Each week, the community will have an opportunity to vote on who they believe should receive the top game ball as Player of the Week. The results of each poll will be published in the following week’s game balls.

Last week’s results

Atholton cross country freshman Cameron Martinez was named the Howard County athlete of the week for Oct. 27-Nov. 2 with 25.37% of the vote, followed by Glenelg field hockey’s Cate Staley (22.91%) and Mt. Hebron girls soccer’s Sam Bucchioni (20.44%).

Martinez was initially selected after finishing as the runner-up in the Class 3A South Regional with a time of 16 minutes, 59.62 seconds.

This week’s 10 game balls

Here is the list for Nov. 3-9

Note: The poll to vote is located at the bottom of the story. Make sure to cast your vote ahead of next week’s new nominees.

Andrew Adams, Guilford Park, football

Adams displayed his big-play ability in the Panthers’ commanding 48-0 opening round playoff win over Chopticon. He finished with five receptions for a game-high 153 yards to ignite the explosive passing game. Through 10 games, Adams, a dynamic weapon averaging 25.5 yards per reception, has 24 catches, 613 yards and three touchdowns.

Anna Fiedler, Howard, volleyball

Fiedler played an important role in Howard’s wins over Centennial and Chesapeake-AA to advance to the state semifinals. She finished with five kills against the Eagles and elevated her play against the Cougars with a team-high 18 kills.

Avery Hubbard, Glenelg, volleyball

Hubbard is leading the Gladiators’ attack in her senior season and one of the key players guiding them to the state finals. Through 61 sets played this season, she is the team leader in kills (206), second in blocks (21), third in digs (126) and tied for fourth in aces (20).

Caroline Latchis, Glenelg, field hockey

Latchis stepped up when her team needed in it most in the state semifinals. She scored a team-high two goals in the 3-2 win over Kent Island, including the go-ahead goal with under three minutes remaining to send the Gladiators to the Class 2A state final.

Angela Lei, Reservoir, volleyball

Lei has been of the Gators’ leaders all season and continued her strong play in a five-set regional final win over Sherwood and a sweep of Northern-Calvert in the state semifinals. She finished with 12 kills and six digs against the Warriors and added six kills against Northern.

Maddie McShea, Mt. Hebron, girls soccer

McShea is playing some of her best soccer of the season deep in the playoffs. She scored a goal in the state quarterfinal win over Hereford and also netted the game-winning goal in double overtime of the Vikings’ 2-1 true road win in the state semifinals over Kent Island.

Ian Radtke, Centennial, boys soccer

Radtke was all over the field and creating opportunities for the Eagles in their 3-1 state semifinal win over Tuscarora. He scored the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute on a header and is tied for second on the team in goals (seven) and assists (four).

Trinity Shackelford, Glenelg, field hockey

Shackelford was a brick wall in net for Glenelg in its 2-1 state championship win over Manchester Valley. The senior finished with double-digit saves, including several clutch saves down the stretch with the game tied in the fourth quarter. She concludes her career having started every game the last four years, highlighted by three state titles and a phenomenal 19-1 record in the postseason.

Tito Tokunboh-Salako, Glenelg, boys soccer

Last year’s Howard County leading scorer, Tokunboh-Salako is finding his stride once again. He netted a pair of goals in the opening seven minutes of Glenelg’s commanding 3-0 state semifinal win over Hereford. The senior has scored in eight straight games and will look to extend that trend as Glenelg faces Fallston in the 2A state final on Thursday night.

Drew Wilschke, Centennial, boys soccer

Wilschke netted the all-important insurance goal for Centennial in the 73rd minute of its state semifinal win. The senior is tied for the team’s second leading scorer with seven goals and four assists this season as the Eagles enter the 3A state final against Stephen Decatur on Saturday afternoon.

Note: All statistics and information included is submitted by coaches. Please send in statistics and scores information to mdscores@baltsun.com and jsteinberg@baltsun.com. Please also send game ball nominations to jsteinberg@baltsun.com with an athlete’s name and class year as well their total statistics for that week’s games.

For years, state and local officials have known about this shadow network of unlicensed care homes, where older and disabled Marylanders often end up in exchange for their Social Security or disability checks. Lawyers have called it “trafficking,” benefit exploitation and outright neglect.

A Spotlight on Maryland investigation found that state and local agencies have repeatedly failed to shut down dozens of known unlicensed facilities, allowing an underground industry to flourish in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. Hundreds of emergency calls, thousands of documents, and interviews with lawyers, families, caregivers, and business owners reveal a grim pattern: people in their final years left to die in squalor while government agencies look away again and again.

The Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) — the Maryland Department of Health agency responsible for monitoring and licensing the state’s health care facilities — said it takes “appropriate action” to protect seniors, but acknowledged that despite hundreds of complaints since October 2023, it has sent one referral for prosecution to shut down unlicensed assisted living facilities (ALFs). Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office separately confirmed that it received one.

That one referral was in August 2024. OHCQ and the AG’s office said zero complaints were referred for prosecution in 2025.

This Spotlight on Maryland investigative series will expose how government failures have built an economy of exploitation — and who profits, who enables it, and who allows the state’s seniors to be ignored behind closed doors.

