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.

NEWS YOU CAN USE MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2026

HERE IN MARYLAND

Free Grocery Store Opens in Prince George’s Library, Easing ‘Food Desert’: A free grocery store has opened inside the Fairmount Heights Branch Library in Prince George’s County. The Fairmount Five Market is a partnership between Prince George’s County and Goodr, an Atlanta-based company that has opened 34 similar stores across the country since 2021. Goodr founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston said the store will serve more than 200 families each month, offering meat, dairy, produce, juices and other grocery staples, all for free. “This is a real grocery store,” Crowe-Houston said. “This is not something that’s just giving to people. We really want it to be dignity and treating people well.” To shop there, residents had to apply in advance. WTOP via Maryland Matters 5/30

State Seeks Federal Aid For Farmers For ‘Catastrophic Damage’ To Crops In April Freeze: Gov. Wes Moore (D) petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wednesday for a disaster declaration for Maryland farmers after an early-season freeze in April caused “devastating” crop losses to orchards and vineyards in some counties. Maryland Matters Staff. 5/29

Year’s First Heat-Related Death Brings Safety Reminders from Health Officials: State health officials are urging Marylanders to take personal safety measures and check on vulnerable neighbors as temperatures start to rise this summer, following the death of an elderly man in Calvert County due to heat-related illness. “As we anticipate more hot days coming our way, we want to remind Marylanders of the steps they can take to guard against overheating, including visiting a local cooling center,” Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Meena Seshamani urged. “Remember to check on those who are particularly vulnerable to heat, including older individuals and people with chronic diseases.” Maryland Matters 5/30

Trial In Key Bridge Collapse Set For Monday. Will Any Eyewitnesses Show Up? It’s one of the most consequential maritime disasters in modern American history. But as the long-awaited civil trial over liability in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is set to begin, it’s unclear how many eyewitnesses will actually show up. Baltimore Banner. 5/29 and meanwhile Families Of Key Bridge Collapse Victims Reach Settlement With Dali Owners: The families of the victims of Baltimore's Key Bridge collapse have settled with the owners and operators of the M/V Dali container ship. The terms of the settlement are not being disclosed. CBS News. 5/29

State Dumps Moody’s 1 Year After It Downgraded Bonds: Maryland has ended a decades-long relationship with one of three major bond rating firms a year after that firm downgraded the state’s credit rating. The state is scheduled to go to an $800 million bond sale on Wednesday with ratings from Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and a relatively new firm, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, which took the place of longtime rating agency, Moody’s. Maryland Matters. 5/29

Senate President Faces Toughest Election Challenge As Redistricting Lurks In Race: After 16 years representing South Baltimore and the Inner Harbor, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) is facing his toughest primary race since his first election win. WYPR-FM. 5/29

Opioid dashboard launched to track settlement spending: Maryland has launched a public dashboard to track how opioid settlement dollars are received, distributed and spent across the state. Baltimore Sun Staff. 5/29

New Law Restricting Cell-Phone Use In Schools Earns High Marks: Maryland’s new law restricting cell-phone use in schools earned a “B” grade on Phone-Free Schools State Report Card. The state previously received an “F” grade for failing to pass a law during the 2025 legislative session. Baltimore Fishbowl. 5/28

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

Virginia, Maryland craft stricter coal ash rules as EPA pulls back: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this spring proposed loosening environmental regulations on dump sites for coal ash, aiming to meet the energy industry’s request for more flexibility. Virginia and Maryland are in the process of enacting stricter rules, but environmentalists are worried it may not be enough. The EPA is accepting public comments on the new rules until June 12. Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal. It contains heavy metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic, which are carcinogenic at high concentrations. Power plants dispose of this waste in landfills or pits. Excess stormwater or leaks in the linings of those landfills and pits can lead to contaminants entering groundwater or waterways. Bay Journal

Pushing back on everyday AI: Entrepreneur Sam Altman’s vision for a future when artificial intelligence is as ubiquitous as running water have prompted legislation in Pennsylvania to make clear that data centers are not public utilities. Maryland Matters

Virginia:Most data centers in Virginia are permitted to discharge water into municipal wastewater systems, the same place household water goes to be treated and recycled for consumption. But there’s limited data tracking of potential chemicals in data centers’ discharge water. States News 

Ohio lawmakers kicked off hearings for a new data center committee this week. Speakers from the industry, utility regulation, and state agencies largely tried to downplay the effect of data centers on the cost of power, the environment, and the economy, Ohio Capital Journal reports.

Ohio is now home to more than 200 data centers, with another 77 planned by the year 2030. “We are all driving data center demand,” Dan Diorio from the Data Center Coalition told lawmakers. Sure, artificial intelligence is a significant and growing driver, he said, but basic cloud computing infrastructure makes up the biggest share of data center computation. The number of people who are online now has almost doubled since 2018. “The average household has 21 connected devices,” he said, between phones, laptops, watches, TVs, and thermostats. “My oven is connected to Wi-Fi. I can preheat it from here.”

