The Code Red extreme heat alert was issued by the Baltimore City Health Department in preparation for the high-90s temperatures forecast at the beginning of the workweek. The department urged locals to reduce outside activities and stay in air-conditioned locations.

[Get the latest weathercast from FOX45 News]

The Health Department also recommends people in the city drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol and caffeine, make sure to not leave children or pets alone in closed vehicles, and check on older adults or sick neighbors who might need help responding to the heat.

Monday is expected to reach a high of 95 with sunny and clear conditions. It will likely cool down to a low around 75.

Tuesday’s high is projected to reach 97 degrees with a heat index of 101 in another sunny, clear day with light wind. The heat index is a measure of how hot the air feels to the body.

Wednesday is not included in the heat advisory but will likely also see a high of 97. There’s a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day, bumping up to 40% in the evening as temperatures cool down to 75.

Thunderstorms are likely on Thursday, with an 80% chance of precipitation and a high near 87, breaking from the extreme heat.

Friday is predicted to be mostly cloudy with a high of 79 and a low of 64, as well as a chance of showers during the day.

BGE bills are expected to decrease roughly $3.36 a month, thanks to some previously negotiated credits, but not until at least next June 1, an analysis by a state utility watchdog shows.

The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel on Thursday reviewed results of an annual “capacity market auction,” completed this week by PJM Interconnection, the operator of the wholesale electricity market and 13-state regional power grid. The auction, in which companies make competitive bids to offer power generation, sets the wholesale price for electricity and enables enough supply to meet the projected needs of more than 67 million people in 13 states and Washington, D.C., for a year starting June 2026.

Supply prices are separate from and in addition to the delivery fees that are paid to utilities and have rates regulated by the state’s Maryland Public Service Commission.

This year’s auction set a record high clearing price of $329 per megawatt-day, up from last year’s clearing price of $270 per megawatt day. Power generators and others offer a price per megawatt of power for each day. Each bidder is paid the clearing price times 365 days for each megawatt they bid at or below the clearing price.

Last year’s price, a nine-fold jump from the previous year, has helped send utility bills soaring this year. BGE customers are paying an average $16.49 per month more this year, as of last month, as a result of the last two auctions.

Maryland consumers are being forced to shoulder the cost of supporting the massive power needs of data centers, mostly located outside the state, Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said in the analysis. Data centers accounted for more than 5,400 megawatts of increased demand compared with last year’s level.

In several OPC filings before federal regulators, the office argues that Maryland customers must pay hundreds of millions of dollars for transmission projects driven by data center load growth occurring in Northern Virginia.

“Residential customers are not causing these excessive costs and should not be paying for them,” Lapp said in Thursday’s announcement. “Utility regulation is failing to protect residential customers, contributing to an energy affordability crisis.”

Despite the promise of slight relief by next summer, BGE customers have been squeezed by higher bills.

Annie Albert, a Fells Point resident, said she’s taken steps for several years to conserve energy and make her 235-year-old rowhome more energy efficient. She said she’s cut back on electricity usage but still finds herself paying $500 a month this year, about the same as last year. She’s cut back spending in other areas, such going out to eat less and taking fewer vacations.

“Our prices have gone up, for sure,” said Albert, who has lived in BGE territory for a decade.  “We’ve also seen an increase in the unreliability of the grid. This summer we’ve lost power more times than we have in the entire time I’ve lived here.

“But what are you going to do, it’s one of those necessities you just have to pay for,” she said.

PJM said wholesale capacity accounts for a relatively small portion of electricity bills and could translate into a year-over-year increase of 1.5% to 5% in some customers bills throughout the region.

Besides data center expansion, electricity demand is soaring because of electrification and economic growth, the grid operator said. Power generation included in the recent auction included 45% natural gas, 21% nuclear, 22% coal, 4% hydro, 3% wind and 1% solar.

PJM transmission costs per megawatt hour have more than tripled when adjusted for inflation from 2007 through last year, according to the 2024 State of the Market Report for PJM.

The People’s Counsel had advocated for changes to PMJ’s market auction rules that helped boost the amount of electric supply bidding into the market this year. In one change supported by Gov. Wes Moore and other PJM governors, a cap was set on the clearing price. But even increased electric supply could not offset higher demand, Lapp said.

Customers of Maryland utilities Pepco, Delmarva Power and Potomac Edison all can expect energy bill increases next summer, ranging from $2.50 to $5.24 per megawatt hour.

For the first time in several years, the price for the BGE zone cleared at the same price as the overall PJM regional price because the auction included two Anne Arundel County power plants that are shutting down but required by PJM to stay online until reliability measures are put in place.

Those plants were excluded from last year’s auction, driving the auction results up by as much as $5 billion, according to an Office of People’s Counsel report released last August.

Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com, (410) 332-6672.

The issue of retail theft has led to empty shelves, large retailers closing shop in some neighborhoods and common items being locked away from customers.

The latest technology may be the solution for retailers.

Movements like slipping a bottle into a jacket or a backpack can be identified in seconds and sent in a digital alert.

“The technology was very intriguing,” said KJ Singh, who owns Kings Contrivance Liquor & Smoke Shop in Columbia, Maryland, and another shop in Washington, D.C.

Singh was one of the first to adopt the AI surveillance system created by French company Veesion.

