A Chicago man is in custody after fleeing from law enforcement on Saturday (May 4). Marco A. Cruz-Monroy, 27, faces multiple charges in Frederick County, including assault on a law enforcement officer and driving under the influence of drugs (DUI/DUID).

Around 9:45 a.m., motorists on I-81 reported a Dodge pickup driving recklessly, with objects being tossed from the vehicle. Virginia State Police located the truck near the 304-mile marker and attempted to stop it for reckless driving. Despite initially slowing and moving to the shoulder, the truck sped off, prompting a pursuit.

During the chase, the Dodge intentionally rammed a trooper’s vehicle, forcing it off the road. The pursuit continued to the Exit 315 ramp, where Cruz-Monroy’s truck struck a civilian vehicle, causing both vehicles to crash. Cruz-Monroy then barricaded himself in his truck, refusing to comply with commands before eventually surrendering.

While being evaluated by EMS, Cruz-Monroy became combative and bit a trooper, who suffered minor injuries and was treated at Winchester Medical Center. Cruz-Monroy is now in custody at Northwest Adult Detention Center, held without bond, with additional charges pending.

No civilians were injured during the chase or the crash.

WASHINGTON – Maryland federal and state lawmakers and local education groups are speaking out against allowing teachers to carry firearms in classrooms, adding that they are confident that a bill allowing such a practice won’t come to fruition in the state.

“The simple truth is that the vast majority of Americans want commonsense reforms like stronger background checks and an assault weapons ban to keep our schools safe from the epidemic of gun violence,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said in a statement.

He added: “Despite that, some legislators continue to press for policies like this one in Tennessee to allow for concealed carry for handguns on school grounds. It’s a misguided and dangerous approach that undermines the safety and well-being of both students and educators.”

Maryland is one of 14 states, and the District of Columbia has some law preventing school boards from giving K-12 educators the authority to carry firearms, according to the nonprofit firearm training organization Faster Saves Lives.

Maryland law prevents anyone from carrying or possessing a firearm in public and private K-12 schools, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit based in California.

The law was extended to higher education institutions in March 2023.

Tennessee is the most recent state to pass legislation in stark contrast to Maryland’s law.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a law on April 26 allowing teachers and other school staff members to carry firearms on school grounds. The law was passed after three 9-year-old students and three adults were killed last March in a shooting by a former student at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.

“There are no circumstances where educators should carry weapons on school property,” said Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association. “Our educators are trained professionals in the field of education. And that’s what we want to do in our classrooms and our work sites, whether that’s bus drivers, secretaries or teachers.”

Tennessee teachers still need approval from their school’s director and principal to carry firearms. Educators would also have to obtain a handgun permit and complete at least 40 hours of approved training from the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission in addition to the 40 hours of basic training.

“That is a pretty insignificant amount of time,” said Maryland Del. Jared Solomon, a Democrat. “Considering the amount of time that law enforcement has to train and create scenarios and figure out how to confront these kinds of situations.”

Solomon started his career as a high school teacher in Baltimore City before moving to the policy side of education. He believes that another problematic aspect of Tennessee’s bill is that it won’t allow parents to be notified if their students’ teachers are carrying guns.

“If you didn’t want your child in a classroom with a teacher that was carrying a gun, you wouldn’t have that option, which I think is not really parental choice,” Solomon said. “I know certainly, I would not want my child in a classroom where the teacher is carrying a weapon.”

Mark Pennak, president of the gun owners’ rights organization Maryland Shall Issue, doesn’t see Tennessee’s law as a problem.

Pennak believes that teachers serve as the “first line of defense for students” and that those willing to be trained and who can carry a gun should be allowed to.

“The whole idea of concealed carry is that the mass killer intruder does not know who is armed,” Pennak said in an email. “If the information is shared with parents, that advantage will disappear, and the armed teacher would be in the same position as the uniformed school resource officer – the first target.”

Pennak added that programs, like the nonprofit organization FASTER, help train school faculty to ensure that they are not risking the students’ safety.

“Trained teachers do not put their children at risk,” Pennak said.“That is what the training is for. And any such minimal risk is far outweighed by the protection that an armed teacher can provide right at the outset of a school shooting.”

The number of school shootings in K-12 schools in the United States has increased each year from 2021 to 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database created by data scientist David Riedman.

The database defines a school shooting as an incident where a “gun is fired, brandished (pointed at a person with intent), or a bullet hits school property, regardless of the number of victims, time, day, or reason.”

In 2021, 256 shootings were recorded in the database. That number jumped to 308 school shootings in 2022 and 348 in 2023.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, said he does not believe that allowing educators and other school professionals to carry guns would solve the mass shooting epidemic in schools.