Here’s an overview of Spotlight on Maryland’s findings, which will be reported in depth in the coming weeks and months.

A crisis in plain sight

The investigation began when Spotlight on Maryland noticed a pattern: repeated 911 calls to the same Baltimore addresses for elderly residents in distress. Many of the calls involved unrelated seniors of different ages and genders living at the same locations — properties that were not listed as licensed assisted living facilities.

A trail of government records, lawsuits and nearly 500 hours of fieldwork revealed a system that appears to be operating outside the law. Emergency responders frequently filed complaints with OHCQ detailing unlicensed assisted living facilities operating unchecked.

The complaints described strangers living together in cramped rowhouses, seniors left unwashed and unfed, and residents packed into bedrooms so crowded they violated city occupancy limits.

Maryland Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm serving low-income residents, warned lawmakers in March 2023 that state protections for seniors and disabled adults were dangerously inadequate.

“It’s no secret that unlicensed ALFs engage in human and/or benefits trafficking, using coercion, deception, threats or other means to traffic a victim, moving them from one facility to another for the additional purpose of appropriating their benefits, such as Social Security Retirement, Food Stamps (SNAP), or other benefits,” the law firm said in its 2023 written testimony.

Those with low or no income are especially vulnerable to such exploitation because “they often have nowhere else to go,” Maryland Legal Aid said.

A licensed assisted living facility in Maryland costs about $4,000 per month, according to Maryland Legal Aid. Unlicensed operators charge far less — sometimes between $600 to $1,000 — creating an illicit market that preys on those least able to protect themselves, according to Spotlight on Maryland’s investigation.

There have also been federal warnings. An 81-page study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2015 during the Obama administration said “unlicensed care homes appear to be widespread in some areas within some states.”

“They are commonly run in single family residences, but also were reported to operate inside buildings that had been schools or churches,” the HHS study said. “Although some … informants provided a few examples of unlicensed care homes where residents receive what they categorized as good care, it appears that abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of these vulnerable residents is commonplace.”

The HHS report highlighted a handful of states, including Maryland, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In Maryland, federal researchers found that there may have been 78 unlicensed care homes serving more than 400 individuals in one county.

A separate federal report around the same time period estimated 370 to 400 beds in unlicensed assisted living facilities in Anne Arundel County.

Government documents show suffering

The suffering is laid bare in OHCQ complaints obtained by Spotlight on Maryland.

In one case, Baltimore police discovered a 74-year-old man who had been missing for four days, his body covered in maggots, found beneath a bush outside a suspected unlicensed home in Lake Walker.

In West Baltimore’s Forest Park neighborhood, officers found a 77-year-old male inside an alleged unlicensed ALF, lying in a hospital bed, unresponsive and “covered in a copious amount of dried feces.”

“[He] also [had] a large piece of what appeared to be an adult diaper in [his] mouth with feces present,” an emergency responder reported to OHCQ.

In yet another incident, a 60-year-old woman managed to call for help only after fighting to retrieve her cellphone from an alleged unlicensed ALF manager. Inside the ambulance, she told responders she could no longer urinate without severe burning and struggled to walk.

Spotlight on Maryland asked Rafael Lopez, secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Services, what his agency is doing to aid vulnerable adults living in unlicensed facilities. Lopez’s agency oversees Adult Protective Services.

“I’m not familiar with the specific question you’re asking,” Lopez said. “When any case comes to our attention of any kind of abuse of an adult, we act urgently and we make sure we treat that adult with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

Despite Lopez saying his team would provide data on the number of contacts and referrals made from individuals living in unlicensed ALFs, his office did not supply that information and said the department does not categorize complaint data by setting.

The systemic cycling of elderly adults with nowhere to go

Each emergency visit to an area hospital triggers the same bureaucratic system: After treatment, hospitals scramble to find placement for what professionals call “complex cases.”

Some individuals — overwhelmingly elderly, Black, disabled and poor — are cycled from emergency rooms to unlicensed homes, then back again. Many suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s, terminal cancer or substance use disorders.

Lawyers, health care workers, and family members described an unbroken loop in which hospitals discharge patients because they need the beds, and nobody checks where they end up.

In one case, Christina Talley said she called police for a welfare check after learning that her 69-year-old sister, who has Lewy body dementia, was left alone by home care professionals. Her sister — whom Talley asked not to name — had previously set her home on fire by accident because of her memory loss.

Talley said her sister later spent about four months at a Johns Hopkins hospital as doctors worked to determine the best medication and treatment plan for her complex condition. Eventually, a meeting was held between hospital staff and family members to discuss her sister’s long-term care.

Talley said she felt she had no choice when the hospital informed her family that her sister needed to be moved.

The government “needs to advocate for the aging,” Talley said. “There has to be laws, and rules, and regulations — a deep dive into how the aging system is being run and put them [the seniors] first instead of the bottom line, the money.”

Talley said the ongoing cycle between hospitals, residential placement organizations, and both licensed and unlicensed assisted living facilities has taken a toll on her sister and the entire family, with no clear end in sight.

A spokesperson for Johns Hopkins hospitals acknowledged Spotlight on Maryland’s questions about Talley’s experience and allegations but did not respond before publication.

