This morning all of Maryland is mourning the loss of our champion and dear friend Rep. Elijah Cummings. Congressman Cummings was an amazing visionary leader who spoke truth to power and fought for the powerless. The City of Baltimore, our state, and country were truly blessed to have him. Our condolences to all his friends, family, and loved ones.

At a recent statewide Sierra Club conference, speakers sounded the alarm that Maryland, once a pioneer in developing renewable offshore wind power, was being overtaken by New Jersey and Massachusetts while our political establishment dragged their feet. Eastern Shore activists and officials recently tried to move the needle on the project by addressing one of its chief opponents.

In our latest blogs: two on school improvement, one on improved election access and one on criminal justice reform efforts.  Plus: the inside game of unelected Assembly members; campaigns on the move (Medicare for All, school improvement; hazardous cell transmitters); events in our chapters; calendar of events from our progressive allies; and more.

Polls show Marylanders recognize the need to improve the state’s K-12 schools and understand it will cost more, because many of our county systems are chronically underfunded. A working group of the Kirwan commission that has put together school improvement plans, as this Maryland Matters article outlines, is coming down to crunch time on the costs – particularly to local governments. So it’s freak-out time for certain tax-averse county councils that are dominated by business interests rather than the needs of working families. Marylanders who know the stakes here will need to organize and tell those councils that they can bite the bullet and fund real school improvement. Or the elected officials can expect strong and increasingly well-organized grassroots efforts to return them to private life.

Lifting the long-imposed veil over law enforcement misconduct, frequently covered up with the help of outmoded law shielding officers and departments from investigation, is critical but surrounded by barriers. As this Maryland Matters account shows, conscientious Maryland lawmakers are struggling again this year to chip away at the Blue Wall and bring justice to those who suffer police misconduct, sometimes including killings of the innocent.

Your legislators need to hear from you that they should join this struggle instead of looking the other way.

Activists nudge the state’s elections bureaucracy to increase the opportunities for early voting in the 2020 primary and general elections – a proven arrangement for increasing participation, especially among disadvantaged blocs of voters. More sites in low-income areas can overcome “transportation obstacles faced in an area with lower vehicle ownership and inadequate public transportation – especially on the weekends.” Montgomery may win, but Baltimore loses, as this account from Maryland Matters outlines.

Informational town halls on school funding improvements are under way around the state, with one in Prince George's County's Laurel High School set for tomorrow night (Thursday, Oct. 10). Only a coordinated and fully-funded approach can lift schools and communities together.

Lots of progressive activism going on this week and into October, with a Medicare for All event in MoCo, vigil for a police killing TOMORROW NIGHT in Prince George's, scary small-cell objects in Anne Arundel, and the fight for school improvement, despite Larry Hogan's outside-money campaign against it, going on statewide with informational events from mountains to the Shore. The Memo keeps you up on things; get it by email.

Progressive Maryland Executive Director Larry Stafford, who's been leading our longtime advocacy for decarceration and mass liberation in Maryland, thinks through the question of justice in the Botham Jean murder conviction and sentencing of Amber Guyger.

Prince George's is struggling with the police killing of a black man in Hyattsville within the last week, the latest of sixteen police killings in the state this year.

Gov. Larry Hogan’s move to raise “dark money” to fight school improvement confirms he is appealing to the national GOP electorate and its drive to privatize all things public, starting with the public schools. It fits into his annual attempt to divert more state budget money to vouchers for private schools and de-fund not only public schools but privatize transportation for corporate gain. Two frontline education leaders make clear, in this Maryland Matters opinion, that Hogan’s underhanded efforts to raise his national profile run counter to the state constitution’s requirement for adequate school funding.