By Steve Crane | Editor-in-chief
“Any downtime is potentially risking lives. Cybercriminals know that. They know the level of desperation that’s so unique to these hospitals. If there’s any kind of delayed treatment, or if you’re forcing medical staff to lose access to electronic health records ... if there are are delays in lab results, if you can’t see the interactions between drug medications, you’re going to feel the impacts. You can understand why this sector is so popular for cybercriminals.” - Benjamin Yelin, public policy and external affairs program director with the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Center for Cyber, Health and Hazard Strategies, on the rise in cyberattacks against healthcare facilities.
We have a range of stories for you today, from out in cyberspace to underneath the waves of the Chesapeake Bay, so let’s dive right in.
The cyberattack that rattled Luminis Health operations late last week is part of a growing trend of attacks on the healthcare industry, which is an attractive target to cybercriminals, said one expert, who warns that more are likely coming and state policymakers should be prepared. Danielle J. Brown has that story.
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up to stake out a house in a Frederick neighborhood, so did protesters, who blocked the street and linked arms around the house. But the confrontation grew violent Friday, with videos showing ICE agents grabbing and at one point hitting protesters with a baton, as William J. Ford reports.
They’re not the most high-profile part, but underwater grasses are an important part of bay health, providing habitat and food and serving as a barometer of bay health. So officials were excited to see a surge in bay grasses, which covered almost 90,000 acres of the bay last year, according to aerial surveys. Christine Condon has more on that story.
Those stories, plus the reappearance of a former Maryland member of Congress to push back against the Trump administration, are below, along with headlines from the week. Enjoy!
Luminis Health operates Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis among its many other facilities. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)
By Danielle J. Brown
Cyberattacks on the healthcare industry, like the one that hit an Anne Arundel County hospital last week, are becoming increasingly common and state-level policymakers should prepare for even more, an expert said Tuesday.
“I think it’s incumbent upon people who have influence over policy, especially at the state level, to start thinking about what the state can do to improve coordination, to improve readiness, to make sure that when the inevitable happens we are as prepared as we possibly can be," said Benjamin Yelin. He is the public policy and external affairs program director with the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Center for Cyber, Health and Hazard Strategies.
His comments come just days after Luminis Health facilities last week announced a "cyber incident by an unauthorized criminal actor" that disrupted certain medical appointments and services. Luminis hospitals remained open while an investigation into the attack continues, but some of their systems were not operational, which could have impacted appointments and services.
An ICE agent raises a baton to strike a protester Friday outside a house in Frederick. (Screenshot from Hagerstown Rapid Response video)
By William J. Ford
Elected officials were demanding answers Tuesday after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement confrontation with protesters in Frederick turned violent over the weekend.
And they weren't the only ones.
“People were legitimately scared and pretty much terrorized by ICE for two full days before things escalated on Friday night. If you didn’t take anybody into custody, why did you even show up?” asked Tatiana Santos, a member of Indivisible Frederick Forward who witnessed some of what happened in the Tasker's Chance neighborhood Friday night.
Protesters turned up Thursday after they learned that ICE agents were in the neighborhood, apparently staking out a house. On Friday, after blocking the street, protesters could be seen locking arms and going to the house as a human barrier, according to video of the incident provided by Hagerstown Rapid Response.
At that point, the video shows ICE agents moving in, grabbing and pushing the protesters, with at least one agent hitting a person on the ground with a baton, the scene illuminated by the headlights and police lights of ICE vehicles on the scene.
Brooke Landry, left, an SAV expert with Maryland's Department of Natural Resources who chairs the Chesapeake Bay program work group on underwater grasses, speaks with an attendee during a kayaking trip to the Susquehanna Flats in July. (Photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)
By Christine Condon
Aerial surveys show that underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay had a strong year in 2025, taking up the most acreage since 2018.
The numbers are a 7% improvement over 2024, covering 89,385 acres — just below a previous 2025 goal calling for 90,000 acres. But since then, the goalposts have moved.
In December, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and other bay governors signed a new pledge for the Chesapeake Bay. It calls for the bay states to achieve 196,600 acres of grasses across the entire bay — and maintain that number once they get there. But it stretches the agreement out, calling for 90,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, by 203o, 95,000 acres by 2035 and 100,000 acres by 2040.
Still, Maryland officials Tuesday touted a 13% increase in bay grasses in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, which “means more habitat for blue crabs and fish, cleaner water, and a more resilient Chesapeake Bay.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Lawmakers weigh in on mail-in ballots: A Postal Service rule restricting mail-in voting usurps Congress’ authority and states’ power to administer elections, said more than 250 current and former members of Congress in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Canadian trade war escalates: Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on American goods kicked in Tuesday, escalating a trade war with one of the largest U.S. trading partners that President Donald Trump continued to antagonize over the holiday weekend.
Silver Diner sues BWI concessions operator: A Rockville-owned diner chain is suing a Germany-based corporation for what it says are attempts to end its decades-long operations at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Cecil County birthing care crisis: Cecil County leaders and community members are scrambling to piece together solutions to the loss this summer of the county's only birthing center, after the closure of the unit at ChristianaCare Union Hospital in Elkton.
Protection for Salvadoran immigrants expiring: Tens of thousands of people from El Salvador, including many in Maryland, could face deportation if the White House does not extend their Temporary Protected Status, currently scheduled to end Wednesday.
Jawando ‘resting comfortably’ after heart attack: Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando, the Democratic nominee for county executive, is recovering from a heart attack that he suffered during a basketball game over the weekend.
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