The association offers a chance for governors from all 55 U.S. states, territories and commonwealths to convene and discuss policy solutions, as well as work through shared challenges and shape federal policy, according to its website. The bipartisan organization offers convenings, programs and task forces for governors, in addition to conducting research and data development.

Moore was elected vice chair for the 2025-2026 cycle and will assume the role of chair for the 2026-2027 term, according to a news release. The chair position rotates annually between the two major political parties, and the vice chair automatically succeeds the chair at the completion of their term, according to the NGA’s website.

The organization meets twice per year, and each meeting’s agenda is set by the chair with consultation from the vice chair. The chair, again with input from the vice chair, also makes all committee and task force assignments.

As vice chair, Moore will oversee the NGA Center for Best Practices, the only research and development office directly serving state governors, where he will work alongside other governors to develop solutions to policy changes nationwide, the release says.

He will also work alongside the chair-elect, Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, in his yearlong chair’s initiative: Reigniting the American Dream, which focuses on economic development, education and the future of artificial intelligence, the release says.

Each chair has the opportunity to highlight an issue throughout their one-year term in order to foster awareness and bipartisan policy solutions, the NGA website says.

Two cycles ago, Moore joined the Disagree Better initiative, which encouraged conversations across differences without being divisive, spearheaded by Gov. Spencer Cox, a Utah Republican. That initiative encompassed several events and created community resources, such as a parenting toolkit and a video starring Moore, titled “Being Different, Not Divisive,” according to its website.

“We all want to create a brighter future for our states, and the nation,” Moore said in the release. “I’m looking forward to collaborating with my fellow governors to build stronger on-ramps to opportunity so every person in our states has a shot at success – no matter how they define it.”

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

The Maryland Transit Administration announced updates to its fare policy Thursday, which went into effect Sunday for local buses, the light rail, the Metro SubwayLink and the Mobility and Call-a-Ride programs, which both serve people with disabilities.

Changes include:

• Children 12 and under may use public transit for free. Before Sunday, free rides were only offered to those 6 years old and under.
• Baltimore City Public Schools students can use their student passes at any time.
• Private school students are now included in the All Access Student Transit Pass, a discounted public transit package previously only available to those enrolled in local colleges and universities.
• The transfer window for users of the CharmPass mobile ticketing app has been expanded from 90 to 120 minutes.
• A $5 surcharge takes effect for light rail riders without a ticket during fare inspection who subsequently purchase one via CharmPass.
• Single-use, prepaid student tickets will be eliminated.
• Maryland Transit Administration tokens will be offered to schools at $15 for a 10-pack. Deposited in fareboxes, one token can be used for a single trip; two can be used for a day pass, according to the transit administration’s updated fare tariff.
• Schools and some nonprofits may now request complimentary tickets under limited circumstances.
• A low-income fare program is being introduced.

The changes were made after a 30-day public comment period following public hearings that the administration held in mid-June.

Barbara Weathers, 65, lives in West Baltimore and uses public buses as her main form of transportation. She said the bus service in Baltimore is good but that she’s concerned about an increased number of children and students on public transportation with the new policy changes.

Weathers said BCPS students crowd the buses before and after school and are often disrespectful to other city residents. She added that she’d love to see these students have their own bus or for older people like herself to have their own separate transportation in and around the city.

Thirty-four-year-old Alexander Harden, who lives in Cherry Hill and works as a bouncer at a local restaurant and bar, said the bus service is “amazing” in Baltimore. He said he hopes to see upgrades to the buses and more SubwayLink options in the future but is generally satisfied with the public transit opportunities Baltimore has now.

“I’ve been basically catching the bus my whole life,” he said on the bus Sunday. “I’ve never had any issues.”

Harden said he thinks it’s a good start for the transit administration to be helping out some of the community with these policy updates but that there’s more work to be done “all around.” He said lowering fares for college and high school students creates great opportunities for them.

“Increasing transit access benefits riders and is critical to the economic prosperity of our entire region,” Maryland Transit Administrator Holly Arnold said in a news release. “These changes are another example of our efforts to support the next generation of transit riders.”

