Multiple counties in Maryland float plan to secede from state

Multiple counties in Maryland are looking to secede from the state and join West Virginia, an effort likely to fail as have similar plans before it. 

State lawmakers representing the counties of Allegany, Garrett and Washington "wrote a letter to Republican legislative leaders in West Virginia this month asking whether their counties could join that state," the New York Times reports. 

"We believe this arrangement may be mutually beneficial for both states and for our local constituencies," the letter states. 

The western portion of the state in which the counties are located is "a mountainous panhandle wedged against the Mason-Dixon line, where talk of secession has been brewing for years," according to the Times.