MOORE FLIPPED ON HIRING FREEZE ISSUE, BUT IT’s NOT REALLY A FREEZE: Gov. Wes Moore is moving forward with a voluntary buyout program and hiring freeze, flip-flopping on an issue that he and some other top Democrats rejected months earlier during a tumultuous state budget process. The hiring freeze, announced Tuesday and set to begin July 1 with the start of fiscal year 2026, closely mirrors a proposal by state Sen. J.B. Jennings, a Baltimore County Republican, that failed to pass during the legislative session. Hannah Gaskill and Candy Woodall/The Baltimore Sun.
- “What it means is we’re going to slow hiring down. We will have a very high bar for hires that move forward,” said Fagan Harris, chief of staff to the Democratic governor. “The state government will continue making priority hires where it matters most.” The term “hiring freeze” is in some ways “a misleading descriptor of what we’re doing,” he said, adding, “It doesn’t mean state government just grinds to a halt and we stop hiring.” Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
HOW THE STATE EMPLOYEE BUYOUT PROGRAM MIGHT WORK: Maryland state government will enter what could become a year-long hiring freeze on Tuesday. A round of buyouts and the elimination of vacant positions ––– other steps aimed at saving $121 million in personnel costs over the next year ––– will take longer to sort out. Officials are still setting the parameters for the “voluntary separation program,” including which employees will be eligible and how much they’ll be offered. But previous years of similar efforts offer a glimpse of what’s to come. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
STATE LAWMAKERS WRESTLE WITH RECLASSIFIED POLICE-CUSTODY DEATHS: House lawmakers grappled Wednesday to find a path forward on a report that dozens of police-custody deaths previously ruled accidental or of unknown causes by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner have been reclassified as homicides. The report, the result of a four-year review of 1,300 cases between 2003 and 2019, was presented to the House Judiciary Committee by Attorney General Anthony Brown and Towson University psychology professor Jeff Kukucka, who led the audit. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
WORST PAIN FROM FEDERAL CUTS MAY HIT MARYLAND LATER: Coming federal budget cuts will likely have severe impacts on Maryland, but they could come later than expected and their impact will not be felt right away, lawmakers were told Wednesday. But that little bit of breathing room will not change the fact that the state still needs to brace for potentially massive cuts to programs like food assistance and Medicaid, state analysts and officials said. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
TRUMP ADMIN SUES MARYLAND’s 15 FEDERAL JUDGES: The Trump administration on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against all 15 federal judges in Maryland over an order blocking the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals, ratcheting up a fight with the federal judiciary over President Donald Trump’s executive powers. Sudhin Thanawala/The Associated Press.
- Legal experts described the move as an unprecedented attack on judicial independence, while government lawyers said it was necessary to preserve President Donald Trump’s constitutional authority over immigration. Salvador Rizzo and Katie Mettler/The Washington Post.
SCHIRALDI SAYS ‘HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES’ PUSHED HIM TO LEAVE DJS: Former Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi left his role in Gov. Wes Moore’s cabinet earlier this month because Maryland perpetuated “human rights abuses” against young people caught up in the criminal justice system, he wrote in The Baltimore Sun’s opinion pages Thursday. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
COMMENTARY: WHY I LEFT JUVENILE SERVICES: There were many factors that contributed to my decision to step down as secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, but foremost among them is Maryland’s draconian law that results in about 1,000 young people a year … getting automatically tried as adults and incarcerated, at least initially, in adult jails. Vincent Schiraldi/The Baltimore Sun.
DJS ACTING SECTY SAYS SHE HAS MOORE’s FULL SUPPORT: The new acting secretary of Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services said she has her marching orders from Gov. Wes Moore — and his support. Betsy Fox Tolentino has already hit the ground running, meeting with law enforcement and touring facilities. Maryland lawmakers who’ve worked with her before say the former public defender and youth justice veteran knows the agency better than anyone and can set it on the right track. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
- Tolentino hasn’t quite moved into her new office as head of Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services, but she’s optimistic she can steer the high-profile agency despite its challenges and the political pressure to deliver. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
MARYLAND WON’T DEFEND EV PROGRAM AFTER TRUMP PULLS THE PLUG: Two years after Maryland began a campaign to phase out gas-powered cars, President Donald Trump pulled the plug on it. Designed to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, the rules called for electric vehicle sales to account for 35% of all new car sales by the fall of 2026, rising to 100% by 2035. Such sales in Maryland already lagged far below those benchmarks, and so far the state isn’t fighting to preserve the policy. While California and 10 other states sued the Trump administration over the move, Maryland is notably absent from the lawsuit. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
SECTY NOEM DEFENDS ICE, BLAMES STATE FOR PROBLEMS AT B’MORE FACILITY: In a letter to Maryland’s senators, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security blamed extended wait times at its controversial Baltimore holding room on a state law that shuttered longer-term ICE facilities inside Maryland. Homeland Department Secretary Kristi Noem also wrote in her June 5 letter that the detainees in the Baltimore facility designed for short stays are treated with “respect and dignity” and are housed to meet required federal standards. John John Williams and Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.
ABREGO GARCIA TO REMAIN IN JAIL AS ATTORNEYS SPAR OVER DEPORTATION THREAT: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in jail for at least a few more days while attorneys in the federal smuggling case against him spar over whether prosecutors have the ability to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he is released to await trial. Travis Loller, Jonathan Mattise and Kristin M. Hall/Associated Press.
EX-HOGAN SECTY DRAFTED BILL THAT COULD BENEFIT HIS ESTATE: A Baltimore County bill that bailed out a Kingsville plumbing company from zoning trouble also boosted the business interests of a Republican Party heavyweight who helped launch the political career of the bill’s sponsor. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.
FALLING ENROLLMENTS ADD TO WOES AT UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE: One hundred years after its founding, the University of Baltimore is facing a big challenge. Enrollment has fallen by nearly half over the last 10 years, while at the same time its faculty ranks have experienced a similar, sharp decline. The urban university serving thousands of preprofessionals is also wrestling with a swollen structural deficit amid cuts in state financial support. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
SEVEN AIRLINES LEAVE OR CUT WORKFORCE AT BWI: Earlier this month, Icelandic PLAY Airlines announced that it will be ceasing all flights to North America, which included three destinations: New York, Boston, and Baltimore via Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. This makes it the seventh airline to depart or reduce its workforce at the airport since April 2024. Benjamin Rothstein/The Baltimore Sun.
