2026 SEASON SHATTERS STATE RECORDS FOR HEAT-RELATED CALLS, FATALITIES: The annual Maryland heat season ended with a record-breaking year for heat-related illnesses and deaths, with the state reporting that 61 Marylanders died due to hyperthermia in the season that ended Sept. 30. It shattered the previous record of 42 fatalities, set in 2012, according to available public data, and came close to doubling last year’s 34 deaths, continuing a troubling four-year rise in heat-related fatalities. This heat season also saw the highest number of calls to emergency medical services for heat-related illnesses in a year, at 1,657, up from last year’s 1,634. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
9 MARYLAND COLLEGES TO SHARE $2.38M FOR JOB TRAINING: Students at nine rural colleges and universities, including Carroll Community College, will receive targeted job training and connections to internships and jobs through a new $2.38 million federally funded program announced by the state last week. Other participating schools are Allegany College of Maryland, Cecil College, College of Southern Maryland, Garrett College, Harford Community College, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Wor-Wic Community College. Gabriella Fine/The Carroll County Times.
COURT BLOCKS SNAP PENALTIES BUT ADVOCATES STILL WORRY: A recent court ruling may have saved states from “potentially ruinous financial penalties” related to changes in SNAP rules, but advocates worry that thousands of Maryland families may still lose coverage as they try to navigate the changes. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
BENEFIT OF PROGRAM PUSHING LANGUAGE ACCESS FOR PARENTS UNCLEAR: Maryland established new requirements last fall to ensure parents who speak languages other than English can participate in their children’s education. One year later, school districts are at different stages of implementing the rules. Racquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
DROUGHT PUSHES B’MORE TO TURN TO SUSQUEHANNA RIVER WATER: Turn on the tap, Baltimore. Thanks to the drought, for the first time in almost two decades, we’re drinking river water. Water from the Susquehanna River is being sucked down at this very moment by pumps behind the Conowingo Dam, then pushed through a 37-mile tunnel to a Baltimore filtration plant and out to almost 350,000 households from Cockeysville to Dundalk. Tim Prudente/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE TAKES 2nd LOOK AT TAXING OFFSHORE CAPTIVE INSURANCE: State officials are taking another close look at how Maryland’s nonprofit hospitals store billions of dollars in “captive insurance” companies domiciled in the Cayman Islands to determine if those funds should be subject to state taxes. Hospital representatives, a national whistleblower and Maryland Insurance Administration officials met virtually this week in first public information gathering session on the question: How can Maryland officials ensure that nonprofit hospitals are not skirting state tax laws through the offshore insurance accounts? Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
COX DISAVOWS SON’s VILE ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS: In the debate spin room Tuesday afternoon, Republican candidate for Maryland governor Dan Cox disavowed remarks purportedly made by his adult son calling Jewish people pedophiles, “scum who killed my savior Jesus” and claiming they worshiped at a “Synagogue of Satan.” Erin Cox/The Washington Post.
POLL: MOORE JOB RATING STEADY, BUT WORRIES OVER ECONOMY RISE: UMBC’s final round of pre-election polling holds Gov. Wes Moore’s job approval rating relatively steady but shows Marylanders are increasingly concerned about the state of the economy. UMBC surveyed 800 likely voters in Maryland, and 49% reported approving of Moore’s performance as governor. His job approval rating remains sharply divided among party lines with 70% of Democrats approving, compared to only 7% of Republicans. Among unaffiliated voters, 37% approve of Moore’s work and 49% disapprove. Sarah Petrowich/WYPR-FM.
MOORE, NEW ADS SEEK TO STIR SUPPORT FOR FALTERING BALLOT QUESTION: Gov. Wes Moore was in Montgomery County on Thursday to promote a statewide ballot question on congressional redistricting that has been met, according to a recent poll, with voter opposition and confusion. Moore, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando, the Democratic nominee for county executive, were featured speakers at the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee’s annual fall gala. Ceoli Jacoby/Bethesda Beat.
