A decision to deny federal emergency aid to areas of Western Maryland hit hard by flooding in May is being called petty, partisan and punishing by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D).

State, federal and local officials met for 90 minutes inside a Westernport restaurant Sunday to discuss last week’s denial by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the next steps they can take.

And while there is bipartisan agreement that the denial is a “gut punch” to the area, ant that there must be an appeal, there is disagreement on the motivations behind the decision.

Sen. Mike McKay (R-Western Maryland) said that while the reason for the rejection is not yet clear, he does not believe it was political. But Gov. Wes Moore blamed the denial squarely on President Donald Trump (R).

“His decision was a political decision,” Moore told reporters gathered under an awning next to the Port West restaurant Sunday. “There’s no other justification that could make where West Virginia had around the same amount of damage that was done” and had its application approved, while Maryland was rejected.

The comments to reporters are some of the strongest yet made by Moore as he continues to decry a denial of federal aid by the Trump administration.

Moore, McKay, Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-6th) and Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton met at Port West Restaurant, which was hit hard by flooding that overwhelmed the town’s Main Street area in May. But on Sunday, it was reopepned and doing brisk business.

“Port West and the Subway are staples here,” McKay said, standing outside as a thunderstorm passed through.

Lawmakers call denial of disaster assistance for Western Maryland floods a ‘gut punch’

McKay said the two restaurants were beneficiaries of both a shovel brigade organized by area residents and local government aid that quickly provided some funding that allowed both to jumpstart their own recoveries.

The town and parts of Allegany and Garrett counties were inundated by storms in May. Westernport, which sits near the Potomac and George’s Creek, was among the flood damaged towns.

George’s Creek surged to more than 12 feet above major flood stage. Wills Creek in Cumberland rose 8 feet. The Potomac River also flooded. Areas of both counties were evacuated. Midland, Lonaconing, and Westernport were among the hardest-hit areas.

Moore declared a state of emergency in the area. In addition to providing some state aid, an application for federal recovery funds was also submitted.

Official damage estimates in that request approached $90 million, including damage to the George’s Creek Railroad and to exposed water and gas lines. Many of those damages were offset by insurance claims and further reduced through a “joint assessment” process in which FEMA agrees with some claims but denies others, until the damage estimate was reduced to $15.8 million.

In a letter sent to state and local officials last week, FEMA denied that funding even as it approved $11.7 million in aid for two West Virginia counties hit by a different storm in June.

Hamilton said the area is still struggling to recover. Half a mile away, Ross Street is still closed after part of the road was damaged by the flooding.

“That road alone leads down into town,” Hamilton said. “We have approximately 10 first responders from the fire department, EMS, that live on that hill. By that road not being open, it’s going to delay response. They’re going to have to go a little further out and down … that is going to be a major problem.”

The town of about 2,000 people has a $2 million budget. Damage to the municipality — excluding private property — is currently estimated at $10 million, including the loss of four city vehicles, Hamilton said.

“We lost a lot — the town itself — all of our equipment, our trucks … we lost four vehicles,” she said. “We were able to recently, through insurance money, to replace only three.”

The town has been renting additional equipment “because we don’t have the money to purchase that as well. So financially, it is affecting the town as well as all the citizens.”

With months left in the summer, Hamilton said she is already concerned about residents in the area come winter.

“Families here lost their furnaces. They have no money to replace those. So, we have families that will be cold this winter or will result to other means to heat their homes, which is a concern for the fire department as well,” Hamilton said.

“I’ve been a 25-year member with the fire department and usually homes that don’t have the capability of heating, they switch to kerosene, they switch to electric heaters, and it’s very scary for us to know that that’s probably what a lot of those families are going to do,” she said.

Hamilton said a lack of federal aid will hamstring recovery efforts.

“Honestly, I think we’re going to have to let the road set closed as it is right now,” she said of Ross Street. “You know, we’re only able to do what we can do.”

“There is money that the state has given us that right now we’re using for hot water tanks, looking to provide furnaces, those types of things for our residents,” she said. “People have to come first. The road is secondary to our residents.”

Still, Moore, Delaney and McKay said they hold out hope of reconsideration.

Moore said the state is appealing even though the denial letter offers little insight as to the reasons the state request was rejected. And while McKay and some others said they hoped the federal agency would elaborate on the reason for the denial, Moore was more cynical.

“I’ve stopped trying to do the mental gymnastics of trying to understand how this administration is making its decisions, or what to expect when it comes to partnership with them,” Moore told reporters. “What I do know is the decision that they made, it is petty, it is partisan, and it is punishing and is deeply unfair to the people of Allegany and Garrett County.”

