investigation.

WILMINGTON FIRE CHIEF-GUN

Wilmington fire chief starts carrying gun on duty

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Wilmington's fire chief says he has begun carrying a firearm to protect himself after taking on more code enforcement duties.

Fire Chief Anthony Goode tells The News Journal he has been carrying a gun for about a month. He says firefighters are always in dangerous situations and don't know what they're walking into.

Goode has been involved in cracking down on three makeshift clubs run by the Thunderguards Motorcycle Club.

The city's fire marshals also carry weapons. Goode says his decision to carry a firearm won't lead to all Wilmington firefighters being armed.

But firefighters have faced dangers beyond flames. In December, a gunman shot and killed two firefighters responding to a blaze in upstate New York. Last month, a gunman in suburban Atlanta took several firefighters hostage.

RATTAIL COMB STABBING

Md. woman pleads guilty in comb stabbing

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - A Hagerstown woman has pleaded guilty to stabbing her boyfriend in the back with a plastic rattail comb.

Forty-9-year-old Saundra Hewlett pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to reckless endangerment and received a suspended 4-year sentence. As part of a plea agreement, first- and second-degree assault charges were dismissed.

Assistant State's Attorney Brett Wilson told Circuit Court Judge John H. McDowell that Hewlett was arguing with her boyfriend at their home in October, when he pushed her and she stabbed him. The comb penetrated about 3 inches into his back before hitting a vertebra.

The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports that Wilson told the judge that the couple is still together and the boyfriend didn't want anything significant to happen to Hewlett.

FORMER SOLDIER-TERRORISM

Lawyer wants terror case against Md. man dismissed

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Army soldier accused of trying to provide support to a terrorist organization in Somalia after he left the military has asked a court to dismiss the case against him, saying he never had any contact with the group.

A lawyer for Maryland resident Craig Baxam wrote in a motion filed Monday in federal court that convicting her client would require him to have coordinated with the terrorist group al-Shabab. Baxam's lawyer wrote that Baxam never contacted or attempted to contact al-Shabab and never pledged loyalty to any person or organization affiliated with the group.

Baxam served in the Army from 2007 to 2011 and converted to Islam shortly before leaving. He is accused of leaving the U.S. for Somalia in late 2011 with the intention of joining al-Shabab.

METEOR SIGHTED

Witnesses in Md. and region report seeing meteor

(Information in the following story is from: The Frederick (Md.) News-Post, http://www.fredericknewspost.com )

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - A bright light seen traveling across the sky over the weekend by dozens of witnesses across Maryland and the region is what astronomers are calling a fragmenting meteoric fireball.

The Frederick News-Post of Maryland reports witnesses saw the fireball Saturday as early as 12:18 a.m. and as late as 1 a.m., with the majority of the sightings around 12:30 a.m. Some witnesses also reported hearing delayed booms.

The American Meteor Society says the fireball, a term used to describe an unusually bright meteor, is believed to have entered the atmosphere near Washington and traveled northwest.

The society says 60 witnesses reported seeing the meteor, including 13 from Maryland. Other witnesses in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio also reported seeing the meteor.

FALSE REPORT-FATHER

Man charged with filing false missing child report

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Police in Wilmington have charged a man with filing a false report after they spent time and manpower searching for his stepdaughter, who was not missing.

Police say Harry Hyland reported that he had left his 11-year-old stepdaughter in his parked car on North Market Street for a minute on Monday afternoon, but when he came back, she was gone.

About an hour and a half later, police say the girl had been at her grandmother's house, where she goes after school every day. Police say the girl was never with Hyland and wasn't in any danger.

Hyland was charged with falsely reporting an incident and providing a false written statement to law enforcement and released on $3,000 bond.

WILMINGTON SHOOTING

Wilmington police investigate shooting

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Police say a man was critically injured in a shooting at a Wilmington home.

Officers called to a home in the 2600 block of North Madison Street on Tuesday night for a report of a shooting found a man shot in the torso and arm.

The 21-year-old man was taken to Christiana Hospital where police say he is in critical but stable condition.

Police say the suspect is described as wearing all black clothing.

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