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Trump's immigration policy, disastrous across the US and requiring Maryland folks to fight off detention centers and ICE offices across the state, is cutting into Hispanic student enrollment in the state's K-12 schools as well -- when enrollment numbers were already declining as school-agers lose ground to retirees.

The mortal scuffle over whether or not to redistrict in Maryland stays in court as more combatants lawyer up. Late spring frost (past tense) keeps tourists away even as a leetle tornado (present tense) doesn't help either. The ambivalence of the local residents in Greenbelt about having the new FBI headquarters placed there is suddenly back on the agenda, thanks to a judge; only the thought that Kash Patel will hopefully be a distant memory before the first shovelful is turned over makes the idea even halfway attractive. But Prince George's County has been shorted for decades on federal installations and, who knows, may be shorted again by the odious Supreme Court majority. Meanwhile, neighboring states feel the pinch as the effect of wholesale federal workforce sacking and federal budget cuts continue to whipsaw us too. Trump takes credit for falling drug prices that are actually traceable to a Biden initiative, and more and more little wars (according to several scholars) are starting to add up to one bigger one in ways we haven't got our heads around yet. Alas, it's News You Can Use.

If you’ve opened your utility bill lately and wondered, “Why is my bill so high?” you’re not alone. Families across Maryland are experiencing rate shock as electricity costs continue to climb, forcing many to make impossible choices between paying their utility bill and covering other household expenses.

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Data centers and their social and public costs continue to be big issues in states around the country (where land use is much more a science than it is in the federal government [see Trump, Donald]). Maryland is no exception, as the state's two main-party gubernatorial candidates squared off (but not in a debate setting, alas) on the big, flat buildings that fuel AI's Large Language Models (LLMs). Social and political costs spread out like flood waters at various parts of Maryland as counties and local governments find themselves up against new-hatched budget issues, a shortage of in-house expertise needed to improve the Chesapeake Bay's health, and the constant struggle to monitor and prevent excessive (and sometimes lethal) police violence.  Other states, which constitutionally control voting, are struggling with keeping their elections safe -- against the Trump gang and its captive justice system (see: danger to elections integrity) -- and with managing private schools that wallow in public money but have no monitoring or accountability. Then, on the national scene, we follow the do-nothing Congress, the do-it-for-Trump high courts and the do-everything-wrong executive branch. Wish we had better news. But that's News You Can Use for you. 

A joint General Assembly committee is poking Gov. Moore about a package of new regulations for buildings that seems to edge away from full alignment with federal standards.  Members have put a hold on approving them until answers are provided. Meanwhile, the divide between local police and ICE raiders appears to make the police helpless as ICE terrorizes locals and appears to be frightening many away from court appearances. We note in our national section that ICE, as promised by the new DHS brass,  is staying out of the headlines but amping up its seizures of folks both subject to their jurisdiction and not.

There's a heap of news from neighbor states, including hemp licensing in Virginia, voting rights protection in Delaware and education funding (or maybe not) in West Virginia.

Is cryptospora making its way to your food through the local sewer system? Check our national section, where you'll also find the D.C. roundup from our activist colleague Megan E, including the probable war crime of blocking oil shipments to Cuba, where folks are taking a  bigger hit than Iran, maybe. Guess it all depends on whom you think you can safely push around.

Yes, the effort to make Maryland liberal-business-friendly Dem from Eastern Shore to Allegheny West is under way (wishing them luck) but as we observe, other events inside and outside the state are noteworthy too -- 38 deaths from excessively hot weather in Maryland, surpassing all of last year by the beginning of August, while cyclosporia and measles continue to lurk, veiled behind news of the first West Nile case of the year.

Our Guv takes over as chair of the National Governors Association, apparently pursued by a defamation suit from the Baltimore Sun's Trumpy owner.

In news from the wider world, our readers might take extra steps to avoid needing a transfusion as the national blood supply reaches crisis level, and the Trump administration, irritated by all those citizens and NGOs winning suits to stop Trumpworld environmental despoliation or arrant neglect, asks a court to wipe out the Congressionally approved citizen-remedy opportunities written into the environmental protection acts of the good old days -- to protect from executive-branch malfeasance. And there's much more, including People's Action fed misbehavior specialist Megan E's report from D.C. It's all News You Can Use.

The Memo will be posted here after the email version has been sent.