Not because she doesn’t want to. Because she can’t.

Ivey is one of more than 1 million registered voters in Maryland who are not affiliated with any political party, meaning they are prohibited from participating in the state’s closed primary election, which are open only to registered party members. She is also one of five plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to change that.

“I should not have to join a private political party to fully participate in a public election,” Ivey said on a conference call Thursday with other plaintiffs in the case. “And neither should the more than 1 million other Maryland voters who are unaffiliated. This is a voting rights issue.”

The group, represented by former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, against the state in May 2025, seeking a court order that would prevent the state from funding elections that exclude independent voters. The case was dismissed by a judge at the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in November, a ruling that is now in the process of being appealed.

Rutherford said the Office of the Attorney General responded to the early last week, arguing that political parties have a First Amendment right to decide who is going to be their candidate and who can vote in their primaries.

The attorney general’s office declined to comment Thursday on the lawsuit or its response to the appeal.

Rutherford said Thursday that the suit does not challenge anyone’s ability to associate with the political party of their choice, but that it should not be a state function. He said that excluding voters from participating in elections that are paid for with their taxes is a violation of their constitutional rights.

“We are not challenging their ability or their right to associate with like-members,” Rutherford said. “We’re saying that the state can’t pay for it because by endorsing, by supporting, by funding, you are denying the rights of citizens as guaranteed by the state constitution.”

Rutherford said the plaintiffs are going to issue their response to the office early next week and are waiting to get a hearing date, which both parties have requested.

“[Our response] would reiterate the fact that they are off track in terms of what their arguing is,” Rutherford said. “They keep saying that we’re trying to force the parties to accept this, we’re just saying the state can’t pay for it.”

In Maryland, voters must be registered with either the Republican or Democratic Party to participate in primary elections, but can vote for non-partisan offices, like board of education seats.

More than 1 million voters throughout the state, which is about a quarter of the state’s eligible voters, are not registered with either political party, according to Maryland Board of Elections records from May. This totals an increase of more than 42,000 new unaffiliated voters in the past year.

According to Sam Novey, chief strategist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, closed primaries do have some benefit, in that they can strengthen voters affiliation with political parties, which can help elect political leaders who better understand their communities’ needs.

“The drawback is that you’ve got a lot of people who are wanting to participate in shaping the election who are not able to participate,” Novey said in an interview. “That is obviously problematic as well.”

On the Thursday press call organized by Open Primaries — an organization that advocates for nonpartisan primary systems — Jeremy Gruber, its senior vice president said that as elections throughout the state and country are becoming less competitive, denying unaffiliated voters the chance to participate in primary elections denies them a “meaningful say” in the politicians who represent them.

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Maryland Realtors that active housing inventory fell 16.4% over the past year, from 18,402 houses available in May 2025 to 15,395 available in May 2026. New listings are also down, from 9,368 new listings in May 2025 to 7,296 new listings in May 2026, a 22.1% decline over the year.

Costs are rising at the same time. In May, the average sales price for a house in Maryland went from $522,664 last year to $547,405, a 4.7% increase.

For Lisa May, director of advocacy and public policy with Maryland Realtors, the recent data shows that Maryland continues to struggle with providing the housing options that meet the demand.

“Supply and demand applies to housing,” May said. “It’s actually more subject to the laws of supply and demand because if you have excess housing, you can’t just pick it up and move it somewhere else in the country, like you do shoes or cars. What we’re seeing in Maryland is we’re not building new homes.”

She said people are not moving because they don’t see a better option in the market, another factor that keeps supply low and prices high. The states where costs are improving, she said, “are the ones that are building.”

“Housing supply has been a tough one to crack,” she said. “We know that Maryland is a highly-regulated state … and that creates a lot of risk for developers when they are looking to invest in Maryland and build the housing that our residents need.”

She said part of the solution is to “reform the rules that allow different types of housing to be constructed.” But renter advocates warned that trying to bring housing costs down by removing regulations could threaten renter protections like rent stabilization in Montgomery County, which developers have said impede new housing projects.

“We have to look at the larger perspective,” said Matt Losak, executive director for the Montgomery County Renters Alliance. “We have a competing self-interested narrative put forward by landlord developers, real estate lobbies that are trying to eliminate any regulation on their industries … in order to maximize profits.

“It’s up to our governments to balance public interest with our interest in economic development,” he said. “When they’re talking about a housing shortage … they’re not talking about 35,000 people milling around downtown Silver Spring who don’t have a home. What they’re talking about is market demand. That is, if we had the houses, we could sell them or rent them, which is a very different reality.”

From a national perspective, the housing market is still tough, but reports that listing prices fell for the seventh straight month, a year-over-year decrease of 2.4%, showing a “promising run” in the housing market.

Maryland’s stalled housing supply comes in spite of efforts by Gov. Wes Moore (D) to push new legislation that facilitates new housing developments in the state.

In 2024, he pushed for a that included a measure to provide “density bonuses” that allow developers to build more units than zoning rules typically allow in exchange for a certain percentage of affordable housing options.

This year, the General Assembly approved two of his housing bills meant to encourage developers to build in Maryland.

One measure, the Housing Certainty Act, delays payment of certain fees to county officials for new housing development and creates “vesting rights” for developers: The assurance that a project would be subject to the local regulations in place at time of its completed application and not subject to later changes.

Vesting rights have long been a complaint from developers, who say that changes in regulation and local ordinances can prolong the approval and development of new housing options. But that legislation doesn’t take effect until October.

The other new law encourages new housing development around transit-oriented locations by restricting parking minimums and other local decisions in specific situations.

Realtors and multifamily housing developers were not ready to pass judgment on whether Moore’s housing policies have been effective.

“It’s too soon to know exactly — if you ask me in a year or two, we might have a better sense,” said Aaron Greenfield, director of government affairs for the Maryland Multi-Housing Association. “I applaud the governor and the administration in trying to employ all of the tools in the toolbox … but these things take time.”

May noted that a Moore bill that stalled this session, the Silver and Starter Homes Act, could have been another step toward increasing the housing supply.

The bill would have encouraged the development of smaller homes by prohibiting local jurisdictions from placing restrictions on how small a lot or house could be, allowing younger families to step into homeownership and giving aging Marylanders a chance to downsize their homes.

The bill faced opposition from local and county government representatives, who said it overstepped local zoning authority with blanket statewide mandates. The legislation had hearings in House and Senate committees but was never brought up for a vote in either chamber.

May argues that current regulations and market pressures mean it’s easier to build big homes, and developers are not able to easily develop smaller houses due to lot-size minimums and other factors.