“We were losing around $50 to $100 a day,” said Singh. “People would pick up expensive bottles, and that’s a loss of $30 to $40, and it adds up.”

“Shrinkage has a huge impact that is getting worse since the pandemic,” said Benoit Koenig, general manager of Veesion.

With AI surveillance software, Singh’s camera system isn’t just watching for thieves to provide proof after the fact; it is intervening in real time.

“It generates a short videoclip of about five to 10 seconds focused on the suspicious behavior that was detected by our technology,” said Koenig. “You receive that on a mobile phone, desktop or tablet at the cash register, so you can intervene before the shoplifter leaves the store.”

Koenig said that while most stores have cameras, they don’t always have the labor to monitor them.

“Having this layer of AI is as if you have a video man monitoring the cameras for you 24/7, without a break, without holidays,” he said.

The National Retail Federation reports that retail shrinkage, as seen in the Greater Washington area, accounted for over $112 billion in losses nationwide in 2022. Some estimates project losses could reach $140 billion by the end of 2025.

“We’re talking about businesses that have low margins, tight margins,” said Koenig.

Singh said he is already seeing a difference.

“If someone was trying to put it in their pocket, trying to put it in the bag or their pants, I was able to figure that out, and we were able to catch a lot of thieves,” said Singh.

Have a news tip? Contact ABC 7 News’ Carl Willis at cawillis@sbgtv.com.

Yolanda M. Jones is accused of using her company, YMJ Counseling and Consulting, to make fraudulent payments to her associates and a Census Bureau employee who steered the procurement contracts to benefit YMJ.

Jones and her firm did not immediately return requests for comment.

Prosecutors said the consulting service, which was incorporated in 2020, was a subcontractor affiliated with the Census Bureau’s Employee Assistance Program.

Court records say that the consulting firm received over $2.5 million from the subcontracting deal, and accuse Jones, 64, of sending nearly a third of that money back to the Census Bureau employee supervising the assistance program.

Prosecutors say that the employee, who is not identified in court records, had recommended YMJ as a subcontractor under false pretenses — they said that the firm had done previous good work for the Census Bureau; in reality, the firm had not even been incorporated yet.

Once YMJ was signed on as a subcontractor, the Census Bureau supervisor and Jones began reaching out to college friends and offering them work as independent contractors, sharing documentation of the work needed.

“Oh the last thing — don’t act like you know me,” the supervisor wrote from their personal email address, according to charging documents. “I’m trying to be as by the book with this as possible.”

The friends met on Zoom to discuss the “EAP opportunity,” according to court filings. YMJ also entered a partnership with another firm, which was run by the supervisor, who worked at the Census Bureau, to expedite the procurement process, prosecutors wrote.

The Census Bureau did not immediately return a request for comment. Jones did not have a defense attorney listed in court records and did not have a scheduled court date.

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_ or on Signal as @danbels.62.

MacInnes, 54, is president and chief executive officer of The Columbia Association and has spent the past 20 years working in local government. Prior to his move to Columbia he most recently served as town administrator for six years in Dartmouth, a coastal town in southeastern Massachusetts.

He was hired last June to lead the nonprofit that serves as the de facto government of Maryland’s second-largest city. The planned community was founded in 1967 by real estate developer Jim Rouse. Today, the association board manages a budget of more than $91 million, as well as a range of community amenities.

MacInnes’s predecessor, Lakey Boyd, notified the board of directors of her resignation in January 2023 after months of controversy. The board had issued a plan earlier that month aimed at improving its relationship with the CEO. Boyd said in a Jan. 11 statement the plan rendered her “ineffective in being able to carry out my duties as president/CEO” and requested the board transition her out of her role. She was two years into a four-year contract.

After her departure, Dennis Mattey served as interim president and CEO until MacInnes was hired in April 2024.

MacInnes has a three-year contract that can be renewed. He lives in Town Center.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

One year in, talk about your experience leading the Columbia Association. 

The year has been great. The big reason why I took the position was because of the organization, and that the CA organization is very professional. The staff are great. Everyone I met, top to bottom, still to this day, are motivated — great customer service, engaged with the work they do, but engaged with the community. They really care. If you attend any events at our lakefront, you see the staff work so hard. They work very hard to make these a success. Great organization to be a part of. Great sense of community here. Coming from the northeast, there’s pockets of community [but] Columbia is just a great sense of community all around.

What were your biggest priorities when you stepped into this position a year ago? Have you addressed them?

(There was a) big internal push (for) awareness of CA and what CA does. I think a lot of people here, they were here since the inception of Columbia. They understand what CA is and what it does. But CA is 58 years old now. We’re looking at it as there’s a lot of people that — CA used to be the only game in town — and now there’s been a lot of developments. What makes Columbia great is there’s so much going on here. We need to be more upfront about what we do and letting people know that we do a lot here… This past year, we’ve been more of a push to let people know that this is what Columbia Association is doing for you. We have a … app that helps the members to sign up for classes, register for classes, be active in the community. And also, we have a GIS tool, a mapping tool. So when you’re out and about you pull it up on your phone, and it shows you not only all the CA facilities, but what’s going on at those facilities. If it’s a pool, it can tell you if the pool is too busy, or if it’s OK. Or what’s at the pool; Is there a water slide there? A lot of changes like this to really just enhance what we do. Something that I came in and identified as something we should focus on moving forward — what’s Columbia’s next 57 years? That’s our big push this year, some long-term capital planning. This is 20 to 40 years away, but what do we need for facilities? What is the future going to look like? How can we make sure that we’re positioned to take advantage of that.

