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To the ground finally being broken next month on a rehabilitation project that will provide housing for dozens of homeless or at-risk veterans at Perry Point VA Medical Center. It will mark the culmination of more than a decade of work by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its partnered developer, HELP USA, as well as years of shepherding from Delegate Kevin Hornberger and Gov. Larry Hogan's administration. The VA and HELP USA intend to reconstruct 33 homes and renovate nine more over the next 12 to 18 months, creating 75 units for veteran housing in a development called the HELP Veterans Village. Perhaps most important to the project's restart, however, is that it will be 100 percent occupied by veterans on the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher program, according to officials involved in the project's planning. This was a project that raised a lot of local objections in its early goings do to the fact that promises couldn't be made that the housing would go exclusively to veterans. But through pressure by local officials and negotiations by a new Hogan administration, the goal has apparently finally been achieved. While we agree that there are still details that need to be ironed out in this proposed program, we're excited to see dedicated housing for our nation's heroes, where they can have the safety of a roof over their heads while they're connected to the resources they need to get back on their feet. Kudos to all involved for getting this project up and running again.

To the Elkton office of the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation, which held its first-ever Parole and Probation Resource Fair this week, with roughly 30 local organizations gathering at the Cecil County Health Department to offer their services to the county's more than 1,000 parolees and probationers. For many on parole and probation, it can be difficult to access services and resources either because there are barriers or because they're not aware of what's available. On Tuesday, however, they had the ability to talk with those offering resources ranging from addiction treatment and health care to employment, education and mental health services. It's easy to ignore those trying to re-assimilate into the community after an incarceration, but by providing them with an opportunity to better themselves, we help reduce recidivism.

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To the seventh traffic accident fatality on Cecil County highways thus far this year. A Delaware man was killed on Wednesday night in a collision on a highway near the Maryland-Delaware border in the southern part of the county, marking the third fatal traffic accident in the county in five days. Last Friday, a New York woman was killed and two other people, including a child, were seriously injured in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 95 near Elkton. Then on Sunday, two days later, a Pennsylvania man was killed and another was injured when the motorcycles they were riding together in the northbound lane of Hilltop Road, north of Elkton, collided for unknown reasons. While we don't know the circumstances behind each of the fatal accidents so far this year, please remember to drive cautiously and attentively as the weather warms up and traffic increases.