These changes are part of the transit administration’s fall 2025 annual service plan, which aims to increase access and equity and improve reliability and travel times. Three service change plans take place each year in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between bus operators union Local 1300, with the next service change to take place this winter.

“MTA is constantly monitoring reliability, traffic congestion, and ridership,” the service plan states, “and will continue to make minor adjustments to service to adjust for continually changing ridership and traffic conditions.”

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

The community garden began its first planting season in May. Founder Jennifer Lleras said produce grown there is donated to those in need.

Lleras said a group of regular weekly volunteers helps at the garden, and she hopes to have more organizations volunteer there. That would help her tackle a long project wish list, which includes building a shed, implementing a rainwater collection system, creating an area for composting, and installing a sign and seating areas.

“I’m looking for more opportunities to get bigger groups of people involved,” Lleras said. “There are some bigger projects that we have in mind, but we just don’t have the funding or the amount of volunteers needed to really get behind those projects.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of Carroll County’s marketing director Erin Bishop said the Kahlert Leadership Academy is a weeklong summer academy for middle- and high-school students that teaches participants about how to be positive community leaders.

“Our youth had the chance to work side by side, get their hands dirty, and see the difference they can make when they give back,” Bishop said. “That’s what real leadership is all about.”

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

The weeklong fair will be open through Aug. 1 in Westminster. It will have livestock shows every evening, live music most nights, air-conditioned exhibit halls to showcase projects from 4-H and FFA members, rides and — new this year — carnival games such as ring toss and axe throwing, as well as a bumblebee ride.

Carroll County Fair Board’s Vice Chairperson Bradley Thomas said the fair will also hold its “big-ticket item,” the annual demolition derby, on Aug. 2 — a day after the fair’s conclusion. The 4-H and FFA livestock sale, which Thomas said is a draw for many business owners and community members, will take place at 5 p.m. on Aug. 1.

“The most important thing, in my mind, is seeing these 4-Hers that have exhibited these projects that they’ve worked on hard over the course of the years,” said Thomas, who participated in 4-H for 12 years when he was a child. “Whether it be a woodworking project or a lamb that they’ve raised and are showing, seeing them get their ribbons and the smile on their face with that is incredible.”

Carroll County’s fair is free to attend, with a $5 fee for parking after 2 p.m. Children’s Day is set for Tuesday, with family-friendly activities such as magic shows, touch-a-truck — during which visitors can see and touch large trucks and equipment — and games for all ages throughout the day.

The fair’s popular Cake Auction, with prize-winning treats made by 4-H and FFA kids up for bids, will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. In 2024, the grand champion cake sold for $10,000. Thomas said the money made from this auction goes back to the fair to help it continue each year.

“The fair really provides a way for the community to come together and pay attention to the agricultural industry that is so important to Carroll County and to Maryland,” Thomas said. “The program really instills a lot of important values into our kids and teaches them a lot of life lessons that that stick with them forever.”

For a full schedule and more information about the fair, go to its website.

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

The District 5 seat will be left vacant starting Aug. 1, when Rothstein will begin his new position leading the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families.

The central committee will accept applications through Aug. 2 for candidates interested in filling the final 17 months of Rothstein’s term.

All seats on the Board of County Commissioners are up for election in 2026.

Republican Alan Grasley is the only candidate who has filed to be on the 2026 ballot for the District 5 seat. He said he’s notified the central committee of his interest in filling the vacancy and plans to apply now that guidelines have been released.

All applicants must be 21 years old, have resided in Carroll County for at least a year and in District 5 for at least six months, and be a registered Republican. Applicants must submit a resume, two letters of reference and any additional application materials to ccrccapplication@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 2. They must also fill out a questionnaire after application materials are submitted to be considered for the seat.

The central committee expects to submit a candidate to Gov. Wes Moore within 30 days of Rothstein’s departure, Chair Mercedes Moebuis said. Moore will then have 15 days to appoint a candidate.

