STATE PLOTS NEXT STEPS TO HELP W. MARYLAND AFTER ‘GUT PUNCH’ FROM FEMA: A decision to deny federal emergency aid to areas of Western Maryland hit hard by flooding in May is being called petty, partisan and punishing by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). State, federal and local officials met for 90 minutes inside a Westernport restaurant Sunday to discuss last week’s denial by FEMA and the next steps they can take. While there is bipartisan agreement that the denial is a “gut punch” to the area, ant that there must be an appeal, there is disagreement on the motivations behind the decision. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.

DENIED FLOOD RELIEF, WESTERN MARYLAND COUNTIES ON THEIR OWN: Westernport town administrator Laura Freeman Legge said she estimated the town’s damages from May flooding at $10 million, not including damage to peoples’ homes and personal property. For a town with an annual budget of about $2 million, many repairs will need to be put on hold, potentially for years. On Wednesday, the town suffered another hit. FEMA denied a request for $15.8 million to make repairs across Allegany and Garrett counties. The decision came as a shock to local leaders, who said that even after the agency disqualified millions of dollars in damage from the request, the county and state still met thresholds to qualify for assistance. Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.

DJS: YOUTH ASSAULTS AGAINST STAFF SOAR IN FIVE-YEAR PERIOD: Youth assaults against employees at the Department of Juvenile Services rose 71% between 2021 and 2024, with more than 700 incidents reported over the past five years. The agency reported 107 youth-on-staff assaults for all of 2021, and 112 in in 2022. In 2023, that number rose to 142. Last year, DJS reported 183 incidents of youth-on-staff assault — a 29% increase from 2023. The union that represents DJS employees points to a lack of adequate resources and understaffed facilities as the cause. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.

CONCERN OR HOPE: FEDERAL PLAN TO RESTRICT LOW-INCOME HOUSING: Those who study the housing market are giving mixed reactions to the Trump administration’s proposal to restrict federal rental assistance to two years for able-bodied adults. One side says the move will put low-income people at risk of losing their housing in an already tough market. While another says capping the program will actually improve the rental market for everyone, incentivizing landlords to lower rent. Stella Canino-Quinones/The Baltimore Sun.

ELECTRICITY USERS COULD BE HIT WITH HIGHER COSTS – EXCEPT FOR BGE: Consumers in Maryland and a dozen other states across much of the mid-Atlantic region could be hit with up to 5% higher electricity costs next summer, but customers in Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s footprint just might be an exception. BGE bills are expected to decrease roughly $3.36 a month, thanks to some previously negotiated credits, but not until at least next June 1, an analysis by a state utility watchdog shows. Lorraine Mirabella/The Baltimore Sun.

• Last week’s energy auction by multistate power grid operator PJM will cause most Marylanders’ monthly electric bills to go up $2 to $5 next summer — but that’s on top of other costs, for transmission, fuel and more, that one advocate calls “death by a thousand cuts.” It’s also the latest evidence, say ratepayer advocates and policymakers, that policies of PJM, the grid operator in a 13-state region that includes Maryland, are out of whack. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.

STATE LOOKS TO BATTERIES TO HELP WITH ELECTRICITY DEMAND: Maryland is power hungry, and you’re paying the price on your utility bill. Lawmakers and consumer advocates have looked to a solution that would lower rates and, as a bonus, reduce carbon emissions: batteries. A utility-size battery — 1 megawatt or larger — can power about 600 homes. But the state has had a hard time getting even a tiny fraction of these projects going. Bria Overs/The Baltimore Banner.

COLUMN: THE VALUE OF INSPECTORS GENERAL: Inspectors general in Baltimore and Montgomery counties and Baltimore City have exposed many cases of misspending, responding to hotline tips and saving taxpayers millions. “We are the people’s watchdog,” said Isabel Mercedes Cumming, the Baltimore inspector general. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.

