HURLOCK, Md – The town of Hurlock now has a Salvation Army red kettle to help raise funds for families in need this holiday season. The kettle is set up at Hurlock Gas and Deli on South Main Street, thanks to the efforts of an employee at the store.

T.J. Higgins, who works at Hurlock Gas and Deli, says the idea started when he approached Hurlock’s mayor, Earl Murphy, about bringing a kettle to the town. 

“I reached out to our newly elected mayor,” Higgins said. “He said that he was open to any and all ideas. I knew the holiday season was coming up, and I just said to him, you know, what about the Salvation Army? They don’t have a presence here. You see them in Cambridge. We see them in other areas. What about here in Hurlock?”

From there, coordination with the Salvation Army helped bring the iconic red kettle to town just in time for the holidays. Higgins added that the kettle is meant to encourage everyone to chip in, no matter the size of the donation.

“Everybody sees the red kettle,” Higgins said. “They know what it looks like. They hear that bell. Sometimes it goes to the wayside in the background. But basically, it’s just about giving. It gives the community and strangers, citizens the opportunity to chip in whatever they can to help those that really need it the most.”

Troy Paul of the Salvation Army says the kettle gives the community a chance to directly support local families.

“Every dollar that’s donated here stays local,” Paul said. “So if you donate to a red kettle or donate to the Salvation Army, everything stays right here in Hurlock.”

Darrell Hurston of Elite Youth Sports, whose group volunteered at the kettle, says it’s also a chance to teach kids about giving back. 

“One thing we try to teach our kids is, integrity and discipline and, and community service,” Hurston told WBOC. “Right? So this is part of that. You can’t get any more community service than the Salvation Army.”

The Salvation Army red kettle in Hurlock will remain in place through Christmas Eve. Volunteers are still needed to help ring the bell and collect donations, offering neighbors one more opportunity to support their community during the holiday season.

Evva Starr has heard thousands of pitches from student journalists over the years as the faculty adviser to Common Sense, Thomas S. Wootton High School’s newspaper. 

“I get excited whenever there’s something new,” Starr, the Rockville school’s English department resource teacher, says with a laugh. She remembers how her ears perked up last school year when Nathan Zweig, a junior in her newspaper class, proposed an article about Fliff, an app that bills itself as a free play-for-fun sportsbook. Underage use of sports betting apps in the halls of local high schools is widespread, students and school faculty say. Recent legalization, word-of-mouth, promotions on social media, and ease of access have contributed.

“That was the first time I’d ever heard of Fliff. I thought, ‘Cool. Great. Something different,’ ” recalls Starr, 52, of Potomac. “Then Nathan explained Fliff to me. Now that I understand it, I think it’s terrible.” 

Fliff is one of many sports betting apps and is considered among the most popular for underage betting. This app uses virtual currency and follows a sweepstakes model, which means no purchase is needed to play. That distinction separates Fliff from more traditional online gambling sites. Signing up is easy on the colorful, flashy app. Tiny print says players must be 18, but no age verification is required. In other states, the minimum age may be older. Players can quickly earn badges and loyalty rewards, and climb leaderboards betting on an array of daily sporting events across the country and around the globe from college football to professional tennis, English Premier League soccer, NBA games and mixed martial arts.

Unlike underage drinking or substance misuse, online gambling can be almost invisible without the telltale red flags, such as garbage cans filled with beer bottles and hard seltzer cans or the acrid smell of marijuana.  

“Fliff is all around me. Every day, kids at lunch are on their phones, talking about what bets are going to hit,” says Zweig, 17, of Potomac. “I have friends who don’t follow sports, but they still bet. They say it’s not real gambling, but eventually some kids will go to apps like BetMGM or DraftKings. It’s hooking people.”  

Some Wootton students, however, including senior Justin Heller, 17, of Rockville, disagree.

“Well, people see it different ways. I think it’s helpful because it shows you in the end that everyone ends up losing money. It gives you free money to learn with, play with,” Heller says. “It’s taught me something definitely—to be smart with my own money and not bet it away.” 

