Like a lot of top-dog echelons of government (hello, Supreme Court), Congressmembers have few ethics rules, including governing their ability to play in the stock market -- even as they manipulate it every day with policy moves. MD's delegation seems reluctant to talk about this, even as they represent many civil servants whose market-play is much more constrained. Two columnists, as we see here, take a hard look at this. AND after the Larry Hogan two-term intrusion, are Maryland Dems ready to act in a unified manner? One political scientist thinks so. This and more, including the push to legalize pot, in this week's News You Can Use.

Who is the insider here? “… federal workers must adhere to comprehensive ethics rules designed to prevent conflicts of interest and insider trading — and yet the members of Congress these federal workers elect to represent them are not held to those same standards. …legislative efforts to hold members of Congress to the same standard applied to federal workers have stalled in Congress, [and] the majority of Maryland’s elected representatives in Congress have been conspicuously absent from the efforts to bring some parity to this system.” Read the full op-ed from Maryland Reporter -- And see – from Sunday – E.J. Dionne’s WaPo column, “Why Politicians Should Not Be Stock Traders”

Presidential candidate wannabe Larry Hogan continues his relentless effort to fix the problems he caused in nearly eight years of his GOP gubernatorial administration in Maryland.
 Hogan Leading International Economic Development Trip After Oregon Trip: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is leading an economic development trip to Korea and Japan, stopping for diplomatic engagements and economic announcements. WTOP

Democratic Unity? Remember That? Political scientist Mileah Kromer remembers the disunity around the Demo candidacy of Ben Jealous that led to Hogan’s easy path to a second term and suggests in the WaPo that party dynamics appear way different this time around.

Up there across the (Mason Dixon) Line: from POLITICO Playbook: Just A Matter Of Time — A pro-Mehmet Oz group is going up with a TV ad targeting Black voters on one of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s biggest potential liabilities in the Senate race: the 2013 incident in which he pulled a gun on a Black jogger, reports NBC’s Marc Caputo . The $500,000 campaign from American Leadership Action will air on networks with high Black viewership, as well as on digital platforms. (Notably missing from the ad: The man himself, Chris Miyares, is now a Fetterman supporter.)

 Marijuana Advocates Launch Campaign: Advocates supporting a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use of marijuana launched a campaign Thursday to spread the word to Maryland voters that the decision is up to them on November’s ballot. Baltimore Banner

Energy Inflation (?) on the Shore -- Delmarva Power And Light Proposes Rate Hike: One of the Eastern Shore’s largest electric providers has plans to raise the rates for companies and consumers, but the Maryland agency that represents residents is pushing back against the hikes. Salisbury Daily Times. The gerrymandered corporate ownership of the grid means electric power giants can pick off ratepayer groups one by one.