‘I take it one day at a time’

George “Bobby” Gilliam, 62, is one of many older Marylanders with nowhere else to go. Standing outside a Garrison Boulevard building in early October, he described his living situation to Spotlight on Maryland.

“I pay $765 a month for rent … I can stay here as long as I can pay my rent,” Gilliam said. “They give medication, they send you to the day program. Right now, I’m trying to get food stamps.”

Gilliam’s brother, Frank Clark, said their family has struggled for years to find him adequate care and support. Speaking from his car outside his elderly parents’ home in Sumter, South Carolina, Clark said both parents — now in their 80s and hospitalized —have been desperate to ensure Gilliam is safe. Clark said his brother has a history of drug addiction and is vulnerable to exploitation.

“You’ve been there. You’ve seen the area. It’s the worst place in the world you could put them type of people because they’re susceptible to everything around,” Clark said. “I know this is his second, maybe third go around with them. They had a smaller house the first time. I think they still got that same house, I’m not sure.”

Although a staff member said the building’s residents are fed, Gilliam said he was still waiting for government assistance to supplement what he had in his apartment — a bag of rice and some water.

“At the end of the day, a long day, I pray, I just pray, and I sit back and I be quiet,” Gilliam said. “It gives me a peace of mind, and I go to a quiet place, a little quiet area, and I pray to God and Jesus Christ, and I take it one day at a time — that’s all I can do.”

His situation underscores a growing crisis in Maryland: Older residents with limited income or health challenges often end up in various housing settings with little oversight, but which fill a gap no one else will.

‘We take people 24 hours a day’

Gilliam lives in a building operated by Daquan Thomas, who identified himself to Spotlight on Maryland as founder of Aim to Inspire Care Forever Limited, a nonprofit running a multistory building on Garrison Boulevard in Walbrook Junction. He calls his business “supportive housing.”

“I would say one of our biggest supporters would be LifeBridge Health,” Thomas said. “They really don’t believe in, you know, putting people out on the streets, so, if anything, they’ll contact us. We take people 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

LifeBridge Health confirmed to Spotlight on Maryland that it has a business relationship with Thomas’ organization, claiming it partners for “medical respite care.” When asked to define the partnership and what qualifies as an appropriate discharge to Thomas’s organization, LifeBridge Health’s spokesperson Sharon Boston responded, saying, “We have no further comment.”

Brian Mullen, a spokesperson for the University of Arizona Global Campus — the school that acquired and rebranded Ashford University in 2020 — said that Thomas, who claimed to hold a doctorate in health care administration from Ashford University, took only one course in 2010 and never graduated.

Mullen added that Thomas was enrolled in a bachelor’s program in human resources.

Spotlight on Maryland emailed Thomas about the discrepancy. Thomas was also questioned about his active $1.7 million lawsuit against his nonprofit and Gilliam’s claims of verbal abuse.

“[S]hut your mouth find factual information you are working for my landlord and my attorneys will be in contact with your company,” Thomas said in an emailed response. “My Ph. D [sic] is from a university you ask me which school I went to I advised you one of the many because your [sic] a snake in the grass working for the devil get a real story Gary as your time at your current company will end very soon.”

Court filings show multiple bankruptcy cases for Thomas spanning 15 years and a $1.7-million judgment for unpaid rent at his Garrison Boulevard property, where Thomas said he has also struggled to pay energy bills. Bankruptcy filings show that Thomas claimed to have earned income only from working in retail for the prescription eyeglass industry.

In July 2024, Thomas applied to be a nonprofit, and last month he told Spotlight on Maryland he has applied to receive state and local taxpayer funds.

“We’ve applied for multiple grants and federal funding,” Thomas said. “[W]e still haven’t gotten any type of, you know, help, unfortunately — but it is what it is. We’re still making it happen, you know, we have the hospitals that we work with who, you know, make private donations to the nonprofit.”

Thomas described the services the Garrison Boulevard location offers.

“Typically, it just depends on the client,” Thomas said. “If the client needs assistance with medication management, if the client needs assistance with light housekeeping, if the client needs trips back and forth to appointments, anything of that nature.”

The property’s owner, 211 W Garrison, LLC, has filed for receivership, alleging Thomas is illegally running an assisted living facility. Despite the legal troubles, Thomas claimed to be serving individuals living in 38 units in the building and between 200 and 400 people — most poor, disabled, struggling with mental illness, or battling addiction — since he started operating Maryland facilities in 2018.

But as the legal battle continues, residents like Gilliam are living in a last resort, paying rent to an operator who is being sued for allegedly failing to pay his rent, potentially putting their housing at risk.

‘Nobody’s noticing’

Spotlight on Maryland requested interviews with LifeBridge Health and Johns Hopkins, both identified by multiple sources as hospitals that outsource some discharge placements to third-party operators. Neither institution agreed to an interview.

“[Assisted living] facilities need to be licensed and monitored,” said Arthur Drager, outside counsel for Johns Hopkins hospitals and other Maryland hospital systems. “It’s not a matter of only getting a license. Someone or some entity needs to oversee and stop in, unannounced, in facilities, to see what is actually going on.”