Starr green-lighted Zweig’s pitch, and soon after he published an opinion column highlighting the many risks and few rewards of underage sports betting.

In 2022, about one in seven Montgomery County high school students had gambled on something in the previous 12 months, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted every other year. The actual numbers may be higher now, based on comments from more than 25 students, educators and parents interviewed by Bethesda Magazine. 

“Most parents have no idea how widespread it is,” says Joe Cassidy, head baseball coach at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda since 2003. “Parents think their kids are just sports crazy or athletes or psyched about a game. But are they really excited about the Braves playing the Pirates when they can’t name a single player on either team?” 

Gambling is prohibited in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). It is banned at school-sponsored events and on school property. MCPS did not respond to multiple requests for comments for this story. 

“There don’t seem to be any real protections to prevent children from using the platform. Self-reporting age is a nonfactor,” says Starr, an MCPS teacher for 25 years. “My perspective is this could be onboarding them to a lifetime of addictive behaviors, not just gambling.” 

In simple terms, according to the National Institutes of Health, addiction sets in when a substance, such as alcohol, “ … hijack[s] the pleasure/reward circuits in your brain and hook[s] you into wanting more and more.”  

As with substance-use disorders, people with gambling disorder may also exhibit withdrawal, depression and anxiety, according to the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland Clinic reports that “gambling at a young age is … a risk factor for developing gambling disorder” later in life. 

“There is a lot of crossover with video games. The easy access and fast pace keep triggering the brain. Kids don’t think about video games and loot boxes as gambling, but they are by definition,” says Heather Eshleman, prevention manager at The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling within the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. “I’ve seen a definite increase in the number of high schools reaching out to us since sports betting was legalized.”  

Boys are far more likely than girls to engage in sports betting, says Stanley Tamale, a licensed professional counselor who practices in Montgomery County. Many of Tamale’s clients are young adult males between the ages of 19 and 24 who started gambling when they were in high school.

“Online sports betting is like a fishing rod. People have figured out the psychology of how to reach teens. Teens, especially boys, are risk-takers. They seek peer approval and acceptance,” says Tamale, 46. “But their brains are not fully developed until they are 25. The 16-, 17-, 18-year-old brain is so vulnerable.”

Tamale and other counselors encourage their clients to resist peer pressure and to be savvy consumers, skeptical of any free stuff, such as virtual currencies. “I tell my clients to think of those pop-ups as scam calls. Don’t be duped. You’re smarter than that. Don’t fall for the advertising. If it’s too good to be true, then it is.”

However, a confluence of factors—including illegal offshore betting sites, payment apps and slick mobile betting platforms—make that a lot easier said than done for adolescents eager to get some fast cash.   

“Social media is a big factor in it: who will win, by how many points, how many total bases? Every day, TikTok videos promote the best parlays,” Zweig says. “If you get lucky and combine a bunch of games, then you can win. I have a friend who bet a dollar and picked seven games for a parlay [on Fliff]. He won 130 bucks.”  

A parlay links together bets on a sequence of athletic events across teams and athletes, potentially earning a much larger payout than an individual wager. Picture this: the Ravens win, then the Commanders win by a touchdown and, finally, Nikola Jokić scores 25 points for a Nuggets victory. 

Some students believe apps such as Fliff could offer valuable lessons to teenagers who gamble.

“I think for some people it’s teaching kids to gamble. Like any other video game, you can spend a lot of time on it. It depends on the person for sure,” says Vikram Mishra, 17, of Rockville, who’s also a senior at Wootton. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you have to make sure you have control over yourself when you’re using it.” 

Coach Cassidy, 54, of Clarksburg, chats regularly with his players about the downfalls of gambling.   