Any public comments related to the application or its applicants can be submitted to carrollmdrepublicans@gmail.com.

“I am proud to move on to this new position,” Rothstein said. “I believe that the CCRCC will do their due diligence in recommending a candidate.”

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

An adjunct professor at McDaniel and Carroll Community colleges, Hugendubler, 33, flew to Culver City, California on May 8 to film the last episode of this season at Sony Pictures Studio. The episode is scheduled to air at 7 p.m., Friday on FOX45 WBFF.

In addition to his day jobs, Hugendubler said he’s been a trivia enthusiast for about 10 years, and became a trivia host and writer for Charm City Trivia during the pandemic.

Being on the show was an “out-of-body experience” for Hugendubler, who lives in Charles Village said he’s proud to represent Baltimore on the show. He can’t disclose the results of his show until it airs, he added.

“If you asked me under oath to recall the experience, I probably still wouldn’t remember about 80% of it just because of how intense it was,” he said. “It’s been a really interesting experience.”

Applying contestants for Jeopardy! must first take and pass its ‘anytime test,’ which gives contestants fifteen seconds to answer each of 50 questions, according to its website.

Hugendubler said it’s not disclosed to the public how well applicants must perform on this initial test to move forward with the application, but said test-takers must do “pretty well” with such a high number of applicants nationwide. If the test is passed and an applicant moves forward, Hugendubler said they must then complete another test via Zoom and participate in an interview to be considered for the show.

Hugendubler was notified March 20, about six weeks before filming, that he would be participating in an episode of “Jeopardy!” this season, he said. He had to take a week off from teaching to participate on the show, which was filmed on the same day as four other episodes in the season.

“It was fun,” he said. “It’s a very intense experience, because they do five episodes in one day. I was the last episode of the season, so it was like a lot of sitting and waiting.”

Trivia has been one of Hugendubler’s interests since high school, he said, where he was “volunteered into a trivia competition” in his sophomore year and won. His love for trivia took flight when he was getting his master’s degree in music at Johns Hopkins University.

Hugendubler had a library job during which he would often play the trivia game Sporcle, and that’s how he found his love for trivia. He used games as well as flashcards he made to study in the weeks leading up to his “Jeopardy!” debut. Hosting weekly trivia at Johns Hopkins’ HomeSlyce, Mt. Vernon’s HomeSlyce and The Brass Tap through Charm City Trivia also helped him prepare, he said.

“I’m honestly surprised that people like were so excited when they found out I was going to be on the show, or that they cared at all,” he said. “It’s been cool to try to represent Baltimore.”

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

As the county’s community action agency, the nonprofit helps provide housing, energy, education and other services to low-income households in the area. Its target population is those living at 2% of the poverty level or below, CEO Scott Yard said, but HSP has both service-based and need-based programs available to many low-income individuals outside the target population.

There are about 9,000 Carroll residents living under the poverty line, Yard said, which amounts to about 6% of Carroll’s population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Anyone can receive a needs assessment from HSP regardless of income, Director of Development Vickie Slinkman said.

Last year, Yard said HSP provided services to 8,700 individuals, 420 of whom received housing, 1,000 of whom received free tax returns and 8,032 of whom received energy grants toward their electric and heating needs. The number of families receiving services from the support center varies throughout the year, as each family varies in number of children and caregivers must maintain a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio to the children, depending on their ages.

“Success is different based on the individual,” Yard said. “The majority of individuals we work with leave with their life in a better situation than when they came; in fact, 98% of our participants say that HSP put them in a better spot when they left us.”

For individuals in need of services HSP doesn’t provide, Yard said HSP is a “facilitator” and partners with many other local organizations, such as Carroll Food Sunday, Westminster Rescue Mission and the Carroll County Department of Citizen Services to help Carroll residents access resources.

HSP relies on community donations, such as tents and sleeping bags, to give out to community members experiencing homelessness, Slinkman said.

“We have many partners, but we are the lead agency for fighting poverty in Carroll County,” Yard said. “Our number one goal when we’re working with someone that needs support [is] we try to figure out how we can serve them.”