“The General Assembly has been in a tough place between what … the administration has proposed and what views the local governments, county governments, municipal governments have been — in terms of holding on to their local control and their local power,” May said.

“And I think that’s why we’ve seen mixed results of what has actually passed the General Assembly in terms of actionable legislation on housing,” she said. “Seeing the Starter and Silver Homes bill — the sort of vitriol that came out of that hearing, and for that bill to not even get a vote, I think was very disappointing.”

She hopes lawmakers take it up again next session. But any statewide housing policy could still create conflict with the local zoning authority.

“Last year’s debate around promoting smaller ‘starter and silver’ housing unleashed multiple concerns from numerous communities, but focusing that conversation on affordability, rather than simply spatial footprint, might unlock a more fruitful discussion,” Michael Sanderson, executive director for Maryland Association of Counties, said in a written statement Wednesday.

“County leaders remain open to innovations in financing, infrastructure support, and agency alignment — any of which might help accelerate a catch-up in Maryland housing stock,” he said.

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In to Gov. Wes Moore (D), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department determined there had been “sufficient production losses to warrant a Secretarial natural disaster declaration” in 12 Maryland counties.

The declaration also declared eight Maryland counties and 16 counties in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, as “contiguous” disaster counties. The declaration means farmers in all those counties can apply for emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.

Rollins said USDA could not determine if six counties — Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Kent, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s — has incurred sufficient damage to qualify as primary disaster areas, but that they could be added at a later date. Anne Arundel, Kent and Prince George’s counties were included on the list of contiguous disaster areas in this first cut.

The news was welcomed by Moore, who asked for the declaration last month in response to “extensive” crop damage after the April 27 cold snap.

“This disaster declaration provides a vital financial safety net to keep our hardworking family farms operational so they can continue to feed Maryland families while putting food on their own tables,” Moore said in a statement released by his office.

After submitting the federal request, Moore directed state agencies to take steps to help state farmers, by waiving that winemakers in the state own or have under contract at least 20 acres of grapes, or that at least 51% of the ingredients in their wine come from Maryland; by creating task forces on irrigation and on boosting existing risk management programs; and by working to “enhance opportunities” for farmers and watermen affected by natural disasters to access Maryland Agriculture and Resource-Based Industry Development Corp. programs.

He also ordered the Maryland Agriculture Department to encourage the purchase of local farm products by food banks, consumers and others; the Department of the Environment to prioritize “water appropriation permits” for agriculture; and the Governor’s Intergovernmental Commission on Agriculture is to assess how state and local agencies “can better support affected agricultural sectors.”

The April 21 freeze came after an unusually warm spring that encouraged early growth and left some crops particularly vulnerable to a cold snap.

The Maryland Farm Bureau also for a disaster declaration, saying that a survey of its members found that farmers expected production losses of just over two-thirds of the harvest for some crops, with farms in the hardest-hit counties reporting near total losses.

Officials with the Maryland Wineries Association also reported heavy losses, with one longtime vintner saying he had not seen anything like it in the business. The wineries association reported a total loss over 36% of the state’s grape acreage, leading to an estimated $24.4 million deficit in projected wine sales for the 2026 vintage.

State officials said data confirmed that crop losses far exceeded the 30% threshold required for a federal declaration. Compounding the crisis, the governor’s office said Monday, the late spring freeze came as the state suffers prolonged, severe drought conditions.

“This federal designation provides an important safety net to support what will be a multi-year recovery process,” Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks said in the statement from the governor’s office.

“Our producers are facing millions of dollars in ongoing maintenance costs without the crop income they rely on,” Atticks said. “Moving forward, the state will continue to work side-by-side with federal agencies and our congressional delegation to deploy every tool at our disposal to navigate this environmental volatility and preserve marketplace stability.”

Affected farmers and growers are strongly encouraged to contact their county USDA Farm Service Agency office to review eligible disaster assistance programs and begin the application process.

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The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in May, bringing inflation for the year to 4.2%, the highest level since April 2023, driven in large part by the spike in fuel prices, according to the from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the Washington, D.C., metro area, which includes suburban Maryland and Virginia, annual inflation rose to 4.1% in May, according to the report. The most recent numbers for the Baltimore metro area are from April, when the annual inflation rate was 3.6%.

“It means [people] are paying more for everything,” said Christopher Meyer, a research analyst at the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. “It makes it harder to afford everything. They’re especially paying more gasoline for utilities, electricity, and home heating, but other things as well.”

Energy costs have seen the starkest rise in prices in the past year, with the cost of gas increasing by more than 40% nationally and fuel oil, which is used for heating in homes, up by almost 60%.

According to Meyer, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war is the most significant contributor to uptick cost because it has caused disruptions in global energy markets.

While gas prices nationally and in Maryland are trending down since their peak in mid-May, the , as of Monday, was $3.83 per gallon, which is still 77 cents more than what people paid a year ago, according to AAA data.

The uptick in gas prices can also make the price of other goods higher because it costs more money to ship those items, according to Allan Drazen, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland. This includes food, which has seen a 3.1% national cost increase in the past year, according to the BLS.

“When we look at the price of food, the price of energy matters, supply chain disruptions matter,” Drazen said. “There are a number of things that tend to have an effect.”

Meg Kimmel is the president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that supplies food to about 760 local food banks and pantries throughout the state for them to distribute.

While she said her larger organization has been able to absorb the higher costs of goods, higher prices in things like gas and utilities, in addition to food, have made it harder for more local pantries to afford to distribute the same quantities to their communities.

South County Assistance Network, based in Anne Arundel County, distributes food to individual families once every 30 days to help ease the load of food costs. Pat Youngman, the president of the organization’s board of directors, said she is seeing her clients need “significantly” more help getting food on the table.

In 2025, the organization distributed food to 371 families, she said. This year, it has taken on 47 new families.

“We’re definitely seeing more families struggle,” Youngman said, “They comment about the price of food and how difficult it is.”

“That is the part that is often challenging for families,” Kimmel said. “They find themselves needing to make those trade-offs and to make those choices and decisions they have to make. Do I pay the utility bill, or do I put food on the table? Do I pay for my kids’ field trip and haircut, or do I put food on the table?”

The true challenge with the rise in inflation is that wages are not being adjusted for the high cost, according to Meyer. To ease the burden, he said state lawmakers can advocate for increasing the state’s minimum wage to keep up with prices and support collective bargaining.

As more people are relying on public assistance, Meyer said state lawmakers should use the state budget to invest in things like public transportation and affordable housing and childcare.