“We do not need more guns in schools, and we do not need educators and other school professionals carrying guns,” Cardin said in a statement. “Teachers are hired to teach, not be security guards. The answer to stemming the epidemic of gun violence in our schools is not to bring more guns into the schools.”

Jaime Lennon, spokeswoman for Maryland Democratic Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, said that the possibility of a bill like Tennessee’s being introduced at the federal level is slim. Lennon added that no research suggests that arming teachers would solve the problem.

“Congressman Ruppersberger would strongly oppose it in any event, quite simply, because teachers have stated over and over that they do not want to carry guns into their classrooms,” Lennon said. “There is also zero scientific evidence that this is a realistic solution to an incredibly complex problem. If more guns equaled less violence, we would be the safest country on the globe.”

Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer said “Marylanders have long known that the answer to stopping mass shootings does not lie in increasing the number of firearms on American streets.”

“I’m disappointed to see this law passed in Tennessee, but I remain confident that under the leadership of Governor (Wes) Moore and our strong Democratic delegation – Maryland will continue to be a state that works towards ending gun violence once and for all,” Hoyer said.

Both Bost and Solomon said they were confident that the Maryland legislature would not allow teachers to carry guns in schools anytime soon.

“We’ve really instituted a lot of strong firearm safety standards and laws in the state that I think are a much better step forward than just saying we’re going to introduce more firearms into a school and leave that task to a teacher,” Solomon said.

Bost added that a deeper investment in school counselors and psychologists to help students deal with trauma, along with reducing class sizes to help teachers better cultivate relationships with students, could help prevent situations where students feel the need to resort to violence.

“Guns have never been, and will never be an answer, whether it’s in our society or our schools,” Bost said. “It’s actually getting into our classes and providing the resources. We are doing a good job with that here in Maryland. We can always do better.”

Maryland Del. Susan McComas, a Republican, agreed that the state would never pass a law similar to Tennessee’s legislation, adding that Maryland should consider using resources officers who can work with students.

“There are just too many what ifs and scenarios where a teacher might be attacked by a distraught student or a group of students to get the gun,”  McComas said, referring to Tennessee’s law.

By TORRENCE BANKS
Capital News Service

The week has finally arrived, and Reaching Out Now is thrilled to launch the Safe At Home event! We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Chris Ballenger, Warren County Schools, and the Warren County Athletics Department (Mr. Cupp, Mr. Hall, and the varsity baseball and softball coaches) for joining us to promote mental health awareness and its impact on our community. We warmly invite you to be part of this important event.

Nationwide, individuals and organizations are raising awareness of the challenges faced by those living with mental health conditions. Learn more about these efforts at the National Council’s Mental Health Awareness Month page: National Council – Mental Health Awareness Month.

We’re advocating for expanded access to mental health and substance use care while highlighting the value of mental well-being. Here’s how you can get involved:

JOIN US:

• Bring your families
• Sign up to play in one of our alumni games
• Volunteer or share information on how to contribute

Helpful Links:

Event Tickets:

• Event Tickets

Volunteer Opportunities:

• May 9th
• May 11th
• May 25th

Alumni Games:

• Baseball
• Softball

The weather looks perfect for baseball on the 11th, so bring your friends and family. Let’s raise our voices, support mental health awareness, and make a positive impact together.

See you at Safe At Home!

WASHINGTON – Since 1790, the Census Bureau has taken a head count of every person, regardless of citizenship, in the United States so Congress can determine how votes are distributed among members of the House of Representatives and Electoral College.

House Republicans want to make this process a thing of the past.

The House Tuesday voted 205-195 along party lines to consider a bill that could add a citizenship question to the decennial census and exclude non-citizens from the population used to calculate congressional district representation.

Then, President Donald Trump pushed to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census but was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2019 due to concerns about dishonest disclosure of the reason behind asking the question.

The census last asked the entire population about citizenship status in 1950. Since then, the government has presented a citizenship question to a sample of households through the American Community Survey and an occasional added survey to the census.

The census is not only used to determine the number of House members and Electoral College votes per state but also to decide how to distribute federal resources across the country.

Democratic lawmakers, including New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, said the citizenship question could make non-citizens afraid of filling out the census, decreasing federal funding and representation.

“These counts would have devastating implications for not only our electoral system but the well-being of our families and communities,” Stansbury said Tuesday during a debate on the House floor.

Republicans, such as New York Rep. Nick Langworthy, argued that including non-citizens in the population for apportionment rewards illegal immigration and is unfair to U.S. citizens.

“Allowing non-citizens to vote dilutes the voice of the American citizen and opens the door for manipulation and exploitation of our electoral system,” Langworthy said.

