TRUMP FREEZES 13 GRANTS TO MARYLAND WORTH $185 MILLION: Two weeks into the government shutdown, the Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion that had been reserved for more than 200 projects primarily located in Democratic-led cities, congressional districts and states, according to an analysis. They include Maryland’s lone Republican 1st District, home to U.S. Rep. Andy Harris. Maryland’s total loss $185 million in 13 grants. Tony Romm and Lazaro Gamio/The New York Times.
MOORE ON TRUMP: ‘ASSAULT ON MARYLAND PETTY, PARTISAN, PUNISHING:’ Gov. Wes Moore said he does not have a “personal beef” with President Donald Trump, but he underlined Tuesday his critiques of the White House’s effect on Maryland. “The assault that we’ve now had on the state of Maryland has been aggressive, has been intentional, it’s been petty, it’s been partisan and it’s been punishing,” Moore, a Democrat, said Tuesday at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The event, Impact Maryland 2025, was sponsored by the Baltimore Banner.Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Banner.
POLL: MOORE GETS A MAJORITY OF SUPPORT, BUT IT’s SOFT: While a majority of Marylanders approve of the job Gov. Wes Moore is doing, they struggle to identify his achievements and offer only soft support, according to a new statewide Banner poll. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
- The Banner polled a representative sample of Maryland registered voters to ask their opinions of Gov. Wes Moore, President Donald Trump and on issues such as housing, schools, crime, immigration and transportation. John O’Connor/The Baltimore Banner.
BWI ALSO REFUSES TO AIR NOEM ANTI-DEMS VIDEO: Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is not displaying a new video featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, joining a list of other airports nationwide not showing the statement that has sparked a debate over political speech by federal employees. In the short video being shown on airport screens across the country, Noem, who oversees the Transportation Security Administration blames Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown. Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.
HAGERSTOWN MOTHER DETAINED BY ICE RETURNED AFTER FIVE MONTHS: Mong Tuyen Thi Tran’s voice broke as she described reuniting with her family after months in an ICE detention center 2,700 miles away from their Hagerstown home. Tran was detained during a routine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in around Mother’s Day and held mostly at a facility in Tacoma, Wash. Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
FEDERAL WORKERS, MARYLAND, VA LAWMAKERS PROTEST SHUTDOWN: Standing across the street from the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C., federal workers and Democratic lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia rallied against OMB Director Russell Vought, the Trump administration and House Republicans, who have stayed away from Washington for the two weeks since the shutdown began Oct. 1. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
STATE AG’s OFFICE REPLACING LEADERS OF POLICE OVERSIGHT UNIT: The Maryland attorney general’s office is looking for a new leader for its police oversight unit, after its top two staffers resigned, the office confirmed Tuesday. The staffing changes come after the division’s first set of officer indictments were tossed out last month by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge. Christine Condon and Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
- The high-ranking shake-up is coming about two weeks after an Anne Arundel County judge threw out charges that the attorney general’s office brought against two county police officers accused of misconduct during a fatal 2023 pursuit in Pasadena. Justin Fenton and Alex Mann/The Baltimore Banner.
RASKIN BRINGS FIGHT, ENERGY TO TALBOT DEMS UNITY DINNER: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) visited Talbot County Democrats in Easton on Sunday, taking aim at President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. In a nearly 40-minute keynote speech during the Talbot County Democratic Forum’s annual Kennedy-King Unity Dinner, Raskin went on energetic runs to engage the crowd, alternating between current issues such as immigration enforcement and Trump’s ongoing battles with federal courts since taking office. Konner Metz/The Easton Star Democrat.
OP-ED: BALTIMORE COUNTY’s BRAZEN ATTEMPT TO HIDE THE TRUTH: In 47 years of working in and writing about local government in Maryland, I’ve never seen a more brazen assault on fundamental principles of transparency and accountability than the efforts by the administrations of former Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski and current County Executive Kathy Klausmeier to hide from the public the reason that the county paid Olszewski’s former chief of staff, Patrick J. Murray, $100,000 to settle a lawsuit initiated by the county. David Plymyer/Baltimore Brew.
SCOTT’s OFFICIAL, $163,495 SUV AMONG THE MOST EXPENSIVE: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s $163,495 taxpayer-funded SUV continues to draw scrutiny over government spending, as records show that county executives and at least one statewide leader are spending far less on official vehicles. Tessa Bentulan/The Baltimore Sun.
BALTIMORE POISED TO OK $2M PAYMENT TO END POLICE HORSE UNIT: Baltimore’s spending board is poised to approve a $2 million payment to terminate the city’s lease of a horse stable used by the police department’s defunct mounted unit. Breaking out of the 15-year lease signed in 2018 will coincide with the end of the mounted unit, which the Baltimore City Council defunded in 2020. Dan Belson/The Baltimore Sun.
HARFORD MAY SPEND $7.6M TO PRESERVE 1,000 ACRES OF FARM LAND: Harford County could spend about $7.6 million this year preserving more than 1,000 acres of agricultural land through the county’s Agriculture Preservation Program, if the County Council passes 19 resolutions. Matt Hubbard/The Aegis.
ANNAPOLIS MAYOR CANDIDATES ADDRESS LBGTQ+ ISSUES: Annapolis mayoral candidates Jared Littmann and Bob O’Shea agreed that the city should ensure equal opportunities are provided for all Annapolitans — at a forum focused strictly on questions about the city’s LGBTQ+ community, that was the easy part. It was when they talked about how to get there that the answers got interesting. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
