Maryland
Gov. Wes Moore tells Maryland students to be tough during challenging times
Gov. Wes Moore told University of Maryland students to be prepared to make hard choices and be strong when faced with unexpected challenges in their lives and careers during his keynote speech at the university’s spring commencement Monday evening.
In his 15-minute speech at SECU Stadium in College Park, the Maryland governor urged graduating students to choose to be “tough” and step out of their comfort zone when confronting unforeseen challenges of the future. Moore evoked his slogan of “Maryland tough,” adopted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March.
A livestream of the spring commencement, set to start at 7 p.m., was canceled shortly before the ceremony began because of technical difficulties, a UMD spokesperson said. The School of Public Health ceremony was postponed to Tuesday night because of a power issue at Xfinity Center. Where Tuesday’s ceremony would take place was unclear Monday night.
Other speakers included Darryll Pines, UMD’s president, Jennifer King Rice, UMD’s senior vice president and provost, and Tolulope Ajayi, Class of 2024’s student speaker.
“When people ask me, ‘What kind of training helped you respond when the unthinkable happened?’ My answer isn’t, ‘Well, you know I have a bachelor of arts in International Relations,”’ Moore said in prepared remarks provided to The Baltimore Sun. “My answer is, ‘I choose tough. That was my preparation.’”
The governor’s speech came the same day the 984-foot Dali, the ship that struck and knocked the Key Bridge into the Patapsco River, was refloated. The ship sat for 55 days under a span of the bridge weighing millions of pounds that crews used explosives to remove.
About 9,000 winter and spring graduates were honored for earning bachelor’s degrees at Monday night’s ceremony. Around 3,000 students received master’s degrees and 1,200 earned doctoral degrees. The Class of 2024 graduated from high school in 2020 during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The things that are hard are the things that last. The things that come easy are the things that don’t matter. And those who are willing to push will be the ones who are willing to prevail.” —@GovWesMoore #UMDgrad pic.twitter.com/a7Y8JE81kN
— Univ. of Maryland (@UofMaryland) May 21, 2024
Moore, an Army veteran who attended the Johns Hopkins University, said he’s a Terp by association as his wife, Dawn Moore, earned a degree in government and politics from UMD.
“You don’t just educate Marylanders — you create Marylanders — and I couldn’t be prouder to stand with you as the 63rd governor of the state we love,” Moore said.
The governor said he joined the Army at 17 because the military promised to pay his college tuition. His service prepared him for his future career as a business owner, as a father and as the first Black governor in state history. It also prepared him to quickly respond to a late-night phone call with the news that the Key Bridge was destroyed, the Port of Baltimore was blocked and six construction workers had been killed.
Moore said Monday that speedy salvage efforts have accomplished in weeks what was expected to take months, and that crews are on track to clear the harbor channel.
“Choosing tough is pushing yourself to your very limit — and then pushing some more,” Moore said. “And if you choose tough, I promise that you will be ready to take on the world.”
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Maryland State Del. Nino Mangione was picked over the weekend to serve as the County Council’s newest member.
The move came Saturday, when the two-person Baltimore County Republican Central Committee held a public hearing and a vote at the Holiday Inn Timonium.
Mangione was one of seven candidates vying to fill the 3rd District seat left vacant in May by Councilman Wade Kach, who resigned due to health issues after serving on the County Council for more than 11 years.
Other candidates who competed for the 3rd District seat included Todd Huff, Lynne Jones, Tim Braue, Eric Rockel, Gerard Wittstadt, and E.J. McNulty.
Mangione was the only figure who simultaneously ran for a council seat in this year’s election bid. He is also running as a 5th District candidate, which includes most of the current 3rd District.
The county is operating under a new redistricting map that was approved for the 2026 election cycle last year. The map was passed in a 5-2 vote.
Baltimore County will hold its primary election on June 23.