Ellen Jordan “EJ” Hammann, a partner with the Baltimore medical malpractice firm Brown and Barron, said that those inside licensed and unlicensed facilities caring for seniors are not the only ones keeping silent. Seniors often won’t — or can’t — advocate for themselves.

“Our elderly population tends to be quiet, especially when they’re ill. They’re not making a lot of noise,” Hammann said. “What we have is a quiet generation slowly slipping away, and nobody’s noticing.”

Drager, the outside counsel for Johns Hopkins, said he “probably” has seen instances of seniors placed in an unlicensed ALF in his career after hospital discharge. Without naming the hospital, the elder care attorney for medical institutions said a guardianship client of his was shipped one day to an old farmhouse in Delaware.

When Drager arrived with hospital attorneys, he said he saw approximately half a dozen seniors sitting in a living room around a television set.

“I took this woman outside, with the attorney from the hospital,” Drager said. “She had bruises on her arms, she was frightened of the people who had the facility, and we let her know we were not going to leave without her.”

Hammann said lawyers who work on elder neglect and elder abuse talk about the absence of care. “And I think it is sometimes akin to warehousing. It’s like you’re renting a storage unit, you sign a contract, you put boxes in a storage unit, and you forget about them.”

Even as the crisis and the number of unlicensed facilities multiply, state lawmakers are considering loosening regulations. One bill introduced during the 2025 session would expand Medicaid funding for long-term rentals, a step advocates say could blur the line between supportive housing and unlicensed care homes.

In written testimony, Johns Hopkins said of the proposed Maryland expansion: “There are real benefits to providing this service, we know first-hand.”

A law with no enforcement

State Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office in 2023 pushed for legislative changes to make it a felony to operate an unassisted living facility. Two years ago, the Maryland General Assembly — at the request of Attorney General Brown — made operating an unlicensed assisted living facility a felony. The law had overwhelming bipartisan support and the backing of advocates for older adults.

“One thing has become clear … unlicensed assisted living facilities are hotbeds for the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable victims who cannot speak for or protect themselves,” said W. Zak Shirley and Lisa Hyle Marts, leaders in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the attorney general’s office, in a March 30, 2023, memo. “By virtue of remaining unlicensed, these facilities operate in the shadows – enriching their unscrupulous owners/operators by taking advantage of people in desperate need of assistance.”

At the time, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said the city’s health department knew of 80 unlicensed ALFs. That estimate has increased by nearly 50% over the past two years, based on counts now tracked by local and state agencies.

In a March 2023 letter to the state House Health and Government Operations Committee, the Mayor’s Office of Government Relations acknowledged “multiple complaints” about unlicensed assisted living facilities, citing financial, physical and psychological abuse, resident neglect, inadequate food for residents, mismanagement of their medications, and theft of their financial benefits.

Nearly three years later, the city declined to answer Spotlight on Maryland’s questions about unlicensed assisted living facilities. A city spokesperson said the request for information would be “handled by the Office of Health Care Quality — within the Maryland Department of Health — as they are responsible for licensing and regulating assisted living facilities, residential service agencies and nurse referral agencies.”

The Maryland Department of Health said it takes “appropriate actions” to combat unlicensed ALFs, including cease and desist letters, fines, and referrals to the attorney general for prosecution. A department spokesperson estimated receiving eight to 10 complaints per month about unlicensed facilities — consistent with a 2023 Health Department letter showing about 120 allegations investigated annually.

Spotlight on Maryland has filed a public records request with OHCQ to learn more about the complaints and referral process.

“OHCQ works closely with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) within the Office of the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute these unlicensed programs,” said the 2023 letter from former Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott.

Yet Brown’s office confirmed that no prosecutions have been brought under the new law since it took effect in October 2023.

Brown’s office said it received one criminal referral in August 2024 for a suspected unlicensed assisted living facility in Anne Arundel County. Jennifer Donelan, the AG’s spokesperson, said the office “declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.”

Privately, government officials have met about what they call a growing unlicensed ALF crisis, according to senior government officials not authorized to speak to the media. The same leaders who championed the 2023 legislation have failed to enforce it, overwhelmed by the growing number of aging Marylanders in need and the lack of legitimate housing alternatives.

Have you experienced or have direct knowledge about unlicensed assisted living facilities operating in Maryland? Do you have a tip related to this story? Reach Gary Collins at gmcollins@sbgtv.com or contact Spotlight on Maryland’s hotline at (410) 467-4670.  Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C.

Project planners presented the gas station concept to the city’s Board of Appeals at a contentious meeting Thursday, requesting that the project be granted approval for “conditional use” on the 33.32-acre property. Per city code, project planners must receive approval from the board before they are obligated to submit site plans outlining the project in detail.

Current information for the project states that a gas station and a 25+-room hotel are planned for the land, but no details on the number of gas pumps, number of hotel rooms, square footage, vehicle access, parking, traffic impact or other details have been made available for either of the proposals.

Mitch Ensor, with Bay State Land Services, told the board he had been working with the property since it was annexed into Havre de Grace about 10 years ago.