Despite this, he said, federal government actions, like ending the war in Iran and repealing cuts to things like Medicaid and federal food assistance, will likely contribute to the most significant improvements in affordability.

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More than 100 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) rallied in support of workers at the University of Maryland, College Park, where 73 union members were recently laid off, and at Bowie State University, where 21 members lost jobs. And the union said at least one layoff notice was issued from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The rally was held about a week after College Park officials announced layoffs during a “.”

“I’m not sure why we’re being laid off when there’s other options that they could have explored, and we’re really angry about it,” said Emily Leak. She worked as an integrated care specialist the University of Maryland, College Park, to help keep students from committing suicide.

“We’re worried about the safety of our students at the University Health Center in College Park because we need more mental health services,”  at the rally. “I had no opportunity to transition services, very unethical from a licensed perspective. I am just appalled that UMD would treat their dedicated employees like this.”

The union rallied 30 minutes before Friday’s meeting of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, which oversees academic and financial operations and crafts policy for the 12 institutions and three regional higher education centers that are part of the university system. UMCP, Bowie State and UMBC fall under the regents’ umbrella.

Union members were joined at their rally Friday at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City).

Ferguson noted that voters will be able to vote on a referendum question during the Nov. 3 general election that he said would ensure a layoff like the latest one “doesn’t happen in the near future.”

It’s based on the  of 2026, approved during this year’s legislative session. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City), would require, that “a neutral arbitrator” be selected in labor-management disputes with state workers, if the measure is approved by voters this fall.

Ferguson also said money was approved in the fiscal 2027 budget for the university system that would provide raises, cost-of-living and merit increases.

The system agrees that a 1.5% cost-of-living increase was provided for all 40,000 system employees, but “no additional funds were provided for merit pay for any employees, including those covered under the AFSCME contract,” USM spokesperson Michael Sandler said in a statement Friday afternoon. He added merit pay is awarded only if it is funded by the state.

Sandler said institutions in the system “are facing budget challenges for a number of reasons.”

“First, our base funding from the state is 10% lower because of cuts from the previous two budget cycles,” he said. “Furthermore, when you factor the impact of inflation and changes in federal policies that have affected research funding, we are seeing reduced funding at our institutions while also experiencing higher costs. All of that is contributing to greater budget challenges.”

A representative from the University of Maryland, College Park, deferred to the system’s statement. In a  dated June 4, College Park leaders announced that about 84 state-funded employees were being laid off.

A statement from Bowie State University echoed the system’s remarks. The university’s statement also added that about 23 employees were laid off to address budget challenges.

“At the same time, we recognize that these decisions have had a real and deeply personal impact on members of our campus community,” the Bowie statement says. “We are especially mindful of the employees and families directly affected by the layoffs, and we extend our sincere concern and appreciation for their service to Bowie State.”

But union leaders such as AFSCME Council 3 President Patrick Moran said the university system, UMD and Bowie State have large endowments. In addition, Moran asked during the Board of Regents meeting why system and college leaders didn’t assess any “costly contracts you have with vendors?”

“Would you cut the basketball coaches or the football coaches pay after you have a contract? So, why are you taking it out on the backs of working people? Shame on you,” he said.

Before union members left the meeting, the continued fight to rescind those layoffs was declared in a : “USM, do what’s right! Maryland staff are ready to fight!”

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As of last week, more than 22,000 Marylanders had done just that, asking the Motor Vehicle Administration for the logo that was made possible under what became known as “Eric’s ID Law.”

“It shows it is really needed for people who cannot speak for themselves,” Carpenter-Grantham, 21, said during a recent interview.

The Montgomery County resident has high-functioning autism, and the logo is designed to alert police and other emergency responders to the developmental or intellectual disabilities that are not immediately noticeable with Eric, and others like him. The decal can be placed not only on driver’s licenses but on MVA-issued identification cards and even moped operator permits.

The law also requires that the state Police Training and Standards Commission, in consultation with the State Police and other stakeholders, “implement training concerning interactions with individuals who have a nonapparent disability.”

Kimberly Boddie of Prince George’s County, who has an hidden disability and the butterfly logo on her ID, said police training is sorely needed.

“If a police officer is talking to me and I turn my head, a police officer may think I’m being rude. I’m sensitive to light,” Boddie, 49, said Friday. “Training helps officers and just makes things better.”

Boddie said she doesn’t drive due to a trifecta of ailments — lupus, Raynaud’s disease and Sjogren’s syndrome.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and inflammation in various parts of the body. Sjogren’s is another autoimmune disease that creates dry eyes and lack of moisture in the mouth. The disease can trigger Raynaud’s, a disorder that restricts blood flow that Boddie said can make her “hands turn blue and makes me immobile. I’m an autoimmune warrior.”

Boddie was officially diagnosed with all three in 2020, then noted jokingly, “But I never got COVID.”

‘Remarkable young man’

The Carpenter-Grantham family has not just been sitting at home and relishing its success since getting a state law passed.

They have traveled to other states to lobby for passage of legislation like Eric’s ID Law, in states such as �����Ի���. Linda Carpenter-Grantham, Eric’s mom, said they are already planning to return to  next year to work on a bill that did not win passage during this year’s legislative session.

The mother-and-son duo traveled across the border into Washington, D.C., and testified Thursday before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment on the “Eric’s ID Amendment Act of 2026.” The bill would allow applicants for a license, permit, or identification card to have the applicant’s nonapparent disability noted on the credential.

“As a person with autism, I understand how it feels to be misunderstood sometimes. People with autism and other invisible disabilities communicate differently, need extra time to process information, or react differently in stressful situations,” Eric said in his testimony to the committee.

“Unfortunately, those differences can sometimes be failures to follow rules, or change of behavior, instead of being recognized as a disability. This is why this legislation matters,” he said.

Several other Marylanders joined the family to testify in support of the D.C. measure, including Boddie, Laurel City Councilmember Kyla Clark and Prince George’s County Dels. Kym Taylor and Karen Toles, both Democrats. Taylor, who has an adult son with an invisible disability, was a co-sponsor of the Eric’s ID bill when the General Assembly passed it into law last year.

Taylor summarized how the Maryland law and the D.C. bill are both strictly voluntary.

“This bill does not require anyone to disclose a disability. It does not create a registry. It does not require medical documentation. It does not impose additional fees,” she said. “Instead, it empowers individuals and families with a voluntary tool that can facilitate understanding during critical interactions.”