What has been the most difficult adjustment for you and how did you overcome it?

I think getting acclimated. Everyone’s been welcoming, but there’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot going on, not only in Columbia, but Howard County, and then in the state. And getting bearings around that and also trying to move the organization forward. You really can’t come in and say, “Oh, well, I’m gonna change everything.” It takes time — six to nine months before that vision starts to form and you realize, OK, this is the direction I think we want to start going in and start to kind of articulate that message to the staff and the public and the board, to let them know,” this is where we’re going to be going.” That’s a challenge. You want to hit the ground running and make impact right away, but it’s really being patient and taking time to make sure that the decisions we’re making are the right ones. We have phenomenal professional staff here that are knowledgeable and highly skilled and know the community, so just kind of leveraging their skills to help me get acclimated. I’m a collaborative person, so forming a lot of teams internally to help get projects completed, and really leveraging these skills of the employees to help me get acclimated faster. That was one tool that I definitely had, that I was fortunate enough to have here at CA.

How do you hope to ensure the CA maintains Jim Rouse’s vision?

I think we’re doing that. You heard me talk about what are our next 57 years — the community’s changed. And what makes Columbia nice is that we have 10 villages. And while we’re a community of 100,000, we’re really a city, [but] those 10 villages make it seem like it’s a small town. … Jim Rouse’s vision was to have a sense of strong sense of community, but also provide for the community and make it someplace that’s livable. So for us, we have to look at that and say, All right, well, the community’s developed, and now we have to take a different outlook. To say, how do we leverage what we have and what we do — which is great, which is a lot — and make sure that keeps Columbia as an attractive place for people to want to live and raise their families.

What do you hope to accomplish in the next year?

Definitely looking forward is, what are our next 57 years? So not only what we’re going to offer for programming, how we engage the population that’s going to settle down and have families here and make this their primary location, and where they’re going to lay their roots. And what do we need for facilities to accomplish that? And by facilities, a good example is [our] three athletic clubs. When they were built, racquetball was really popular. Racquetball is not popular anymore, but we built these facilities based on racquetball. So now, when we try to modify them, they’re kind of built for racquetball, so we’re really trying to back into them. Pickleball is big now, but is pickleball going to be the racquetball of the 2020s? These are fun things to look at, but then, you know, how do we make sure what we’re doing in the future is flexible, and what’s coming down the road? What are people going to want in the community? So those are things this year we’ll be looking at. … There’s a lot going on right now in the world economically. How do we prepare to make sure that CA can be there, supportive in the community, as Jim Rouse’s vision would want, but also that we’re prepared financially to make sure that if anything happens, that we’re able to continue to provide the same services.

How are you hoping to tackle youth crime in Columbia?

We do a lot of programming at our lakefront, mostly concerts and movies. And I think the goal the last few years has been to activate the lakefront, get people down there. Now it’s let’s diversify what we’re doing down there, because are there groups we’re not reaching? And it’s one thing to say, well, we’re having Movie Night, and everyone’s welcome. Everyone’s welcome, but are we reaching everyone we need to reach? Saying, “anyone go down there” doesn’t mean we’re targeting who we want. And teens is a big part of that. So we had put an internal team together to kind of create some programming. And what we did (is) we created teen nights. What do teens want? Teens don’t always want structured programming. The group put together a DJ down there and an opportunity for teens to hang out. And that was last month. Really well attended. A lot of teens down there just hanging out, listening to music and just being teens. That’s what we can do to help engage that group. With teens and crime, I’ve heard people complain about it in Howard County. It’s a developed community, and this is like a city. People think it’s a small town. Well, the crime in Columbia relative to another 100,000 city population is still really low. But when you’re here, you think, well there’s crime. It’s the perspective of the people that are bringing that up. Columbia has grown. It is developed. And that’s great. That’s what makes it great. But then some people think, well no, it’s my small town, and you know  that’s different. That’s the one thing that’s hard to balance, and I think if Jim Rouse were around he would say it’s hard to balance that too. It’s one thing to plan about the development. Alright, now we’re developed. What do we do now.

CA’s former CEO Lakey Boyd resigned from her post in 2023, and several CA board members resigned at the same time, with one citing a “lack of accountability and lack of trust in current board leadership.” How has the CA changed since then, under your leadership and what has the CA learned following that contentious time?

