Tag: maryland

Maryland’s energy price explosion

In July, my electric bill crossed a number I never thought I’d see: over $500. Yes, it was a brutally hot month, but we’ve had very hot summers before in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. We’ve run the air conditioning nonstop before and never reached even $400.

What’s going on?

A few things. Let’s start with this week’s announcement by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore of a $2 million “Residential and Commercial Energy Storage Program.” The idea is to offer rebates to homeowners and businesses that install battery systems, which can store energy and reduce strain on the grid. Moore says, “When we invest in clean energy, we help expand supply.”

That all sounds nice. But here’s the problem: Every “investment” like this costs money, our money, and it hasn’t lowered a single bill so far. In fact, it’s done the opposite. Almost laughable is another planned “solution” to the energy crisis: Maryland utility customers will receive a rebate on their bills next month, estimated at about $40 per household, depending on electricity usage. A second rebate is planned for January. 

On June 1, utility rates across Maryland jumped. Baltimore Gas & Electric, Pepco, Delmarva Power — pick your provider, the story’s the same. We were told it’s because of supply problems and the need for infrastructure upgrades. The reality? The state continues to remove reliable, always-on energy sources and replace them with more expensive alternatives that can’t carry the load on their own. We’re importing more energy from other states at higher rates and paying for that gap via higher bills.

The jump we saw in our bills this summer isn’t a one-time bump. Maryland is part of a regional power grid called PJM. Recently, the price PJM charges to ensure there’s enough power cleared at the maximum allowed rate. Translation: In 2026, we’ll see another increase, 1.5% to 5% higher on top of what we’re already paying now. And that’s just the short term. With the growing demand from massive data centers sucking up power, Reuters reports bills in our region could climb 30% to 60% by 2030.

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Power-Bill Crisis Spreads From Maryland To New Jersey, May Doom Democrats As ‘Green’ Implodes

A power bill crisis is gripping parts of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and is set to worsen, threatening to financially crush households as long-range forecasts point to a brutally cold winter. What began in Baltimore, Maryland – as first covered in our reporting one year ago– has now spread to New Jersey, where residents are furious over skyrocketing electricity costs. 

The common denominator in both states? A disastrous green energy agenda, pushed by radical leftist lawmakers, is dismantling reliable and cheap fossil fuel power generation in favor of unstable solar and wind. This has unleashed a power bill armageddon on working-class and middle-class households, as well as mom-and-pop businesses, all while baseload power demand surges in the era of AI data centers.

Fox News is beginning to latch onto the power bill crisis theme, starting with coverage of New Jersey residents who are absolutely furious over exploding power bills. This new development could severely damage the state’s Democratic leaders in the upcoming elections.

This all started when New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities approved a 17 to 20% rate hike for power bills in June. Many residents were shocked when they opened their bills at the end of last month. 

“$200 more, I know my electrical bill,” one Jersey woman told Fox News reporter CB Cotton, adding, “I was shocked. So to say the least, I’m very disappointed. This is killing us, and every time you turn around it’s something more. You only get little pleasures in life that you enjoy, and my air conditioner is one of them.”

Perhaps Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision to shutter the state’s nuclear and coal plants, without a one-to-one replacement for lost capacity on the grid, was a catastrophic error that is only now coming home to roost. He also prioritized offshore wind farms and other green energy projects, which have left the grid more fragile than ever.

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Judge Permanently Blocks Trump’s Actions Aimed at Eliminating DEI at Universities

A Maryland-based federal judge on Thursday permanently blocked two of President Trump’s memos aimed at eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at universities.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education issued an ultimatum to all federally funded educational institutions: eliminate DEI programs within 14 days, or face the complete withdrawal of federal funding.

The directive, outlined in a letter from the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), was in response to “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences” that have turned America’s schools into indoctrination camps.

The letter explicitly warns schools, universities, and state education agencies that their reliance on DEI initiatives—which serve as racial discrimination—violates federal civil rights law.

Under the order, educational institutions receiving federal aid must immediately:

  • Dismantle DEI offices and programming that promote race-based policies.
  • End race-based hiring and admissions practices that disadvantage certain groups.
  • Cease funding or collaborating with third-party organizations that push DEI initiatives.
  • Halt racially segregated graduations, scholarships, and other programs under the guise of inclusion.

Failure to comply, the Department warns, will result in swift consequences—including the potential revocation of federal funding.

US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher said the Department of Education violated the law.

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Man Gets ZERO Jail Time After Being Caught on Video Violently Beating Two Elderly Pro-Lifers

Earlier this year, Patrick Brice was found guilty of savagely beating two elderly pro-life activists, Mark Crosby, 73 and Dick Schaefer, 80, in May of 2023 outside a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore, Maryland. Video shows Brice kicking Crosby in the face and, as reported by the Baltimore Banner,  left him with a permanent eye injury.

