Steve Melkisethian walks the Progressive Montgomery walk and finds a comfort zone in the Town Hall environment, where public officials hope they control the tempo and agenda. Sometimes, thanks to activists like Steve, their plans don't quite work out...

One week to go in the 2017 legislative session, with plenty still on the table. Democratic leaders in the Assembly are hoping to put some veto bait in front of Governor Hogan well before sine die so he’ll be vulnerable to an override on some big-ticket items now, not next year. Meanwhile some important measures are still stuck in traffic and it may be time for us to blow the whistle on those who are slow-walking bills.

Progressive Maryland is building power in Montgomery County to take on corporate Democrats and resist the Trump agenda by fighting for family economic security, grassroots democracy, and community institutions that benefit all residents.

Democrats hope to drag Larry Hogan down with associations with Donald Trump, and are lining up some early veto bait to sharpen their fights with the governor as the session aims for Sine Die in less than two weeks.

Democratic legislators send Larry Hogan a bill tying his hands in case he decides to plunge into charter and voucher solutions without examing alternatives for poorly performing schools. This CNS-Maryland Reporter dispatch outlines the disagreements that may lead to a juicy veto battle -- in this session.

A couple of bills that would help make women’s pay more equal to men’s are slogging through the final weeks of the General Assembly session. Though a Senate hearing on these bills has been postponed or canceled, the effort continues. Progressive Maryland testified in favor of the bills earlier in the session.

Welcome to the Weekly Memo, with news of a terrific launch for the Anne Arundel Chapter, chapter meetings this week in MoCo and PGCo and ongoing tasks and opportunities including the new workspace around healthcare following a certain big-time implosion last week.

Progressive Maryland will join other activist groups spearheading a "Die-In" Saturday at the Governor's mansion to protest Larry Hogan's minimal effort to protect Marylanders' health care coverage from his GOP buddies in Congress and the White House. "Certainly, Marylanders did not expect to have a governor who would abandon us like this,” activist leader Yasemin Jamison said.

A survey by the MDDC Press Association of city and county websites throughout Maryland found many fall short in providing minimum useful information to citizens in search of same.

Maryland, a wealthy state, is in the bottom tenth of states at providing reimbursement for child care expenses so low-income working families can afford decent child care while adults work. Proressive Maryland testifies today in favor of a bill that would require the state to monitor and adjust its rate to help working families provide a good environment for their children.