I can’t really speak for the organization. I wasn’t here for that. I can tell you, in my professional experience, I’ve dealt with a lot of difficult board dynamics in my career, so I understand that. I can tell you, from my personal experience, the board that I dealt with last year was pretty good. I think they learned from what had happened previously, the ones that were here, and they were interested in making progress and moving forward. I think that the board that’s in place this year, the majority of the board, is really interested in long term strategic planning and doing what’s best for Columbia, the community. That’s refreshing to see and hear. And I think they’ve made some strides already to do that, to be a more professional group. If I had to speculate, I’d say, they’ve learned from those past boards and [the] developments that went on. … From an elected kind of position, it’s difficult. Most elected positions, if they’re in a community, it’s like a three year term or longer, and realistically, in my experience, it takes a year for people to get acclimated, if they’re new. If you have a one year term — I’m generalizing — but a board member may feel like “well I have to be impactful. And I’ve never been on a board before.” So generally, when that happens, they lean towards operational things, which is not what a board does. To come in, you have a year and have to think strategically  about the organization, but also get to know the organization. I would always equate it to being in French class, trying to learn French from the teacher, but also telling the teacher how to teach French at the same time. You can’t do both. So you either have to sit back and observe or participate. But how can you make an impact if you just don’t know what you don’t know? It’s hard for a board member here with these terms that are just short, so it’s tough. I sympathize. …  I think [CA has been] more upfront about what we do and what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.  Letting people know this is Columbia Association [and] really advocating more for ourselves. And also not being so reactive with the public. We have great residents, and they’re engaged, a lot of them. Most of the community is pretty content with what they have here. So it’s [about] not overreacting when you hear people’s concerns. We always want to hear people’s concerns, but we can’t be reactive to everybody that brings up a concern. So we have to look at the greater good and the impact on the whole community, and that’s where it gets into your board dynamics, where boards generally hear a resident speak out. People want to voice their concerns, which is great, but we also have to put that in perspective. We’re a community of 100,000. How many people are really bringing this topic up? We don’t discount it. But we also say, “all right, well if it’s a big issue, we’ll hear from more people.”

Have a news tip? Contact April Santana at asantana@baltsun.com or at 443-834-7525.

Seshamani acknowledged that the state’s relationship with the federal government is “being challenged right now.” Some recent changes include Medicaid cuts recently passed by Congress and new policies being implemented by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. She also said she’s working on regaining “trust” with the disability community after funding cuts during the last legislative session.

Seshamani replaced Laura Herrera Scott, who left the position in February. Seshamani assumed the role in April, after serving as deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Biden administration.

Treating drug overdoses

Maryland ranked 15th on overdose fatality rates nationwide in 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Baltimore is a national hotspot for drug overdoses and recently made national headlines for a mass overdose event involving 27 people who were hospitalized.

Asked what the state can do to improve drug treatment, beyond merely preventing overdose deaths, Seshamani said behavioral health is “absolutely a priority” for her and that it’s important for substance use disorder to be “incorporated into the full spectrum of behavioral health care.”

“My behavioral health team has been working on that continuum of care to start with prevention, going all the way to post-acute [care], and how does substance use fit in there,” she said.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has advocated for bringing supervised drug consumption sites to the city, where people can use illegal substances with health care professionals available to prevent overdoses and provide clean needles for injection. The nation’s first such site opened in New York City in 2021.

Asked whether she believes Maryland should adopt supervised drug use sites, Seshamani said she didn’t have an opinion on the matter.

“We are always open to considering various options,” she said. “So that’s something that I can take back to the team.”

Seshamani noted that the department administers grants to providers “because it’s very important that people are hearing from their local trusted messenger.” She also noted a partnership with the Department of Labor for training for “peer recovery coaches” in rehabilitation facilities.

Medicaid coverage

An estimated 175,000 Marylanders will lose Medicaid coverage under the expansive tax and spending bill passed by Congress earlier this month. The total amount of money expected to be lost by Fiscal Year 2034 is around $2.7 billion, with most of the funding losses occurring in the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

The new federal policy requires people to work 80 hours per month in order to qualify for the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, which covers adults earning incomes of up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Around 331,577 people in Maryland currently qualify.

Seshamani said the state will work to set up systems so that people “don’t get caught up in that bureaucracy,” noting the administrative problems that occurred when Georgia implemented a similar program.

“We want to try to set up these programs in the best way possible, and we know what potential pitfalls are, and we absolutely will do our best to try to avoid those,” Seshamani said.

Last year, the state underestimated Medicaid costs for the 2025 fiscal year budget, leading to budget cuts in other areas.

Asked how the state can avoid that situation in the future, Seshamani noted she wasn’t serving in her role during the previous legislative session and emphasized collaboration for solving “complex problems.”

“This is another area where being able to look at, okay, what are the numbers showing? How are projections being made? What are the assumptions? How should this potentially be altered?” she said. “When we’re dealing with complex problems, there’s never just one straightforward solution.”

Relationship with Trump’s HHS

Seshamani said the department is “working through various changes” coming from the federal government, and said it’s important to have good federal and state partnerships in health care.

For example, last year, Maryland officials were able to inform the CDC of a listeria outbreak they discovered that was tied to Boar’s Head deli meat, leading to a recall of more than 7 million pounds of contaminated meat. The outbreak resulted in 10 deaths and 61 illnesses across 19 states.

“Imagine how many more [deaths] there could have been, had there not been, not only that funding, but also that data sharing partnership,” Seshamani said. “And these are things that I will continue to prioritize.”

Kennedy has received criticism from medical experts for his opinions on vaccines. On Wednesday, he accepted a recommendation that flu vaccines no longer contain the preservative thimerosal, calling it “a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure.” He also previously removed COVID-19 vaccines from the vaccination schedule for pregnant women and healthy children, sparking a lawsuit from a coalition of doctors’ groups.

Seshamani noted she’s an ear, nose and throat doctor who has cared for patients with pertussis.

