Are we ready to spend $780 million on our school systems statewide? In the next ten days? Maryland school officials assure an inquiring reporter that they can do it before that federal deadline. We can imagine some proposals, from actual teachers. And as we enter October, voting gets under way -- mail voting sooner, early voting a little later, and fussing about the Senate race still under way. Read more about this, plus what's going on (good and bad examples) in other states and at the federal level, including (eeew) Congress. It's all News You Can Use.

IN MARYLAND

Spending Money: Public School Officials Say They Will Find Use For $780m In Next 10 Days: Maryland school officials said they are confident they will able to obligate almost $780 million in federal funds in the next 10 days – money that will have to be returned to the federal government if they don’t. The funding is part of $1.95 billion Maryland received in use-it-or-lose-it pandemic-relief funds for schools from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, program. As of this week, Maryland had spent 60.7% of the total, for $1.18 billion. Maryland Matters/MD Reporter.

MD Dems Say Hogan’s Words On Trump Don’t Match Record: Former Gov. Larry Hogan paints himself as one of a few Republicans who never backed down to ex-President Donald Trump, but the Democratic attorney general who served during Hogan’s two terms disagrees. Baltimore Banner [May be paywalled] /MD Reporter

Election Official Warns of Voter Scams: Scammers posing as election workers are trying to mislead Maryland voters with fraudulent text messages, prompting concerns at the State Board of Elections. The scammers are telling voters they’re not registered to vote in November and then urging them to click a false link to remedy that, said Jared DeMarinis, the board’s state administrator of elections. Capital News Service in Maryland Matters

Environmentalists Conclude Nuclear Energy Part Of Solution: As Maryland officials scramble to meet the state’s ambitious clean energy mandates, they are coalescing around a concept that seemed unthinkable a decade ago: That nuclear energy must be part of the solution. Even environmentalists are coming to terms with the idea. Maryland Matters/MD Reporter

FBI, U.S. Atty Board Ship Managed By Dali Company: Federal agents on Saturday boarded a vessel managed by the same company as a cargo ship that caused the deadly Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, the FBI confirmed. In statements, spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland confirmed that authorities boarded the Maersk Saltoro. The ship is managed by Synergy Marine Group. Associated Press/MD Reporter.

Carroll Lawmakers Oppose Transmission Line Project: The six state lawmakers who represent Carroll County signed a letter listing five reasons they strongly oppose the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project. The proposed project would install a 70-mile transmission line through Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties. [see map, next entry] PJM, the organization responsible for operating and planning Maryland’s electric grid, has contracted the Public Service Enterprise Group to complete the $424 million project with a proposed date of operation of June 2027. Carroll County Times/MD Reporter

Map Of Potential Piedmont Reliability Project Power Lines:  Ahead of a required application to state regulators expected by the end of the year, contractor PSEG has identified 10 potential routes for transmission lines regional electrical grid operator PJM says are needed amid power plant retirements and growing demand as part of the controversial Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project. Baltimore Sun. /MD Reporter

Students File Lawsuit Against UMD For Canceling Vigil: A lawsuit has been filed against the University of Maryland, College Park for canceling an Oct. 7 vigil. Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a lawsuit on behalf of University of Maryland Students for Justice in Palestine. Fox45 News. /MD Reporter

Ballot Drop Boxes Are Installed, Here Are The Deadlines: The Maryland State Board of Elections completed the installation Wednesday of 286 ballot drop boxes across the state for the general election. Marylanders can use any drop box to cast their mail-in ballots, which may arrive in homes as early as next week. Capital News Service/MD Reporter

Voting Season Begins With Mail In Ballots Sent On Friday: The general election voting season starts soon in Maryland, with mail-in ballots being sent out as early as Friday, according to Maryland Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis. All mail-in ballots requested thus far are due to be sent to voters by Monday. Mail-in ballots can be requested online or by mail by Oct. 29 through the State Board of Elections website. Voters can request them in person at a local board of elections office. Baltimore Sun/MD Reporter

Abortion Rights On Maryland Ballot: On the ballot this fall, Marylanders are asked whether reproductive rights should appear in the state constitution. Advocates for and against the referendum are working to sway voters. The referendum will appear as Question 1 asking voters to decide whether a right to reproductive freedom should be constitutionally guaranteed.  CNS/Maryland Reporter

Beaches May Reopen While Source Of Medical Waste Remains A Mystery: State and federal officials hope to be able to reopen beaches up and down the Delmarva peninsula to swimming by this weekend, but are still puzzled over the source of medical waste that led to the closures beginning Sunday. Maryland Matters/Md Reporter

Transmission Line Proposal Sparks Controversy: 70-mile transmission line proposed to cut through three counties in Maryland starting at the Pennsylvania border seems to have emerged out of left field, catching hundreds of homeowners, farmers, and even politicians off guard. The project has sparked outrage and more questions than answers about why the transmission line is being proposed, what can be done for homeowners, and what – if anything – the state can do. Fox 45 News. MD Reporter

CDC: Maryland Among 11 States Seeing Gains in Life Expectancy New federal data shows that life expectancy in Maryland increased slightly in 2021, a feat that only a handful of states reached in a year when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing and most states saw decreased life expectancy. Maryland Matters.