Removing the weight of non-citizens in federal representation distribution could change the House’s party divide.

States with large immigrant populations – namely California, Texas, and Florida – would each have had one less representative if “unauthorized immigrants” had been excluded from the post-2020 census apportionment, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center report.

The 14th Amendment states that the apportionment of representatives is determined by a count of the “whole number of persons.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D–Maryland, said during a House Rules Committee meeting Monday that the bill was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, adding that the bill would exacerbate the undercount of the Hispanic population.

“This bill would destroy the accuracy of the census,” Raskin said.

According to Census Bureau reports, the 2020 census had a statistically significant undercount of Hispanics in the United States, with almost 5% not counted. This undercount has been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and fears that answers to census questions could be shared with other agencies.

The Census Bureau cannot legally share identifiable information with anyone, including law enforcement.

However, Rep. Erin Houchin, R–Indiana, said Tuesday that since the proposed legislation would still allow counting non-citizens in the census, the change would not greatly impact federal assistance or an accurate population count, calling such claims a “red herring.”

A 2019 Census Bureau report said a citizenship question is sensitive for non-citizens and could affect the self-response rate.

Beyond the impacts of political representation, Johnny Zuagar, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Census Council 241, told Capital News Service that the bill, even if not passed, could complicate the jobs of census employees and the underfunded Census Bureau.

Bringing up the possibility of a census citizenship question again, Zuagar said, will likely make immigrants unsure if they can trust the Census Bureau not to report them to immigration authorities.

Census workers would have to take time to explain the citizenship question and the safety of the responses, Zuagar said, complicating their work.

During the 2020 census, he said, census employees had to work with immigrant communities to regain that lost trust.

“We’re just here to measure the country and follow the Constitution. You can trust us,” Zuagar said.

The House will likely vote on the bill this week. If passed in the House, the measure would move to the Senate, controlled by the Democrats.

By KATHARINE WILSON
Capital News Service

Alexandra Goldin’s pacer Marco Beach not only wired the field in Sunday’s $8,000 feature at Shenandoah Downs, but he shattered the previous track record by two-fifths of a second when he crossed three lengths the best in 1:51 4/5. The track’s previous mark of 1:52 1/5 was authored by John’s Dream in 2016 — Shenandoah’s initial season — and was equaled earlier this meet by Aflame Hanover.

Marco Beach established a new track record at Shenandoah Downs when he crossed in 1:51 4/5 Sunday afternoon (Quenton Egan photo).

Eric Davis drove Goldin’s 8-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding and was one of four wins he had on the ten-race program. Marco Beach left from outside post five and maintained a 1½ length cushion on the front end through the first three-quarter panels, which were cut in:27 3/5, 56.0, and 1:23 4/5. Davis opened up by two at the top of the stretch and held off a rally by Cole Olsen’s Lyons Stealth, who finished second. Olsen’s Volley Ball Beach was third.

The victory was Marco Beach’s 26^th lifetime score, pushing his career bankroll to $285,240. The pacer had previously won in 1:51 2 at Rosecroft in January and in 1:50 2/5, a lifetime best, at the Meadowlands last year.

Davis, who surged into third place in the driver standings behind Fern Paquet, Jr. and Corey Braden with a solid afternoon, also connected Sunday with Scott Woogen’s KJ Devil, P T Stables’s Make Some Waves and Spencer Goldin’s Lucky Streak, who won his third straight in Woodstock and fourth of the meet.

Week four competition in the U.S. Harness Drivers Club continued Saturday with a pair of races. Stacey McLenaghan, second in the overall trainer standings, maintained her lead in the Club standings with a win aboard her gelding pacer Etbauer, who prevailed for the second straight week. Reinsman Jack Mcneil took over second place in the Series with a win aboard Ben Mcneil’s I’ve Got Hootspa. Heading into action this Saturday, McLenaghan has 46 points, while McNeil is four back with 42. A series of checks will be presented to local non-profits this weekend because of the Series – where drivers donate their share of monies earned to charity.

Only two weekends remain in the Shenandoah Downs spring season. Action will continue on Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, with cards on both days at 1:05 PM. The Woodstock Oval will host Foiled Again’s 20th Birthday Party on Saturday. Join the celebration as harness racing’s richest horse turns 20 years old. Retired for six years now, the legendary son of Dragon Again bankrolled $7.6 million from a stellar career in which he won 109 races from 331 starts. Win number 104 came at Shenandoah Downs on September 29, 2018. Foiled Again will be on site, and fans can take their picture with the legend, sing Happy Birthday, and get a slice of birthday cake. Fans can also enjoy live music all afternoon with The Skillbillys. More details are at shenandoahdowns.com.