Welcome to News You Can Use, a Monday roundup of news about federal follies, the pushback or acquiescence from some states, and the goings and comings of laws, ideas and behaviors in our home statte of Maryland. As usual, we start with events here at home.

HERE IN MARYLAND

Summaries from Maryland Reporter

Trump To Pump $700m Into Coal Power In The States, Blasts Renewable Energy: The federal government will spend $700 million on building or refurbishing coal power infrastructure across the country in a boost to “clean, beautiful coal,” President Donald Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. A defunct plant in Maryland would also be restarted. Those projects would be funded with $200 million in Department of Energy grants. Maryland Matters. (6/5)

Suicides Fall Nationwide, But Not In Maryland: The 2026 edition of “Pain in the Nation: The Epidemics of Alcohol, Drug, and Suicide Deaths,” released this week, said deaths by suicide fell 3% nationwide from 2023 to 2024, Maryland actually saw a 4% increase, one of more than a dozen states to see a rise that year. Why Maryland didn’t see the same progress as the nation is unclear, but advocates and public health experts say the report’s findings can be used to further build on suicide prevention efforts in the state and nation. Maryland Matters.

Rep Harris Defends Cutting Millions from WIC Food Program: The U.S. House last Thursday passed an appropriations bill that would cut $141 million in funding for fruit and vegetable benefits for the nearly 5.4 million children and pregnant and postpartum women. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, said that despite cuts, the $8 billion remaining is sufficient since Agriculture Department data “clearly shows” that WIC participation has been declining during the current fiscal year. But advocates and experts argued that that data reflects only the first quarter of the fiscal year, which includes the fall government shutdown that led to a decrease in program enrollment. WaPo >>While Harris said, “I am proud to lead this legislation, which invests in the farmers, watermen, ranchers, and rural communities that power American agriculture — from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to agricultural regions across the country,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen said, “Marylanders simply cannot afford more cuts to critical investments that help families put food on the table and support our farming communities.” He added that he would monitor the bill as the Senate considers its version of the legislation. Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore Carries Third Highest Bond Debt In Maryland: As Baltimore voters prepare to decide this fall whether to authorize another $280 million in city borrowing, data shows the city already carries one of the heaviest bond debt burdens in Maryland. According to Maryland’s 2026 Debt Measures Report, Baltimore City has approximately $4.1 billion in outstanding bond debt, the third-highest total among Maryland jurisdictions, behind Montgomery County, at $8.9 billion and Prince George’s County, at $5.8 billion. Baltimore Sun.

AMTRAK Northeast Corridor Shut After Barge Hits Bridge: Thousands of rail passengers traveling between Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York faced delays Saturday after a barge struck Amtrak’s Susquehanna River Bridge, forcing officials to temporarily halt train traffic along one of the nation’s busiest passenger rail corridors. Baltimore Sun.

Some MD Federal Workers Lose Civil Service Protection With New Order: Federal workers in Maryland will lose civil service protections after President Donald Trump signed an executive order reclassifying some employees’ status. The executive order converts about 8,000 federal workers into at-will employees, which means they can be fired without any reason. WYPR-FM. 

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. Bay Journal

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

Last winter, the Trump administration signed accords with tech companies and 13 governors, including Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose states share the PJM Interconnection electricity grid, pledging to put people before data centers. A GOP lawmaker in the Pennsylvania House now says those agreements provide the solution to the commonwealth’s energy crisis, Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports. Rep. Craig Williams, who spent part of his career as a utility lawyer, introduced legislation that would codify the principles of those agreements in state law. Data center developers would be required to “build, bring or buy” new sources of power; pay for upgrading transmission lines and other infrastructure; and to pay for the power and related costs whether they use the electricity or not.

Data center power line gets pushback in Northern Virginia
Loudoun County has welcomed data centers and their tax revenue for decades. The county raked in $875 million from the facilities in 2024 alone for roads, schools and transit. But now the region is paying the physical costs, with power lines that might go through green spaces and people’s backyards — people like Vicky Hu. “All this mess is because of the board of supervisors,” said Hu, a real estate agent. “They approve something they don’t understand.” BayJournal

Watch yer gummies… A growing body of research suggests that frequent use of high-THC cannabis increases the risk of cannabis use disorder, psychosis and other mental health problems. In response, lawmakers in some states this year have moved to impose stricter potency caps, Stateline reports.