THE OTHER 49

States' Medicaid Costs Set to Increase

Thanks to significant pandemic-era federal funding, state spending on Medicaid has been relatively low recently compared to its long-term trend—but that's set to change. As federal support decreases, states will need to cover a larger portion of these expenses, potentially reducing the funds available for other key public services, such as education, transportation, and public safety. Maryland is moderately affected by the change – see Pew State Policy Center’s interactive map and chart.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration is awarding more than $3 billion to fund 25 electric vehicle projects in 14 states. Those projects, funded through the bipartisan infrastructure law, aim to help the U.S. electric vehicle market counter China’s dominance in battery production. (Associated Press) via Pluribus

Meltdown Memories on the Susquehanna: Microsoft and Constellation Energy have reached a deal to revive the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island as the tech giant seeks electricity for data centers powering the boom in artificial intelligence. Constellation expects Three Mile Island to go back online by 2028. (Bloomberg) via Pluribus

TX: Texas prisons and jails are recruiting more teenagers to shore up guard shortage | The Texas Tribune

CALI: Fizzy or Flat? Taxing sugary drinks can raise cities’ revenue and improve people’s health, according to research. But state restrictions and industry pushback have stalled such taxes. Can two ballot measures change that? In California, residents in two cities [Berkeley and Santa Cruz] will be voting in November on ballot measures aimed at curbing residents’ consumption of soda and other artificially sweetened beverages. Route Fifty

Study Shows Cali Should Return Water to Aquifers

A new UC Riverside study on California agriculture and climate proposes a plan for new water capture, storage, and distribution systems throughout California that will sustain agriculture and keep up with climate trajectories. Available water for consumption is disappearing because of climate change and failing storage systems, leaving one of its top consumers—the agricultural industry—scrambling, the study concludes. The study, published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that groundwater aquifers have more storage potential than surface water reservoirs. So, instead of devoting decades to build more dams and reservoirs that are subject to evaporation and overflow, water should be diverted into these depleted aquifers below the Central Valley and the coastal plains. Inside Climate News/Wired

NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

Report: Age Requirements, ‘Safe Storage’ Laws Can Curb Some Gun Violence Events

Many despair of a solution to the continuing epidemic of US gun violence, “but a new report says certain laws can make a difference. The report, published by Rand, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, found that minimum age requirements for purchasing firearms appear to reduce suicides among young people. Additionally, it indicated that laws aimed at reducing children’s access to stored guns [‘safe storage’] may also lower rates of firearm suicides, unintentional shootings and firearm homicides among youth. The study found that states with the most restrictive gun policies had a 20% lower firearm mortality rate compared with states with the most permissive laws, suggesting that comprehensive policy approaches may be more effective than individual policies in curbing gun violence.” Stateline Daily

DOE spurs new building energy codes with another $90M

Construction-heavy states that lack the latest energy-efficiency codes are among the focus areas for this round of federal funding, a U.S. Department of Energy official said. The Biden administration announced on Monday its latest push to modernize building energy codes across the country: $90 million in competitive awards to support states, cities, tribal nations and their partner organizations. The awards will fund 25 projects to ensure buildings meet the latest energy efficiency standards, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and people’s energy bills, according to a U.S. Department of Energy news release. Utility Dive

Low-Income Families Face High Energy Burden

  Energy bills are gobbling up significant amounts of U.S. low-income households’ annual income, warns a policy brief released Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Low-income households spent a median of 8.3% of their annual income on energy bills, surpassing the 6% threshold typically used to indicate a high energy burden. Homes inhabited by low-income families are more likely to have poor insulation and outdated HVAC systems as well as air leaks, Roxana Ayala, lead author of the policy brief and senior local policy research analyst at ACEEE, said in a statement. 