To fund its services, HSP receives government grants as well as donations from various foundations and the community at large. The nonprofit also receives funding through the Community Services Block Grant, which gives HSP a community action designation.

HSP is seeing an increase in the low-income and homeless elderly population, which Yard said is partially a product of rising rent prices in the area.

“People are surprised that poverty is an issue in Carroll County, or that homelessness is an issue in Carroll County,” Slinkman said. “We just want people to know that there are resources available, and you can come and ask for help.”

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

The mission of Fine Tuned Presents, which brings concerts to areas in and around Carroll County, is to “build community and culture” through affordable live music, he said. Fine, 26, organizes these performances about once a month, inviting touring artists and groups that are traveling between cities for shows and might pass the area on the way.

Most recently, Fine Tuned Presents hosted Richmond, Virginia, band Drook at the Westminster Skatepark in June and Washington, D.C., band Dim Wizard in May at AMH Records in Manchester. Fine said the next event will be at the end of August and is a “pretty special one,” but he hasn’t announced who will be playing yet. The event will most likely be held at AMH Records, he added.

Fine had originally planned to double major in economics and sociology his first year at McDaniel, but quickly found his love for music and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in the music program. He then got his master’s degree in teaching from McDaniel, and now teaches music to kindergarten through eighth grade students at the Montessori School of Westminster.

“I realized as I grew more attached to Westminster as my home and Carroll County as my home, that I was just trying to learn and apply [the live music scene] to here,” Fine said.

Although Fine has moved five times throughout his upbringing, he said Westminster feels the most like home, which is why he founded Fine Tuned Presents here. But Westminster didn’t have the live music community he found in other places he’s lived and performed in. That, he said, was his biggest motivator to create the organization.

“There’s work to be done everywhere in terms of building community and creating things that inspire,” Fine said. “I enjoyed traveling and seeing that happen in other places, but I wanted it to happen here — I wanted it to happen in my community.”

This past year, he said, Fine Tuned Presents was able to offer about one show per month to the community, but he hopes to be able to host two or three shows each month starting this fall as demand grows.

For events that aren’t free, Fine said tickets are sold on a three-tier “pay-what-you-can” sliding scale to ensure residents can attend without worrying about the cost. There are access tickets (the lowest price), sustainable tickets (the medium price) and general admission tickets (full price).

The access price helps support further Fine Tuned programming, the sustainable level helps the event break even and the organization typically loses money on general admission, Fine said.

So far, he said Fine Tuned Presents sold over 1,000 tickets for events, and added that he’s putting the money he makes from these shows back into Fine Tuned to “build it sustainably.”

“Fine Tuned feels like the point of not only my music career, but why I exist fundamentally,” Fine said. “My purpose is to bring people together through music.”

Eventually, Fine said, he hopes to bring a concert venue for Fine Tuned Presents to the area not only to expand his organization but also to continue creating opportunities for area workers, musicians, artists and engineers through an increased number of live music performances. Fine said he also hopes to expand Fine Tuned Presents to other localities, but said it’s a priority to never leave Carroll County.

“What we’re doing is inspiring people to look around their community and the spaces they’re in and create what they want to see,” Fine said. “It’s not only helping the artists in a really genuine way, but it’s also putting Carroll County on the map.”

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

Facilitated by Freestate Firearms Training founder Dave Ritchie and Hap Baker Firearms Facility Chief Range Officer Chuck Hamlet, last weekend’s course was one of the Carroll County-based training organization’s monthly initial application courses held over weekends at the Robert Moton Center and the Hap Baker Firearms Facility. The first eight-hour day focuses on the mindset of legally carrying a firearm in public, and the second focuses on the skill set — both of which a student needs to be successful.

Mindset is essential in responsibly carrying a firearm, Ritchie said, as using a firearm is “absolutely a last resort.”