McClain Delaney and McKay both said they have asked for meetings with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“It’s important that they are forced to justify why … they rejected it so abruptly, because it does seem that any Democratic member who’s asked for help hasn’t received it,” McLain Delaney said.

“I believe that no matter what, your ZIP code doesn’t matter. You know, people over politics, so it’s horrific,” she said. “But the one thing I keep reiterating is this is the best of what recovery looks like — it’s when state, federal and local come together. They pool their resources, and they figure out ways to leverage them to, you know, lift up in the best and most economical way.”

McClain vowed to press the administration for funding.

“We’ll embarrass them,” she said.

When asked if she thought the Trump administration is susceptible to those tactics, McClain Delaney said that “if there is enough publicity and enough of an outcry, it does look embarrassing for them because it looks like they’re penalizing people.”

McKay said he still is not attributing the decision to politics and to punishing an area that voted for Trump even as the state overall did not in 2024.

“I tend to believe that it is not political,” McKay said. “I tend to believe, just from the simple fact … that I don’t believe that FEMA, those who are at FEMA, at that level, are playing politics with applications.”

McKay said he hoped state leaders could push for a reconsideration on the merits of the case.

“I believe that we have shown the metrics that we meet everything,” McKay said. “There is an appeal process. I disagree about trying to embarrass anybody. My grandma said you could always catch a whole lot more flies with honey than a baseball bat.”

Maryland Matters 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.

Maryland Democrats reacted swiftly, and angrily, Friday to news that President Donald Trump had fired the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, a former director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore who drew raves for her work there.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Friday that President Donald Trump fired Hayden Thursday night because of “quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.”

“We don’t believe that she was serving the interest of the American taxpayer well so she has been removed from her position and the president is well within his rights to do that,” Leavitt said.

Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D-2nd) said late Thursday that Trump’s “callous dismissal of Carla Hayden is a disgraceful disservice to all Americans.”

“We must call this out for what it is: an attack on our democratic norms and yet another effort to replace dedicated public servants with MAGA allies,” Olszewski said in a statement.

When she was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016, Hayden was the 14th librarian of Congress but the first woman and the first African American in the job, which has a term of 10 years.

Her term included the four years of Trump’s first term in office.

“Dr. Hayden deserves to serve out the remainder of her 10-year term and the country will be better off for it,” Olszewski said. “Congress must demand answers and be ready to fight for her reinstatement.”

Prior to her federal appointment, Hayden was CEO of the Enoch Pratt Library, a position she had held since 1993, according to her official Library of Congress biography.

Del. Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg (D-Baltimore), who called Hayden’s termination a “Trumpian tragedy,” recalled her insistence on keeping the library open during the height of the unrest in Baltimore over Freddie Gray.

“The epicenter of the disturbances after Freddie Gray’s funeral was Pennsylvania and North Avenue,” Rosenberg said. “The library branch at that corner was kept open by Carla Hayden.”

Rosenberg said Hayden’s efforts “so impressed” then-House Speaker Michael Busch that he backed legislation mandating additional funding to the system for extended hours.

The bill, passed by the General Assembly, was vetoed by then-Gov. Larry Hogan, but that veto was susseqently overriden by lawmakers.

Roddy re-retires in Baltimore County

Patrick Roddy, a long-time Annapolis lobbyist, who retired in 2021 and then rejoined Baltimore County government this year, will re-retire at the end of the month.

A spokesperson for County Executive Kathy Klausmeier confirmed Roddy will retire from his position as director of government relations effective June 1. Roddy spent two decades in Baltimore County government as director of legislative affairs liaison and an assistant county attorney before joining Rifkin Weiner Livingston in 2003.

Roddy did not respond to a request for comment. In previous interviews, the former Annapolis lobbyist said he did not see his return to county government as permanent.

Klausmeier — the 15th Baltimore County executive and first woman to hold the position — tapped Roddy and his wife Valerie to join her administration just days after she was named to fill the vacancy created when Johnny Olszewski Jr. was elected to Congress. Both Roddys were initially named senior advisers, with Patrick moving into the county’s lobbying shop — a job he’d held previously. Valerie Roddy became deputy chief of staff.

The county spokesperson said Valerie Roddy will continue in her position. And while rumors of potential replacements for Patrick Roddy circulate, the spokesperson said a search is ongoing.

Five Maryland sites added to National Underground Railroad Network

Five Maryland sites have been added to the National Underground Railroad Network of Freedom Program.

The new sites join more than 90 others in the state as part of a National Park Service program aimed at promoting preservation and research of sites related to the Underground Railroad — part of an abolitionist effort that helped enslaved people escape.