On Thursday, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant sentenced Brice to ZERO jail time and instead received one year of home detention and three years’ probation.

Video of the attack, shared by Baltimore Police, shows Brice engaged in a heated conversation with the activists before he turns and rushes Schaefer, whose back was turned, and  tackles him against a concrete planter and knocking him to the ground.

Brice then straddled the 80-year-old, who had his back to him, tackling him across a large concrete planter and knocking him to the ground.

When Crosby came to Schaefer’s aid, Brice then knocked Crosby off his feet, sending him to the pavement, straddled him, and began punching Crosby in the face.  Brice got off of the helpless victim, kicked him in the head, and walked away.

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Neo-Nazi gets maximum sentence in terror plot to destroy Maryland’s power grid

Brandon Clint Russell, the leader of a neo-Nazi group, had nothing to say before a judge handed down the maximum 20-year sentence for his role in a white supremacist plot to destroy Maryland’s power grid.

Baltimore District Court Judge James K. Bredar also ordered lifetime supervision for Russell once he is released.

Bredar called the Florida man “the brains” behind the chilling plan to destroy five Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE)substations in and around Baltimore and create a political revolution. 

The judge said Russell wanted to create a “bizarre utopia… where everyone looked like him.”

Earlier this year, a jury found Russell guilty of conspiring to destroy the regional power grid.     

Judge Bredar called Russell “profoundly dangerous” and said he wanted “to engender terror, fear, and chaos.” 

The judge also said Russell has “significant mental health issues.”

“With the guidelines being what they are, yes, we were prepared for this,” said Ian Goldstein, Russell’s lawyer. 

When WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Goldstein whether his client was dangerous, he replied, “He’s always been very nice to me.”

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Democrats Spark “Manufactured Power Crisis” In Maryland As Left Begins To Panic

Maryland’s deepening energy crisis and the resulting hyperinflation in power bill costs that have steamrolled working-class families are a stark reminder of why local elections matter. It’s also a case study in what happens when one-party rule goes unchecked. Under far-left Democratic leadership, the state has been so epically mismanaged that it now faces multiple cascading crises, whether fiscal, energy-related, or tied to illegal aliens or violent crime. 

Last week marked a significant inflection point for the panicking Maryland Democratic Party, which can no longer ignore the power bill crisis. 

Governor Wes Moore, speaking from a swanky vineyard in northern Baltimore County, was forced to address the crisis and now has blamed skyrocketing power bills on the regional grid operator, PJM.

Moore’s claim that PJM is somehow responsible for Maryland’s power crisis is a masterclass in political deflection.

What’s actually happened is that Moore and the Democratic Party have championed failed globalist “green” policies that led to the premature retirement of reliable fossil fuel power generation across the state for intermittent solar and wind, leaving the grid more fragile than ever. Meanwhile, baseload capacity has stagnated, forcing the state to import a significant portion of its electricity from neighboring states just to keep up with the soaring demand driven by data centers, EVs, and reshoring efforts. 

The power crisis is entirely self-inflicted and a result of failed green policies pushed by far-left state and local officials wearing climate-crisis blinders. These crazed leftists have no business managing the state’s energy infrastructure, let alone its future. 

Local TV station WBFF Fox Baltimore’s Gary Collins spoke with Maryland Del. Ryan Nawrocki, a Republican representing Baltimore County, who called the energy crisis in the state “manufactured” by failed green policies of the Democratic Party. 

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State of Maryland is Quietly Modifying COMAR with Emergency Regulations to Usurp Local School Boards

Imagine being a pro basketball player that follows every rule of the game and makes a clean shot destined to go in with a swish. While the ball is midair, the referee immediately conspires to change the rules with the NBA and extends the court and the basket to be 3X further than where it was at the time of the shot. Impossible right? It’s not impossible in Maryland.

Did you know that the State of Maryland has a system to bypass the legislature in order to create and change COMAR regulations on the fly, and without the entire General Assembly or a legislative bill?

This is done through a committee of the General Assembly called the JOINT COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND LEGISLATIVE REVIEW (AELR).

Establishment

The Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review (AELR Committee) was originally created in 1964 as a joint standing committee known as the Committee on Legislative Review. It was reconstituted as a statutory committee and renamed in Chapters 400 and 699 of 1972.