He explained that the land’s current zoning allows for a mix of commercial and residential development, and said a gas station is in line with the city’s comprehensive development plan.

Ensor also said every intersection in the county with a state road that intersects Interstate 95 — as Level Road does near the proposed development — has a gas station, which he said causes a need for the proposed gas station.

Residents of nearby housing developments attended the meeting and expressed concern with traffic, noise, quality of life, environmental concerns, overdevelopment and the impact the gas station would have on their home value. Many residents said that within a 5-mile radius, there are numerous gas stations and the proposal is unnecessary.

Some residents said developments in the area will add more residents and increase traffic: Bulle Rock plans to expand, and The Legacies is ready to break ground on 290 new homes off Level Road.

Speaking for himself and not as a City Council member, City Council President Jim Ringsaker emphasized that the property’s zoning allows for commercial development and said he fears not passing the conditional use could open the city to litigation.

He also criticized some of the project opponents, saying many did not live in city limits.

“While I don’t discount [what] everyone said, I understand if you live there, you don’t want stuff going in. But they don’t live in Havre de Grace,” Ringsaker said. “They are not within the city limits of Havre de Grace, and I think that diminishes the weight of the petition.”

Crowd members audibly sighed and snarked at the comment.

Acknowledging the concerns of the residents, Ensor said his review of the gas station found it would not have any impact on surrounding developments.

“I think the newly developing neighborhoods would be perfect users and convenient use of a gas station,” Ensor said, prompting audible laughs from the attending residents.

Despite the outline of a gas station and “over 25+-room hotel” being presented, board members said they do not have enough information regarding either of the developments to approve or deny the request for conditional use on the property.

After numerous back-and-forth conversations among board members, project planners and meeting attendees, it was determined that the project’s representatives are unsure of the development’s traffic impact as well as the scope of the gas station or hotel at this time because a tenant for either of the projects has yet to be identified.

Board members said numerous times that the project very well could be a one-pump gas station or something as big as a travel center.

The board voted to table its decision on the conditional use for the gas station and the hotel, citing a request for the project planners to present them with the project’s traffic conditions; planned facility usage; effect on local houses; protection of surrounding properties and conservation of property values.

Both projects will go before the city’s board of appeals at a later date. Project planners said that once a date is set for the next meeting, they will provide the requested information to the board.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.

As the Senate advances a deal to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, airports around the country have reduced flights and services with airports in Los Angeles and New York seeing hundreds of delays on Sunday, according to data from the flight tracking system FlightAware.

However at BWI, the impact so far has been muted. BWI wait times have barely been affected, with flight reductions and delays happening at rates only marginally higher than usual.

As of Tuesday evening, BWI had 29 delays and 27 cancellations in the past 24 hours,  according to FlightAware.

According to a BWI spokesperson and data from the flight tracking system FlightAware, 38 flights were canceled and 189 flights were delayed at BWI on Monday. On Sunday, 36 flight were canceled and 280 were delayed; and on Saturday, 41 flights were canceled and 145 were delayed. The cancellations include those that were unrelated to the FAA’s new guidelines.

Overall, BWI had a 4% cancellation rate and a 35% delay rate on Sunday, numbers that are within the range of standard BWI operations, although the number of canceled flights is expected to rise.

Passengers like Anne Shaw said they didn’t see a difference in their airport experience, even though two of the main security checkpoints, B and C, were closed as of Monday.

“I haven’t really noticed a difference to be honest with you,” Shaw, from Baltimore, who was taking a Southwest Airlines flight to Cleveland on Monday night.

All of that may change by Friday when greater flight reductions are expected to be in place, depending on the progress of the bill to end the government shutdown, which has already passed the Senate and is on its way to the House.

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, the FAA said it is still aiming to reach a 10% reduction in flights across the country even with the shutdown potentially ending soon.

“Since the beginning of the shutdown, controllers have been working without pay, and staffing triggers at air traffic facilities across the country have been increasing,” according to the statement. “This has resulted in increased reports of strain on the system from both pilots and air traffic controllers.”

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, BWI had an overall delay rate of 31% in 2024 and a cancellation rate of 1%. Delays also depend on the airline, with some, like American Airlines, having higher rates of delays and cancellations.

“Due to the FAA-mandated flight reductions, passengers may experience cancellations or delays in their travel,” Jonathan Dean, spokesperson with BWI, said. “The carriers are working to modify their schedules in a way to minimize impact on their passengers. Travelers are advised to check flight schedules with their airlines.”

Despite the reconfiguration of BWI, with two out of three security checkpoints closed and passengers mostly checking in on kiosks rather than with an employee, wait times for TSA on Monday night were between 1 and 7 minutes for general, priority, TSA pre-check and CLEAR lines.

Transportation Security Administration staff have been working without pay since the shutdown began. In a statement sent to The Sun, TSA asked the public to be patient with its workforce being “forced to work” while unpaid.

“While the vast majority of TSA’s nationwide operations remain minimally impacted by the government shutdown, occasional delays at some security checkpoints are to be expected,” according to the statement. “The longer the shutdown goes on, the more severe the impact on our TSA workforce who have expenses they must pay for, making it harder to show up for work when not being paid.”