“I tell my players their system won’t work. I say they may give you a free dollar, but it’s Monopoly money. They’ve got your real money. Now, with AI and all these algorithms, they run millions of simulations. The odds against you are even higher,” he says with a sigh. “ ‘Guys,’ I tell them, ‘It’s stacked against you. You’re going to lose.’ ” 

Sports betting exploded after the U.S. Supreme Courtallowed states to legalize it in 2018. Last year, according to the American Gaming Association, sports gambling raked in $13.71 billion in revenue, an increase of more than 25% over 2023. It marked the fourth consecutive year of eye-popping growth. The association estimates $3 billion was wagered on March Madness games alone.   

Maryland legalized sports betting in 2021. Players must be 21, have a Social Security number, and be physically present in the state when betting online. The apps track the user’s location in real time.

In D.C., players only need to be 18 to bet on Daily Fantasy Sports sites such as PrizePicks and Underdog. These sites allow individuals to use real money to place bets on specific athletes, not teams, and how they will perform in a game. These platforms offer set payouts and promotions in dollars. Given the lower age requirement, they are especially popular with young men in high school. But unlike Fliff, these sites deal in dollars, not virtual currencies. 

“It’s an unfair playing field, especially for boys,” says state Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-Dist. 31) of Anne Arundel County. “Most people can gamble responsibly, but you might be part of the small percentage who get addicted. We just don’t know who they are. I want to target them and help them.”  

For Simonaire, it’s personal. His father, he says, became addicted to gambling after casinos were built near his house in Arizona. He lost $1 million, says Simonaire. “The casino was 10 minutes away. He got into the habit of going. It became an addiction as opposed to entertainment,” he says. “Now we have internet gambling with instantaneous access and nonstop advertising. The ads draw kids into it.”   

 In 2020, Simonaire introduced a bill related to schools teaching about the risks of gambling, but it stalled during the pandemic. Earlier this year, Simonaire worked with a coalition of individuals and organizations, including The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, to introduce a bill in the Maryland General Assembly to revise the state’s Youth Suicide Prevention School Program and make students aware of the link between gambling and suicide. It passed unanimously.

Simonaire says it’s up to local school districts to determine how to implement the bill. He hopes students will see gambling included in the list of risk factors, along with substances such as alcohol, opioids and marijuana, by the spring. “We have a responsibility to fund education, and we’re doing it a lot through gambling,” he says. “We also have a responsibility to help students not get addicted to gambling.” 

Fifteen percent of the state’s gambling revenue goes toward the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which promises to increase the education budget by $3.8 billion annually for 10 years, starting in 2021. Between July 2024 and January 2025, nearly $59 million from sports betting was directed to public education. 

“I am not an alarmist,” says Steve Goodman, 50, a professor in Georgetown University’s Sports Industry Management graduate program and a sports industry veteran. “For parents, I think the first step is to be aware it’s out there. Then, understand the potential mental health piece and the money piece. Are kids betting money they don’t have?”

Goodman, who lives in Bethesda and has two sons who graduated from Whitman, adds, “Sports betting is so fast and so easily done. It’s easy to hide. Even if parents do check phones, kids can bury their apps.”

The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling highlights two main characteristics of problem gambling. The first is the inability to control the amount of time or money spent on betting. The second is the resulting negative consequences, including emotional, financial, personal and legal problems.  

“To parents, I would say, ‘Keep an eye on your teens.’ There is often a difference between someone spending more time on their phone versus hiding their phone,” Tamale says. “People hide their behavior when they have a problem. It will be the same with teens and gambling. They will hide it, and parents might not find out until a young man is in trouble financially.” 

Talking is often a first step toward treating potential gambling problems.  

“Teenagers are good at hiding stuff, but they’re also good at telling you stuff, if you pay attention,” Cassidy says. “Online betting is the same as a drug. It’s the rush of winning, chasing the loss, chasing the high. I equate this to smoking in the ’60s. They sort of knew it was bad, but they kept that to themselves. I don’t know how you put this genie back in the bottle. It’s just going to get worse.” 

Meg Drennan is a freelance journalist who has written for Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education and NPR. She focuses on health and wellness stories and has a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins. She lives in Bethesda with her family.  