“Vaccines have science behind them, and I believe in following the science, having good evidence-based, good data for any decisions that you are making,” she said.

Asked about Kennedy’s stances on removing certain food dyes and cutting back on ultraprocessed foods in the American diet, she noted that “healthy food is critical to overall health.”

“Food as medicine programs, healthy food nutrition programs, are actually fundamental to the innovation that our state has been doing, particularly for prevention and treatment of chronic disease,” she said.

She said the department is working closely with the Department of Agriculture on providing Marylanders with access to healthy food — figuring out how to pair healthy food and nutrition with local farming.

But she added that the nutrition conversation also has to be paired with a conversation on behavioral health.

“You can lecture someone about taking their insulin or eating healthy or exercising, but if they have depression or anxiety and can’t get out of bed in the morning, you’re not caring for that whole person,” she said.

‘Regain trust’ on disabilities

Faced with a multibillion-dollar deficit heading into the past legislative session, Maryland lawmakers made a controversial decision to cut funding for the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

Asked about the effect on Marylanders with disabilities going forward, Seshamani said she “absolutely heard, loud and clear, that there was an opportunity to hit the reset button in terms of the interaction and collaboration and partnership between the Department of Health and the disability community.”

She added that she attended a roundtable with the disability community to “really try to improve how we are working together.”

“And so that has been a priority for me as well, to try to help regain trust with the communities and to regain that bi-directional, meaningful engagement that’s so important when you’re tackling tough issues that are very personal.”

Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at bconrad@baltsun.com, 443-682-2356 or @conrad_brooke on X.

In two letters sent four days apart, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and lawyers representing the state and national Republican Party and two party officials in Maryland raised concerns about efforts to purge duplicate and ineligible voters — including those who are deceased, incarcerated or undocumented immigrants. Both letters, obtained by Maryland Matters, cite federal election law and a 2023 state audit that raised questions about the accuracy of state voter rolls.

State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis acknowledged that his agency received both letters in the past week.

“We’re reviewing the DOJ letter,” DeMarinis said in an interview. “We are acknowledging that — like the general public — information is available under the public information act, and we will respond accordingly.”

The July 14 Justice Department letter requested voter registration data from November 2022 to November 2024. Federal attorneys also asked the state to provide “the number of voters identified as ineligible to vote” during that period because they were a “non-citizen … adjudicated incompetent” or had a felony conviction.

Federal attorneys set a 14-day deadline for state officials to provide the information.

A Justice Department spokesperson, in an email, declined to comment.

The letter comes as a growing number of election boards around the nation are facing scrutiny from a federal government led by a chief executive who has widely claimed he was the victim of extensive voter fraud.

“It heightens concerns about federalism and the roles between federal and state governments involved in election administration,” DeMarinis said.

Separate federal lawsuit threatened

In a separate but parallel letter, attorneys representing a group of local, state, and national Republicans alleged “implausibly high” voter registration percentages, both statewide and in some individual counties. The letter was sent to state and local elections officials four days after the Justice Department request.

In a 12-page notice of intent letter, attorneys with the firm Consovoy McCarthy said they represent the Republican National Committee and the Maryland Republican Party.

“Maryland is failing to maintain accurate and up-to-date voter rolls, in clear violation of federal law,” Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement. “Citizens deserve to know their vote isn’t being canceled out by duplicate or ineligible voters. We’re demanding action because clean voter rolls are essential to protecting free and fair elections in Maryland and across the country.”

The statement also referenced a 2023 report from the Office of Legislative Audits that raised questions about how the state maintains its voter rolls. That report raised concerns that potentially deceased residents remain on state voter rolls. State elections officials said auditors exaggerated those claims.

Maryland was sued last year by two organizations claiming widespread problems with the state’s voter registration system, but a U.S. District Court judge in Baltimore dismissed the case for lack of standing by the groups bringing the suit, citing the groups’ lack of standing to file a lawsuit. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal in February.

A  Maryland Republican Party spokesperson referred all questions about the letter to Nicolee Ambrose, a Republican National Committeewoman and 2022 Republican congressional candidate who is also represented by the law firm, according to the letter. Ambrose did not respond to a request for comment, but she did comment about the letter in a social media post.

“The Maryland State Board of Elections has run out of excuses for violating federal law,” she wrote on Facebook. “It is imperative they do their job and clean up Maryland’s egregiously out-of-date and inflated voter rolls.”

The firm also said it represents Reardon Sullivan, whom it described as chair of “Committee to Control MoCo Spending,” a ballot issue committee. He is also a former chair of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee.

Sullivan, in an email, said “ensuring updated and accurate voter rolls is a non-partisan issue that affects every Maryland voter.” Issues with inaccurate voter rolls “directly [affects] our committee’s efforts to collect valid signatures for our ballot petition,” he wrote.

Data cited in the GOP letter alleges that there are more voters than adults who are eligible to vote in Maryland, which Sullivan said “is obviously impossible. … Maryland must take this issue seriously and remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists prior to the 2026 election.”

Allegations in the letter include state elections officials failing to maintain accurate voter registration rolls and counties with “implausibly high” voter registration rates. It said its analysis of state records identified two counties — Howard and Montgomery — as having “more active registered voters than eligible adult citizens” between 2019 and 2023.

