TrumpWorld has more and more ways of poking at our sore spots in pursuit of retribution for his imagined insults and injustices: refusal to provide disaster aid to flooded Western MD communities; grasping attacks from public and private right-wing minions on states' lists of registered voters; hyper-aggressive ICE tactics right here in Maryland; two years and out for the housing-threatened; cuts in workplace safety and wage theft enforcement. Whew And EPA is working on a plan to pretend carbon dioxide has no effect on our climate (ask flood victims in Westernport). Plus, as you will see, everyday people in working families pushing back. The beat goes on, and so does the weekly News You Can Use...
HERE IN MARYLAND
Summaries via Maryland Reporter
State Plots Next Steps to Help W. Maryland After 'Gut Punch' From Fema: A decision to deny federal emergency aid to areas of Western Maryland hit hard by flooding in May is being called petty, partisan and punishing by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). State, federal and local officials met for 90 minutes inside a Westernport restaurant Sunday to discuss last week’s denial by FEMA and the next steps they can take. While there is bipartisan agreement that the denial is a “gut punch” to the area, ant that there must be an appeal, there is disagreement on the motivations behind the decision. Maryland Matters.
GOVERNORS: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) will chair the National Governors Association this year alongside vice chair Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). Stitt served as vice chair under outgoing chair Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who hosted governors at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs this weekend. (Baltimore Sun) via Pluribus
O.C. Wind Farm Battle Intensifies A coalition of Ocean City business owners are continuing the battle between US Wind and local opponents. A legal challenge questions whether environmental laws and the Administrative Procedure Act were properly followed in the approval process. WMAR-TV News.
MD People’s Counsel Says PJM Board Vacancies Are Chance for Utility Reform, Public Benefits: David Lapp, Maryland People’s Counsel, says “The current openings [at PJM, the 13-state grid authority] for a new chief executive officer and two board seats present an opportunity for a much-needed paradigm shift at the PJM Interconnection. PJM is supposed to be independent under federal law, but in practice PJM has proven much more interested in advancing policies responsive to big corporate interests than the welfare of consumers. Opinion in Utility Dive
The Little-Known State Agency Greenlighting Utility Rate Hikes: The five-member Public Service Commission signs off on major utility projects that often include significant cost to ratepayers. The regulatory body was formed to balance powerful utility companies and the public’s need for reliable, safe and affordable service. But some critics say the commission doesn’t ask BGE and other utilities tough enough questions, or simply doesn’t understand the scope of costly projects that are funded by ratepayers. Baltimore Banner (paywalled)
In rush for immigration arrests, a shift by ICE to ‘incredibly aggressive’ tactics in Maryland, advocates say: New data show that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have more than doubled since the beginning of the second Trump administration. ICE made 1,736 arrests this year in Maryland — 1,683 since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration — through June 26, according to data compiled by the Deportation Data Project, a research team based in Berkeley, California. That’s an average of about 9.8 arrests per day in Maryland in 2025. For comparison, there were 1,343 arrests in Maryland throughout all of 2024, for an average of about 3.7 arrests per day. States News
Maryland lawmakers denied entrance to Baltimore ICE detention facility, stage sit-in Congressional Democrats Monday appealed unsuccessfully to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official for permission to tour a temporary detention facility in Baltimore. Baltimore Sun
Carroll Co. Deputies Start Serving ICE Warrants Aug. 1: Deputies in Carroll County will officially start serving ICE warrants next Friday as part of the federal agency’s 287(g) program. Baltimore Sun.
Concern Or Hope: Federal Plan to Restrict Low-Income Housing: Those who study the housing market are giving mixed reactions to the Trump administration’s proposal to restrict federal rental assistance to two years for able-bodied adults. One side says the move will put low-income people at risk of losing their housing in an already tough market. While another says capping the program will actually improve the rental market for everyone, incentivizing landlords to lower rent. Baltimore Sun.
Proposed changes to Ocean City’s short-term rental rules fail in narrow vote A close vote in a special election in Ocean City means short-term rentals in the resort town can continue without added restrictions for now. Referendum Question A would have required renters in single-family homes to stay a minimum of five nights. That requirement would have increased to a 31-night minimum stay starting in 2027. The measure would not have applied to the city’s many condos, hotels, townhouses or other properties. The ordinance lost 834-800. WTOP news
A Break for BG&E Customers? Consumers in Maryland and a dozen other states across much of the mid-Atlantic region could be hit with up to 5% higher electricity costs next summer, but customers in Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s footprint just might be an exception. BGE bills are expected to decrease roughly $3.36 a month, thanks to some previously negotiated credits, but not until at least next June 1, an analysis by a state utility watchdog shows. Baltimore Sun
stice Dept., Conservative Law Firm Set Sights On Voter Registrations: Maryland elections officials face the potential of a federal investigation and a separate federal lawsuit led by local, state, and national Republicans over allegations of improperly maintained voter rolls. Maryland Matters.