Meanwhile, the Carpenter-Granthams may return to Annapolis next year with a proposal for an Eric’s ID amendment to produce butterfly stickers and have them placed on vehicle windows to inform police officers someone with a non-apparent disability is inside.

�ճ���� has already promoted not only stickers, but also buttons with informational cards. Representatives from the office will hand them out during the Ocean City Air Show on the weekend of June 13. The Carpenter-Grantham family plan to be there, too, to talk about the law.

“I want to celebrate this for Eric because he’s a remarkable young man to have this vision,” said Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli. “This [will] help first responders — law enforcement, paramedics, firefighter personnel. Think about the benefits this will have for everyone. This is just huge for our residents and visitors who have those hidden disabilities.”

Linda Carpenter-Grantham hopes other sheriffs will follow Crisafulli’s lead.

“The sheriff was just so excited to follow up with Eric’s ID Law. It’s good to see,” she said. “This is something we need to get done.”

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Maryland will part ways later this year with the current contractor, Nebraska-based Kiewit  Infrastructure, after failing to reach agreement on a final project cost. State officials have refused to disclose the amount sought by Kiewit, citing confidential negotiations, but some estimates have placed Kiewit’s asking price as high as $9 billion.

But Transportation Secretary Kathryn Thomson and other officials told members of House Appropriations and the Environment and Transportation committees that they estimate the cost at about $5.2 billion.

Thomson said the transportation officials “worked with independent cost estimators and Federal Highways and did our own analysis to better understand what the cost of the bridge — the remaining demolition and reconstruction — would cost, and put that out in the report that we released in November of last year.

“That remains our cost estimate for the bridge — the higher end, the $5 billion,” she said. “But we continue to reevaluate that assessment, pressure-test the assumptions, and that remains our best estimate.”

Initial estimates for a new cable-stayed bridge in the days immediately following the 2024 collapse placed the cost of replacement at about $1.7 billion.

“I’m deeply concerned about where we are on cost right now,” said Del. Ryan Nawrocki (R-Baltimore County).

Thomson told the panel during a nearly 75-minute briefing that state officials knew initial estimate “was not going to be the final cost but we wanted to get into the emergency relief program at Federal Highways [Administration] and … that was the advice to us, just give us what it would have cost at the time.”

Bruce Gartner, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said that number was arrived at without any design work completed and based on the 1970s era bridge that was in place when a cargo ship allided with it.

The authority oversees the bridge and other toll facilities.

“I’m really concerned about where the number really is,” Nawrocki said. “Do we have a $5 billion project? Do we have a $7 billion project? Is it a $9 billion project? And if it goes to any of those higher numbers, is the federal government going to continue to fully fund this project?”

Thomson rejected the higher estimates.

“To the extent you’ve heard substantially higher numbers, those are not our numbers, and I continue to say those will never be our numbers,” Thomson said. “So we’re in the 5-billion-ish range.”

Reconstruction began two years ago after the collapse of the Key Bridge. The container ship Dali was leaving the Port of Baltimore in the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, when the fully loaded ship lost power soon after leaving the port. The 985-foot vessel went dark, drifted and eventually struck one of the piers of the bridge.

Within seconds, much of the span . Six members of road crew who were working on the bridge deck that morning died.

The collapse closed the Port of Baltimore for weeks. The ship was trapped under the fallen bridge decking. State, federal and private crews pulled 50,000 tons of steel and concrete from the shipping channel to reopen it to port traffic.

The National Transportation Safety Board, in a November report, said the collapse was the result of a power outage . But the agency also cited what it called “woefully inadequate” infrastructure protecting the Key Bridge.

As part of the rebuild effort, the state in 2024 to design and plan the new bridge. As part of that work, the company has also started placing pilings in the bed of the Patapsco.

Kiewit held the option to be the first to negotiate a contract on phase two construction. Three weeks of negotiations bogged down over what Thomson said was an “unacceptably high” bid.

The state is now “off-ramping” Kiewit. The firm will continue to place piles for the project until the end of the year. As of April, about 30 of the nearly 1,000 pilings that will be required to build the new bridge had been placed. The state will pay the firm $700 million for its part of the project.

Even so, Thomson told the committees that work will continue as the state bids out the project as .

So far the costs have been covered with money from an insurance claim and an early release of federal funding.

Thomson and Gartner said that toll increases will not be needed to cover the costs. Some toll increase could come as early as next year, but officials said it is not related to the bridge.

“So we do have plans to adjust tolls, but not as a result of this project or project needs,” Thomson said.

The state still expects to receive full reimbursement of the cost of the rebuild from the federal government.

The committee also heard briefly from the Office of the Attorney General on lawsuits related to the bridge.

The office announced a month ago that it reached a $2.25 billion settlement with Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., the owner and operator of the Dali. The settlement is expected to go toward rebuilding the bridge.

The settlement resolves all claims with the owner and operator of the cargo vessel. The state could still seek damages from Hyundai Heavy Industries, the builder of the ship.

Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine are expected to pay the state by June 5.

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�ճ���� filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt by sheriffs from 17 counties, claims the law would “intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart Plaintiffs’ obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

“Maryland’s blatant defiance of federal immigration law is not merely a political disagreement or passive abstention; it is deliberate, disruptive action that jeopardizes the public safety of all Americans,” the suit says.

The suit was filed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to restrict immigration, on behalf of sheriffs from Allegany, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Kent, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester counties.

It lists the state of Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) as defendants. Brown’s office said Wednesday morning that it would not comment on the court case.

The suit comes more than a month after the  was passed, on the last day of the legislative session, and just days after Moore said he would not sign the bill, but would let it become law without his signature.

Moore said in a statement Friday that he agrees with the bill’s goal of keeping local police focused on local crime, and that the state should “not let untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work.”

But he also said the bill “presents real implementation challenges that must be addressed through executive action and in next year’s legislative session.”

The act, , was sponsored by Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard), and would end the practice of accepting administrative warrants from federal ICE agents to hold immigrant detainees. Under the law, local law enforcement officials would only be obligated to recognize a judicial warrant from an ICE agent.

The act has been called a necessary complement to the emergency bill passed and signed early in the legislative session that banned so-called  formal cooperation agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies.

Eight of the nine Maryland counties with 287(g) agreements  them, and the ninth said the agreement would no longer be enforced. But immigration advocates feared that sheriffs would just continue to work with ICE on an informal basis, which is why they pushed for passage of the Community Trust Act.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, the lead plaintiff in the federal suit, is scheduled to be one of the speakers who will discuss the complaint during a news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Annapolis.