- Democrats seeking to redraw Maryland’s congressional map to favor their party are launching an ad campaign to win over skeptical voters. Fight Back MD is spending “six figures” on text messages, mailers and a video ad that will air on TV and streaming services to urge voters to approve Question 3, spokesperson Luca Amayo said. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
CECIL LAWMAKERS URGE TRANSIT OFFICIALS TO GIVE RESIDENTS A BREAK ON FEES: Representatives from offices within the Maryland Department of Transportation came to the Cecil County to give an update on their capital improvement projects and to hear from town, county and state officials seeking information or assistance. Cecil’s General Assembly delegation urged MDOT to help county residents by putting the brakes on the taxes and fees motorists pay. “Almost 50% of the revenue to the Transportation Trust Fund comes from motorists from gas taxes, titling and registration,” said Sen. Steve Hershey. Jane Bellmyer/The Cecil Whig.
MIDDLE BRANCH RESTORATION PROJECTS CELEBRATED: Regional leaders have celebrated the completion of more than $35 million worth of projects to restore Baltimore’s Middle Branch waterfront and the start of construction on another $36 million project. More than 20 acres of habitat have been restored at the Hanover Street Wetlands, Patapsco Delta East, and MedStar Harbor Hospital Wetlands – together totaling more than $35 million of investment in the Middle Branch. Marcus Dieterle/Baltimore Fishbowl.
ANDURIL TO BUILD AUTONOMOUS SUBS ‘IN THE FUTURE’ AT TRADEPOINT: Autonomous. The word didn’t appear when Anduril announced it was building submarines at Tradepoint Atlantic. But President Donald Trump, speaking at Anduril’s official announcement last Tuesday, said, “Right here in Sparrows Point you’ll build the next generation of American submarines, including autonomous subs.” The company clarified that once the shipyard is operational, it will “be positioned to build large scale autonomous systems in the far off future.” The company did not say when that future will be. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
COLUMN: ANDURIL: THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE NEWS: Am I the only one feeling conflicted about Anduril building submarines at Tradepoint Atlantic? It wasn’t just the wrapping for this good news, one of President Trump’s legendarily weird speeches. The term is cognitive dissonance. It’s the tension I feel as my values clash with this new information. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
FORMER FREDERICK MAYOR RON YOUNG HONORED WITH STATUE: Former Frederick Mayor Ron Young pulled a blue tarp off to reveal a sculpture of himself on Sunday. The new sculpture, at the Carroll Creek Linear Park Amphitheater, was created to recognize Young’s vision for downtown Frederick when he served as mayor from 1974 until 1990, particularly after a devastating downtown flood in 1976, said Jan Gardner, the chair of the committee behind the sculpture. The sculpture project was entirely privately funded. Caleb Ogilvie/The Frederick News Post.
ATTORNEY PROBING CAUSE OF LAUREL MAN’s DEATH IN ICE CUSTODY: A civil rights attorney representing the family of Julián Curo-Churata, of Laurel, says he is investigating the cause of the 47-year-old’s death in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, saying that Curo-Churata’s pleas for medical attention were ignored until it was too late. Ashley Clarke/The Baltimore Banner.
Rick Hutzell of the Banner needs to get over his confliction. The truth is our ship building capacity in this country sucks, we need newer technology and a place to build this stuff. It is much needed and Sparrows Point has been mostly desolate besides US Wind. More jobs with federal contracts which is basically what our economy is running on despite the Gov. and legislature realizing how vulnerable we are with gov’t cuts in spending. But our economy here has always been lopsided in favor of well-paid federal jobs which also makes it really hard for most of us to live here as everyone jacks up the prices, including our very own state government. We have 4 of the top 10 richest counties in the entire US with a lot of old family wealth here. These people can afford anything. but the rest of us whom work in the private sector, many making between $15-$20 struggle on a daily basis to just pay bills and no money left over to save nor invest. Of course, a lot of these problems go hand in hand with the excessive printing and Federal Debt devaluing our money. A lot of that debt can be attributed to excessive war spending, Afghanistan, Iraq, Covid, and now Iran. Ironically that spending brings jobs to MD but at the same time makes life harder to live for everyone at the same time as our money doesn’t go as far as it once did and we get trapped in never ending CC debt. It’s a negative feedback loop that is perpetual and hard to stop because well the voters often times don’t want higher taxes but also do not want cuts to any programs they benefit from. Which puts our politicians in a rock and hard place because they do not want to get voted out for cutting programs nor raising taxes.