First, students should try to defend themselves unarmed or de-escalate the situation before using any firearms to defend themselves by being aware of their surroundings. If someone does have to use a firearm, Ritchie said, they must be able to articulate and defend the need for using a gun to defend themselves or others.

“Self-defense tools only provide us with one means to employ lawful force if necessary,” Ritchie said. “So if we’re to make any credible claim to be in the right, we need to embrace a duty to avoid pointless, ego-driven conflict.”

One prevalent form of this ego-driven conflict presents itself in road rage confrontations. Ritchie cited an active case in which Taneytown resident Davon Joseph Dabbs shot and killed another driver and injured others in a road rage incident July 4, 2024. Dabbs’ next trial is scheduled for January after a hung jury in April, and he is facing charges of manslaughter, four counts of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault.

One of the tactics Ritchie and Hamlet demonstrated that someone can defend themselves with before using a firearm is to ask the perceived threat to back up. If the situation does not defuse, Ritchie recommended they back away from the threat with their hands forward and palms out and yell loudly for them to back up as to “snap them out of it.”

For those who are hotheaded or easy to anger, Ritchie said carrying a gun is “not a good idea” due to the potential consequences of hurting someone. And to those who are having a bad day or in a bad mood, Ritchie said it might be “a good day to leave the firearm” at home.

“Everything sounds like a big circle, because everything is about not ever having to use a gun — that’s what the whole class is really about,” Hamlet said. “It all just goes right to being aware of your surroundings, who’s around you, and maybe finding another path to take so you don’t end up in this situation. A lot of our own decisions get us into the situations we get in.”

Proper training from professionals is a key component in helping students learn marksmanship, situational awareness and decision-making under pressure when handling a firearm, according to Freestate Firearms Training’s website. Ensuring a student is competent in these areas will allow them to responsibly and safely handle firearms.

“When we do decide to be legally armed, we embrace both the rights and responsibilities, guided above all else by the desire to preserve innocent life,” Ritchie said. “We can sit here and we’re going to discuss for 16 hours, today and tomorrow, but it’s going to be just a couple of seconds out in public — and that’s why it’s so important to understand everything we’re going to go over and put into practice.”

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.

Howard County had a shortage of about 9,000 housing units at the end of 2023, according to Howard County Housing Commission Executive Director Peter Engel. For many of these households, families overpaid substantially for rent or squeezed large families into small units.

But for the Shaffer family, the shortage meant they had to live in Brown’s Motel after the pipes burst in their town house until they could find affordable housing.

The couple searched for housing over four of the five years they lived in Brown’s, mother Cierra Shaffer said, but couldn’t find affordable housing in the Veterans Elementary School district — where their children attended school. Eventually, Shaffer was forced to move to another school district in Howard County with her four children, Cameron, Kaia, Addy and Levi, and partner Nick.

But without the help of services in the area, such as Bridges to Housing Stability, a nonprofit organization helping community members find stable housing that receives federal and county dollars, Shaffer said she and her family wouldn’t be in the stable home they are now.

Threats to federal funding

With over $32 billion of the Department of Housing and Urban Development‘s funding on the chopping block as Congress deliberates whether to pass the 2026 fiscal year’s budget request, residents are facing a lack of affordable housing programs compounded by a housing crisis.

If passed, the budget proposes taking many of the federal HUD grants that are relied upon at the state level and lumping them into a grant to then be divvied out to state programs, said Howard County Affordable Housing Coalition Coordinator Jackie Eng, which would result in the state receiving less money and would create “mass confusion” about how funds would be distributed.

For Howard County’s Community Action Council — an anti-poverty organization designed to meet local needs — “a little less than half” of its funding would be under question, according to CAC President Tracy Broccolino.

The organization receives part of the federal Community Services Block Grant to alleviate community members in poverty. Cutting this grant’s funding would significantly hinder the organization’s ability to provide the child care, food, energy and housing assistance, Broccolino said. It would also hinder the 17 other community action agencies in Maryland that receive portions of this grant.