Both Republicans on the five-member state board of elections have ties to those counties: Diane Butler is a former member of the Howard County Board of Elections and Jim Shalleck, vice chair of the panel, served six years as president of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

The law firm’s analysis compared state voter registration totals and annual census data estimates.

“This evidence shows that your office and officials in these counties are not conducting appropriate list maintenance to ensure that the voter registration roll is accurate and current, as required by federal law,” the firm wrote in its letter.

Virginia-based Consovoy McCarthy is known for its conservative pedigree, representing President Donald Trump in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and arguing the case that ended the practice of race-based college admissions. Two of its attorneys clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The firm said its clients “will bring a lawsuit” against the state and local boards “if you fail to take specific actions to correct these violations” within 90 days.

“We’ve received it, and it is under review,” DeMarinis said when asked about the Consovoy McCarthy letter.

David Naimon, president of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, said the local agency is reviewing the letter and declined further comment.

Officials in Howard County did not respond to a request for comment.

Sowing ‘doubt’ and ‘conspiracy theories’

Maryland is one of a growing number of states where election officials have received letters from the Justice Department.

Some see the effort as a weaponization of federal law enforcement for political reasons.

“They’re just trying to come into a state that is currently dominated by Democratic leaders and sow doubt and imply there’s a problem where none exists,” said Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee Vice Chair Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, who devotes much of her legislative policy focus to elections law.

“Don’t forget that next year is an election year in Maryland,” she said. “So, if Republicans, whether they are in the administration or in the political party, are looking to plant conspiracy theories or doubt, this is the right time to do it.”

Federal laws restrict the federal government’s ability to centralize information on Americans, said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research. Even if states provide voter registration information to the public, they often redact sensitive information.

In Orange County, California, the DOJ sued local election officials in June, seeking unredacted voter registration information, such as Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses, as part of an investigation into noncitizen voting.

More than 350 election officials from some 33 states participated in a conference call about federal actions Monday hosted by Becker, who was previously an attorney in the DOJ Voting Rights Section during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. He said the interest in the call shows the level of uncertainty and anxiety over the current “federal imposition” on election administrators.

“The DOJ seems dead set on acquiring personal information on voters, including driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth — records that are highly protected under federal law and under state law and which state election officials are sworn to protect,” Becker told Stateline.

Maryland joins growing list of states

At least nine states have received requests for information over the past three months, according to letters from the DOJ obtained by Stateline. Some states also received emails from a DOJ official last week asking for meetings to discuss information-sharing agreements.

When asked whether Maryland had received any other letter or demands from the Department of Justice, DeMarinis said: “No.”

DeMarinis said the most recent letters will have little effect on how state elections are administered in the state.

“My charge and my mission is to make sure Maryland’s elections are safe, secure and transparent,” DeMarinis said. “I’m not going to be deterred from that mission.”

The department’s focus on elections comes after Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi in March to seek information about suspected election crimes from state election officials and empowered her to withhold grants and other funds from uncooperative states.

For years, Trump advanced false claims about elections, including the idea that the 2020 election he lost was stolen. Now back in power, his administration is taking a new level of interest in how states — and even local authorities — administer elections.

In March, Trump issued an executive order attempting to impose several election policies, including proof of citizenship requirements, reviews of state voter registration lists and requiring all mail in ballots be received by Election Day. That executive order is the subject of an ongoing court challenge.

Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman contributed to this article.

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: scrane@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and Bluesky.

Jackie Wang, of Ellicott City, was arrested Tuesday at his home after police identified him as a suspect via digital forensics, according to the Howard County Police Department. He is being held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center, police said.

Wang was hired in 2024 to work as an assistant in the St. John’s Parish Day School after-school and summer camp programs, according to a statement from the school. The independent day school located next to St. John’s Episcopal Church provides education programming for children 3 years old through fifth grade.

The school placed Wang on administrative leave immediately after a detective arrived at the school Tuesday to notify officials of the arrest, the school said. After learning of the charges via the Howard County State’s Attorney, the school terminated Wang’s employment.

Police said there are no indications that Wang recorded any of the child pornography he possessed. A detective told St. John’s Parish Day School that the materials did not involve anyone in the school community, according to the school’s statement.

“Mr. Wang successfully completed all pre-employment background checks and had no prior allegations of misconduct against him,” the school said.

According to charging documents, Howard Police assigned a detective to the case in November 2024 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A detective found five video files of child sex abuse materials, which included young boys undressed and performing sexual acts. The uploads were tracked to IP addresses owned by Verizon Fios, leading the detective to subpoena the company for subscriber information. An address was provided in November 2024, then police completed visual surveillance and determined that Wang lived in the home with two others.

Police executed a search and seizure warrant Tuesday at Wang’s home. Police said Wang told detectives he had received child sex abuse material through the online platform Discord and police found a USB drive with five images and five videos of male and female children about 4 to 12 years old. One video also included a teenage boy about the age of 15 to 17 years old, under the mattress in Wang’s room, according to charging documents.

The school said it quickly notified its community of the arrest and has provided resources to parents about how to speak with their children about the topic, urging them to report suspected misconduct to local authorities.

Police said that in digital cases like this one, it often takes months to identify email addresses and IP addresses.

