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.
HERE IN MARYLAND
Moore and Cox differ on data centers at Maryland conference As two-time Republican nominee for Maryland governor Dan Cox (R) puts it, hyperscale data centers are a "big difference between Wes Moore and me." Cox, speaking at a candidate forum Saturday, has called for a statewide moratorium banning hyperscale data centers. Moore did not have an opportunity to respond to Cox's remarks at the podium. But he spoke about the importance of careful data center regulation in Maryland. Moore also repeated what is becoming a common refrain of his: That any data centers in Maryland ought to bring their own energy, pay for their own infrastructure improvements, hire local union labor and meet environmental regulations. Maryland Matters
State Urges Counties To 'Make A Wish List' During Data Center Freezes: Gov. Wes Moore’s energy office has a message for all of the Maryland counties with temporary data center moratoriums: Make your wish list. “Use the time that you have bought yourselves with your local moratorium, talk to other communities that have figured this out,” said Ian Ullman, deputy director of the Maryland Energy Administration. “And make your wish list. This is the time.” Christine Condon/Maryland Matters via Maryland Reporter
FBI-Led Crime Sweep Results In 109 Arrests: A three-week law enforcement operation targeting violent offenders across Maryland and Delaware resulted in 109 arrests, federal officials announced Thursday. The FBI-led effort brought together more than a dozen federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as part of the agency's nationwide Summer Heat 2.0 initiative to reduce violent crime. Jared Adkins/WMAR 2. via Maryland Reporter
ACLU Analyzes Data In 143 Police Custody Deaths: Many police in-custody deaths in Maryland resulted of institutional failures, according to a report released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union. WBAL TV via Maryland Reporter
Maryland To Use $80m In Fed Funds For Rural Health Program: The Maryland Department of Health has announced its awarding of $80 million in grant funding as a part of the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program. The five-year grant program was authorized last summer under President Donald Trump’s massive reconciliation package commonly referred to as the One, Big Beautiful Bill or HR 1. WYPR-FM via Maryland Reporter
Local Governments, Crucial to Bay Health, Lack In-House Expertise, Report Says: Local governments are widely seen as crucial to restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. Many, though, lack the workforce and expertise to carry out the work. A new report reveals that more than 120 “technical assistance” programs have sprouted across the Bay watershed trying to fill those gaps. But those efforts are themselves plagued by gaps — gaps in what type of services are provided and where help is available. Funding can also vary significantly from one year to the next. Bay Journal
County Leaders Look For Options As Budgets Get Tighter: County leaders said they need more options to help weather mounting budget pressures driven by reductions in state aid coupled with costs shifted to local governments and mandated education spending. Maryland Matters via Maryland Reporter
Ripple Effects Of AHEAD Model Could ‘Topple’ State Healthcare System, Carefirst Warns: Insurance companies like CareFirst are watching Maryland officials navigate a multiyear transition into a new structure that will ultimately remove the state’s authority to set hospital rates for services covered by Medicare, an authority it’s had for decades. Maryland Matters via Maryland Reporter
Report: Childcare Needs Access, Affordability, Investments: States need to streamline sometimes cumbersome requirements for childcare providers, in addition to improving access and affordability and investing in childcare workers to strengthen the system for the future, according to a national report. The 40-page report by a 13-member committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures — including Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-Baltimore County), who has been a child care provider for more than 25 years — said that no one solution will work across the country, but that “incremental fixes alone are unlikely to address its underlying challenges.” Maryland Matters. 7/14
THE REGION/THE OTHER 49
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Super PACs backed by major AI companies have already dumped more than $20 million into state-level campaigns this year, funding advertisements that for the most part do not mention AI as a campaign issue. The funding has poured into races in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas, according to the Tech Oversight Project, which tracks AI super PAC ads. (Pluribus News) [paywalled]
UMWA calls for ‘immediate’ enforcement of silica rule as black lung hits new high in WV, Appalachia: The United Mine Workers of America made an “urgent demand” of the federal government last week for the “immediate, uncompromised” enforcement of previously approved policies and rules that would protect coal miners from incurable black lung disease. The call from the UMWA comes after new research this month shows that black lung rates have increased to an almost 50-year high after years of decline, with the highest rates of the disease found in miners from central Appalachia. “More needs to be done, and it needs to be done now,” said UMWA International President Brian Sanson in a news release. “Miners are wearing masks, they are following rules, and yet they are still breathing in killer dust. We will not stand by while federal regulations are ignored and sat on while our members and coalfield workers pay for it with their lives.”
Inside the Wild West of private schools that take taxpayer dollars: As private schools proliferate, states are taking a hands-off approach to regulating them. School founders often aren’t screened. Some states can't even say how many of these schools exist. Pro Publica. And here the nonprofit journalism outlet takes a closer look at one such school, in Wisconsin.
GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS
U.S. Department of Justice files new charges against Southern Poverty Law Center
The U.S. Department of Justice last week filed a superseding indictment in its prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center in April. The updated criminal complaint increased the number of charges filed against the SPLC from 11 to 14 and included another defendant, Heidi Beirich, who managed the covert program the civil rights group operated to obtain intelligence from extremist groups dating back to the 1980s. The SPLC said in a statement Thursday that confronting extremist groups “is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do.”