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Tuesday’s announcement came three weeks after the Maryland Transportation Authority announced it was parting ways with the current contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure, because of an “unacceptably high” bid on the second phase of what is now, officially at least, projected to be about a $5 billion project.

Officials never said what price Kiewit was proposing for the second phase of the project, only that after weeks of discussions the state “decided that their bid was unacceptably high,” Maryland Transportation Secretary Kathryn Thomson said at the time.

It was then that they decided to “off-ramp” Kiewit and look for new contractors for phase two, Thomson said.

Under the plan unveiled Tuesday, the work will be broken into four contracts:

• Demolition of remaining bridge structures in the Patapsco and on land. State officials estimate the bids will be between $50 million and $100 million when the job is put out to bid this summer, with work possibly starting this fall.
• Construction of the southern highway approach to the bridge, including highway and 3,ooo feet of bridge, grading, wetlands work and tolling systems, lighting and the like. That is expected to cost $300 million to $400 million and be advertised this fall or winter, with work starting in the spring.
• Construction of a similar northern approach, with s shorter bridge section and longer at-grade roadway, expected to cost $200 million to $300 million and be advertised this with construction next spring.
• The largest piece, the construction of the bridge itself and protection for the bridge piers against a future boat strike. Requests for contractor qualifications will go out this summer, with possibly starting next summer. The cost of that work is expected to be between $3.5 billion and $4 billion.

All told that work would range between just over $4 billion to $4.8 billion. That’s on top of the roughly $700 million that Kiewit is expected to get for the first phase of the project, which included design, some demolition and installation of pilings that will eventually support the new bridge.

Thomson said last month that the state has been “very pleased with the quality of the work and the timeliness of the work” by Kiewit. State officials said work on the bridge would continue uninterrupted, as Kiewit is expected to work through the end of this year on its share of the project as new contracts are awarded.

The four-lane Key Bridge was destroyed early on the morning of March 26, 2024, when a fully loaded container ship leaving the Port of Baltimore lost power and struck one of the bridge’s piers. In seconds, the bridge collapsed into the river, pinning the ship, killing six members of a road crew that was working on bridge and blocking ship traffic in and out of the port.

President Joe Biden promised, and Congress later affirmed, that the federal government would pay the full cost of bridge replacement — which at the time was estimated to be about $1.9 billion for a project that officials hoped to have finished by 2028.

The project is currently expected to cost a total of $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion, and be completed by the end of 2030. The escalating costs have led to threats by the Trump administration that it might not pay the full share of replacement, but state officials and member of the state’s congressional delegation have so far been able to keep funding on track.

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Because of the error, which the State Board of Elections  and attributed to a vendor, elections officials are re-sending all 565,000 of the mail-in ballots issued so far, which are expected to arrive in mailboxes .

In a  Monday afternoon, Trump hurled accusations at Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), writing that he “allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win.”

“In Maryland, they sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots, and they got caught! So now, they’re going to send out 500,000 more Mail In Ballots, but nobody knows what’s happening with the first 500,000 they sent,” Trump wrote in his post.

The president also pledged to ask the Justice Department to open an investigation into the matter. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Maryland election officials, meanwhile, are rushing to dispute the president’s post.

None of the mail-in ballots issued were “illegal,” said State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis in a . Rather, some voters may have received a ballot corresponding to the wrong political party, according to a Monday news release from the elections board.

“No fake OR illegal mail-in ballots were distributed. The wording in President Trump’s continued posts about Maryland’s elections creates an environment of misinformation on a voting right,” DeMarinis wrote.

Maryland officials say they have voided the incorrect ballots issued by their vendor, Taylor Print & Visual Impressions, so that they cannot be used, and they have set in place adequate safeguards to prevent a person from voting twice using the two ballots.

“Every return envelope/oath has a unique identifier to ensure that a voter can only vote one ballot,” reads a board of elections webpage ���������ܱ�.

Affected voters are instructed to dispose of the original ballot and utilize the newly issued ballot to cast their votes.

Maryland has closed primaries, so voters may only cast their ballots in the party primary matching their registration. The June 23 primary will feature the governor’s race and all of the seats in the General Assembly, in addition to congressional elections and local races including county executives and county councils.

Maryland voters still have time to request to vote by mail. The ballot printing error only affected those who requested to vote by mail early, and received their ballot by May 14.

The deadline to request a mailed ballot is June 16. But voters who wish to receive their ballot as an emailed link and print it at home can request until June 19. All ballots must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on June 23, or brought to a ballot drop box or polling location by that time.

In a statement, Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Moore, called Trump’s social media post “false and irresponsible.”

“The State Board of Elections identified a vendor error, disclosed it publicly, and is fixing it to ensure every eligible voter receives a valid ballot and every valid vote is counted,” Moussa wrote. “Marylanders should look to the State Board of Elections for accurate information — not social media misinformation designed to undermine confidence in our elections.”

Moore does not administer Maryland elections in his role as governor. The five-person, bipartisan State Board of Elections handles those duties, together with its selected election administrator, DeMarinis. The board includes three members of the majority party in the state and two members of the minority party.

In its latest , the state board announced that communications to affected voters would begin Monday. Voters will receive a postcard to their registered address, or an electronic message to their preferred method of contact.

The production of the new ballots began Tuesday, and the new ballots will be mailed on a rolling basis as soon as they are printed. Envelopes will feature the message “REPLACEMENT BALLOT INSIDE.” Mailing is to be completed by May 29. Voters are instructed to return only the replacement ballot in the replacement envelope.

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But now, partially restored and easily accessible, it is the centerpiece of Maryland’s newest state park.

The 1,042-acre near Gaithersburg honors the legacy of the Howard family, who owned the land after emancipation from slavery, and became major contributors to Black communities in Maryland, including by founding the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.

“Freedman’s State Park will be a place for reflection, education and connection,” said Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw during a Friday. “A place where visitors can understand the deep ties between land and liberty, a place where Marylanders can see how the work of freedom continues long after emancipation, and a place where the legacy of the Howard family is protected — not as a footnote, but as a chapter of statewide significance.”

The story begins with , who was born enslaved in 1814 in Montgomery County, and purchased his freedom in 1851. In the ensuing years, he bought the freedom of his wife and her four oldest children from the Gaither family, for whom Gaithersburg is named.

In 1862, as the Civil War raged, the Howard family bought a plantation house known as Locust Villa, which is believed to have been built in 1790, and several hundred surrounding acres. That home has largely fallen to ruin, but another on the property is still standing, called Greenbury’s House, after one of Howard’s sons.