Have a news tip? Contact Chevall Pryce at cpryce@baltsun.com.

Between firing aces and diving all over the floor for critical digs that kept rallies alive, Ball powered a 12-point stretch that flipped the Lions’ eight-point deficit into a four-point lead.

“I actually told one of my teammates, ‘Wow, I’m really tired from serving that much,'” Ball said. “She said, ‘Just serve five more and then we’ll be good.’ So, I think seeing the finish line and seeing my team feed off my serves made me feel like I just had to keep pushing. If I missed my serve, that energy was just going to crash down. So, I wanted to keep that energy up.”

Howard’s extended run quieted a capacity Arundel crowd and powered the second-seeded Lions to a 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 sweep of the sixth-seeded Wildcats. The Lions (19-0) advance to the state finals for the first since 1980 when they claimed the program’s only state championship. A tough challenge awaits as they’ll face top-seed and undefeated North Hagerstown at APG Federal Credit Union Arena at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“Practically unbelievable. Being down that big to a quality team like Arundel and to believe in ourselves in the way that the whole team did,” Howard coach Grant Scott said of Ball’s service run. “She’s the heart of this team, so for her to go back on the line and push 10-plus points in Game 3 of a state semifinal against a quality opponent, I couldn’t be prouder of her and my team.”

Despite having swept the Wildcats during the regular season, Howard knew taking down Arundel in its home gym would be no easy task. The Wildcats (14-5) buzzed with energy from the support of passionate fans and gave the Lions everything they could handle. Junior setter Imagine Peltier closed out an all-important first set with an ace, which briefly quelled the excitement of the electric crowd.

“We really tried to focus on ignoring the crowd,” Peltier said. “We knew that there was going to be a giant crowd. We did our best to try and block it out, just focus on ourselves, on our energy, keeping us together and not focusing on the external stuff.”

The second set was also neck-and-neck with each side mounting an answer whenever one built slight separation. Down the stretch, Howard and Arundel exchanged three-point spurts, which tied the score at 23.

Yet again, the Lions elevated their level in a defining moment. Peltier capped off the second set with another ace, placing it on the floor in front of several diving Wildcats.

In a win or go home moment, Arundel burst out of the gates in the third. The Wildcats stymied Howard’s attack and jumped out to a 7-1 lead and built the advantage to eight late in the set.

However, Howard displayed its championship DNA and roared back to officially move one step closer to its ultimate goal.

Scott first identified this could be a special group and championship caliber team two years ago. He saw the potential of the now veterans as underclassmen, which began coming to the forefront last year with the Lions reaching the state semifinals. Now, the Lions are taking that potential to new heights and doing so in dominant fashion. Including the Bel Air Tournament where it played five best-of-three matches, Howard has dropped just one of its 68 sets this season.

The Lions can beat you in a variety of ways with a diverse attack, stout defense and consistent serve-and-receive.

Each of those elements will be tested in the state final on Saturday with Howard wholeheartedly embracing its toughest challenge yet. Howard and North Hagerstown are familiar with one another having faced in a tournament last season.

One team will leave that contest with a banner hanging in their gym and the unique distinction of closing out a perfect season. Howard is hoping to be that group and accomplish something no Lions team has done in 45 years.

“It means so much,” Ball said. “All the years that I’ve been playing here, we’ve had a good team, we just haven’t been able to execute when it really matters. I think this team really learned from those past mistakes. We kept our energy up, because we see the banners at our school and we see how there hasn’t been a state championship one. Our saying is that we want to put a banner on the wall. That’s what we’re going to try and do on Saturday.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Steinberg at jsteinberg@baltsun.com, 443-442-9445 and x.com/jacobstein23.

Current view of the aurora from Queenstown, MD – can see with naked eye and short long exposures @capitalweather @wbaltv11 @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/yJgSjwpo73

— Ryan Booth (@TheRyanBooth) November 12, 2025

The storms, caused by the sun expelling bursts of energy known as coronal mass ejections, created auroras visible across the Northern United States and potentially as far south as Alabama.

But the storms could also disrupt radio and GPS communications.

PHOTOS: Northern Lights visible in Maryland!
Photos courtesy of viewers via Chime In.
SEE FULL GALLERY: https://t.co/CaVAXDxGkN pic.twitter.com/GLJ8w0kBq5

— FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) November 12, 2025

The potential for interruptions in services did not stop locals from across the DMV region from snapping photos of the luminous sky, displaying vibrant shades of reds, blues and greens.

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, peak geomagnetic conditions were reached Tuesday night around 8:20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The U.S. may have another chance to view the aurora, including in Maryland, according to the space weather forecast, which has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Wednesday.

Olney, MD – The aurora appeared before the clouds rolled in, captured at 8:20 PM EST tonight from Olney Manor Recreational Park. @capitalweather #northernlights #aurora #MdWx #Wx @MeteoMdWX @JustinWeather @Bopegfs pic.twitter.com/NPHO8MmLge

— MyDrone.Pro (@MyDronePro) November 12, 2025

Have a news tip? Contact Mathew Schumer at mschumer@baltsun.com, 443-890-7423 and on X as @mmmschumer.