While the overall financial well-being of most adults held steady in 2025, the financial well-being of Black adults declined, more likely to experience layoffs, and more likely to report major concerns about making ends meet, says a report from the Economic Policy Institute. “Structural inequities embedded in the U.S. economy and labor market have historically left communities of color disproportionately vulnerable to economic insecurity and poverty, and the Federal Reserve’s survey shows that this trend is continuing.” EPI via Portside
No more ‘hypothetical situations’: States move to fortify elections against Trump
State Democratic officials are preparing for chaos at the polls this November, as President Donald Trump casts doubt on election security and pushes for more federal involvement in local voting. “We’re no longer talking about hypothetical situations,” said Nick Brown, Washington state’s Democratic attorney general, noting the president’s push to nationalize election administration and to question the integrity of upcoming elections. Brown is among the many Democratic state officials raising alarms over how Trump may seek to interfere with or challenge the results of November’s midterms. At stake is not only whether Republicans will maintain their grip on Congress, but also the control of state legislatures across the country. Democratic gains at either the state or national levels could provide a new check on Trump, who has sought to significantly expand executive power in his second term. State lawmakers have introduced new legislation this year with the aim of protecting polling places this November. And behind closed doors, Democratic attorneys general and local election officials have sought to anticipate and prepare for ways the federal government could interject itself into local elections.
Pentagon hiring boards add secrecy, delays to civilian hiring: Panels were created by Trump order to ensure hires meet ‘the national interest, agency needs and the priorities of my administration’ -- Four committees have sprung up across the Defense Department to vet new workers. But their work is largely shrouded in secrecy nearly one year after President Donald Trump mandated the committees’ creation in an executive order last October. “Nobody really knows what’s happening, and agencies are still figuring out how to make this work,” said Jenny Mattingley, vice president for public policy and stakeholder engagement at the Partnership for Public Service. Federal News Network
BY THE NUMBERS: A new report by Public Citizen’s Douglas Pasternak finds that 57 Trump administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors, are each worth at least $100 million. For comparison, the Bush, Obama and Biden administrations each had three to five of those ultra-wealthy individuals. POLITICO Playbook
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Here’s the update on hi-jinks and lowlights from all three broken branches of the US government, brought to us by Megan E, the federal affairs director at Progressive Maryland’s national affiliate, People’s Action.
Hello People's Action!
It’s August recess and a great time to hold Republicans accountable in district for their cruel and harmful policy choices that are taking our health care and making our costs go up while giving tax breaks to the rich and creating the biggest Department of War and Pentagon budget in U.S. history. I’ve created this Resource Guide: Republican Budgetary & Policy Priorities & the Cost of Their Cruelty with lots of data on the various legislation that has passed and several sources of state and district level data. I’ll keep cleaning it up and adding to it so please send any other good sources my way.
Here’s an article on last week’s Dump Big Tech Week of Action! I’ll share more of a recap next week.
ELECTIONS
People power beat money again in Minnesota! Last week progressive Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, beat crypto and corporate-backed Angie Craig in a close and expensive (for Angie) Senate primary in Minnesota. Unfortunately, progressive Wisconsin Governor candidate and Democratic Socialist state Representative Francesca Hong lost to the establishment candidate David Crowley by 0.4%. Here’s an analysis of that race.
There’s a lot of national hot takes on progressives & DSA’s performance in the primaries this cycle - some good and some stupid (Rahm Emmanuel’s back with his move to the center strategy that worked so well during the Obama years that we got Trump as president). The Daily interview with the NY Times Nate Cohn is worth listening to as he’s deep into the data. Unsurprisingly, the path to a progressive/Left Democratic nominee is through young people.
MEDICARE FOR ALL
Ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden announced his support for Medicare for All at a health care town hall last week after hearing testimony about Oregon’s collapsing health care system. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid and Wyden is leading an open Request for Information requesting comments on how Democrats should reform our health care system. It’s a big deal for him to support Medicare for All and adds to the momentum that the bill is gaining as Democrats are better understanding the limitations of reining in corporate greed in the system and progressives are surging in the primaries.
It’s time to decouple health insurance from employment. Gallup is out with a new poll. “Nearly one in four U.S. workers (24%), the equivalent of about 23 million adults, report “job lock” — staying in their current job, even though they want to leave, because they are afraid of losing their health insurance — according to a new study from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America. This marks an eight-percentage-point increase since 2021.”
- Percentage staying in unwanted jobs for health insurance is up eight points since 2021
- Half of workers highly stressed by healthcare costs stay in jobs for insurance
- 29% of those with chronic conditions stay for insurance, versus 17% without
ACTIONS TO TAKE
Follow us on our socials, we’ll be posting some of this information throughout August and September. Check out this post on the cost of deportations in key counties where Republicans have chosen to fund the ICE budget over investments in people. And this one on the profiteering off the Iran War.
Join our Deep Canvas for Democracy phonebanks!
In solidarity,
Megan
Read our Organizing Revival White Paper - The Antidote to Authoritarianism
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