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

States from coast to coast are wrestling with the impact of data centers on their own resources -- clean water, electric power availability, encroachment on residential areas -- and many states are pushing back on the Trump administration's basically hands-off approach to managing AI and its billionaire perps in Silicon Valley and Austin. (POLITICO notes that there are three divergent views on controlling AI just within the White House, allowing for a circular firing squad, so don't expect Trump's delayed executive order on AI to come out anytime soon.) In Maryland, uncertain weather brings a request for federal disaster declaration for the state's farmers because of a freeze in April; the state's health officials are concerned by the first heat-related death recorded last week. A mega-El Nino may be shuffling the deck.

Coalition highlights housing justice, people-powered organizing, and the urgent need to stand together against corporate Super PACs attempting to buy the election

SILVER SPRING, MD — Today [5/27], more than 50 community members, advocates, labor allies, and local organizations gathered at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring to call for a Montgomery County that puts working families first — not wealthy donors and corporate-backed Super PACs attempting to buy influence in the County Executive race.

Speakers from CASA in Action, Jews United for Justice, SEIU, the Montgomery County Education Association, and Progressive Maryland joined residents and working families to reject outside spending and uplift a shared vision for a county rooted in affordability, dignity, democracy, and people-powered leadership.

As outside groups flood the race with money and attack ads, community leaders drew a direct line between the powerful interests bankrolling these efforts and the rising housing costs and economic pressures pushing working families further out of Montgomery County.

“As someone born and raised in Montgomery County, there’s nothing more important to me than seeing my neighbors flourish under leadership that genuinely cares for us — not outside interests with ulterior motives, but community members who truly know and dedicate themselves to our neighborhoods,” said Tamara Zuniga, a member of Progressive Maryland.

“Montgomery County’s future should be decided by the people who live here — not corporate Super PACs, wealthy developers, or outside interests trying to buy influence in this election,” said Katherine Caceres, CASA in Action canvasser and Maryland resident. “As a CASA in Action canvasser, I talk to Montgomery County families every day who are worried about rent, rising costs, and whether they can afford to stay in the communities they helped build. What I hear at the doors is clear: residents want leaders who will fight for working families, immigrants, renters, and everyday people — not the powerful interests trying to drown out our voices.”

“The developer Super PAC attacking Will Jawando is being funded by some of the largest developers and out-of-state real estate interests in the country,” said Cheryl Gannon of Neighbors for Will. “These are the same wealthy interests tied to the rising affordability pressures families are already feeling across Montgomery County. People want communities they can afford to stay in, not politics dominated by massive outside spending.”

The press event centered on the urgent need to protect the voices of everyday residents — including immigrant families, workers, renters, educators, and community members — from corporate political influence. Speakers emphasized that Montgomery County’s future should be shaped by the people who live and work here, not by outside special interests attempting to drown out local voices.

Community members also highlighted the growing housing crisis and the need for leaders who will prioritize working families, protect immigrant communities, and fight for a more affordable Montgomery County.

The coalition made clear that residents are organizing, mobilizing, and speaking out to ensure Montgomery County remains a place where working families can live, thrive, and have a real voice in their democracy.

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

Life goes on here in Maryland with higher prices not only at the gas pump but on the grocery and other store shelves. We're getting an education, in case we missed the memo, that everything still gets delivered mostly on the wings of gas or diesel. And the global price for petroleum, much of it bottled up in the Strait of Hormuz, goes higher this morning as the hopes for an agreement to stop the guns and open the strait look shaky as of this morning. As noted above, the timeline for our needs here in Maryland is extending in both directions. Early childhood education (and caregiving!) is more and more critical to the flexibility households and families need to make a sustainable life. At the same time, Maryland's caregivers in health care areas are ageing and not being replaced as quickly as is needed. This two-way stretch can be crucial to the state's overall social and economic health, and this is not a problem to put off for a decade or so -- it is here, staring us in the face. There's not a whole lot that is clear yet about how the growth of Artificial Intelligence will change our collective and individual relationship to work, employment and compensation, but it is for sure that it will affect the two caregiving stages we are discussing -- so AI has got to be proactively harnessed for public provision, rather than enriching the few who possess it now.

Read on: It's News You Can Use

It's a potpourri this week, with significant but unsensational (mostly) stories coming out of Maryland -- the floundering Trump war machine soaks up most of the attention. Health insurance costs get a double dose of coverage, as do arguments about ICE facilities in the state. Flailing about on the current war is hurting Trump most, Politico Playbook reports: "according to the latest NYT/Siena poll. 64 percent of voters say going to war was the wrong decision, more than double the share who think it was right. Trump is at 31 percent approval for his handling of the war and 37 percent overall job approval."

The Monday message from People's Action about doings in Congress reminds us in Maryland that our national reps are vulnerable to the big-money PACs -- most recently,  a power-financed one from Big Crypto that is bringing senators (one of ours, included) into line to vote crypto's way on the Clarity Act, as it is called. 

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

The Trump administration is threatening everyone, state by state, from threats to the Chesapeake Bay from EPA to (successfully) bullying GOP state legislators on redistricting to wrecking the economy while trying to wiggle his way out of his disastrous war of choice in the Persian Gulf. The last time the Persian Empire definitely, inequivocally lost a war was against Alexander the Great. Trump ain't him.

Here in Maryland, a significant but way overdue event -- laying the last tracks for the Purple Line -- took place last week. It's the state's biggest mass-transit effort at this point (Baltimore Red Line, please phone your office). 

Those who worry about gun violence in the state -- and they should -- can be sombrely comforted that the biggest danger to gun owners is to themselves and their families. Opioid deaths, however, are down sharply. And, as the summer approaches, the state Parks system hopes a new reservation process will make it easier to enjoy the many still-wild parts of Maryland.

And BTW, if you are trying to pick a baby name, it doesn't have to be Olivia or Liam (top choices for seven years, wha?). The AP has a chart of runners-up to help out. It's News You Can Use.