The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling offers an online self-evaluation tool to help individuals determine if they have an issue. The center also offers resources for counseling and peer groups, and a help line. The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services does not have any programs designed specifically to address gambling disorder. 

If you or someone you know needs help with gambling, call 800-GAMBLER (800-426-2537) or visit 1800gamblerchat.org for free, confidential support 24/7.  

This appears in the November/December 2025 issue of Bethesda Magazine.

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t condone the actions that led to wide receiver DK Metcalf’s two-game suspension by the NFL following an in-game altercation with a fan, but added Metcalf has his full support during the appeals process.

The league punished the two-time Pro Bowler by forcing him to sit out the first-place Steelers’ final two games and fining him for taking a swipe at Detroit Lions fan Ryan Kennedy in the second quarter of what became Pittsburgh’s 29-24 victory.

Tomlin said Metcalf shared his side of the story with him, but declined to get into specifics. “He did explain to me why he did what he did, and I certainly don’t condone the behavior, but I support DK,” Tomlin said.

“I won’t discuss what he and I discussed,” Tomlin added. “I think I’ve been pretty clear there.”

Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson said on a podcast late Sunday night that Metcalf told him Kennedy used a racial slur and verbally disparaged Metcalf’s mother, an allegation that Kennedy denied through his attorneys on Monday.

Tomlin cited Metcalf’s appeal hearing and what he described as “legal ramifications,” though he did not define what those might be. An email to the attorneys representing Kennedy by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

Metcalf remained in the game and finished with four receptions for 42 yards. Kennedy left his seat to meet with stadium security at Ford Field but was allowed to return.

Asked if the Steelers have any in-game protocols in place to try and mitigate interactions such as the one between Metcalf and Kennedy, Tomlin said, “We certainly may, but I might not be privy to it because my eyes and attention is (on) what’s going on on the field” and made it a point to credit the team’s “top notch security group.”

Tomlin would not elaborate on what his reaction was to seeing the video of the confrontation, though he acknowledged what he called the rise in “volatile rhetoric” in sports at all levels.

“Not only (in) our business, (but) college, youth sport parents,” he said. “I think it’s just a component of sport that’s developed and developed in a big way in recent years, and it’s unfortunate.”

There were reports that when Metcalf played for Seattle, he reported Kennedy to team personnel when the Seahawks visited Detroit. Tomlin did not speculate when asked if there’s anything more teams can do to protect players in those situations.

“Me speaking on it and speaking on it in detail and particularly expressing my opinion regarding things doesn’t help the circumstance in any way,” he said.

Metcalf’s suspension means Pittsburgh (9-6) will be without its top pass catcher as it tries to lock up the AFC North title on Sunday in Cleveland. His absence means Roman Wilson, who has been a healthy scratch the past two weeks as the Steelers have opted to go with experienced veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen, will likely get an opportunity to return to the lineup.

Tomlin did not rule out the return of star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who has missed each of the past two games while recovering from surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung sustained during a dry needling treatment. Tomlin said Watt has been in the team facility lately and is “hopeful” Watt will be cleared to practice.

The Steelers need to win one of their final two games or have Baltimore lose one of its final two games to win a division title for the first time since 2020. The longtime rivals are scheduled to meet in Pittsburgh in Week 18.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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After saying goodbye to the eight seniors who led Eagle Valley to one of its best seasons ever, head girls basketball coach Vinny Cisneros said one of the main storylines this winter will be how quickly the new bunch builds chemistry and capitalizes on meaningful experience.

“Our group is young and has very little varsity experience,” Cisneros stated in contrasting the 2025-26 squad to last year’s group, which captured the program’s first 5A Western Slope League title and won a game in the first round of the state tournament. “Last year’s championship team spent three years playing together at the varsity level. This team needs to build on-floor chemistry and learn how to compete at the varsity level.”