According to the , Howard grew rye, oats and other crops on the land, and owned livestock. But he also helped other Black Marylanders purchase land of their own, state property records show, sold some of his land to be used as a school for African American children, and built a chapel in 1889.

“Several sources even attribute Howard with providing lodging for the slave Dred Scott,” whose case before the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a historic blow to the rights of African Americans, according to the archives, but no known documentation exists to prove it.

“However, according to local legends and Howard family history, Howard assisted runaway slaves as well, with the family’s history also recounting two of Howard’s sons escaping to Canada through the Underground Railroad before Enoch George Howard had bought his family’s freedom.”

When Howard died in 1895, he divided the property equally among his five children, according to the archives. One of his five children, Martha Elizabeth Howard married the Civil War veteran and former slave John H. Murphy, and later contributed $200 to help her husband found the Afro-American, which crusaded against Jim Crow, and became one of the most widely circulated Black newspapers in the region. Today, the paper is still run by fourth- and fifth-generation Murphy descendants.

“Afro News is a publication that, for more than a century, has ensured that Black history, achievement and struggle are told clearly, fully and without apology,” said Savannah Wood, the executive director of Afro Charities, and a great-great granddaughter to Martha Howard. “From that perspective, it’s a joy to be here to dedicate this park, which is now doing the same thing.”

The property, acquired by the state more than 60 years ago, had been part of Patuxent River State Park, where it was often used for hunting. Now, it stands alone with its own state park designation.

But there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Greenbury’s House has a new roof and other refurbishments, but still has boarded-up windows. The Park Service still hopes to add signs describing the significance of the house, the Locust Villa and the graveyard between them, which is the final resting place for George and his wife Harriet, as well as Greenbury and other descendants.

For now, visitors wishing to access the property can park at a lot on Elton Farm Road, and hike a mile on a wooded trail to reach Greenbury’s House. From there, they can continue past farm fields and tracts of woodland to the burial ground and the ruins of Locust Villa, said Park Ranger Shea Neimann, a 20-year veteran of the Park Service who helped bring the new park to fruition.

Friday’s dedication ceremony was a joyous occasion for the more than a dozen descendants who returned to the property to share reflections and memories, and gather for a family photo in the burial ground. They also placed bits of sea glass on their ancestors’ headstones, meant to symbolize the path of their spirits back across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, Crenshaw said.

Houston Murphy, who attended Friday’s ceremony, said he remembers spending a night on vacation in the “cramped” Locust Villa as a young boy, where the fireplace was so large he could stand inside it.

His father, William H. Murphy Sr., a well-known judge and political force in Baltimore City, owned one tract of land in the new state park, he said. But the state approached him about acquiring the land for recreation.

“My father fought them, because he didn’t want to give up his 2 acres. It was his getaway from this stress of being a Black attorney and a Black judge in the city of Baltimore,” Murphy said Friday.

Ultimately, the state won out, and paid Murphy for the property that would later become part of Patuxent River State Park.

“My father never thought it was a fair price,” Murphy said.

For members of the family, the state’s early stewardship of the land left something to be desired, what with the loss of Locust Villa. But now, with restoration efforts well underway and a new state park created to honor the Howard family, the descendants have new hope.

“We already lost one really significant site with the state not recognizing how important the history was, but it’s great that we have new leadership that understands the importance of this history and is willing to put resources behind it,” Wood said.

State officials said Friday that they were able to create the new state park thanks to the , which the legislature passed in 2022 after a historic surge in state park visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law allowed for the park’s dedication and allocated funds for its branding and additional park rangers.

Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz acknowledged Friday that the story of the Howard family is one the state “should have been proudly telling” for a century.

But dedicating the park in this moment, when President Donald Trump’s administration is working to scrub “negative” depictions of U.S. history, including the history of slavery, from national parks and monuments, has added significance, Kurtz said.

“This is an opportunity for us at a time, frankly, nationally, when stories like this are being suppressed, to tell this, to tell this loudly and tell this proudly,” Kurtz said.

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But as the 90-day clock expires Monday, it turns out that at least seven of the nine counties that had the so-called with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have pulled out of those plans and an eighth said the agreement will not be enforced, even though it’s still on the books.

Most of the local departments dropped the 287(G) agreements either the same day or the day after Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed and into law Feb. 17. The emergency legislation took effect immediately upon his signature.

While they appear to have given up the 287(g) fight, however, sheriffs are still assessing a challenge to another immigration bill that passed during the waning hours on the last day of this year’s session: the . It is one of several immigration enforcement bills the governor has yet to sign, with just one more bill signing scheduled for May 26.

The majority Democratic legislature and the supporters of the argue it eliminates and distrust of police in communities where aggressive immigration tactics have been conducted and enforced by President Donald Trump (R) and his administration.

As of Sunday, , the agency had 1,832 law enforcement agencies in 39 states and two U.S. territories signed on to participate in the 287(g) program. Seven of the nine Maryland counties – Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, St. Mary’s and – already informed the agency they had to terminate their partnerships due to the passage of the law.

“I thank you for your partnership since 2019 and your efforts to help me keep our communities safer,” wrote Cecil County Sheriff Scott Adams in a Feb. 17 letter addressed to Vernon Liggins, acting field office director in the Baltimore ICE office.

But the agency’s website lists two Maryland counties still participating: Garrett and Washington.

A representative from the Garrett County Sheriff Office didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.

Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert said that because the 287(g) ban took effect immediately, the agreement “is pretty much null and void. We’re not participating in the 287(g) program. We just don’t have a lot of people with detainers on them that are processing through the jail. There’s not a large immigrant community here in Washington County.”

But Albert and some other sheriffs are assessing legal advice about the Community Trust Act.

sponsored by Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard), which was made an emergency measure, would prohibit local or state police from holding a person for ICE, except in limited scenarios: If a person was convicted of a felony in the United States; is a registered sex offender; served between 12 to 18 months in a state prison; or committed an offense in another state and served at least five years in prison.

A major part of the bill requires federal officials to present a judicial warrant to hold someone, not just an administrative warrant.

One of the main complaints from Republican lawmakers and some sheriffs is the act will not only decrease cooperation with federal officials, but also force law enforcement agencies to follow both federal and state law they say conflict with each other.

“We’re sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States and the state of Maryland. The Community Trust Act puts us in a very tough predicament,” Albert said.

‘Have some standing’

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler posted a video April 15 on urging the governor to veto the Community Trust Act.

“This legislation is a direct assault on public safety. It officially bans our law enforcement and correctional officers from communicating with our federal partners at the Department of Homeland Security,” Gahler said in video.

