By Steve Crane | Editor-in-chief
“Every couple years, it seems that we have animals that people are not as accustomed to hearing about as being rabid. This year we have these beavers. The thing is they’re actually attacking people who are doing nothing to cause them to be attacked, so that catches people’s attention.” - Alicia Evangelista, an environmental health program manager for the Frederick County Health Department.
It’s been an unusual summer. Primary elections, special legislative sessions and now rabid beavers.
Three recent attacks on people by beavers, two of which later proved to be rabid, have captured headlines, but health officials say that even with those cases, and recent cases of rabid bats in Anne Arundel County, it’s a pretty typical summer for rabies cases. But they are taking the opportunity to remind people of the best ways to protect themselves from rabies, like not leaning in for that social media video with the cute wild animal but keeping your distance. Danielle J. Brown has the story.
On Day One of the second Trump administration, Homeland Security lifted Biden-era restrictions on immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools and churches. Within weeks, those restrictions were reinstated for a coalition of houses of worship, including several in Maryland, that sued to block the policy. A federal appeals court Tuesday agreed that the restrictions should stay in place for those houses of worship, as William J. Ford reports.
We also have news on the continuing saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, against whom the federal government wants criminal charges reinstated, and the plummeting number of refugees being allowed into the U.S. Those stories and more headlines for the week are below for your Wednesday. Enjoy!
Environmental disease experts say Marylanders should familiarize themselves with expected animal behaviors so they can identify atypical behavior that may indicate a rabid animal. (Photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)
By Danielle J. Brown
Despite headline-grabbing stories of rabid animal attacks – including three attacks by beavers, at least two of which were confirmed rabid – public health officials and zoonotic disease experts say there is not any greater risk to public safety this summer compared to previous years.
But they say the increased publicity from those cases is an opportunity to brush up on rabies, how it works and how to protect yourself, your family and your pets – which includes keeping your distance despite the temptation to get a great social media video.
So while rabid beavers, bats and other infected animals made news this summer for behaving erratically, the disease itself is operating as it always has. The Maryland Department of Health reports that there were 226 laboratory-confirmed rabies cases in Maryland in 2025, with 141 cases so far this year.
Over the last eight years, raccoons made up at least 50-60% of all confirmed rabies cases in a year, according to state data going back to 2018. Other animals commonly confirmed to have had rabies in Maryland are foxes, cats, skunks and even groundhogs. But a string of beaver attacks have brought new attention to rabies cases this summer. The best, and simplest, advice from experts: Keep your distance or, as one, said, “Keep wildlife wild.”
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer watches a crowd of protesters at Delaney Hall, a detention center, in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Ben Ackman/New Jersey Monitor)
By William J. Ford
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld an injunction that bars Department of Homeland Security agents from conducting immigration enforcement "at or near" more than 1,400 houses of worship sprawling across 33 states and the District of Columbia.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a February 2025 ruling in favor of a coalition of Quaker, Sikh and Baptist congregations that sued to block the Trump administration's reversal of a Biden-era policy discouraging immigration actions at "sensitive places."
The religious groups argued that the administration's policy would drive away immigrant attendees, burdening "their ability to worship communally and to minister to immigrant communities, both acts of which are fundamental to their religious exercise." U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang agreed, issuing the preliminary injunction in 2025 that blocked the new policy at those congregations, requiring DHS to follow the more-restrictive rules of the 2021 Biden policy. He declined to apply the injunction nationwide.
In its 40-page ruling Tuesday, the appeals court panel upheld the injunction, agreeing with Chuang that the houses of worship were likely to succeed on their claim that the administration’s policy, if implemented, would decrease “attendance at worship services and other activities.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Abrego Garcia targeted again: The Trump administration has appealed a district court judge’s dismissal of its Tennessee criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying the judge's finding that the charges were vindictive prosecution was "improper."
Refugee reduction: The number of refugees admitted to the U.S. in the first 10 months of the fiscal year is on pace to hit its lowest level on record, according to a new analysis, and almost all of the 10,258 admitted so far have been white South Africans.
No to ‘suspicion by geography’: A federal appeals court threw out the 2019 gun possession conviction of a Calvert County man, agreeing with his argument that the warrant that allowed the search of his home was based on flimsy information.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Second suit targets redistricting: A second group of Republicans has filed suit to block a proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution that would change how the state draws congressional maps, and some national heavyweights are involved.
Court revives FBI move to Greenbelt: A federal district judge in Maryland Monday overturned Trump administration plans to build the next FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., restoring Greenbelt as the likely next home for the agency..
Little fish, big impact: A plan to slash the large-scale harvest of Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay could help starving osprey chicks and other struggling fish but could also hurt a Virginia fishing village where hundreds of jobs rely on menhaden.
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