The 2013 Session of the Maryland General Assembly is now at the halfway point. Throughout my first two years serving in the House, I’ve tried to keep a few key priorities in mind even as we legislators have to deal with a myriad of issues.  My goals this Session include making our state more affordable for families, improving our business climate to help job creators, and ensuring that taxpayers are getting the most out of the money we send to Annapolis. That means focusing like a laser on eliminating wasteful spending and ensuring that government is transparent and open. I sponsored House …

Over the past several years, much has been written and discussed about the value of Carroll County Public Schools to our community.  Lately, the conversation has become more heated and intense. This is not only a result of our evolving economic situation.  It is also because public schools have been caught up in a much broader discussion about the appropriate level of government spending.   The importance of a good education is evident and does not need to be defended here.  However, the community debate appears to center on the relationship of academic achievement to education spending.  To …

It appeared from the Patch coverage that it was not clear that I am opposed to the ultimatum being given to the Board of Education with regards to school closing or “maintenance of effort”. I was being critical of that approach. If I was not clear in the way it was stated, I am in favor of the facilities study being done, but not for the pre-ordained purpose of determining to close a school. I am also against “maintenance of effort” funding. I believe the $164 million level that was set with last year’s budget for FY14 is appropriate. And, while I am interested in seeing the ideas that come …

As you may have heard, Governor O'Malley has called yet another special session for August 9th, this one to consider expanding gaming in Maryland.  My fellow Delegates and I have not had the opportunity to see the proposal in bill form but it seems likely that it will include a sixth casino location in Prince George's County and allow for table games.  Other possibilities include cutting taxes on the casino owners to offset their losses from allowing another location or putting a commission in charge of setting tax rates for casinos in the future - a dangerous precedent.  I am inclined to …

The following letter was submitted by Delegate Justin Ready: The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) surprised many.  The reasoning given by the court for allowing the mandate is that it is a tax and that it’s constitutional for Congress to pass a tax. While I believe that is a questionable interpretation at best, Americans now must buy health insurance or receive a tax penalty.  In 2008, President Obama said “Health care should never be purchased with tax increases on Middle class families”. During the lengthy debate on ACA he stressed that it was not a tax. It …

The unanimous vote by the Carroll County Board of Commissioners for the resolution 817-11 is disturbing. It conveys the impression that the benefits of the institution of marriage to children come solely from a heterosexual union. Every peer reviewed scientific study and professional journal article published by the major and most respected medical, psychiatric and psychological disciplines of this country completely refute that assertion, and a simple computer search would have easily revealed this to them. We are left trying to understand this stunning oversight. If the board was honestly …

Letter to the Editor: July 22 was the first time in four years that BGE had an emergency activation of our PeakRewardsSM program. This emergency electric load reduction, which was repeated across the region by other utilities to varying degrees, was taken at the direction of the PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission operator (power grid) serving Maryland and several other states. In the past, BGE has had some non-emergency events with lower impact. However, emergency activations of the program have been infrequent and are expected to remain infrequent in the future. It is important …

To the Honorable Commissioners and Delegates, This letter is in response to Joint Resolution 817-11, which was meant to “reaffirm the special status of marriage in America.”  The members of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Westminster-Carroll County chapter are disappointed and dismayed by this resolution. The resolution mixes personal opinion with scientific evidence to a point where we believe the facts must be accurately portrayed. The resolution claims that “[s]cientific evidence confirms that when the marriage tie[sic] frays, children suffer.”  Members of our …

Locked, unlocked, now locked up again. America’s favorite sport, football, has been held hostage by team owners for weeks now, and all we fans can do is sit and watch. The National Football League has been in contract negations with players because they want to lengthen the regular season to from 16 games, to 18. But the players like Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady are not in favor of this decision. "I know our fans may not like preseason games, and I don't like all of them," said Lewis, a Baltimore Ravens linebacker, "but swapping two preseason games …

Since Patch launched four months ago, I have been excited to see the amount of participation from the community. Folks share photographs, write columns, serve on the Moms Council and create announcements and events. People post comments nearly every day, both here and on the Westminster Patch Facebook Page. I've also heard directly from many of you, with suggestions and feedback about our stories.  There's another way you can get involved, though it may not immediately be apparent from the layout of the site. So I wanted to take a moment to extend an invitation to every member of the …