Membership

The AELR Committee is composed of 20 members – 10 senators appointed by the President of the Senate and 10 delegates appointed by the Speaker of the House. Each political party is represented in approximately the same proportion as its membership in each house, and each major standing committee of the General Assembly is represented on the committee. There is a Senate chair and a House chair of the committee who alternate each calendar year as the presiding chair.

Principal Function – Generally

The AELR Committee functions as the watchdog of the General Assembly in overseeing the activities of State agencies as they relate to regulations. The committee’s primary function is to review any regulations that are proposed for adoption by a unit of the Executive Branch of State government to determine whether the regulations conform both with the statutory authority of the unit and the legislative intent of the statute under which the regulations are proposed.

You can read more about the AELR here:

Click to access 2016-AELR-Committee-booklet.pdf

Although a governor can execute regulation without the AELR, their existence is an illusion of formality. The abuse comes when a proposed regulation is declared as an EMERGENCY when there is no emergency.

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Scientists in Maryland Are Developing Artificial Blood

Scientists in Maryland believe they are on the verge of creating artificial blood that could save thousands of lives.

Researchers and scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore are creating artificial blood by extracting hemoglobin from expired blood and then enclosing the protein in a bubble of fat, which replicates red blood cells.

Dr. Allan Doctor shared that the artificial blood is “designed so that at the moment it’s needed, a medic can mix it with water, and within a minute, you have blood.”

Currently, the team at the University of Maryland School of Medicine is using artificial blood in tests with rabbits.

Per NPR:

Tens of thousands of people bleed to death each year in the United States before they can get to a hospital. That’s because ambulances, medical helicopters and military medics can’t routinely carry blood, which would go bad too fast without adequate refrigeration.

So scientists have been on a quest to develop artificial blood that could be stored in powdered form and reconstituted by medics on the spot to save lives.

At the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where some of this research is being conducted, a white rabbit lies on the floor of a cage. It’s in a “special intensive care unit that we’ve created for our rabbit resuscitation,” says Dr. Allan Doctor, a scientist at the school.

Doctor’s team just drained blood from the animal to simulate what happens to a person who’s hemorrhaging from an injury, such as from a car crash or battlefield wound. “This rabbit is still in shock. You can see he’s lying very still. It’s as if he was at the scene of an accident,” says Doctor. “If we didn’t do anything, it would die.”

But Doctor and his team are going to save this rabbit today. They’re going to fill his veins with something they hope will finally enable them to achieve a goal that has stymied researchers for decades: developing safe and effective artificial blood. “Good bunny,” says Danielle Waters, a technician on Doctor’s team, as she gently lifts the rabbit and starts infusing him with three big syringes of artificial blood.

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FBI agent convicted of rape, sex assault of young women at Maryland tattoo shops

A Maryland man and veteran FBI agent could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting at least three young women.

What we know:

Eduardo Valdivia, 41, was found guilty of six counts of second-degree rape and two counts of fourth-degree sex offense for sexually assaulting three young women.

The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for just over three hours in court on Friday.

The backstory:

Valdivia had been working as a supervisory special agent with the FBI for over a decade when he was arrested in November 2024.

Two women in their early 20s reported to authorities that they were raped at Valdivia’s tattoo studio, DC Fine Line Tattoos. One of those women also reported being raped at a nearby hotel.

A third victim came forward after Valdivia’s arrest, reporting that she was also raped by Valdivia at a different tattoo studio when she was 18 years old.

Prosecutors say Valdivia lured women to his tattoo studio with free tattoos and modeling opportunities, posing as a female psychologist and CEO of a well-connected modeling agency in emails with his victims.

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Former Voice of America Employee Indicted for Repeatedly Threatening to Murder Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Her Family Between October 2023 and January 2025

A former Voice of America (VOA) employee was indicted on Thursday for repeatedly making anonymous phone calls for over one year, where he threatened to kill Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her family. 

According to the Indictment, Seth Jason of Maryland “repeatedly threatened to assault and murder the family members of Marjorie Taylor Greene” and “threatened to assault and murder Marjorie Taylor Greene” at her Georgia campaign offices.

Notably, the calls stopped on January 21, 2025, the day after President Trump was inaugurated.

This comes after United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Senior Avisor Kari Lake, who oversees USAGM Affiliates, including VOA, revealed in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last month that there was an “active investigation going on at VOA for a series of threatening phone calls that have been coming out,” threatening a member of Congress and that “they’ve discovered that those phone calls were coming from inside the Voice of America.”

Following Lake’s bombshell testimony on her agency’s record of waste, fraud, mismanagement, self-dealing, national security failures, and violent radical employees, President Trump called for the complete destruction of VOA. “KILL IT!” he said on Truth Social.

Lake responded to the new indictment on X, agreeing with President Trump that “it’s time to shut it down.”

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