THE OTHER 49
REGIONAL: PJM capacity prices set another record with 22% jump The Trump administration will likely seize on the auction results to justify keeping thermal power plants, namely coal, in PJM from retiring, according to analysts with Capstone. A year ago, PJM’s capacity auction sent shockwaves through its 13-state region [that includes Maryland] when prices for the delivery year that started June 1 soared by nearly ten times to $269.92/MW-day for most of its footprint, up from $28.92/MW-day.
HOUSING: Lawmakers in Montana, New Jersey and Rhode Island have enacted new taxes on mansions, second homes and short-term rentals this year to generate new revenue. The taxes help make tax codes more progressive, falling on out-of-state owners who drive up property values. (Pluribus News) paywalled
SECURITY: Minnesota lawmakers will be allowed to access up to $4,500 in funding to add security systems, deadbolts and other safety measures to their homes in the wake of the assassination of former Speaker Melissa Hortman (D). Existing state law allows lawmakers to spend up to $3,000 in campaign funds on security measures. (MPR News) via Pluribus
More Americans are family caregivers; states struggle to help them, report finds More than 63 million Americans are caregivers for a family member with complex medical needs, a 20 million increase over the past decade, according to a new report. But state policies, workplaces and the American health system haven’t kept up with this surge in family caregiving responsibilities, said the AARP, which released the report with the National Alliance for Caregiving, a nonprofit policy and research organization. One of the biggest reasons for the surge in family caregivers is that Americans are living longer, yet they’re not necessarily healthier. There’s a 12-year gap between the average number of years that Americans live and the number of years they’re healthy. States News
IMMIGRATION: Democratic lawmakers in at least five states have introduced bills to ban law enforcement personnel from wearing face coverings while performing their duties. Bills in New York and Pennsylvania would require agents to operate in clearly visible uniforms with name badges and identifying apparel. (Pluribus News) (paywalled) The measures, targeted at ICE agents conducting immigration raids, contain exemptions for medical masks and breathing apparatuses used to prevent smoke or toxin inhalation.
ELECTION RECORDS, INVASIVE FEDS Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s (D) office has rejected a federal Justice Department request to share the state’s voter registration list. In a letter sent Friday, general counsel Justin Erickson said the Justice Department did not identify a legal basis for its request, similar to ones made to officials in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS
TRUMP’s behaviors and actions make so little sense to normal people that we all wonder if there’s a through-line, some basic truth that helps us make sense of him while we wait (please!) for the end of the Trump era. It takes a world-class anthropologist to dig out the hind-brain impulses that direct Trump’s behavior, and The Guardian offers Arjun Appadurai. “Every deal begins with his needs and every deal feeds his wants. He thus appears to be like other super-rich people: seemingly bottomlessly greedy, chasing the next buck as if it is the last buck, even when they have met every criterion of satiation. But Trump is different, because his brand of greed harks back to an idea of leadership that is primarily about adversarial dealmaking, rather than about innovation or improved managerial techniques.” In other words, as Gore Vidal said about politicians he had known, "It's not enough to win. Somebody must lose." Wonky but worth a read.
Deaths on their heads: Even more appalling numbers as a result of the Big Ugly Bill: “…researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Public Health tried to calculate how many more people would die as a result of the law. Analysing the House of Representatives’ version of the bill, they came to 42,500 annually by 2034… Adding in the impact of the end of the enhanced subsidies for people buying their own insurance, they reckoned there would be over 51,000 extra deaths a year.” (The Economist, bold emphasis ours). Since there are 219 Republicans in the House and 53 in the Senate (total 272), each member who voted for the bill will personally have 256 and a quarter deaths on his or her head. Annually.
Labor Change Will Hurt Workers, Spare Violators Employers will have far less incentive to comply with an anti-wage theft law under a new Department of Labor rule. The Progressive.
The federal Department of Labor (DOL) plays a crucial role in enforcing laws that protect marginalized and low-income workers from wage theft, which includes underpayment, denial of overtime, and misclassification of employees. An article in The Progressive indicates that recent actions to strip the DOL and other civil services will result in diminished capacity to protect workers. This year, Maryland was named the worst state in the nation for wage theft. In Prince George’s County, construction workers have filed a class-action lawsuit to recover unpaid wages from subcontractors managing projects for Prince George’s County Public Schools. from PGDSA People’s Bulletin
E.P.A. Is Said to Draft a Plan To End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change: “ it would eliminate the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse-gas emissions threaten human life by dangerously warming the planet. The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding – the dangers of carbon produced by fossil fuels -- that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan.” NYT via Portside
Megan E, federal affairs director for our national affiliate People’s Action, will weigh in tomorrow with her weekly newsletter on the foibles of the feds and how to fight back. Look for it tomorrow, right here.