“A loss of HUD funding would mean a reversal of progress made to reduce homelessness in Maryland, a virtual halt to the production of affordable housing in Maryland, thousands of Maryland families who depend upon housing vouchers to remain housed becoming homeless, and an end to critical community and infrastructure projects in rural Maryland that depend upon community development block grants,” said Allison Foster, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s director of communications. “The extent of cuts to this funding is currently undetermined as budget negotiations are ongoing.”

Affordable housing in Howard County is almost impossible to find, said Shaffer, and even with a combined income of Nick’s full-time job as an arborist and Shaffer’s part-time job at an insurance company, they still struggle financially, and moving out of the county isn’t feasible for Nick’s career.

“How far away from the vision for Howard County have we gotten when a good percentage of our school teachers can’t afford to live in the county?” Joanna Lake, CAC’s public affairs and marketing coordinator, said. “When we pride ourselves on being that city on a hill, that place where everyone can live, work, play and thrive — when you hold that up in the mirror, are we seeing that reflected in the design and the planning in some spaces?”

The housing crisis in Howard County

Part of Howard County’s need for these housing services is a direct result of its current housing market. Pew Research Center’s Housing Policy Initiative Director Alex Horowitz said Maryland’s high rental prices and low rental availability indicate a “real housing shortage” in the state.

The national rental availability rate in communities is about 7% — meaning the other 93% of homes in a jurisdiction are occupied — while Maryland sits at 5.7%, and Howard County sits at 5%, Horowitz said. The median monthly price for rentals nationally is $1,400, he added, while Maryland residents have a median rent of $1,800 per month.

But the community is not affected proportionally by these figures, he said. Those who earn a low income bear the brunt of these figures. While high- and middle-income households who can’t find a place to live can live in both middle- and low-income neighborhoods, low-income households are left with “nowhere to go” in a housing shortage.

“When there’s a housing shortage and that pushes up rents and hurts affordability, that means more people struggle,” Horowitz said.

But to Horowitz, there’s a solution to this crisis for any jurisdiction experiencing a housing shortage: Build more homes. State and local policies often limit the type and amount of housing that can be built in an area, he said, and when these policies change to make it easier to build homes, housing affordability improves.

“The state has taken a couple of steps the last few sessions to make it easier to build homes,” Horowitz said. “But overall, we’ve seen a number of other states that have taken, candidly, stronger steps than Maryland has to allow to allow more homes.”

One of the steps Howard County has taken to address its lack of affordable housing is the moderate-income housing unit program, said Kelly Cimino, Howard County’s director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. This program requires developers to set aside about 10% to 20% of their units to be rented or sold at affordable prices. The Department of Housing and Community Development, which is the county’s housing department, also receives federal dollars for HUD programs, including the Community Services Block Grant, to facilitate services like the moderate-income housing unit program.

Cimino said the program allows those at 60% of Howard County’s median household income, which the U.S. Census Bureau puts at around $146,982 as of 2023, to afford units in almost any apartment.

Those with an extremely low income are eligible to receive housing assistance via housing choice vouchers, which are commonly known as Section 8 vouchers. Under the program guidelines, Engel said 75% of vouchers must go to households earning 30% of the area median income or less, which is around $44,000 in 2023 dollars.

The wait time to receive a housing voucher is around eight to 10 years, and the 3,500-household waitlist is no longer accepting applicants. When the waitlist last opened at the end of 2023 for one month, Engel said the program received 16,000 applicants, which were then reduced to 3,500 via lottery-style selections. Most applicants were from the Howard County region.

“It’s an indication that both regionally and nationally there is a severe, severe shortage of apartments [and] rental units that are affordable to people at the lower end of the income spectrum — and that we’ve documented in many ways,” Engel said.

But this is not a new issue for Howard County, Broccolino said: Ever since CAC opened 60 years ago, housing has been a main contributor to households living in poverty.

Lake said it’s “unacceptable” for locals to have to live outside Howard County, even when working here just to afford a home.

“Rent in Maryland needs to get better — Howard County specifically,” Shaffer said. “It’s just unreasonable for young adults trying to make it.”

Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.