Yes, a big Nebraska company got an initial contract to rebuild the Key Bridge while the state seems to be trimming a lot of local road rehab out of the stressed budget. Meanwhile, health hazards -- coal dust, listeria and yes backyard chickens -- creep into our state. In the other 49 states, news of plastic bags and environmental foot-dragging, solar on public land, a Green New Bank and lots of news on the national front from various sources. It's after Labor Day, all the political newsletters are using terms like "the home stretch" and of course its fizzing state and nationwide. It's News You Can Use and these days there's never too much and it's always more than you can stand.

HERE IN MARYLAND

Baltimore, We Have a Builder. Nebraska-Based Company Selected to Construct New Key Bridge.

The Maryland Transportation Authority took the first step Thursday toward building a replacement for the toppled Francis Scott Key Bridge when it awarded a contract to construction giant Kiewit Infrastructure Co. for the project’s first phase.

The agency’s board approved a contract that will allow preconstruction and design work to start next week, marking a notable chapter in the five-months-long saga of the Key Bridge collapse and aftermath. Baltimore Sun

State To Pause A Top Transportation Plan: Worcester County officials are scrambling for options — and money — after learning that state transportation officials are pausing a top transportation priority — the widening of Route 90 and the replacement of its two bridges. Worcester is just one of the counties given tough news in the weeks leading up to today’s release of an updated draft of the Consolidated Transportation Plan, the state’s six-year transportation plan. Maryland Matters.

Curtis Bay Coal Piers Operation To Continue With Tentative Permit: The Maryland Department of the Environment has issued a draft of a permit that would allow CSX Transportation to continue operating a controversial coal terminal in Curtis Bay — but only if the railway giant agrees to make changes to the site that would reduce the amount of coal dust it generates. Baltimore Sun. 

Now Eight Listeria Cases in Md: You may want to think twice before unwrapping that deli meat in your fridge. A nationwide listeria outbreak is impacting Maryland with eight reported cases, according to the CDC. The CDC is advising families to not eat Boar's Head products after they were contaminated with listeria. WJZ- TV NEWS.

And: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Backyard Poultry

 Backyard poultry, such as chickens and ducks, can carry Salmonella germs even if they look healthy and clean. These germs can easily spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning, with over 400 cases emerging nationwide. No deaths have been reported. “You can get sick from touching your backyard poultry or anything in their environment and then touching your mouth or food and swallowing Salmonella germs,” the CDC said, warning “Don’t kiss or snuggle backyard poultry.”

THE OTHER 49

Ten States to Put Abortion on The Ballot, Including Maryland: After legal fights, counter-campaigns and bureaucratic wrangling all year long, as things stand today, abortion questions in 10 states – including Maryland – are heading to ballots in November. In March 2023, the Democratic-controlled Maryland legislature voted in favor of a referendum that put the “Right to Reproductive Freedom Act” before voters this fall. Abortion is broadly legal in Maryland. Question 1 would amend the state constitution to encode the right to “reproductive freedom,” including the right to make “decisions to prevent, continue, or end” a pregnancy. Maryland Matters.

Botched FAFSA Form Snarled College Enrollment Plans: After a long summer of technical glitches, most of America’s prospective college students finally applied for federal financial aid — an annual process upended by a redesign-gone-bad . The number of high school seniors who have completed their Free Application for Federal Student Aid is down 9% compared with this time last year, according to the National College Attainment Network. Associated Press/ WBAL- News Radio. 

First National US Green Bank Launches With IRA Funding

The first U.S.-based national green bank opened this week, run by the nonprofit Coalition for Green Capital with over $5 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the group announced Aug. 22. CGC, which also operates as the American Green Bank Consortium, said it will use the IRA’s funding for direct and indirect clean energy investments utilizing a network of state and local green banks, per the release. CGC said the EPA funding will allow the organization to invest directly in qualified clean energy projects and help create a “self-sustaining nationwide network of state and local green banks, community lenders and community partners. Utility Dive

Private School Tax Money Contested: Public school advocates have collected enough signatures to ask Nebraska voters to repeal a new law that uses taxpayer money to fund private school tuition, according to the state’s top election official. Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen confirmed that just more than 62,000 signatures had been verified, The Associated Press reports. Stateline

Numbersville: 152,356: The number of electric vehicle chargers installed in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said last week. The state has installed more than 24,000 chargers this year alone. (Governor’s Office) via Pluribus

Dark Highways, Fast Cars, Few Sidewalks — And More Pedestrian Deaths

Pedestrians die at the highest rates not in brightly lit big cities where sidewalks are crowded, but in rural areas where people often must walk on dark country thoroughfares never meant for foot traffic. Stateline

Climate Change Poses Health Risks. But It’s Hard to Fight When State Policy Ignores It.

