By Steve Crane | Editor-in-chief
“If people are not willing to create a seat at the table, why should you sit under the table? That was what they were suggesting: For tribes to sit under the table and catch crumbs.” - Melissa Ann Ehrenreich, executive director of the Indigenous Conservation Council of the Chesapeake Bay, on the breakdown of negotiations for tribal leaders to formally join the bay cleanup program.
Sovereignty looms large today, with tribal leaders saying theirs is not being respected, and the federal government saying Maryland has exceeded its authority. Happy Tuesday.
After months of talks with the Chesapeake Bay Program to make a full voting member of the Indigenous Conservation Council of the Chesapeake Bay — a coalition of seven federally recognized Native American tribes — tribal leaders have walked away in frustration. They say bay program leaders have been unwilling to grant them signatory status, like other states in the watershed. Christine Condon has that story.
The federal government, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with its lawsuit against the state over its 2011 DREAM Act, which grants in-state college tuition to some undocumented immigrants in the state. The Justice Department said that violates federal law against providing benefits to noncitizens that are not available to citizens. The state sought to have the suit dismissed, but Justice last week pushed back, as Bryan P. Sears reports.
Those stories, plus headlines from the week, and remembrances of a Chesapeake Bay preservation pioneer, are below for your Tuesday. Enjoy!
Virginia Indigenous tribe chiefs at a December meeting where the Chesapeake Bay partnership agreed to study how to formally include the tribes in bay cleanup planning. Tribal leaders say their efforts to become signatories to the bay agreement have been stymied. (Photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)
By Christine Condon
Seven federally recognized Native American tribes are ending their bid to formally join the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, saying they have been disappointed by the response from Bay Program leaders.
The Virginia-based tribes began their quest last January, hoping to be added as a single signatory — the status awarded to each of the state governments surrounding the bay — when elected officials in the Chesapeake Bay region approved a new agreement for restoring the bay in December. Their effort fell short, but the state governors in the bay region commissioned a Chesapeake Bay Program committee to study the idea, approving a document that called Indigenous knowledge "vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay." Several chiefs were in the front row of the crowd as the governors approved the directive during a December convening at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
But discussions reached an impasse earlier this month, according to a statement shared Monday by the Indigenous Conservation Council of the Chesapeake Bay, a consortium of all seven tribes, at a Bay Program committee meeting. Tribal leaders say the bay partnership proved unwilling to offer signatory status, a failure to recognize tribal sovereignty.
Students walk across a college campus on a sunny day. The Justice Department is challenging laws in 21 states, including Maryland, that grant in-state tuition at state campuses to undocumented immigrants who live in the state. (Photo by Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Stock Images)
By Bryan P. Sears
The Department of Justice is asking a federal judge in Maryland for summary judgment in its lawsuit challenging a 2011 state law that provides in-state tuition and other education-related assistance to undocumented immigrants living in the state.
Maryland is one of 21 states where federal attorneys have filed similar lawsuits. Last month, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General asked that the federal government's case be dismissed, noting that courts around the country had already ruled against Justice in similar suits. But the Justice Department pushed back Friday.
The Justice Department sued in July seeking to block a 2011 state law known as the DREAM Act. The law — which took effect following a referendum challenge — grants in-state tuition rates to some undocumented immigrants. To be eligible, the law requires students to have attended a public or private high school in the state and received a diploma or its equivalent in Maryland; to register for college within six years of receiving that diploma; and to prove that the student or a parent or guardian paid taxes in the state for the two years prior to enrolling in college. If successful, the DOJ lawsuit could also end other education-related programs such as legislative scholarships and in-state community college tuition rates that incorporated the DREAM Act eligibility standards.
IN OTHER NEWS
More lawsuits to block Medicaid changes: Medicaid enrollees from five states and leading medical organizations challenged new Medicaid work and reporting requirements that critics said could cause millions of current recipients to lose their benefits.
Air Force is hiring, after firing spree: The Air Force and Space Force plan to rehire for thousands of civilian jobs in critical national security fields after acknowledging that they cut staff below “established requirements” in 2026.
Remembering a Bay pioneer: Walter Boynton, a preeminent Chesapeake Bay scientist and communicator, died Sept. 14 after a long illness, leaving a legacy of more than 50 years of pioneering research and advocacy for his adopted watershed. He was 79.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Sharp increases eyed for long-term care insurance: Thousands of seniors paying for long-term health care could see their annual premiums double, or triple, over the next several years under rate requests last week by four insurance companies in Maryland.
Immigrant children avoiding healthcare, doctors say: Four in 10 pediatricians reported kids in immigrant families are avoiding coming in for healthcare out of concerns around immigration status, according to a new survey published last week.
A shift in homeless policy: The Trump administration wants to prioritize "treatment-first" policies, such as sober living, cooperation with law enforcement and temporary housing, a reversal from a decade-long federal approach known as "housing first."
Osprey hatchings tumble: Osprey breeding continues to falter around the Chesapeake Bay, a new survey has found, with the meager hatching and survival of chicks this year well below what is needed to maintain the population.
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