Media accounts of a Senate committee hearing on this year's paid sick leave bill varied widely from objective to blatantly pro-business, we find, but the picture is steadied by Progressive Maryland staffer Jennifer Dwyer's testimony at the hearing.

Del. Dereck Davis's bill HB 317, which would prohibit local governments from raising the minimum wage higher than the state's, had a rough time at yesterday's (Feb. 8) House hearing. Progressive Maryland member Bobby Bartlett's testimony enraged Davis, as the video indicates.

Howard County Council members passed a bill assuring safety for the county's vulnerable groups in the face of the Trump threat, but the Republican county executive, with a history of discriminatory moves, promises a veto.

Two voices from under one roof lament Cheverly's recent, quiet rejection of a halfway house for returning citizens, and examine the still-rampant fear of The Other that makes positive change so difficult.

Is it Larry Trump or Donald Hogan... protesters urge the Gov. to separate himself from the Prez but he doesn't come out of his mansion to see his shadow. Also lots of info on Assembly action in Annapolis, and links to the most recent blog posts.

University of Maryland students rallied and marched yesterday at the College Park campus to protest the Trump administration's executive order on migrants and refugees. The students were eloquent in asking "Have we learned nothing?" from the history of past discrimination, the student newspaper The Diamondback reported.

Gov. Hogan's budget is delicately balanced with anticipated federal spending, direct and indirect. The irrational behavior of the Trump administration, abetted by Hogan's GOP compadres in charge of Congress, could leave Maryland in the fiscal trash heap.

As Mathew Goldstein documents here, religion-based private schools in Maryland -- some of which are getting taxpayer money under a Hogan program -- have been in the "alternate facts" business long before Trump and Kellyanne Conway. Hogan wants to double down on this taxpayer funding despite the non-verifiable "facts" in their textbooks.

A week to put some fight in you, and it happened to a lot of us. Here are a few local outrages to match, plus a full calendar of progressive activism and last week's blog posts with links.

The Affordable Care Act was a huge step forward, but finally compromised by its entanglement with for-profit medical care systems. What should be next? Beth Landry describes the growing surge for a single-payer, "Medicare for all" successor system.