Florida illustrates how the politicization of climate change has thwarted efforts to tackle the problem. Climate change is making Florida hotter and increasing the risk of flooding and severe storms. Increasingly, the state should expect “adverse public health outcomes, such as heat-related illness and mortality, especially among more vulnerable populations,” according to the state climatologist’s office at Florida State University. But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has opposed many efforts to address the causes and public health effects of climate change. As a result, Florida cities, counties and nonprofits have had to assume a greater role in dealing with higher temperatures — without sufficient money and resources to do so, many argue. Perhaps more than any other state, Florida illustrates how the politicization of climate change has thwarted efforts to deal with it. Stateline

ENVIRONMENT: California lawmakers approved a ban on thick plastic bags, a decade after they outlawed single-use bags at stores. The thick bags were exempted from the 2014 ban, but in the decade since its passage, plastic waste has hit new record highs. Eleven other states have adopted plastic bag bans over the last ten years. (Pluribus News) (paywalled) For more see KTLA Las Vegas

Numbersville 2: 32 million acres: The amount of federal land the Bureau of Land Management plans to open for utility-scale solar development in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and New Mexico. More than a third of that total territory is in Nevada. (Nevada Current) And speaking of Nevada’s power demands: 107.6 degrees: The average daily high in Las Vegas this summer, breaking a record that has stood since 1940. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

Semafor, with Gallup’s help, reports: “US voters’ outlook on the economy improved in August, although a majority still remain worried by the country’s economic prospects, new data from Gallup showed. Despite unemployment rates recently reaching a record low and inflation cooling from a two-decade high — as well as a months-long rally in equity markets — a historically low share of US voters approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy. Meanwhile a third of voters say economic issues are still the biggest problem facing the country. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ ability to distance herself from Bidenomics may well define the election, Janan Ganesh argued in the Financial Times.

Megan E, federal affairs director at our national affiliate People’s Action, reports “President Biden and Vice President Harris held a labor day campaign event in Pittsburgh yesterday where they touted the benefits of organized labor. Many union officials and scholars have called President Biden the most pro-labor president since F.D.R. due to his effort to insert requirements for prevailing wages, project-labor agreements and other  worker protections in federal spending programs as well as making the National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor more pro-union.

Also from People's Action:

Over 10,000 hotel workers went on strike Sunday to demand higher wages and better working conditions. [Many were laid off during the pandemic and say the big corporate hospitality/hotel chains have regained patronage at inflated rates but keep workers at pre-pandemic wage levels and low staffing, meaning speedups.]

There was a general strike and massive protests in Israel yesterday demanding that Prime Minister Netanyahu secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal after six hostages were found dead over the weekend. Families of hostages are pressing Netanyahu to get a deal done. Netanyahu is refusing to agree to a permanent ceasefire. 

The Harris-Walz campaign is trying to build a strong economic message with its housing plan and efforts to keep the prices of groceries down. From The Hill on V.P. Harris’s proposal:

nlike the wage-price spirals that occurred in previous instances of inflation, prices rose steadily throughout the pandemic as booming demand ran into supply constraints and gave businesses ample room to raise prices. ‘Price-gouging laws would not prevent companies from maintaining profit margins by passing on cost increases to customers and making more profit. But they would prevent companies from increasing profit margins, at least beyond a certain point, during an emergency. So, they would help extreme price increases,’ University of Massachusetts economist Isabella Weber told The Hill.

“Companies took advantage of the public perception that the price increases were justified because of the unique nature of the supply shocks,” Weber said. “If the public perception turns, companies might come under pressure to reduce prices.”

In other words, corporate greed partially drove up grocery prices and while a President Harris may or not have a Congress willing to pass a law addressing price gouging at the grocery store, her willingness to call out corporate greed could have a positive effect on future price increases. 

If you read one article on health care this year, it should be this Wall Street Journal article (Megan has pasted it in Google docs to avoid the paywall) on private insurers massive fraud on Medicare  "Questionable diagnoses of HIV and other maladies triggered extra Medicare Advantage payments; ‘It’s anatomically impossible.” The second in the series, “The One-Hour Nurse Visits That Let Insurers Collect $15 Billion From Medicare” indicates that “Information gathered from Medicare Advantage patients in their homes triggered extra payments; ‘It made me cringe’… also worth tracking down.

AHIP, the insurance lobby, has launched a seven-figure campaign promoting privatized Medicare this month. 

Congressional Democrats are starting to think about a budget reconciliation bill if they win a trifecta. I know, there is still a slim chance in Democrats holding the Senate, but there is a chance that there is a wave election and Democrats win a trifecta and we should be prepared. If Democrats put together a budget reconciliation package, I expect there to be big investments in the Care Economy, housing and health care. On housing, there will be a big amount of money for construction and we’d like to ensure that at least some of that goes to permanently affordable housing - public and social housing -- and not just subsidies to developers and landlords (see below). Upcoming legislation from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Tina Smith would create a massive investment in social housing. A strong show of support for that bill will help influence what goes in a budget reconciliation bill next year

Here's what you can do:

ISSUE UPDATE: CLIMATE

The hidden reason why your power bill is so high Utility bills are more expensive, and it’s not because of clean energy. Here’s what’s driving the rising costs and what you can do to make your bills cheaper.

ISSUE UPDATE: HOUSING

‘America is not a museum’: Why Democrats are going big on housing despite the risks -- Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to flip the script and own an issue impacting large swaths of Americans.