The Blazers never trailed in the match before recording a 25-22, 25-11, 25-20 victory in the Class 1A semifinals. Clear Spring (15-5) will play for its third state championship in four years on Saturday at noon at Harford Community College against Harford County’s Patterson Mill.

“We knew going into the game that they were going to be a tough team,” South Carroll senior Elaina Murphy said. “I think for the most part our biggest challenge was our serve receive. They had some pretty tough serves and we couldn’t handle it.”

The best set for the Cavs (14-2) was the first. After trailing most of the set, South Carroll rallied from a 21-15 deficit using the service of Morgan Taylor. Taylor served five straight service winners, and Murphy and Jenna Todd contributed kills to go on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 21 apiece. That, in turn, forced a time out by Blazers coach Jessica Custer.

The Blazers looked like a different team after the time out. Clear went on a 4-1 run to close out the set and record a 25-22 win.

South Carroll struggled mightily in the second set. After cutting the deficit to just one at 7-6, Clear Spring’s Ella Wagner went on a serving run of her own, recording five service winners including two aces to extend the lead to 12-6. Even after Cavs coach Kristine Keck called a time out, South Carroll continued its slide. A combination of Cavs mistakes and excellent ball placement lead to South Carroll only recording five more points and dropping the second set 25-11.

“I think our energy fell off in the second set,” senior Gabriella Deyo said. “That ultimately affected our play for the rest of that set. It was a mental thing, and I think that was our biggest challenge today.”

The third set was much closer. After a service error by Clear Spring, the Cavs trailed 20-17 late in the set. Clear Spring then got an ace by Kaisy Custer and kills by Juliet Hodge and two by Olivia Smith to end the set 25-20 and take the match.

The loss ends the career of South Carroll’s Murphy. The senior will leave as one of the greatest players in South Carroll history. She has already been named county Player of the Year by the coaches for three consecutive seasons and should win it again this year.

“I just blessed to have played these four years and stayed healthy and played with these awesome girls,” Murphy said. “It’s been a fun ride.”

Keck was just proud of the effort her team, which is losing seven seniors, showed throughout the year.

“We had an incredible season,” Keck said. “I think these girls preformed to the best of their abilities. The reason they were so successful is that they worked as a team and they trusted each other. That brought us further than maybe their athletic ability indicated it would.”

No. 13 Reservoir falls in Class 3A semifinals

In the Class 3A volleyball semifinals, Washington County’s North Hagerstown (23-0) used 28 kills from Marquette-bound senior Caydence Doolan to defeat No. 13 Reservoir (19-3), 25-19, 15-18, 25-13 at Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick

The Hubs will play Howard/Arundel on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Harford Community College. North Hagerstown will be playing for their fourth consecutive state title.

Doolan was almost a one-person show and kept the Gators off their game all night with her thundering kills.

Reservoir, which has overachieved this season after getting hit hard by graduation, just had no answer for Doolan. North Hagerstown also did a good job of taking advantage of serving errors and unforced errors by Reservoir. The Gators made several runs, and even cut the lead to 20-17 in the first set, but the Hubs were just too much.

In an interesting side note, the last Maryland school to beat North Hagerstown was Reservoir. The Gators did that in the state semifinals in 2021.

Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Tim Schwartz at timschwartz@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/timschwartz13. 

The fashion choices contradicted what unfolded on the court inside Xfinity Center. The Terps used a 29-10 opening and then withstood a testy lull just before halftime before sprinting to a 84-64 victory before an announced 10,461.

With the win, Maryland (2-1) bounced back from Friday’s 70-60 loss to Georgetown during which the visiting Hoyas led wire-to-wire. So Tuesday’s outcome was a welcome sight for the players and coaches.

In addition to the 29-10 run at the beginning of the first half, the team used a 15-2 burst to open the second to gain some distance from the Braves. Coach Buzz Williams was pleased with those developments even as he watched the Terps let Alcorn State remain competitive.

“I think we probably played 25 minutes the way we want to play,” he said. “I thought the first 10 minutes, a lot of what we want to accomplish was happening on both ends of the floor. Then it really drastically changed from an execution standpoint, a stamina standpoint. And then in the second half, I thought a lot of what happened in the first 10 minutes was very similar — without having watched it — to the first 10 minutes of the first half. Then the air almost went out of the balloon again.”

Senior power forward Pharrel Payne continued his strong start for the Terps, amassing a season-high 22 points and seven rebounds. The Texas A&M transfer entered the game tied for the team lead in points per game at 19 and leading in rebounds per game at 8.5 and is the only player to score at least 10 points in each of his first three games.

Redshirt freshman shooting guard Andre Mills contributed 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior small forward Elijah Saunders finished with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists, and freshman shooting guard Darius Adams compiled 10 points, three rebounds and two assists.

The offense converted 50% of its field goals (28 of 56), outscored the Braves 34-24 in the paint, and scored 14 second-chance points off of 14 offensive rebounds. Mills noted that the team racked up 14 assists.

“I wouldn’t say there was more of a change tonight,” he said, comparing the games from Tuesday and Friday. “We just shared the ball a little more. We are starting to care about the little things. Every single day, we kind of harp on the little things.”

