MARYLAND COULD SEE $430 MILLION MORE IN CUTS WITH TRUMP PROPOSAL: Maryland could see another $430 million in targeted cuts as part of President Donald Trump’s so-called “skinny” budget proposal, Senate President Bill Ferguson said Tuesday. Ferguson said a new analysis of the federal spending proposal includes hundreds of millions in reductions to low-income housing and energy assistance programs. This is on top of expected cuts to Medicaid. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
- Cuts include $148 million to Section 8 housing programs, $94 million to low-income heat and energy assistance, and $61 million to the revolving loan fund for clean water and drinking water. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
BLUEPRINT REFORM BILL – WITHOUT SEVEREST CUTS – SIGNED INTO LAW: Even as changes to the state’s education reform act were being signed into law Tuesday, state officials and advocates were already talking about changes they want to see next in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The debate over House Bill 504 – the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act – was among the sharpest in the 2025 General Assembly session, with the governor and lawmakers, particularly the House, split over changes to the expensive plan that were needed as the state grappled with a $3 billion budget deficit. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- The Democratic supermajority found a middle ground with Moore’s initial policy over the Blueprint, sending a bill to his desk before they adjourned on April 7. The legislature delayed funding increases for community schools and allowed funding for collaborative time to go to local school boards for fiscal year 2026. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
MOORE TOUTS ‘COMPREHENSIVE, BIPARTISAN’ VETERANS BENEFITS PACKAGE: Gov. Wes Moore (D) approved what he called a “comprehensive” and bipartisan bill package Tuesday updating portions of Maryland law to ensure veterans have full access to state benefits they’re entitled to in health, education, transportation and other areas. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
AUDIT: STATE JUVIE DEPT INCONSISTENT ON BACKGROUND CHECKS: A state contractor for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services worked directly with children despite a 2021 assault conviction, according to a recent audit of the department. The department — which is tasked with housing and providing programs for incarcerated young people, among other functions — failed to consistently ensure that criminal background checks were completed for every contractor working at state juvenile detention centers and treatment facilities, according to the audit. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
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RASKIN, OTHERS SAY FEDERAL FIRINGS IMPERIL GOV’T SERVICES: On Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) joined Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) to send a letter to the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, arguing that “mass firings” of human resources staff, both within federal agencies and at OPM, have exacerbated “the ongoing crisis of dysfunction throughout the federal government.” Forty other members of Congress signed on, including every other Maryland Democrat: Reps. Sarah Elfreth, Steny Hoyer, Glenn Ivey, April McClain Delaney, Kweisi Mfume and Johnny Olszewski Jr. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
RULING EXPECTED ON LEGALITY OF FIRING FEDERAL PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES: The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will soon hand down a ruling on whether the U.S. government acted illegally in firing about 24,000 federal probationary employees without notifying the states. Maryland, and 18 other states, are suing the White House for damages because the Trump administration did not properly warn them of mass layoffs as required by law. The states want the federal government to reinstate those employees. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
OVERSIGHT OF B’MORE POLICE CONSENT DECREE IN JEOPARDY: As scores of attorneys flee the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, nine of them recently withdrew from the federal case overseeing the Baltimore Police Department consent decree. The wave of departures threatens to tilt the 8-year-old court case into dysfunction. Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
VAN HOLLEN CHALLENGES NAVAL ACADEMY’s REMOVAL OF BOOKS: U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen challenged the U.S. Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors on Monday in an attempt to reverse the academy’s removal of nearly 400 books from its library, the result of a Trump administration directive targeting materials that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE DISMISSES CHARGES AGAINST ARUNDEL OPHANS’ COURT JUDGE: State prosecutors dismissed charges Tuesday against Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court Judge Marc Knapp, whom they had accused of illegally recording his probate court colleagues. The development followed a Circuit judge’s decision last month to rule out as evidence the single recording at the center of the prosecution, with the judge finding that authorities obtained it with an illegal warrant. Alex Mann/The Baltimore Banner.
BA CO NEIGHBORS OPPOSE BEN CARSON’s SOLAR FARM PROPOSAL: Dr. Ben Carson — the pioneering neurosurgeon who ran unsuccessfully for president and later served as President Donald Trump‘s housing secretary — faces opposition from neighbors of a northern Baltimore County property he owns over efforts to turn it into a solar farm. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