KLAUSMEIER MISSTATES IG PICK’s EXPERIENCE: Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier misstated the credentials of the person she picked as inspector general to replace Kelly Madigan. The first paragraph of a press release states that Khadija E. Walker “has more than 20 years of Inspector General experience on the federal level.” According to her now private LinkedIn resume, Walker spent nearly all of her 22 professional years as an auditor at the inspector general’s office at the Environmental Protection Agency. She is not a certified inspector general (as is Madigan) and is not an attorney (as is Madigan). Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.

IRVINGTON POST OFFICE RENAMED TO HONOR ELIJAH CUMMINGS: Family, friends and former colleagues of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings came together Friday to rename an Irvington post office in his honor. Aline Behar Kado/The Baltimore Banner.

FEWER THAN HALF OF 2025 ICE ARRESTEES ARE CONVICTED CRIMINALS: Trump administration immigration sweeps have caught more people with convictions for drugs and violent crimes than the Biden administration did in the same time, but a smaller share of them, as vastly more people get swept up for traffic violations or strictly immigration crimes. The share of people convicted of violent crime fell from 10% to 7% and drug crimes from 9% to 5%, according to a Stateline analysis of data from the Deportation Data Project, which was led by attorneys and professors in California, Maryland and New York. Tim Henderson/Maryland Matters.

ICE TACTICS BECOME ‘INCREDIBLY AGGRESSIVE:’ Throughout his 2024 campaign to return to the White House, President Donald Trump promised to implement the “largest deportation program” in the nation’s history. And since he assumed office on Jan. 20, that promise has not only led to a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, it’s shifted the agency’s tactics as well. An average of about 9.8 arrests per day have occurred in Maryland in 2025. For comparison, there were 1,343 arrests in Maryland throughout all of 2024, for an average of about 3.7 arrests per day. Sam Gauntt/Maryland Matters.

DETAINED MARYLAND PASTOR TRANSFERRED TO LOUISIANA FACILITY: Daniel Fuentes Espinal, the Maryland pastor who was arrested by ICE earlier this week, has been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where he is doing much better under medical care, according to his family. John-John Williams/The Baltimore Banner.

• “He’s a remarkably resilient man, and for all of the trauma that he has been subjected to and the stress that’s been inflicted upon him and on his family, he is upbeat and his spirits are good,” said Len Foxwell, speaking for the family. Lauren Lifken/The Baltimore Banner.

SUPPORTERS UNITE FOR ADULT DETAINEE IN U.S. SINCE SHE WAS A CHILD: Old friends, neighbors, loyal patrons of her nail salon and, of course, her husband and children, packed into a small courtroom of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. They had made the trip Wednesday afternoon from Western Maryland in support of Mong Tuyen Thi Tran, a mother of four who legally came to the U.S. from Vietnam as a girl and was detained during a routine check-in with immigration officials. Anna Rubenstein/The Baltimore Banner.

U.S. CITIZEN FROM MARYLAND FREED IN VENEZUELA PRISONER SWAP: A longtime Baltimore media producer was among 10 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents freed in a recent prisoner swap from what U.S. officials have called a series of wrongful detentions in Venezuela. Erick Oribio Quintana, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen, is the founder of Latin Opinion LLC, which publishes a free, monthly Spanish-language newspaper that is distributed around Baltimore. Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.

PROTEST NEAR BWI HIGHLIGHTS AVELO AIRLINE’s ROLE IN DEPORTATIONS: If you haven’t heard of Avelo Airlines, you’re not alone. The budget airline, founded in 2021, is based in Texas and has just two direct flights from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Yet about 100 people gathered Sunday near BWI to raise awareness about the airline — and protest its role in deportations. Giacomo Bologna/The Baltimore Banner.

F1, LUXE VEHICLE MAKER McLAREN TO OPEN CENTER IN SPARROWS POINT: British luxury vehicle company McLaren Automotive will open its first U.S. vehicle processing center in Sparrows Point in late 2026, according to the Office of Gov. Wes Moore. The 50,000-square-foot vehicle processing center will be built at Tradepoint Atlantic in the Port of Baltimore, and will be equipped to customize, inspect and prepare McLaren vehicles for distribution. Chevall Pryce/The Baltimore Sun.

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