“By adding five historical sites here in Maryland to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, we are honoring the legacy and lives of the courageous men and women who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad. At a time when this Administration is actively trying to erase American history, we in Maryland will never back down from this simple truth: our history makes us stronger, more resilient, and more prepared to never let the evils of our past repeat,” Maryland U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said in a joint statement from the Maryland delegation.

The five Maryland sites are:

• Goshen Farm in Annapolis.
• Issac Mason Escape Site in Chestertown.
• St. Augustine Church in Chesapeake.
• Rich Hill in Bel Alton.
• Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, Susquehanna State Park in Havre de Grace.

“I commend the preservation efforts of the National Underground Railroad Network. Three of the new historic sites – Isaac Mason Escape Site, St. Augustine Church and Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal – are located in the First Congressional District. The addition of these sites preserve the legacy and bravery of Marylanders who sacrificed their safety for the freedom of others,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) said in the joint statement from the Maryland delegation.

The five sites in Maryland are part of 31 additions to the National Park Service Program. Currently there are 800 sites in 41 states.

Group calls for veto of “Earned wage” bill

More than three dozen advocates, including the NAACP Maryland State Conference, are calling on Gov. Wes Moore to veto a bill meant to regulate so-called “earned wage access” loans.

In a letter sent to Moore, advocates said House Bill 1294 exempts app-based lenders from state laws that “prohibit lending that is discriminatory, is deceptive, or carries extremely high interest rates.”

“The NAACP is particularly concerned that certain companies have written themselves out of the anti-discrimination protections embedded in the small-dollar lending statute,” NAACP Maryland State Conference Political Action Chair Ricarra Jones, said in a statement. “At a time when the federal government is openly working to dismantle hard-won laws and policies that protect people of color, these industry-proposed rollbacks are especially harmful for the people of Maryland. We call on Governor Moore to stand firm in defense of civil rights and equal protection under the law.”

Earned wage access programs typically come in two versions – one offered by employers to their employees and another offered by private companies directly to workers. Both versions are intended to give early access to a portion of wages earned but not yet paid. The amount is then paid back typically through automatic deductions, usually with a fee or “tip.”

Jones and opponents of the House bill say those tips amount to finance charges that often can exceed 300% interest, higher than the state’s 33% limit. Allowing the bill to become law “removes the last and best defense against predatory lending in the state,” the group said in its letter to Moore.

House Republicans want Schiraldi fired

House Republicans are calling on Gov. Wes Moore to fire embattled Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi in the wake of a troubling new audit.

A convicted criminal worked with children at Maryland facility, audit finds

The 75-page report from the Office of Legislative Audits found scores of issues with the agency that is responsible for incarcerating minors. Included in the findings was a lack of criminal background checks by contractors on their employees. One contractor, who auditors said was convicted of second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon with the intent to injure, was still working for a DJS vendor as recently as January.

It’s the second time in less than a year that Republicans have called on Moore to fire Schiraldi. House Minority Leader Del. Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany) called the audit “yet another troubling, but not surprising, example” of the department’s failure to protect children in its care.”

“This agency has a record of constant failure in its basic duties, and they have not once been held accountable,” Buckel said in a statement released by the House Republican Caucus. “With the hundreds of accusations of historic abuse being lodged at the DJS, one would think they would have a laser focus on those who were working directly with the children under their supervision, but again, this is not the case.”

In its reply to auditors, the department said it is working to correct the deficiencies cited in the audit — which, it noted, includes only one year of Moore’s term in office, and almost three years under the previous administration.

“This evaluation took place almost entirely during the previous administration and highlights the state of disrepair the department was in when Governor Moore assumed office,” Carter Elliott, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement. “Secretary Schiraldi and the Department of Juvenile Services have spent the last two years addressing deficiencies left by the previous administration and this is just the latest example.”

Even so, it has become another flash point for the secretary.

“Governor Moore’s all-of-the-above approach to public safety is seeing results across the state,” Elliott said. “Juvenile crime numbers in murder, auto theft, carjacking and other areas continue to drop because of the work the administration is doing in partnership with the general assembly, state attorneys, local leaders, and advocates.”

Maryland Matters 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.

A former state board of elections official accused of involvement in the failed Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is seeking a federal judge’s approval to travel to El Salvador.

Carlos Ayala, charged in January for his alleged participation in the storming of the U.S. Capitol, wants the court’s approval to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3. Federal prosecutors are asking U.S District Court Judge John D. Bates to deny the request.

“The defendant awaits trial on serious charges, including a felony, in the instant case,” prosecutors wrote in a three-page memo opposing the request. “While the government may consent to travel if it were necessary for the defendant’s employment or family caretaking responsibilities, this proposed travel is none of those things.”

