The Memo will be posted here after the email version has been sent.

As the General Assembly begins its three-month gallop of a session, the new Speaker builds a distinctly more progressive team in the House while Gov. Moore vows to make the state less dependent on the vagaries of federal employment. As the legislators head for Annapolis, events in Minnesota and elsewhere bring nationwide protests against the savagery of ICE agents and the buttheadedness of its leadership (yes, the one under the oversized cowboy hat).

It all comes from the top, of course. The lunatic decrepitude of Trump is more apparent each time he realizes a fantasy (briefly) with an executive order or (violently) by directing military action against Venezuela and threatens others, including NATO allies. We frankly haven't had the fortitude to read through the transcript of his two-hour interview with NYT reporters; when we do, we'll be better able to decide just how far over the cliff he has gone.

States -- including Maryland -- are fighting back, including through the courts.  Much of Trump's worst activity is stuck in traffic and he increasingly voices fear that he will lose control of the US House in the midterms. He is afraid of being impeached but he probably needs to worry less about that than becoming irrelevant. So 2026 is brightening. It's News You Can Use.

HYATTSVILLE, MD – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the nefarious agency with a well documented record of violence and brutality, has escalated once again, as reports surface of an ICE agent shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year old woman driving her vehicle in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This killing follows the Glen Burnie violence, where Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins was shot and injured by ICE agents in Maryland, our own backyard, on Christmas Eve. 

So much excitement for 2026's first News You Can Use. Trump finally has an "Osama bin Laden moment" to top Obama's (and distract from Epstein stuff)  although Mar-a-Lago doesn't really have a Situation Room We bet he's building one there now as we speak. States, we see below, are trying to find work-arounds for all the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies now last year's news; many  states (like Maryland) are about to begin legislative sessions and find out how many other things they/we really have to worry about.

But News You Can Use has made it to 2026 and promises to keep you up on outrages and attafolkses at the global/federal, state and local level.

Broad coalition celebrates historic leadership moment while calling for action on redistricting to protect democracy 

Annapolis, Maryland –   Marylanders gathered Tuesday morning at Lawyer’s Mall for a high-energy pep rally hosted by the Meet the Moment Maryland Coalition, a broad alliance of more than 25 labor and community organizations. The rally uplifted a historic moment in Maryland politics, ahead of the first Afro Latina speaker of the house Del. Peña-Melnyk’s, while calling on state leaders to redistrict now to protect democracy, strengthen fair representation, and advance policies that support working families.

The rally comes as redistricting battles intensify nationwide, with Republican-led states aggressively redrawing congressional maps in ways that threaten to silence Black and working-class voters. Advocates warned that Maryland cannot afford to stand still while political power is reshaped around it.

“We’re proud to come together to celebrate Delegate Peña-Melnyk and the significance of this moment for Maryland,” said Larry Stafford Jr., Executive Director of Progressive Maryland. “Her leadership and commitment to redistricting matters, and this rally is about showing that our communities are paying attention, engaged, and ready to work with leaders who are committed to fairness, inclusion, and meeting this moment head-on. As maps are being redrawn across the country and communities are at risk of being silenced, Maryland needs leaders who are willing to meet the moment, protect fair representation, and stand with  working-class families.”

Speakers at the rally represented a wide cross-section of Maryland, including progressive and labor leaders, immigrant rights and healthcare advocates, Chair of the state Democratic party Steuart Pittman, local and state elected officials. Together, they emphasized that fair maps are not an abstract political issue, but one that directly impacts funding for schools, access to healthcare, transportation investments, and protections for vulnerable communities.

Advocates closed the rally with a clear message: Maryland must act decisively to protect fair maps, defend democracy, and ensure that working families and communities of color are not left behind as national political lines are redrawn.

The livestream of the rally can be found here

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>>>>>>>>>>>>Note: no News You Can Use blog until January so practice your info-scavenging skills...<<<<<<<<<<<<<

It'll be money week in several respects. The General Assembly will have a special session to elect Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s) as new House Speaker -- but it will also be a flurry of veto overrides. Gov. Moore, who has promised no new taxes to overcome a $1.5BN budget deficit, is juking around with minor budget items to take some of the sting out of what will be pretty rugged overrides. Meanwhile, many states are thumbing their noses at Trump's EO forbidding existing or future state laws that restrict AI, largely on the grounds that the feds have done zilch on this pressing subject. The Maryland Assembly won't have a regular session until January but they are almost guaranteed to have a better 2025 than Congress, which is about to slink home without having done anything about skyrocketing health care premiums for the Affordable Care Act (see Megan E's holiday post below).

It's News You Can Use. See you in 2026, and the best of the holiday season.

Across the country, maps are being challenged, overturned, and redrawn, and those changes will shape who controls Congress in 2026 and beyond. But while other states are recalibrating their political power, Maryland is standing still. In a moment this consequential, standing still is the same as falling behind.

Recent news notes that Democrats could gain seats nationally because courts in some states have struck down Republican gerrymanders. That’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not a strategy. In a narrowly divided House, a single seat could determine whether reproductive rights are protected or stripped away, whether voting protections expand or collapse, and whether working families nationwide get relief or get left behind.