Eagle Valley closed last year’s regular season on a five-game win streak, ultimately finishing 13-12 overall and 5-1 in conference play; the lone blemish being a one-point loss to Summit. The team graduated its top-3 leading scorers and rebounders. Addison Mandeville — who now plays soccer for Metro State University in Denver — averaged nearly 10 points and 3.4 steals a game en route to earning league player of the year honors. They also lost center Abby Talbot’s 9.6 points and 7.3 boards a contest and Zakia Shreeve’s length and speed on both ends of the court. Current seniors Ella Webster and Lily Brueck were the only returners who logged significant minutes last winter. Over the off-season, Cisneros said the squad ran its usual gamut of summer team camps, including one at Western University and the Gold Crown Foundation camp in Lakewood.

After starting the year 1-4, Eagle Valley has found its groove in the final weeks before Christmas. The Devils won three in a row, including 20-point victories over Steamboat Springs and Grand Junction Central and a 49-16 win over Moffat County before falling to Grand Junction 56-44 on Saturday. Freshman Hannah Miano and senior Ella Webster have led the way offensively, with both players averaging double digit points through the first eight contests. Miano has also been pulling down 6.6 rebounds per game as well.

Against the Tigers, Miano drilled three triples for a 15-point outing. Cisneros said Terra Hasley and Brueck have anchored the defense all year. Hasley had nine points and nine boards to go along with two blocks and two steals on Saturday and Brueck dished out five assists and a pair of blocks as well.

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“Despite the loss, we finished December playing our best basketball of the young season,” Cisneros remarked. “We’re a young team trying as quickly as we can to develop chemistry and varsity experience. Our defense is the cornerstone of our identity and we are starting to find our offensive rhythm.”

Eagle Valley opens up league play on Jan. 26 against Summit before traveling to Edwards to face Battle Mountain on Jan. 29.

“Every league game is huge. Our league is only four teams, and every game means a lot towards winning a league title,” said Cisneros, whose expectations remain high going into 2026. “Despite our sub-500 start, I expect us to continue to improve (through) the early parts of January leading up to league play, where we intend to defend our league championship.”

Two-time Alabama Miss Basketball and former Spring Garden standout Ace Austin is starting to look like the player that dazzled high school basketball fans across the state.

Now with Alabama and finding a stride after a training camp injury kept her out of the season’s first game, Austin is averaging 7.3 points per game for the Crimson Tide (14-0) as a key rotational piece in the program’s best start ever.

NOTE: This report contains details related to alleged sexual assault of a minor. Discretion is advised.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A teenage girl accused a Las Vegas youth soccer coach of sexually assaulting her after he offered to give her a ride home, according to an arrest report.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said Sergio Reyes Rojas, 44, was taken into custody on suspicion of sexual assault against a child under 16.

He had served as the director and coach of Las Vegas Diversity FC. The organization said in a statement that the allegations did not involve any current or former members of the club or the youth sports community.

News 3 has reached out to Reyes Rojas’ attorney for comment.

An arrest report states that a 14-year-old girl told detectives that a man driving a truck approached her on a November night as she was walking home and asked if she needed a ride. She got into the truck, and the man drove them to a gas station, where he bought some cocktail mixes.

She said the man then parked the truck in a lot and gave her one of the drinks. She said she started to feel tired and went to sleep, and when she woke up, the man was sexually assaulting her, the report states.

The man then told her the truck wouldn’t start and she would have to walk home. She said she wandered around the Strip, then took a bus and walked the rest of the way.

Authorities collected a sex assault kit, and a DNA test matched Reyes Rojas, the report alleges.

Detectives also retraced the girl’s steps and and got surveillance video from the gas station, which showed a man buying six cocktails. Police got a license plate from his truck and matched the vehicle to one registered to Reyes Rojas. They also found video of the truck driving into a custom detailing shop and the girl walking through the property.

LVMPD’s sex offender apprehension program located Reyes Rojas and took him into custody earlier this month.

He declined to answer a question about what kind of vehicles he owned and later said he would not answer questions without an attorney, according to the report. Police got warrants to collect his clothing and truck for forensic processing.

Court records show Reyes Rojas is facing eight felony counts, including two counts of sex assault against a child. A preliminary is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 6.