The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is proud to partner with Maryland Public Television (MPT) to host the second annual Chesapeake Bay Week Film Festival with a series of four screening events in the Van Lennep Auditorium next month. 

This edition of the film festival will feature a family-friendly screening, a film-inspired tasting event, and showings of two films premiering on MPT during this year’s Chesapeake Bay Week.

 In sharing these films alongside panel discussions, expert talks, and related programming, the events are designed to offer a deeper look at these important Bay stories while inspiring a passion for this treasured waterway. All five featured films will be shown during MPT’s 21^st annual Chesapeake Bay Week, which runs April 20-26.

To learn more and buy tickets, including a package ticket option that offers a $5 savings, visit cbmm.org/SpeakerSeries.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with Maryland Public Television to celebrate Chesapeake Bay Week” CBMM’s Vice President of Education & Interpretation Jill Ferris said. “We had a great response from our community last spring. We’ve grown the film festival to four events this time, and we’re excited to share some new ways to experience and explore these tremendous films.”

The Chesapeake Bay Week Film Festival begins Saturday, April 5, at 2pm with a family screening of the MPT documentary “Creatures of the Chesapeake.”

This fast-paced, half-hour film offers an intimate look at some of the most fascinating species in the Bay, making it a must-see for kids, adults, and anyone with an innate curiosity about life in the deep. After the film, guests will get an up-close look at some Miles River oysters and the critters that live with them.

This event is free for CBMM members and general admission guests. Learn more and register at cbmm.org/CreaturesOfTheChesapeake.

On Monday, April 7, at 5:30pm, Chesapeake cuisine will be in the spotlight during the “Eatin’ the Chesapeake” Film Screenings and Tasting. Participants will watch MPT’s films “Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style” and “Eatin’ the Chesapeake: The Five Feasts” while enjoying a film-inspired tasting plate from local caterers Garden & Garnish.

It’s a chance to explore new and time-honored Chesapeake food traditions on screen and on your plate with a tasty menu that includes Oysters Rockefeller Dip with French bread croutons, baked blue catfish cakes with okra, scallions, & roasted red peppers, and ham rolls stuffed with cabbage, kale & onions.

The cost is $45 per participant with a 20% discount for CBMM members. Learn more and buy tickets at cbmm.org/ChesapeakeTasting.

The Chesapeake Bay Week Film Festival continues Thursday, April 10, at 5:30pm, with a “Resurrecting Poplar Island” film screening and discussion with MPT Producer/Director Sarah Sampson and scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Poplar Island, like so many other islands in the Chesapeake Bay, was steadily sinking into ever-rising water before its resurrection through an ambitious environmental engineering project involving extraordinary collaboration among state and federal agencies.

This new film, which has its MPT premiere on Sunday, April 20, at 7:30pm, explores the island’s past and present—and what its successful restoration could mean for the future of the other disappearing islands in the Bay and beyond.

The cost to join the screening and discussion is $10. Learn more and register at cbmm.org/ResurrectingPoplarIsland.

The festival wraps Wednesday, April 16, at 5:30pm, with a “Chesapeake Rhythms” film screening and discussion with filmmakers Tom Horton, Dave Harp, and Sandy Cannon-Brown.

“Chesapeake Rhythms” conveys the beauty and mystery of the Bay by chronicling its essential rhythm: wind, tides, and migrations of tundra swans, monarch butterflies, shorebirds, and eels. After the screening, the celebrated filmmakers will share the inspirations for their latest project and offer insight into its production.

The cost is $10 per participant to join screening and discussion of “Chesapeake Rhythms,” which debuts on MPT on Tuesday, April 22, at 8pm. Learn more and register at cbmm.org/ChesapeakeRhythms.

With its Chesapeake Bay Week, MPT invites viewers to discover the unique ecosystems and culture of our nation’s largest estuary. CBMM has long supported MPT in the creation of this programming by sharing its campus, collections, and staff expertise.

This year, Chesapeake Bay Week features more than 18 hours of Bay-focused programming, with even more compelling content available for streaming through the free PBS App. There are four new programs in total debuting during this edition. More information, including a full schedule, is available at mpt.org/bayweek.

For the latest on upcoming CBMM programming, stay tuned to the calendar at cbmm.org/events.

The codes of honor of West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy all require officers to tell not just the truth, but they also prohibit telling half-truths with intent to deceive. Another word for it is “dissembling”, which comes from the Latin dissimulare, meaning to disguise or conceal.   

When the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was asked about the Atlantic reporter’s charge that “war plans” were texted on the signal chat, he denied it.  “Nobody was texting war plans,” he said.  Even if that is technically true, there evidently were, call it what you may, strike plans or attack plans, and battle damage assessment discussed, which he did not admit.  Perhaps war plans are comprehensive plans about a war, while the other terms refer to specific attacks.  Then technically, the reporter used the wrong term in his story about the impending strikes in Yemen.  Our Secretary of Defense, who is at the top of the military chain of command, apparently seized on that to wiggle out by dissembling and then attacking the reputation of the reporter and his magazine.  The alternative explanation is that he simply lied. 

As a former military officer and having had top secret clearances as a civilian, I fear for our country.  Leaving classified details aside, our national leadership must be straight, credible with the American people, especially in matters of national security.  If there was a screw up, admit it, fix it, and take responsibility.  There will come a time when our government may ask for sacrifices from our military and even the public. Our government’s credibility must not be squandered today.

Jim Bruce
Talbot County

In December, the company contracted to manage Medicaid in Maryland changed from a company we shall call O to a new servicer we shall call C. A bare minimum of information was shared with providers in the field regarding how to manage the transition.  While both companies use the same standard form (CMS -1500)for billing, there are substantial differences in the information they want and even where on the form they want it. But no one made the providers aware of these changes (or perhaps more correctly, the means of disseminating this information was less than robust), not easy to access or easy to find and may have required many hours of online instruction that providers do not have) and claims just get denied.

I, and people that I know in this field have spent NUMEROUS hours on hold attempting to resolve delays in payment for services rendered. I, myself, on at least two occasions, sat for times in excess of 5 hours on hold to get information that ended up being entirely useless and did not resolve the problem. Multiple providers in Talbot County have not been paid for services rendered since December 20, 2024 (the date that the transition from O to C took place). Today marks 3 months without pay for them. This does an incredible disservice to our citizens, both patients and providers.

Similar issues occurred in 2020 when Maryland Medicaid, then managed by the same company as C transitioned to O. The resulting problems contributed a great deal to the demise of  agencies across Maryland, including in Talbot County.  I cannot imagine why under any circumstances anyone would switch back and forth between two entities that are either so completely incompetent or intentionally abusive of our citizens…for services that are so critical to basic human needs and rights.

This is not only inappropriate and unethical…it is criminal.  If I, as a biller, submit false claims to the insurance company, they will come at me with relatively unlimited resources. Meanwhile, they have set up an arcane and labyrinthine system to delay or avoid paying providers altogether for services. The hours required to sit on hold attempting to rectify problems represent a high cost for providers who cannot see patients while sitting on hold or pay an admin person to do so for them.