MARYLAND (WBFF) — Starting Monday, June 1st, marks the first day mail-in ballots across the state will be canvassed for the 2026 primary elections, as local boards of election officials can begin the process of opening, reviewing, and counting the mail-in ballots already received.
Just last week, the Maryland State Board of Elections began sending out replacement mail-in ballots after an error assigned hundreds of thousands of residents to the wrong political party.
ALSO READ | Maryland State Board of Elections starts sending out corrected mail-in ballots after error
The Board of Elections has pointed the finger at its vendor, Taylor Print and Visual Impressions, Inc., for this error, but members of Congress and political analysts say more answers are needed on how this happened.
“A mail-in ballot error like this only leads to people getting into more conspiracy theories, election rigging, back to the 2020 talk all over again,” said Political analyst John Dedie.
Just a few days ago, FOX News Digital posted an interview with Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, asking for a response to President Donald Trump’s calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the state’s mail-in ballots.
ALSO READ | Maryland Freedom Caucus calls mail-in ballot error a crisis, urges federal audit of rolls
“The administration is a separate body from the board of elections,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Aruna Miller. “It happens, sometimes Ballots get mailed the wrong way. It happens almost in every election. So we’ll see what the investigation shows…I don’t think it was in malice, in any bad way that this happened. I think it was just error by the vendor.”
Meanwhile, at the latest Maryland State Board of Elections meeting, Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis answered questions from board members if an outer investigation will take place following the election.
“We always do a lessons learned after every election,” said DeMarinis. “And this will be a part of our lessons learned, and we will, of course, be working with you know and getting more you know information about how to prevent this in the future, with it.”
DeMarinis adding…”we’ve been open and transparent about it. I don’t necessarily know what more of an investigation would shed light on.”
According to the Board, more than 500,000 voters requested mail-in ballots.
Without being able to identify who received the wrong party ballot, the board says all mail-in voters were sent replacements.
The Board is urging all voters to vote with the replacement ballot, adding safe guards are in place to ensure voting will not happen.
Since this error, a Congressional committee has reached out to the Board requesting a response by June 9th.
ALSO READ | Congressional committee members want answers about Maryland’s mail-in ballot mistake
FOX45 spoke with Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith of Virginia. Griffith said, “We will be keeping an eye on it because we have concerns we want to make sure that the federal elections, state folks can do whatever in the state or local elections, but in the federal elections it’s our job to make sure that voters are getting an opportunity to vote that they’re not being disenfranchised by some accident or intentional act.”
Political analysts also tell FOX45 that more answers are needed to ensure voter confidence.
“There needs to be more answers and possibly a hearing on this,” said Dedie. “Not wait till next year when they’re back in Annapolis after the election.
For now, anyone who has questions on this error and the next steps, the Board is urging you to contact them or go to their website.
Happy Sunday, Maryland!
Another beautiful day is in store on this Sunday – and it doesn’t end there as we start June on Monday.
Sunshine continues Sunday
High pressure is in control today, keeping our weather pattern quiet for another day. A northerly wind to start the day will keep temperatures just shy of seasonal norms this afternoon. However, after the cooler start to the day, we will end up warmer than Saturday.
High temperatures warm into the mid-70s to low 80s. Today will be less breezy, as well.
Early June outlook
Tonight, a system will start moving through, producing an isolated shower or two overnight as temperatures cool into the 50s.
Another low-end shower chance comes on Monday with a few isolated showers possible however, most spots stay dry to start June.
While Tuesday’s rain chance is slightly higher, it won’t be by much. Spotty showers move through during the afternoon. Rain appears to be light during all three rain chances tonight, Monday and on Tuesday.
Overall, we stay pretty quiet throughout the week with more sunshine than clouds. High temperatures this week range from the mid-70s to low 80s through Thursday.
Low humidity continues into at least the end of the week.
Temperatures and rain potential head up by the weekend. We’re still a few days out so stay with the WJZ First Alert Weather team for the lates updates.
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