A state commission on improving K-12 education – a new and different version of the Thornton Commission that mandated more state spending to equalize rich and poor school districts – is also going to propose big bucks spent on education. They don’t know how much, and have already said they won’t have that part of the job finished by their year-end deadline. But keeping Maryland students competitive – and well-educated – is clearly not going to get cheaper.

The bad news about increased carbon emissions, a MoCo activist reports, is somewhat balanced by good news about the fight against them. Local governments like Montgomery County are taking action; at a recent conference in Bonn, US officials including state governors were pitching in to cut emissions even though the Administration is in opposition to the Paris Accord.

The UCMP Diamondback here outlines the proposed Small Donor program for limited public financing of Prince George's County's local elections. Fair Elections Maryland — a coalition of organizations including Progressive Maryland, Common Cause Maryland, Every Voice and MaryPIRG — will hold a town hall in Fort Washington on Dec. 7. The coalition will announce the other council members who sponsor the bill at the meeting.

Apologies for the lateness of the Memo; some problem on the website slowed us down.

As we enter December, more and more interplay between national, state and local issues emerges. Chaos at the consumer finance protection agency -- supposed to be independent; local pushback on tax changes; slippery slope on repealing the individual mandate. Plus a productive session on criminal justice in Baltimore and much more; read on...

Hal Ginsberg walks us through the covert deal that tilted the Democratic National Committee in Hillary Clinton's favor. As you might expect, Donna Brazile's insider book shows that it was all about the money.

"While a slowdown of Stranger Things or make-up tutorials may not inspire you to be upset, consider that all types of information would be impacted by the destruction of net neutrality," Liz Dueweke says. "It is undeniably a social justice and public health issue."

Cheverly, in Prince George's County, provides a model for many: The attention paid to mitigating climate change at the local level, we recognize, can jump-start some stagnant parts of our local, state and national economy.

Sophia Marjanovic, a Progressive Maryland activist in Montgomery County, spoke at the signing of MoCo’s $15/hr minimum wage measure Monday, Nov. 13. She described everyday life with no margin and the vulnerabilities that brings.

Having things to give thanks for has this imperative -- bring more good things to more people. That's you; that's us.

The health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries – and the health of Marylanders – is endangered by industrial-sourced stormwater runoff. Attention must be paid, as they say – but the state is not doing so, apparently looking the other way when big corporate polluters fail to report what the law requires, and underfunding the inspections that could keep them honest. Tim Wheeler of Bay Journal has chapter and verse here.