But James Trusty, an attorney representing Ayala, said his client’s travel should be approved. He noted that Ayala had been aware of the initial investigation and continued to travel “domestically and internationally repeatedly without incident. He has not broken any laws during that period and fully respects the importance of compliance with this Court’s ordered conditions of release. As with his travel to Spain earlier this year, he will be with his family and has every intention of promptly returning to his home in Maryland after the Christmas/New Year celebratory trip.”

Trusty asked the judge to let Ayala pick up his passport, which had been turned over to the government, on Dec. 20 and return it on Jan. 6.

This is the second such request on travel made by Ayala since his indictment.

Trump says Liz Cheney, Mississippi congressman ‘should go to jail’ for Jan. 6 probe

In February, Ayala asked a federal judge to modify the conditions of his release to allow him to travel to Madrid for a “celebration of life” event for his deceased father that included family members and academics. Prosecutors likened it to an “academic conference that will be ‘attended by extended familiar members as well as religious and scientific figures in the international community.’”

The court granted Ayala’s request then over prosecutors’ objections, on the condition that he obtain a $25,000 bond and sign a waiver of extradition.

Prosecutors noted differences between the Spain and El Salvador trips.

Ayala traveled to Spain — without his wife and children — for an event honoring his recently deceased father. Prosecutors said the El Salvador trip is purely “for pleasure, proposing to take a family vacation for two full weeks.” They said they “cannot agree” to the request citing “the seriousness of the charges” and the inability to monitor Ayala outside the country.

If the request is approved, prosecutors said in their motion, the court should impose an extradition waiver requirement similar to the one for the Spain trip. El Salvador has an extradition treaty with the United States.

Ayala, of Salisbury, was charged earlier this year after federal investigators said he was identified among a group of rioters illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds. The crowd gathered there on the same day Congress met to certify the results of the presidential election.

Federal officials said Ayala wore a sweatshirt hood cinched tightly around his head and a grey 3M-style painter’s mask with large filters on each cheek. At times, he was seen carrying a black and white flag affixed to a PVC pipe flagpole bearing the words “We the People” and “DEFEND,” documents said. An image of an M-16-style rifle was featured prominently on the flag.

Investigators allege that video of the events show Ayala climbing over police barricades. Ayala then allegedly joined the vanguard of a crowd gathered outside a door on the Senate side of the Capitol. Security footage from inside the Capitol, near the Senate side door, allegedly shows Ayala waving his flag inside one of the windows next to the door.

Ayala resigned from the Maryland State Board of Elections the day the charges were announced. The incident has since spurred changes in how state lawmakers review election board nominations.

Ayala also has motions before the court seeking, among other things, a return of firearms he said he needs to protect his family and pets from rabid animals, the return of his personal cell phone, laptop and tablet device.

He has also asked a judge to dismiss various charges and to move a trial — if there is one — from the District of Columbia, where he said media reports label him and others charged in the incident as “insurrectionists” and “domestic terrorists.” Ayala’s attorney suggested a federal court in Western Virginia, or the Northern or Southern Districts of West Virginia would provide an opportunity for a fair trial.

The judge, who has yet to rule on those motions, told prosecutors to file responses by Friday.

The fate of the charges could rest with President-elect Donald Trump (R) — whose 2020 defeat sparked the Capitol attack — who has vowed that on his first day in office he will pardon those who took part in the Jan. 6 attack. Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20.

Maryland Matters 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.

A once-enslaved Maryland woman who became a leader in the Underground Railroad was awarded the rank of general more than 110 years after her death.

Harriett Tubman was given the posthumous commission as a brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard on Monday by Gov. Wes Moore during a Veterans Day ceremony at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Dorchester County.

“With each act of courage, Harriet Tubman helped bring us together as a nation and a people. She fought for a kind of unity that can only be earned through danger, risk, and sacrifice. And it is a unity we still benefit from to this day,” Moore said, according to a statement released by his office.

The commission was presented to Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt, Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece.

Tubman escaped the slavery she was born into on a Dorchester County farm. She became an abolition leader and is credited with rescuing 70 people during 13 trips to Maryland, according to the Harriett Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.

She later worked as a cook, nurse, scout and spy for the Union Army during the Civil War. According to the museum, Tubman became the first woman to “lead an armed expedition in the war.”

That expedition is credited with the liberation of 700 enslaved people.

The posthumous commission is just the latest recognition for Tubman, whose supporters have been fighting for years to have her represented on the $20 bill. In addition to the Tubman Byway on the Eastern Shore, the state in 2020 dedicated statues of her and of another Maryland native, famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, in the Old House Chamber of the Maryland State House.

Maryland Matters 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. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.