Polling from Gallup shows 7 in 10 Americans oppose data center construction in their neighborhood.

    Delaware Supreme Court upholds permit for offshore wind company, dealing a blow to ‘local control’  Decision may bear on Ocean City’s battle against offshore wind.

A controversial offshore wind project, planned near Ocean City, Maryland, cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a state law overriding Sussex County’s denial of a key permit for the development. The decision – which comes about two months after a lower court similarly ruled in favor of the state – also marked a blow to “local control” advocates who have argued that the state has overstepped its authority in zoning decisions several times over the past year. News from the States

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed Alabama to use a 2021 state Senate map that a lower court judge had ruled racially discriminatory against Black voters in two Montgomery-area districts, Alabama Reflector reports.

U.S. Circuit Judges Elizabeth Branch and Robert Luck — appointed by President Donald Trump — said that the state is entitled to a stay in the state Senate case because the case aligns more closely with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais in April, which substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, than the state’s ongoing congressional litigation. States Newsroom

Texas school police have tasered, tackled and pepper-sprayed students

School districts across Texas have spent billions of dollars to station police officers on every campus in the state. The effort, the most ambitious in the nation, was intended to protect students from school shootings and similar tragedies. But the constant presence of officers has transformed the way many public schools manage discipline, subjecting students to heavy-handed police tactics for behavior that once would have landed them only in the principal’s office, The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News found. Officers in Texas displayed startling belligerence at times, grabbing or tackling students a fraction of their size over misconduct that often appeared to be minor. Children in elementary school, including one as young as 6, were handcuffed. News from the States

Kentucky: Dozens of drinking water utilities disconnected ratepayers who owed less than $50 among other “unreasonably punitive” practices and policies by utilities, a new report finds. News from the States

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

The U.S. Postal Service on Friday took its first major step to carry out President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, proposing a rule that would require states to submit lists of voters before mailing ballots, the D.C. Bureau reports.

But the proposed rule appears to smooth over some of the rougher edges of the executive order, which has been condemned by Democratic state officials as an intrusion on their constitutional authority to administer elections. “The proposed rule would apply uniform standards for the mailing of absentee ballots to and from voters, which the Postal Service understands will facilitate the faithful execution of federal law,” the Postal Service said in a document posted on the Federal Register website. The executive order faces at least five lawsuits. Experts on the Postal Service have also warned that Trump’s attempt to assert authority over the agency threatens its decades-long record of independence. The order remains in effect for now ahead of the November midterm elections. A federal judge on Thursday declined to block it after finding the federal government had taken few steps to implement it. However, with Friday’s proposed rule, that’s beginning to change. News from the States D.C. Bureau

Despite the rising body count [now officially over 200] off the South American coast, researchers say cocaine is as easy to get in many parts of the United States as it was before the strikes began. NY Times

Our DC/Federal Affairs Director Megan E of People’s Action is sidetracked this week to support the People's Affordability & Democracy Summit but she has curated some excerpts from the Congress-watchers at Punchbowl:

The Senate is in session today. The House doesn’t return until Wednesday. 

These are critical weeks for Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress, with just over five months left until Election Day. Trump has been bogged down in peace negotiations with Iran. The conflict remains at a stalemate somewhere between war and peace. ...

House Democrats will push war powers votes this week on both Iran and Lebanon, challenging vulnerable Republicans to once again line up behind Trump. 

Trump has been directly confronting Congress — especially his own party — on a number of fronts. From defeating GOP incumbents to trying to put his face on U.S. currency to attempting to drastically revise how elections are conducted, Trump continues to push the boundaries of executive power.

All of this has left trust between Trump and GOP senators, in particular, at a low point.

Weaponization of reconciliation. The Republican reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the rest of Trump’s term is in real peril amid strident opposition to the administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

But the anti-weaponization fund is screwing up Trump’s ICE-and-CBP bill. As of now, Senate GOP leaders are struggling to see a clear path to 50 votes to kick off the floor process for the $70-plus billion reconciliation bill.

...

Even if the initial 50-vote threshold is cleared — meaning there’s an agreement with the White House on addressing the weaponization fund — the drama won’t end.

Democrats will be able to use the vote-a-rama to offer amendments centered on the fund, some at a simple-majority threshold, even if the fund isn’t in the bill. Aides in both parties believe many of these will be considered at a simple-majority threshold regardless of whether the fund is actually mentioned in the underlying reconciliation bill. That decision is up to the parliamentarian.

...

GOP leaders believe it’s nearly certain that enough Republicans will provide the votes for at least some of these to pass.

Dem strategy. The anti-weaponization fund and its impact on the reconciliation bill have been a political gift to Democrats.

The twin controversies stemming from the reconciliation bill — the “anti-weaponization” fund and security funding for Trump’s White House ballroom — fit neatly into Democrats’ midterm messaging: Republicans don’t care about average Americans’ problems.