“Search warrants must be issued for all accounts and devices and it is common for detectives to wait months for the data,” they said in a statement. “Then investigators have to go through thousands of pieces of digital information, which often leads to additional search warrants and another waiting period for responses. Detectives can only apply for charges once they have firmly established probable cause.”

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Have a news tip? Contact Kiersten Hacker at khacker@baltsun.com or @KierstenHacker.

Severe droughts in Brazil and Vietnam diminished coffee bean harvests, and recent trade tariffs have further pushed up the wholesale cost of coffee beans, leaving cafe owners struggling with when, how, and by how much they should pass the cost on to consumers.

“Prices have gone up incredibly,” said Tayson, manager of the now 32-year-old shop at Festival at Bel Air, bought in 2007 by Tayson’s mother, Betsy Depman. “With coffee beans, all of our roasters have had to increase wholesale prices.

“We have to decide how much of that we want to absorb or pass on,” Tayson said. “You don’t want to pass on all of that all at once. It’s a tricky balance.”

Consumers already have paid more for coffee in the past year. The average price of 100% ground roast coffee jumped to $8.13 per pound in June, from $6.25 per pound at the same in 2024, data from the labor department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. A cup of coffee at a U.S. restaurant cost $3.50 in June, on a median basis, a 3.6% annual increase, according to the Toast Menu Price Monitor, which tracks industry sales data.

Tayson said wholesale prices rose this year in a range of 5% to 40% for decaffeinated beans, which cost more to produce. The cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch, sources its coffee from three Baltimore-area roasters. The shop raised prices minimally on coffee beans earlier this year but has no plans to do so in the near future. The price of a cup of coffee went up this summer by about 10 cents, and they could rise further if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat earlier this month to boost import taxes by 50% on goods from Brazil, which supplies more than a third of the nation’s unroasted coffee, if no trade agreement is reached by Aug. 1.

Besides coffee, the business has grappled with the rising cost of eggs, paper plates and other items. To control expenses, it has made adjustments such as reducing the number of menu items and buying produce from local farmers.

Owners said they’re struggling to offer fair prices and still cover costs, a challenging task for small businesses operating on thin profit margins.

Large chains such as Starbucks, meanwhile, are better positioned to handle price hikes, said Hung-bin Ding, an associate dean and professor of management at Loyola University of Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business.

Ding believes that consumers who start their day at home with a cup of coffee would be unlikely to kick that habit and possibly willing to pay more, whereas people may treat going out for coffee as more of a luxury.

“Fifty percent is a very big shock for agricultural products,” Ding said. “The consumer will feel that fairly quickly. Consumers will at the end have to pay more to buy coffee.”

That doesn’t mean consumers must absorb the entire increase, which they would share with wholesalers and retailers, he said.

The proposed tariffs on Brazil are especially concerning, some in the industry say, because of Brazil’s role in supplying the U.S. with the higher quality Arabica variety of coffee. About 80% of U.S. unroasted coffee imports came from Latin America in 2023, valued at $4.8 billion,with Brazil supplying more than a third, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows.

A tariff, a form of tax, is a percentage of the sales price that importers pay to foreign sellers. Economists and many in industries that rely on imports argue that such trade policy will only send prices soaring on consumer goods. The Trump administration favors such policies as ways to boost U.S. manufacturing, hold nations accountable for an influx of illegal drugs and level the playing field with trading partners that have limited U.S. exports.

Consumers and businesses have been caught up in a cycle of uncertainty for much of the year as Trump has threatened, initiated or imposed broad-based levies on imports from most nations and on goods such as autos, lumber and agricultural products. The trade policies have set off legal challenges and appeals and sparked reciprocal taxes on U.S. goods exported to other countries.

After the Brazil tax was announced, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised to reciprocate and last week called Trump’s policy “unacceptable blackmail.”

The administration’s move targets the Brazilian Supreme Court trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally charged for his alleged role in trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump also targeted Brazil, he said, because of the court’s prosecution of U.S.-based social media companies failing to comply with local laws.

Bill Martin, owner of Mad City Coffee in Columbia, isn’t waiting to see whether or not the latest policy takes effect. Martin, who also runs a commercial roastery in Curtis Bay, buys coffee beans from Brazil twice a month and is already paying 15% more compared with last year.

In response, Mad City has adjusted pricing on its whole bean coffee, bumping it up about 7% to a range of about $14.95 to $17.95 per pound. Pricing for coffee drinks has not changed, however, Martin said.

Martin said he’s been looking into new sources for beans and tries to buy ahead as much as possible to reserve coffee at the current market price. But most other U.S.-based coffee roasters are taking similar steps, which could drive prices up in other regions, he said.

Meanwhile, he has increased orders for Colombian coffee and is buying more than usual from Guatemala and Honduras. To supply his roastery, Martin sources beans from coffee producers around the world.

Over the years, he’s had to make adjustments because of market and growing conditions, but, Martin said, “it’s a little more drastic this year due to the upcoming tariffs, if they go through with them.

“I’m hoping things will change before that,” he said.

Customers “either won’t be able to pay the price or won’t want to and will look for different alternatives,” Martin predicted.

Atwater’s, which started as a small bakery in 1999 and now offers soup, sandwiches, salad, coffee and other items in Baltimore city, Towson and Catonsville, has seen coffee supplier prices jump as well, by 10% to 15%. That’s occurred in the past six months, even before the most recent proposed levies, said owner Ned Atwater.

