COLLEGE PARK, Md. — JuJu Watkins and Southern California figured to do a lot of traveling in the Trojans’ first season in the Big Ten.

So far, so good.

No. 4 USC completed a two-game eastern sweep Wednesday night, handing No. 8 Maryland its first loss, 79-74. The victory came after the Trojans decimated Rutgers 92-42 on Sunday.

“We’ve been on the East Coast now for like four days,” Watkins said. “It’s freezing.”

Perhaps that explained Watkins’ spotty shooting. She went 7 for 19 from the field and turned the ball over eight times, eventually fouling out in the final minute. She scored 21 points, her lowest output in nearly a month.

But USC outscored Maryland 18-6 to end the game. Kiki Iriafen also scored 21.

“We just kind of have this unwavering confidence in ourselves,” Watkins said. “It was just a matter of coming together and closing the game out.”

The Trojans have already logged quite a few miles. They beat Mississippi in Paris in November. Last month they traveled to Connecticut and beat UConn.

This trip was a multigame journey that USC handled pretty well. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said she’s still learning the rhythm of a new league.

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“The Pac-12 was two games in a weekend, Friday-Sunday and everyone’s doing the same thing. Now we’re like, ‘Wait, who’s playing who when?’” she said. “It’s really different for us, and so as coaches we’re trying to process all that and keep things as normalized for the team as possible.”

It’s also an opportunity for USC to play in areas less familiar with the Trojans. It was their first matchup with Maryland since 1995, and the game drew 14,735.

“It’s just platforms for them that we have never had before, and that’s a really positive thing. It’s up to us and my administration and me to make it as seamless as possible for them,” Gottlieb said. “We’ll go anywhere and play. I think our players have proven that.”

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has warned that massive budget cuts are on the way as state lawmakers try to solve a $3 billion budget gap. 

Moore told Maryland residents Wednesday to brace themselves for $2 billion worth of cuts in his soon-to-be-released budget. But that still leaves another $1 billion that lawmakers will have to come up with to close this deficit.

Normally, the first day of a General Assembly session is a cause for celebration but this year it comes with a big challenge. 

Moore said that not only does he want lawmakers to come up with a solution to close the budget gap, he also wants still fund priorities like economic growth, public safety and schools but Moore would not endorse the idea of tax hikes.

“We are not going to grow an economy on the backs of working Marylanders, on the backs of middle-class Marylanders. So I’ll work with anybody to be able to come up with a long-term solution but my bar’s high, been high and will remain high when it comes to revenues,” Moore said. 

But while the governor says his bar is high for tax hikes, Democrats, who control both houses of the statehouse, and Republicans, who are outnumbered, are already fighting it out. 

Republicans say they support the governor’s plan to cut spending but they will hold the line on taxes. 

“I believe the Democrats are sending every signal that they are going to raise taxes and we are going to fight it, fight it, fight it,” said Republican delegate Kathy Szeliga, who represents Howard County. “Maryland is already one of the most highly taxed states in the country.”

Democratic lawmakers say no decisions have been made either way.

“You know, people get nervous because they think that automatically means raising taxes. Not necessarily. We’re going to do our job and make sure that we don’t hurt people too, we understand the budget is tight but we don’t have to keep hurting people too,” Democratic delegate C.T. Wilson, the Maryland Economic Matters Chairman.

 Moore is set to unveil his budget proposal on Wednesday, Jan. 15. This General Assembly session will last for 90 days.

HOWARD COUNTY — The Maryland Office of the Attorney General (OAG) released body camera footage as they continue to investigate an officer-involved shooting that left a man dead after a two-hour standoff in Laurel.

On November 30, around 3:10 p.m., Howard County police responded to a home in the 1000 block of American Pharoah Lane for a domestic incident, according to the OAG.

The 911 caller reported that a man was banging on the front door and a preliminary investigation revealed he had fired several shotgun rounds at the door. He eventually made his way inside the home through a window.

The body cam footage begins as officers arrive on the scene. The video shows an officer walking toward the home as he reports on his radio that he sees a busted window and a case for a long gun outside.

The man – later identified as 29-year-old Tyree Winslow of College Park – appeared in a second-floor window of the home as officers arrived, according to the OAG.

As the video continues, you can hear a woman cry for help, prompting the officer to move quickly toward the front door of the home. The officer then reports on the radio that he sees multiple shell casings.

The officer identifies himself as he moves close to the door and eventually reports that the door is barricaded, according to the video.

The cries for help get louder, and the officer indicates that he may have eyes on a woman in the home as he says, “Ma’am stay there…lay down.”

The video shows officers taking cover behind cars across the street from the home as the situation escalates and the officer gives verbal commands, asking to see Winslow’s hands. According to the OAG, Winslow did not comply and he and two officers exchanged gunfire.

Another officer’s body camera captured him getting close to the home and helping a person down from an upstairs window of the home. The body camera falls off but captures the sounds of the officer helping another person down.

Police previously said three people were evacuated from the home and there were no other injuries.

The Howard County Police Tactical Team responded to the scene and established a barricade, according to the OAG. Officers were not able to contact Winslow and around 5:40 p.m., they entered the home.

Once inside, officers found Winslow suffering from gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead on the scene, the OAG said. Police said it was unclear if he was killed by officer gunfire or by his weapon.

Several loaded firearms and a knife were found near Winslow’s body.

The OAG previously identified the involved officers as Police Officer First Class (PFC) Christopher Weir, a 14-year veteran, and PFC Joseph Debronzo, a 15-year veteran. Both officers have been put on administrative leave.

Neighbor shares video

During the standoff, the neighborhood was on lockdown for several hours.

A neighbor shared video with WJZ showing the moment that tactical officers entered the home. The neighbor also said officers were using a drone to locate Winslow while he was inside the house.

Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation

The OAG’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) investigates all police-involved shootings as standard protocol.

“The idea is if you have an attorney general who is coming in to investigate these incidents, it removes the opportunity for a local agency to seem biased either in favor or against a local police department,” said Eric Bacaj, an independent legal expert who is not involved in this case.

The IID was created by the General Assembly in 2021 as part of a series of police accountability reform bills, the OAG said.

Since October 2021, the division has conducted 65 investigations into fatal or near-fatal officer-involved incidents in Maryland, including two in Howard County.

See a full list of IID investigations below: