Teen pregnancy is down, one of the big success stories nationwide, but Maryland is among states getting pregnancy prevention programs funding trimmed under new Trump guidelines. Maryland's school systems, too are $truggling, facing state mandates for teacher pay. And a body that is getting increasing scrutiny from the public and from the relevant public agencies is under fire from many directions. That's PJM, the governing body for our multistate power consortium where the cost to homeowners is growing, well, exponentially. PJM's own governing body, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is threatening to reform PJM A LOT if the multistate agency doesn't satisfy FERC with its own drastic reforms -- including being more responsive to ratepayers than to the benefit of the power companies.

We note also that our neighboring states are coping with their own shortfalls and scandals (how do we all get in these messes?) and, speaking of perennial messes, only half of the US Congress is in session (the House just too off for a month, with a huge amount of work left undone). But the Senate is stepping up and coping with messes of its own, including confirming Trump agency appointees of very limited qualifications.

As for Trump, he is apparently unabashed about cutting off funding for states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. How this will play in the midterms is uncertain. His administration has also declined to award transportation project grants that Congress has approved and appropriated. Just won't do it. The so-far GOP-majority Congress hasn't got mad yet, at least not mad enough to push back.

It's all News You Can Use

Summaries from Maryland Reporter

HERE IN MARYLAND

Advocates, Regulators Both Call for Reforms At Power Grid Operator PJM: As federal energy officials met Thursday for a daylong conference on PJM Interconnection, Maryland legislators and advocates rallied outside the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to express concerns about the multistate grid operator. Maryland Matters. AND FERC will impose reforms if PJM fails to adopt changes by September, chairman warns The PJM Interconnection has until the end of September to agree to governance and stakeholder reforms or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will impose them, the agency’s chairman, Laura Swett, said Thursday. “PJM is facing a grave legitimacy crisis,” Swett said at a technical conference FERC held on the grid operator’s governance issues. Utility Dive 7/24

Most Public Schools To Hit $60,000 Base Teacher Pay, Some Through Cuts: The majority of Maryland’s 24 public school systems met a July 1 deadline to boost their starting teachers’ pay to a minimum salary of $60,000, but for some smaller districts the higher salaries came at the cost of cuts elsewhere in their budgets. Maryland Matters.

Teen Pregnancy Programs Scramble After Federal Grants Yanked: The federal government’s abrupt termination of teen pregnancy prevention funding last month means the loss of more than $3 million to Maryland-based programs, which are scrambling to see if they can still offer programming for young people without federal support. Maryland Matters. AND>> The Trump administration has a new plan for teenagers learning about pregnancy: Beginning this summer, it will steer millions of dollars toward organizations that focus on anatomy, fertility tracking, hormonal production and “reproductive goals counseling.” The plan will also emphasize abstinence from sex and the importance of marriage. Maryland Matters.

State To Get $13M Settlement From Opioid Makers: Maryland will receive more than $13 million from seven opioid manufacturers as part of a new settlement announced Friday by state Attorney General Anthony Brown. Maryland has already won hundreds of millions of dollars from lawsuits against opioid companies. The funds will be earmarked to combat the ongoing overdose crisis, which killed more than 1,400 people in the state last year. Baltimore Banner.

As Chesapeake Temps Rise, So Does Worrying Microbe: Cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection – a flesh-eating bacteria -- are relatively uncommon but their number is increasing because of climate change, scientists say. And, as the Chesapeake Bay warms, its mildly salty and nutrient-gorged waters offer prime habitat for the potentially deadly microbe. Bay Journal.

State Workers Union Sues Moore, University System For Withheld Raises: Union leaders filed an unfair labor practice claim and said they were also filing suit against the governor and the University System of Maryland over recent layoffs and negotiated pay Raises For University Workers That Have Been Withheld. Maryland Matters. 7/24

Minnesota Printer Responsible for Mail-In Ballot Error: Representatives at a Minnesota printing company took full responsibility Thursday for an error that required 447,000 mail-in ballots to be resent to Maryland voters and vowed new procedures had been put in place to ensure no future problems. Maryland Matters. 7/24

Election Board Chair Announces Departure, New Chair Takes The Reins: Maryland State Board of Elections Chair Michael G. Summers announced Thursday that he will leave the board on July 31, leaving the five-member board evenly split for now between Democratic and Republican members. Maryland Matters.  7/24

Legislative Audit Finds Social Services Faltering In Determining Snap, Other Benefit Eligibility: The latest fiscal compliance audit of the Maryland Department of Human Services and its oversight of taxpayer-funded assistance programs found the state sent out thousands in improper benefits payments. WYPR-FM.  7/24

Moore Highlights Statewide Crime Drop  and Credits Police Tech : Crime rates are falling in Maryland, something that Gov. Wes Moore attributes to the improvements and continual investments in technology.  Baltimore Sun. 7/24

Top Elections Official Asks State Prosecutor To Investigate Prediction Markets:  Maryland’s top election official is asking the state prosecutor to investigate the legality of prediction market platforms. The letter comes weeks after Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis issued a strong warning about wagering on the outcome of elections in the state, which is illegal. Maryland Matters.  7/24

THE REGION AND THE OTHER 49

Virginia: Civil rights complaints allege that Greystar, a national apartment management company, has violated fair housing laws by rejecting prospective tenants that use housing vouchers. News from the States

SHOW THE RECEIPTS: “Emails show how Virginia regulators downplayed data center health concerns,” by POLITICO’s Ariel Wittenberg: “Internal emails obtained by POLITICO through a public records request paint a portrait of an agency that moved quickly to defend the only data center in Virginia that is powering itself — in what former officials and environmental health advocates described as an unusual effort to shape the debate around an industry whose global epicenter is in the state.” Playbook

PUBLIC SAFETY Next Door: Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus in West Virginia are planning to introduce legislation banning automatic license plate readers. The bill would prohibit warrantless real-time surveillance technologies including facial recognition systems and drone surveillance. (WV Metro News) via Pluribus

West Virginia: A major and final piece of lawmakers’ 2023 hallmark education legislation goes into effect this school year when schools are required to retain third graders whose reading and math abilities aren’t at grade level.  

Virginia: Job seekers now have a right to know what a position pays before applying online under a new state law aimed at giving workers more leverage in hiring and salary negotiations. 

MARIJUANA: Legal marijuana markets are struggling in an oversaturated, heavily regulated environment as businesses fail and tax collections fall. Experts watching the recreational market blame slowing consumption growth and plummeting prices. The total value of cannabis sold legally in the United States fell last year for the first time ever. (Pluribus News) (paywalled)

in a new lawsuit 26 states accuse the Trump administration of illegally threatening to withhold billions in counterterrorism and emergency preparedness funds from states that don’t adopt sweeping election changes or cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, New Jersey Monitor reports. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made policy changes in June that condition such aid on states’ compliance with President Donald Trump’s political goals. News from the States

GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND THE FEDS

No distractions from House follies, all eyes on Senate

The House is taking over a month off to see how much they collectively have to sweat the midterms. What might they hear at home? POLITICO Playbook reports “about half the country knows little about [the Big Beautiful Bill passed in Trump’s first year], Bernie Becker reports from the latest POLITICO Poll results. Worse for the GOP, of those in the know, more Americans say it has hurt them and helped the wealthy than vice versa. Just a quarter of Trump voters think the law provided substantial tax breaks to the working class, Back in the quieter Capitol “It’s a busy week in the Senate, as Majority Leader John Thune tries to make progress on government funding and Russia sanctions bills, while the hard right keeps making demands for the SAVE America Act. Plus: a Senate Judiciary vote on Todd Blanche for AG, Senate HELP votes on Keith Sonderling for Labor secretary and Erica Schwartz for CDC director, and another round of Anthony Fauci vs. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).”

BUILD BACK … NEVER?: “Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It,”  NYT reports “[S]ince President Trump returned to office, the Federal Transit Administration has not signed a single new agreement under the program, known as Capital Investment Grants. Large projects ready to enter the final phase of the program’s years-long pipeline have stalled there. … As the number of pending projects builds up, so has anxiety about the federal government’s support for major transit infrastructure. Money that Congress designated for that purpose is accumulating too: More than $7 billion hasn’t been obligated to any project. [Several grants stalled are for Montgomery County bus rapid transit projects], Playbook PM

Global pension systems are coming under growing pressure on multiple fronts, including climate, demographics, and domestic policy. Major investors such as Allianz and Standard Life are increasingly worried over climate “tipping points” leading to mass repricing of assets, with a leading JP Morgan analyst forecasting that debt would be the first type of investment hit. Fast-aging populations the world over — including developing countries that are getting old before they get rich — are piling further pressure on sometimes-threadbare social security systems. And several governments, including Britain, Denmark, and Japan, are pressuring domestic pension funds to park their investments at home, potentially at a cost to the funds’ fiduciary duty to pursue their members’ best interests, one London law firm partner warned. Semafor

MOMENT OF TRUTH: The Department of Energy admitted in court documents that it canceled nearly $8 billion in grants to clean energy projects in states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state.,” AP’s Matthew Daly reports. “The statement contradicts repeated assertions by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials that the projects were canceled because they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or had other problems that made them a poor investment of taxpayer dollars,” AP reports. (POLITICO)

Big US cities are running out of children. The number of people under 18 in major urban areas is down 6% in a decade, and the number of under-fives is down 15%. Even cities where the population is growing are losing children, The Wall Street Journal reported. Families cite costs, safety, and quality of life as reasons for leaving. While the fall is especially stark in cities, the US is losing children generally: There are 1% fewer American children than in 2016 and 7% fewer under-fives. Semafor

Measles comeback: Measles cases have already surpassed all of 2025, with cases in 44 states and D.C., to become the worst since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. Maryland cases have risen steadily but remain relatively low. Maryland Matters >> What’s behind the Measles surge? How vaccine skeptics use storytelling effectively to create powerful but medically inaccurate messaging from The Conversation

Backtracking on back-to-work: A third-party arbitrator ordered restoration of telework and remote work at the IRS, making it the latest of several agencies now being told to revoke return-to-office orders across the federal workforce. States Newsroom

The “Justice Department” must have saved a lot of money by chasing out or firing all their real lawyers. POLITICO reports the agency spent a million dollars cleaning up the front of their building so they could hang giant pictures of Trump there.