The cafes haven’t hiked prices in response yet but likely will do so in the next few weeks, he said, though “not across the board. It’s always hard to raise prices. We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Besides driving up prices, “the tariffs are definitely disrupting,” Atwater said. “It’s the constant change. Customers don’t like that, and for business owners, it’s hard to plan and budget.”

In the past when he’s needed to raise prices,  Atwater has asked employees to note whether customers scale down purchases or mention prices. But he doesn’t expect a big shift in habits.

“We as a culture are eating out more now than ever,” he said.

The number of snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars, a category including both independent and chain coffee shops, has been steadily growing in the greater Baltimore region for most of the last two decades, data from the Greater Baltimore Committee shows. The number declined for the first time amid the pandemic in 2021, by 5%, but began increasing again last year, to 547, the committee said. The trend was similar in Baltimore city and county.

It’s still unclear whether more people will choose to brew their coffee at home if prices keep going up, said Tayson, the Coffee Coffee manager. She hasn’t seen such a change yet.

“People are still coming out and getting coffee,” Tayson said. “People are always going to want to order food out and go out and get coffee. A lot of people appreciate shopping local, and we really pride ourselves on that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Have a news tip? Contact Lorraine Mirabella at lmirabella@baltsun.com or (410) 332-6672 

Scott headlined Wednesday morning’s panel at the inaugural Baltimore City Regional Infrastructure Summit, alongside four other Democrats: Maryland state Sens. Dalya Attar, Antonio Hayes and Mary Washington, as well as state Del. N. Scott Phillips, who moderated the panel. All discussed the need for improved regional cooperation on various issues.

“Baltimore County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, they never really thought about why it was important for them to be aligned and work together. I had the blessing of coming in at a time where we had no choice but to do that,” Scott said, referring to the coordination required to distribute federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Hayes, who represents West Baltimore, said the influence of the city’s delegation to Annapolis has “shifted dramatically” because of population declines in recent decades, meaning fewer senators and delegates represent Baltimore statewide. He believes the lack of a “binding authority” on public transportation projects is hurting the area.

“There’s no binding authority, decision-making authority regionally that is really [deciding] things,” Hayes said. “There [have] been some suggestions, some ideas about how we go about doing that. But right now, I think that’s one of the challenges we have as far as moving forward as a region.”

Eager to weigh in while the state senator spoke, Scott joked that Hayes was “too nice” in his assessment of state politics and took a shot at former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for canceling the proposed Red Line light rail project through Baltimore in 2015. The mayor suggested Hogan was motivated to cancel the Red Line because he “didn’t like the city.”

“We all should be riding the Red Line right now, not talking about when and if we’re gonna be able to build the Red Line,” Scott said. “And the reality of that is the outdated structure that we had … allowed that to happen.”

At the time, Hogan argued that constructing the Red Line would be financially wasteful and distract from his top priority of fixing roads. And as a U.S. Senate candidate last year, Hogan told The Baltimore Sun he would not prioritize funds for the revived Red Line project if elected.

“The Red Line has always been a deeply flawed multibillion-dollar boondoggle of an idea that neither the state nor the city could afford — which is exactly why Governor O’Malley didn’t build it and why Governor Moore won’t either,” Doug Mayer, former senior staffer for Hogan and a GOP strategist, said on Wednesday. “It didn’t make sense for Baltimore and its residents 15 years ago and doesn’t make sense now.”

Del. Matt Morgan, a Republican from St. Mary’s County, said the plea for more state help for mass transit is flawed. The Maryland Transportation Trust Fund already allocates more money for mass transit than for roads and bridges.

“It’s time that mass transit starts paying for itself,” he said.

Water infrastructure

Scott spoke about regional collaboration in terms of shared water infrastructure between Baltimore City and Baltimore County, which has led to recent utility rate increases in both jurisdictions.

He said the 1971 agreement allowing the county — which then had a much smaller population than the city — to use city-owned water infrastructure “makes no sense in 2025,” and argued the city should look at ways to change the structure of the agreement.

“People are gonna be mad, there’s gonna be some resistance because some people, well, you’re gonna have to pay more,” Scott said. There’s no way that we can continue to stuff the investment that has to go [into water infrastructure].”

On the other hand, Scott said collaboration between Baltimore City and Baltimore County was more positive in responding to Friday’s water main break in Hunt Valley. The mayor said he got a text from Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier praising the work of the city’s Department of Public Works at the scene of the break.

Climate change

Scott believes state and local governments should acknowledge that the federal government under President Donald Trump will not support climate change initiatives, meaning more regional collaboration is needed.

“The federal government is not gonna help, it’s just not. So we have to take that responsibility, at the local and the state level,” the mayor said.

Scott added that the extent of climate change is evident by the increased intensity of summer thunderstorms in Baltimore over the last five years.

“Literally, whenever we are having big storms come in, there are roads that immediately [that] I direct the emergency management teams to close,” he said. “… People still drive through the barricades, [but] that’s a whole other conversation.”

Morgan said Scott should focus on Baltimore, not the federal government.

“Donald Trump has bigger fish to fry, and so does the mayor of a city with the fourth-highest crime rate in the country,” the delegate said, referring to a recent U.S. News and World Report ranking.

Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@baltsun.com.