He reiterated that point said in an interview Thursday.

“The governor hasn’t signed it. We’re waiting on [whether] if he vetoes it, or allows it to become law after 30 days if he doesn’t veto it or sign it,” Gahler said. “We have talked with attorneys. We think we might have some standing. I hope we don’t get there. I hope he does the right thing and vetoes this terrible bill.”

Another immigration-related bill awaiting the governor’s signature is the which seeks to close loopholes in the state’s Public Information Act and prohibit a business from selling personal data of an individual “for the purpose of immigration enforcement.”

“The signing of these bills are going to be career defining for our governor and going to mark his legacy on immigration at a time when our communities are under attack,” said Cathryn Jackson, policy director for We Are CASA.

As for the 287(g) legislation advocates pushed for more than a decade to get, Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George’s) said “it’s a big deal.”

“It’s just really unfortunate we are in this political climate we are in today with a federal administration in trying to prevent people from obtaining the American dream,” said Williams, who sponsored the House version of the 287(g) legislation.

“It’s about people who are searching for a better life for their family. When we talk about American exceptionalism, our immigration system is a part of that,” she said.

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

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Last summer, the state began requiring park users to  in order to visit five state parks, including Sandy Point and Newtowne Neck. Popular beaches at each of those parks had drawn miles-long lines of cars on warm sunny days, sometimes beginning as early as 3 a.m., filling parks to capacity and forcing park rangers to turn visitors away.

State park officials say the registration requirement brought a dramatic improvement, and eliminated early park closures. The system , and an associated call center took more than 4,000 calls, according to the Maryland Park Service, which is part of the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“We really pressed this thing against the most significant challenge places to see if we could break it. And it worked. It never broke. I would say it was an unqualified success,” said Paul Peditto, assistant secretary of land resources at the department.

Now, they’re looking to implement the same system at popular areas of at least eight new parks across the state, including Gunpowder Falls, Swallow Falls, Rocky Gap and Rocks State Park, according to a list provided by Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Gregg Bortz.

But the state is also eyeing different avenues for expansion. At some park locations with unmonitored “honor boxes,” where visitors are supposed to insert their park entry fee in cash, the department will instead post a QR code that visitors must scan on their cellphones to pay the fee before a gate will lift, allowing them to enter.

“It’s exactly the same as if we had Ranger Paul sitting there and he manually enters you into the thing, takes your cash or your credit card, and then hits the button to open the gate — but it’s all automated,” Peditto said.

The department is also looking to bring the reservation system to several shooting ranges operated by the state, Bortz said, including at Green Ridge and Savage River state forests.

The park service was hoping to start installing the system at new parks as soon as possible, so that it may reach some parks by June. But the arrangement with Kaizen Labs, the contractor installing the systems, faced a hang-up at last week’s Maryland Board of Public Works meeting, where it must be approved in order to go forward.

After pushback from the board, which includes the governor, the state treasurer and the comptroller, the department withdrew the agenda item. Agency staffers said they were asked to provide additional documentation on the agreement with Kaizen, including comparisons to other state park reservation systems nationally. The matter could be reintroduced as soon as the board’s next meeting on May 20, and department officials are optimistic that it will be.

“We’re just going back and we’re going to redo that economic assessment for the board, and continue to keep moving forward,” said Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz.

Under the deal, the state won’t pay Kaizen a lump sum, but rather tack on a 23% processing fee to each entry payment, which would go directly to the company. State park entry fees often range between $3 to $5 per person, so the fees could increase by more than a dollar per visitor.

It’s the same arrangement that took hold at last year’s slate of five parks. Peditto said the agency received “no pushback” on the slight fee increase in 2025.

“Most people figured out: ‘I would gladly pay $1.70 extra to know that I’ve got a spot in line and I’m going to get in,’” Peditto said.

‘Dishonor boxes’

Kurtz still remembers the reception he got when he stopped his car at an entrance at Greenbrier State Park last winter, hoping to drop an entry fee in the park’s collection box.

“It’s free! Keep moving!” yelled a person from a car behind Kurtz, with some obscenities mixed in, according to the secretary.

By requiring online payment at the gate, the department is hoping to change that paradigm, Kurtz said, and recoup revenue that would otherwise be lost.

“We’re in a tough budget situation. We’re not changing the fee structure. We’re just enforcing it,” he said.

Peditto said he jokingly calls the collection tins “dishonor boxes,” since they’re frequently ignored — sometimes maliciously, and sometimes not.

“Nobody carries cash with them anymore,” Peditto said. “They ask for three or five dollars and you’re like … ‘I want to pay you, but I don’t have a way of doing it.’ This solves that problem, too.”

The new procedure also has safety benefits, Peditto said.

Now, park rangers will have an online record of each park entrant, and precisely when they arrived at the entry gate, Peditto said. The system will make it easier for park rangers to realize that someone hasn’t exited the park in a timely fashion, a possible signal that they are lost or injured in a park, Peditto said.

Rangers would also immediately know more about the potentially lost visitor, making it easier for them to reach emergency contacts, and more quickly ascertain where the person may be stranded.

“I’m sure there’s some folks who think that that’s maybe too much Big Brother government,” Peditto said. “We look at it as a pretty darn good safety net.”

The agency is hopeful that visitors who don’t have the proper technology on hand when they arrive at the gate — or struggle to use it — will be few and far between, Peditto said. But there is still a contingency plan.

“Every location has a phone number you can call. We have a 24/7 dispatch system at DNR,” Peditto said. “We will figure out a way to get them in.”

Expanding the system

The reservation system might be a byproduct of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a dramatic increase in Maryland state park visitation. In 2020, 21.5 million visitors came to Maryland state parks, a 45% increase over the previous record-breaking year.

After COVID, the numbers decreased slightly from the 2020 peak, but stayed considerably higher than pre-pandemic, according to the park service.

The park service plans to expand the online system as widely as possible, Peditto said. But many parks are not a natural fit, and the system likely won’t be deployed there, he said. The initial focus is on parks with traffic queues and other issues, he said.

“It would be, I don’t know, irresponsible to say we’re going to figure out a way to force everybody to come into Dan’s Mountain Wildlife Management Area on like a 5-mile long road right through the middle of it, and try to figure out how to capture all of them.”

The park service is hopeful that the fee arrangement with Kaizen will aid in the program’s expansion, Peditto said.

“We thought that that would better incentivize the vendor to sort of grow the model with us,” Peditto said.

The vendor did not make a profit on the arrangement in 2025, he said.

