RIFT OVER UTILITY RATES, ENERGY GENERATION GROWS AMONG STATE LEADERS: A conflict is growing between Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland General Assembly over the best ways to generate energy and lower utility bills for state residents.“It didn’t go far enough,” Moore said in mid-June of a comprehensive package of energy bills sponsored by legislative leadership. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
NO FBI HQ FOR PG; IT’s TAKING OVER USAID BUILDING INSTEAD: The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to move the FBI headquarters from the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building to the sprawling Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center three blocks west in D.C., reversing decades of planning to relocate the agency to either the Maryland or Virginia suburbs and leaving some regional leaders infuriated. The move was characterized as an efficient way to avoid “billions” in constructing a new campus in Prince George’s County. Meagan Flynn, Erin Cox, Perry Stein and Laura Vozzella/The Washington Post.
- After years of work, Maryland officials had celebrated in 2023 when the federal government’s General Services Administration picked a site in Greenbelt in Prince George’s County as the future home of the FBI. The prospect of moving thousands of agents and employees to the suburb was seen as a boost to the local economy. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
HEALTH DEPT TO LIFT FREEZE ON SOME NEW BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PROVIDERS: The Maryland Department of Health said Monday it will lift its freeze on new behavioral health provider enrollments for certain rural and underserved jurisdictions, but keep the ban in effect for other areas. Effective July 1, the department will allow new enrollments for psychiatric rehabilitation programs, partial hospital programs and intensive outpatient programs in 14 counties. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
CARROLL FARMER ADDS NAME TO LIST OF GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES: A Carroll County farmer has planted the seeds for his gubernatorial campaign, adding to a growing list of candidates vying for the position. Kurt Wedekind, owner of Wedekind Farms in Westminster, said he never planned on being a politician until he noticed his friends and family members being pushed out of Maryland due to high taxes. Katherine Wilson/The Baltimore Sun.
‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ GETS HIT BY DEMS, AND ANDY HARRIS: As Republicans blast the majority party over recently enacted hikes in taxes and fees, the Maryland Democratic Party has waged a social media war against Republicans over the Senate passage of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- Even so, Republican House member Andy Harris of Maryland, who voted “present” on the bill in May, on July 1 voiced his concerns with the bill. “The last-minute changes in the Senate, like literally the very last amendment, probably added another $100 billion to the deficit by adding in some of the ‘green new scam’ subsidies,” Harris said on Fox News. “… We support the president’s agenda … the president’s agenda was not to raise the deficit by three-quarters of a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Keith Demko/The Salisbury Daily Times.
MUSK PRESSURES HARRIS TO HELP DEFEAT TRUMP BILL: When Elon Musk set his sights on Maryland in early 2025, his actions took the form of DOGE-inflicted federal job losses, slashed funding, and takeovers of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Now he wants Maryland’s only Republican representative in Congress, Andy Harris, to meet his demands or lose his seat. Aliza Worthington/Baltimore Fishbowl.
TRUMP TARIFFS HIT BLACK HAIRSTYLES: As temperatures spike and travel heats up this summer, Black women rely on protective hairstyles like braids, wigs, weaves and extensions. But new tariffs this year are raising costs for major hair and beauty exporters in China, which in turn, are boosting sticker prices for Black consumers. John-John Williams IV and Jasmine Vaughn-Hall/The Baltimore Banner.
COMMENTARY: PRIDE SHOULD NOT BE UNCRITICALLY CELEBRATED BY BLACK PEOPLE: If we still dare to call ourselves “woke,” then we must be wide awake to this reality: Pride Month should not be uncritically celebrated by Black people. This is not about hate. This is about hierarchy — and how our people have slipped further down it. The LGBTQ movement, intentionally or not, has co-opted the language, energy, and legislative momentum of the Civil Rights Movement. Chris Anderson/Maryland Reporter.
B’MORE HOMICIDES DROP: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott touted continued decreases in the city’s homicide and non-fatal shooting rates for the first half of 2025, but the falling numbers were not seen across all nine police districts. The city has seen a 22.7% reduction in homicides and a 19.6% reduction in non-fatal shootings between the first halves of 2025 and 2024. There have been 68 homicides through June, which a news release from the mayor’s office said was the fewest in over 50 years. Racquel Bazos and Steve Earley/The Baltimore Sun.
BA CO SCHOOLS PULL BACK ON AVAILABILITY OF LAPTOPS FOR STUDENTS: Elementary and middle school students in Baltimore County Public Schools won’t take home school-issued laptops starting next school year. But schools appear to be working out the details of the major policy change. A Facebook post by the school system on Friday also noted that elementary schools will no longer provide each student with a laptop during the school day, while suggesting that middle school students would retain access to devices. Kristen Griffith/The Baltimore Banner.
SUN FIRES EDITORIAL KARTOONIST KAL: The Baltimore Sun has fired its editorial cartoonist KAL – the pen name for Kevin Kallaugher, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize who joined the paper in 1988 – telling him his dismissal was a cost-cutting move. Kallaugher, whose biting cartoons have been skewering Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, among other targets over a decades-long career, figures the real reason for his dismissal is his politics. Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew.
TRUMP ADMIN PLANNING FOR RESTRICTIONS TO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: Justice Department attorneys told a federal district judge Tuesday that the Trump administration will not impose proposed restrictions on birthright citizenship for a month — but that it reserves the right to “immediately” start planning for that day. The two-page notice was filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt in response to District Judge Deborah Boardman’s demand a day earlier to know “if the government thinks that it can start removing children from the United States who are subject to the terms of the executive order.” Lauren Lifke/Maryland Matters.
RETIRED WBAL REPORTER ROB ROBLIN DIES AT 79: Rob Roblin, WBAL-TV’s go-to reporter when the weather turned treacherous, died of a stroke Monday at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. The Towson resident was 79. In his 45 years as a TV reporter in Baltimore, he became a familiar face in broadcasting. He appeared on camera being hit with salt water at Ocean City during a hurricane, or, until his 2014 retirement, doing folksy stand-up reports from snow banks and frozen highway shoulders. He was also a longtime presence at the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Jacques Kelly/The Baltimore Sun.