Payne had been tied for the scoring lead with redshirt junior point guard Myles Rice, who dropped 19 points in his debut for Maryland against Georgetown. But the Indiana transfer returned to a walking boot on his left leg and sat out Tuesday’s game.

The Terps did not appear to miss Rice at the outset. They scored six of the game’s first eight points before the Braves (0-4) tied the score at 7-7 almost three minutes into the game.

Maryland answered by scoring 13 consecutive points in a 5:55 stretch to assume a 20-7 advantage. When junior point guard Jameel Morris sank a layup with 10:26 left in the stanza, that snapped a 6:59 drought during which Alcorn State missed eight straight shots.

The Terps took off on a 9-1 burst to enjoy a 29-10 advantage with 8:28 remaining. That cushion seemed to put the game out of reach.

Maryland vs. Alcorn State in men’s basketball | PHOTOS

Except someone forgot to inform the Braves. Rather than curl up, they reasserted themselves by scoring 10 unanswered points in just over four minutes. On the flip side, Maryland went 5:46 without scoring until Payne drained a pair of free throws with just under three minutes until halftime.

After Payne converted two more free throws at the 2:13 mark to give the Terps a 33-22 lead, they did not score again until halftime. That opened the door for Alcorn State to score the final five points of the half and trail by just 33-27 at intermission.

Fortunately for Maryland, halftime was a timely moment to reset. The team rediscovered its offense and opened the second half with a 15-2 spurt, which proved too much for the Braves to overcome.

Morris came off the bench to pace Alcorn State with 22 points, three assists and two steals, and senior shooting guard Travis Roberts and junior shooting guard Shane Lancaster added 14 and 10 points, respectively. But the Braves suffered their third loss of 20 points or more while absorbing an 0-4 start for the second year in a row.

“We still turned the ball over way too many times,” he said. “We have to really improve in that area. And they did a phenomenal job of rebounding the basketball. It’s one of the things my team has to understand. Coming into these environments and playing teams of this magnitude with this size and this length, you have to put a body on somebody, and I don’t think we did a great job of that this evening.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun. 

They danced and mouthed along as coach Josh Wagener relayed the plan for what became the winning set to the team huddle. That energy carried over into the third set, players still dancing and singing to the melody as they waited for the opening serve. Their looseness came in handy when CMIT-North crawled back from a large deficit to take a late lead. A Wagener timeout reminded his players of the goal, and Patterson Mill pulled back ahead to complete its straight set victory, 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 and clinch a state championship appearance.

“It means the world to all of them to make it to that Saturday,” Wagener said. “That’s the first major goal. I know it means the world. Being so close for so many years, and most of them have been with the varsity for at least three years, just means so much for the whole program.”

This stage has been the ceiling for Patterson Mill in recent years. The Huskies have reached the state semifinal round four years in a row but lost in each of the last three. This year was different because of the senior class that experienced all of those heartbreaks.

“I’ve been with these girls for years, you know the buttons to hit,” Wagener said. “I just put it all in perspective. We’ve been here for four years in a row and came so close, and now we’re a couple points away. You just gotta push. I could see them getting tired and just didn’t want it to go to a fourth set.”

Their experience showed in Tuesday’s win. Patterson Mill controlled the first two sets with big early leads they maintained throughout and fended off a late CMIT-North surge in the final moments.

Patterson Mill will face Clear Spring, a three-set victor over South Carroll in the other 1A semifinal, in Saturday’s state title game at Harford Community College. Until then, practices will be kept light and fun, Wagener said. Just like how they play when it matters.

Bel Air falls to 17-time state champion

The Bobcats knew what they were up against.

Williamsport, the dominant Washington County squad, has controlled the Class 2A girls volleyball bracket for years. The defending state champions’ path back to the top this year took them through Bel Air, which lost in straight sets 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 to end its season Tuesday night in a Class 2A state semifinal on its home court.

“They were just a really good team,” senior right side Annalise Lewis said. “We could have executed better, but at the end of the day, we still played an amazing game. It was our own mistakes, little mistakes.”

Coach Dave Simon felt Tuesday was Bel Air’s first of two state championship games, the next coming Saturday if the Bobcats were to win. Instead, they couldn’t get past the semifinal round for the third time in seven years.

At the center of this year’s team was Lewis. Bel Air’s offense funneled through the imposing senior. “Every time she goes up, you can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen,” Simon said. She was a focal point again in the loss, leading comebacks that fell just short after Bel Air started each set in an early hole that proved too steep to climb out of.

“Just the people,” Lewis said when asked what she’ll remember most about the program. “You can’t get any better than this.”

“Annalise is a true leader,” Simon added. “She’s a great person, loves her teammates, does all the little things right, everything you’d want in a captain. She really ignites us and gets the fire started. And we want to keep it burning.”

Bel Air seems to reload every year, replacing county players of the year with ease to fuel its next deep postseason run. Last season, it was Anna Kane. This season was Lewis’ turn. There’s some underclassmen Simon has his eye on to take over in 2026. He’s confident his Bobcats will be back.

“We’ll kind of have to hit the reset button, to a degree,” Simon said. “We’re not starting from scratch. We’ll remain competitive.”

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.