“I know for sure that this was not something that they were bragging to their investors about the first year,” Peditto said.

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They were reacting to a 13-minute video podcast in which Dels. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert) and Brian Chisholm (R-Anne Arundel) accused Del. Chao Wu (D-Howard and Montgomery), who is a native of China, of being a spy for the Chinese government. Throughout the video, Fisher and Chisholm also make references to how Wu talks.

The video was first flagged Friday by House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), who wrote Fisher and Chisholm urging them to delete the video and apologize to Wu.

It was followed Monday by statements from the legislature’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus, the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, even the leader of the House Republican Caucus, all of whom said the video was out of line.

“Xenophobia and bigotry have no place in the Maryland legislature,” Del. Lily Qi (D-Montgomery), chair of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus, said in a written statement Monday. “As a data scientist, Delegate Chao Wu is an asset to our legislative work. One can debate the merit of a bill without resorting to racist name-calling and unfounded accusations.”

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland condemned “in the strongest possible terms the racist, xenophobic, and deeply offensive remarks,” directed at Wu.

“Rhetoric that seeks to demean, otherize, or question the legitimacy of an elected official based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, or the way they speak is unacceptable and dangerous,” according to the Monday statement from the Black Caucus. “Such conduct debases public discourse, fuels division, and undermines the dignity owed to every Marylander.”

Fisher and Chisholm started their podcast on the “dumbest bill in America” by naming a bill that was actually introduced by Wu in the 2025 General Assembly. , which died in committee without a vote, would have prompted developers of generative artificial intelligence programs to disclose where they obtained the data that was used to train and update the AI system.

Fisher claimed that the bill would have required private companies to disclose “trade secrets.” The bill had eight cosponsors whom Fisher and Chisholm do not mention.

They then cite a nine-month old Washington Examiner story that said Wu had been involved 20 years ago, as a college student, with a campus organization that the State Department in Trump’s first term said had ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Chisholm says it’s part of the Chinese government’s plan to “send in spies, people like Chao Wu, and try to gain intelligence.”

Throughout the video, Fisher and Chisholm make references to Wu’s looks and how he speaks. Almost 11 minutes into the video, which was posted April 30 on X, Fisher offered the “important caveat” that “because you’re Asian doesn’t mean you’re a Chinese Communist,” but continued to imply that Wu was working for the Chinese government.

Wu said that he had “no idea” why the two Republicans decided to make him the center of the video. He rejected their claims.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been called a Chinese spy,” Wu said. “Unfortunately, Chinese Americans have always been targeted by xenophobia or just racism.”

Wu was born in Yingshan, Hubei, China and came to Maryland in 2003 for graduate school at University of Maryland, College Park to get a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering. He served on the Howard County School Board from 2018-2022 and began his term with the House of Delegates in 2023.

Neither Fisher nor Chisholm responded to requests for comment Monday.

Both delegates are part of a seven-member group of hard-right Republicans know as the Maryland Freedom Caucus. The caucus did not explicitly defend their statements Monday, instead accusing Peña-Melnyk of  of lawmakers rather than dealing with the state’s economic problems.

������, Peña-Melnyk expressed “profound disappointment” at the podcast statements that she called “offensive, unacceptable, and beneath the dignity of this institution.”

“Reducing a colleague to harmful stereotypes, questioning his loyalty because of where he was born, and mocking the way he speaks is disrespectful and unbecoming of anyone entrusted with public service. It echoes a long and painful history of discrimination that has no place in Maryland or in the House of Delegates,” wrote Peña-Melnyk, herself an immigrant from the Dominican Republic.

“National political figures who traffic in racist tropes to sow division and fear have tried to make this kind of rhetoric feel normal. It is not. In Maryland, we will call it out and denounce it at every turn,” her letter said.

House Minority Leader, Del. Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), said he had “no reason to believe” that Wu was “somehow affiliated with the Chinese government as an American citizen and elected official.”

“There is no place for discrimination or prejudicial treatment toward Asian Americans based on their ethnicity in our party and that’s not something our Caucus engages in or promotes in any way,” Buckel said in a statement Monday.

In a follow-up interview Buckel said he doesn’t believe Chisholm and Fisher are racist, but said that he wouldn’t blame Wu for feeling “singled out” for being accused of what Buckel called a “quite serious offense that shouldn’t be made light-heartedly.”

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The finalists’ identities were not released, but a search committee official expressed confidence their qualifications to run Maryland’s second-largest school system.

“Our committee worked diligently to lead a transparent, community‑driven search grounded in the values of Prince George’s County,” committee Chair James Bell Jr. said in a Friday statement. “The finalists we have recommended reflect the leadership qualities our families, students, and staff told us matter most. We are confident this process will support the selection of a superintendent committed to strong, student‑centered progress for PGCPS.”

According to the Maryland State Department of Education, Braveboy is expected to make a selection from the finalists by June 1.

Braveboy appointed the current interim superintendent Shawn Joseph in June 2025 for the 2025-26 school year. State law requires a three-person search committee be named to help find a permanent leader, with Bell named by State Superintendent Carey Wright and the other two members — county residents Jennifer Avelar and Gordon L. Sampson — appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D).

Forwarding the finalists ended the search committee’s role in the process. It is unclear whether Joseph applied for the permanent job.

Earlier, Braveboy’s office and the county’s school board partnered with PoliHire, a D.C.-based search firm, to find the next superintendent. It surveyed nearly 4,300 county residents between February and March on what they would like to see in the next superintendent.

An April report summarized five characteristics identified in that survey: community-centered and transparent communicator; operationally strong and results-driven leader; strategic and responsible fiscal steward; culture-builder and organizational leader; and instructionally focused education leader.

The majority of respondents identified as teachers/licensed professionals (1,889) and parents/guardians (1,827).

Those who participated in the survey outlined three strengths based on whether respondents agree or disagree. They agreed “schools are safe,” the “workforce is effective” and “technology is well integrated.” They disagreed with the statements “students are college and career ready” and “PGCPS is fiscally responsible.” The most cited area of concern that most respondents disagreed with was “facilities are well maintained.”

The search committee recommended the candidates reach out to parent and student representative groups, employee organizations and community and business leaders.

In addition, the committee “encouraged more dialogue with Latino community groups due to the low survey response rate.” This is based on lower response rates “in more densely populated, lower-income, and linguistically diverse communities in northern Prince George’s County,” according to the survey report.

Once Braveboy selects a candidate, that person’s name will be sent to the county school board for approval by June 30. The state superintendent then makes the final decision to appoint that person to a four-year term.

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