New Hampshire: The House and Senate sent three bills to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte intended to enable more housing construction, overcoming opposition from the state’s Municipal Association and others. Via Pluribus

And tech privacy concerns generally: State chief information security officers are less confident in their ability to keep public data secure, according to a 2026 cybersecurity study by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and Deloitte. Only 22% of state CISOs described themselves as “extremely” or “very confident” they could protect public data, down from 48% in 2022, the study found.   Aging technology infrastructure and increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats were the top challenges survey participants identified, followed by insufficient cybersecurity budgets. SmartCities Dive

CONSUMER PROTECTION: The New York legislature approved a bill banning the use of algorithmic pricing, also called surveillance pricing. The bill would bar companies from offering different prices to consumers based on their purchasing history or online activity. Maryland and Connecticut have passed similar bills this year, while Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) vetoed his state’s measure. (Albany Times Union) via Pluribus

MORE: The Massachusetts House unanimously passed a data privacy bill that would require affirmative consent before sensitive data can be sold or shared. The bill would ban the sale of precise geolocation data and create special, heightened protections for minors. The Senate passed a separate version of the bill in September. (MassLive) via Pluribus

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

POLITICO Playbook at noon: “WAR REPORT: President Donald Trump today tried to keep a lid on an outburst of Israel-Iran hostilities that threatened to derail the Middle East war’s fragile ceasefire. The initial signs are that the region has calmed down, after a period of back-and-forth attacks overnight when a return to all-out war looked possible. That’s due in part to interventions by Trump. Early this morning, the president posted on Truth Social that both countries ‘must immediately stop,’ and then hopefully declared that everyone wanted to move quickly toward a ceasefire and a more durable peace deal. Trump combined those messages with a direct call this morning to Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he asked the Israeli PM to stand down from any further attacks on Iran, NYT’s Aaron Boxerman and colleagues report. Ultimately, Israel and Iran announced that they’d suspend their barrages. …But the attacks were another sign of a growing strategic gulf between allies Israel and the U.S. since they launched the war together a few months ago: Trump continues to drive toward a peace agreement, while Netanyahu seeks expanded war against Israel’s enemies.”

Meanwhile, back on the Hill: Punchbowl reports this morning on the home front. Two main legislative brawls will dominate Capitol Hill this week — FISA and reconciliation 2.0 in the House. Let’s start with reconciliation. Early Friday morning, the Senate passed its package to fund ICE and CBP until the end of Trump’s term. Despite all the performative anger from Republicans who wanted to use the legislation to prevent Trump from creating an anti-weaponization fund, all but one GOP senator voted for the package. The question at hand here is, will the House follow suit and pass the bill this week? Despite Speaker Johnson’s confidence: caveats. The GOP leadership is dealing with an incredibly unruly conference 148 days before a midterm election, with a president hovering around 40% approval rating. Meanwhile, Punchbowl scooped, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) will launch a discharge petition this week to prevent Trump from creating a weaponization fund [as is embedded in the immigration funding bill] and it is expected to gain enough signatures to force a vote on their bill.

Then there’s FISA. The bigger problem for Republicans and Trump this week is the pending expiration of FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] Section 702 authority [allows warrantless surveillance of foreign targets outside the US]. The GOP leadership is being squeezed at the moment. Senate Democrats are holding firm against a bipartisan [60-plus vote] 702 reauthorization in response to Trump’s decision to appoint Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director with no national security experience, as acting director of national intelligence. [Pulte is seen as just another Trump Revenger]. So Section 702, which every administration says is the most critical surveillance tool against terror, could very well expire by the end of day Friday.

Back to Playbook, where the morning roundup had this sobering news: “Economic fallout from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran is colliding with foreign aid cuts by the U.S. and others to worsen the globe’s humanitarian crises, the International Rescue Committee warns in its midyear report out today, Playbook’s Eli Okun scoops. Higher food costs. Splintering aid supply chains. Drone attacks. Worse international cooperation. “Many of the systems that once helped contain crises before they spiraled — humanitarian aid, diplomacy, refugee protections, public health capacity and multilateral cooperation — are weakening,” the group warns. Read it here

And solidarity news here  in the states. We note that if unions take the initiative and demand bargaining controls on AI use to boost productivity for workers' benefit (shorter hours, same pay, and more) signing up 2 million and more Gen-Zers who are booing every mention of AI by commencement speakers would be a snap. 

AFL-CIO president aims to unionize 2 million workers in 5 years

MINNEAPOLIS — Moments after being reelected by representatives for dozens of unions Sunday, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler made an ambitious pledge to unionize at least 2 million workers over the next 5 years. Meeting that target requires pushing through longstanding headwinds in federal labor law that make organizing a union an expensive and arduous slog, while also confronting new assaults from the Trump administration. Shuler says union organizers have proved it’s possible. News from the States