NATIONAL –  Yesterday, Color Of Change and Progressive Maryland, in partnership with over 25 civil rights and democracy organizations, hosted a press conference at the State House of Annapolis, MD, to urge Senate President Bill Ferguson to hold a special session and advance a redistricting plan.

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THE SHUTDOWN drags on, heading for a record tomorrow night (!) and hammering Maryland's multitudes of federal employees and contractors. Maryland -- and other states, we see -- are taking special note of the Nov. 1 lapse of SNAP benefits for a total of 42 million folks nationwide -- which, despite several Federal judges' rulings, the Trump administration said Monday it will not fully replace with emergency funds, meaning eligible recipients will get about half the usual SNAP allotments during the Congressional impasse. 

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As the shutdown continues (thanks to the House GOP vacation, jamming the Senate), states suffer more losses, expecially for low-income residents. The "Healthcare Heist," as PA's Megan E ttags it below, is the most long-term cost to everyone who has Affordable Care Act coverage. More immediately, SNAP benefits (food stamps) are due to run out for millions in our region alone when the month ends. And, of course, the DMV is especially burdened by the large numbers of federal workers who just missed a paycheck.Republicans fashioned a skimpy and self-interested bill to pay SOME GOP-favored federal employees, but Dems were incensed about its one-sidedness and wouldn't provide the necessary votes to pass it. 

And Maryland lost a last-ditch appeal to get FEMA help for Western Maryland families swamped by the floods of late spring.

Nevertheless, as also noted below by Megan, polls show that the coming health care catastrophe was the right fight to pick in Congress. She suggests numerous tools for fighting back -- at its best, in groups -- on the skyrocketing premiums.

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Marylanders and another 7--8 million folks around the country raised hell quietly and peacefully at No Kings events ranging from hundreds of thousands in Times Square (NYC) and the Capitol in DC to dozens standing up for freedom in a deep-red, pro-Trump hamlet in rural Georgia. Funny costumes and quite serious signs announced that the millions mocked the posturing MAGA mouthpieces who slurred their motives while seriously demanding respect for the rights of free speech and action, and the right to go out in public without being profiled and hustled by ICE. 

The shutdown is having its effect on the lives of everyday Marylanders -- and not only the laid-off federal workers: when they hurt, we all hurt. But, as Megan E reminds us below in the PA weekly notebook, the increases in Affordable Care Act premiums will be in everyone's mailbox by Nov. 1, and the hundreds of thousands effectively thrown off health care programs in deep-Red states will get full evidence of their betrayal by the paid-off, Trump-fearing politicians they elected. It will not be pretty. But, alas, it is News You Can Use.

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As we enter the third week of what may be a VERY long federal shutdown, a batch of Marylanders -- federal employees or federal contractors -- are out of work this week and many are not expecting paychecks (except for those in uniform). The legal scuffle over National Guard deployments continues in other allegedly "high-crime" states and cities, with no consideration of the facts on the ground. As noted below, National Guard personnel and others currently in uniform need to keep their thoughts to themselves, but veterans, individually and in their organizations, are pretty exercised about this misuse of authority (see the story in our national section). Out there in the fifty states, for every bad move there seems to be a good move as people wise up to the TrumpWorld script, so there's hope there. Congress is stuck in stupid mode, with Dems holding out (justifiably) for a restoration of some or all of the ACA premium subsidies, while the Senate GOP leadership keeps on doing the same thing over and over in hopes it will have a different outcome (we all know what THAT is called) and the House speaker keeps his folks on vacation so the Senate will not be tempted to pass a CR that includes relief on the ACA subsidies (which the House would then have to re-vote on). No House, no hope. Ask the Speaker if he cares.

Last week, the Maryland Second Look Act  - a powerful new law championed by the Maryland Second Look Coalition with support from our partner organizations and Progressive Maryland members — officially took effect. This landmark legislation opens the door for incarcerated adults who entered the system as children or young adults to petition for parole if they can show they’ve been rehabilitated.