One in four low-income households spends more than 15% of its annual income on energy bills, according to the policy brief. Utility Dive

‘Doom Loop’ Alert: Transit Systems are Suffering — And Too Many Are Cutting Service

Ridership is still down, inflation, labor costs, pensions, and other operating costs are up, and many public transportation systems are slashing service. This is bad. As local leaders present budgets for the next fiscal year, public transportation funds are on the chopping block, in cities large and small. Pandemic relief funds, which have kept many systems afloat for the past few years, are set to be drawn down in many cities by the end of this fiscal year. At the same time, ridership has gone down, while inflation and rising labor costs, pensions, and other operating costs have only gone up. It's transit doom loop season: less ridership=lower revenues=service cuts=less ridership, and downward. Streetsblog

US House plans to ruin their own holidays:

Prepare for another government funding fight to ruin the Hill’s holiday season. House Republican leadership will put forth a short-term stopgap plan to fund the government with additional funding for the US Secret Service while excluding the twice-rejected election integrity proposal Speaker Mike Johnson had previously insisted on attaching to the measure. The new plan will fund the government through Dec. 20, positioning Congress for a new spending battle just before the holidays — and perhaps more importantly, after an Election Day that could shift the balance of power in both chambers. The House GOP anticipates a vote on the spending bill by Wednesday, and it’s likely that the Senate will follow suit with plenty of time before current funding expires on Sept. 30 (but not without conservative angst in the House). Semafor

TOPLINE: HERE IS THE MONDAY NEWSBLAST from Megan E, federal affairs director at our national affiliate People’s Action:

The Senate HELP Committee, chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders, voted unanimously to hold Steward Health’s CEO in civil and criminal contempt evading the subpoena to their hearing. This is the first time the HELP committee has held a witness in contempt in recent history. The hearing was held to examine the role of private equity in the collapse of a hospital system in Massachusetts that has declared bankruptcy and resulted in deaths and inadequate care while investors received big payouts. 

Senator Sanders gave a floor speech last week on his intention to file this week joint resolutions of disapproval that would block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel. He is working with other unnamed Senate offices and the joint resolutions will get a floor vote. While the measures are unlikely to pass, it’s an opportunity to pressure Senators to vote for the resolution and send a message to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden administration. His floor speech is available here. 

Last week, Senator Tina Smith (Minn) and Representative Ocasio-Cortez (NY)introduced the Homes Act, which would create and fund a new federal housing authority to fund and build social housing and convert existing units into social housing. The fund would also leverage its money to raise existing money through treasury bonds. They penned an oped on the bill in the NYTimes the same day and spoke at a Center for American Progress event that included several panels on addressing the housing crisis. People’s Action and member organizations the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Progressive Maryland attended the press conference. 

House Speaker Johnson’s efforts to pass a continuing resolution on his terms failed last week because his own Republican caucus members rejected it. That bill would have extended funding through March and had an anti-immigrant messaging bill attached to it. Trump demanded that the bill be attached and argued that any shutdown would be blamed on Democrats. Republicans in close races disagree. 

Yesterday, Johnson caved [see account above] and announced that the House will pass a bill to extend government funding at current levels until Dec. 20th dropping the anti-immigrant bill. This will tee-up a larger spending package at the end of the year, which will open doors for negotiating a larger spending package, actual legislating,  something far-right Republicans want to avoid.

The bill, which is likely to get signed into law before Monday’s shutdown deadline includes more money for the Secret Service, which Republicans initially opposed but then Trump’s people argued for. 

From Politico: “The administration, meanwhile, didn’t get the extra $12 billion it wanted for the VA, which is bracing for serious belt-tightening this year. There’s also no additional disaster relief, either — though the CR allows FEMA to spend down its funding faster than it would have otherwise, in the expectation that more cash will be coming down the road.”

From CBS News interview with Lina Khan: “As the youngest ever Federal Trade Commission chair, Lina Khan has taken on scores of companies and preached the perils of business monopolies. Her pursuit of big business represents a policy shift after a decades-long FTC hands-off approach,  allowing most mergers and acquisitions. Under President Biden, however, the FTC and Justice Department have unleashed a crackdown and sued scores of big companies, including TicketMaster, Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. Some worry going after tech giants could have a domino effect, destabilizing the economy. ‘But we also should worry about the destabilizing effect that can arise from companies believing that they're above the law, and they can be reckless, take massive risks in ways that can crash the economy and then they can get away with just a slap on the wrist," Khan said in a recent 60 Minutes interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl. "And that creates a destabilization, too.’”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Issue Update: Climate

How this one climate fix means a school nurse sees fewer students sick from the heat

Around 36,000 schools in the U.S. are in need of updated heating and cooling systems, according to the Government Accountability Office

New $50 million grant program will help ‘decarbonize’ low-income housing in Mass.

The money can be used for things like swapping fossil heating systems for air or ground-source heat pumps, upgrading electrical panels, replacing old windows, adding insulation and installing rooftop solar panels.

Issue Update: Housing

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order directing state agencies to develop a housing action plan to increase affordable units in the commonwealth