As the 2020 session approaches, many experienced voices are reminding us that the legislative process, often masked in committee deliberations, steadily excludes different people from bills meant to be broad-ranging -- doing the bidding of business and corporations. It happened in the New Deal, and it happened (and is still happening) in the Maryland General Assembly. The lesson? We have to build power and organize now to fight the lobbyists and business interests that never stop chipping away at laws like paid sick leave and the $15 minimum wage.

The Weekly Memo -- GOTV time with local elections TOMORROW (Tuesday, Nov. 5) around the state. We have endorsed candidates to support! Plus education reform, Medicare for All, calendar events including our Dec. 14 Statewide Meeting in Baltimore, and much more. Read on below.

When six out of ten adults arrested in MoCo are under 35, they need to have a voice on how the MCPD conducts itself. 
“Young people — especially young black and brown people — are the most likely to have interactions with the police in Montgomery County. Therefore, they need to be at the table for any discussion of how to improve policing policy,” these community activists argue in a Maryland Matters opinion column.

Submitted for your attention this Monday – local elections Nov. 5; our blogs; statewide meeting Dec. 14; transportation in Prince George’s; school improvement in MoCo – and lots more. It's the Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo, your clearinghouse for progressive thought and activism, power building and co-governance pathways. Read on.

Think the 2020 election is getting close? Well, this Tuesday, November 5 there are local elections all around Maryland, and the people who get elected to make change in your local community are also very important to our lives. Don’t let these opportunities to build power and make change where you and your neighbors live slip by! Read about Progressive Maryland's endorsements here for Bowie, College Park, Greenbelt, Pittsville, Salisbury -- and Rockville, where voting is all by mail this time.

Replacing the dysfunctional Baltimore City jail with a therapeutic facility is a good step, but there is still a lot of work to be done to promote dignity and justice for all Maryland residents, as a Diamondback opinion columnist outlines here.

A full week of progressive action: Important Anne Arundel council hearing today (Monday Oct. 21) with health implications; a vigil Friday, Oct. 25 for another police killing victim in Prince George’s, and PM’s People's Leadership Institute: Movement Politics Training Saturday Oct. 26 in Baltimore -- plus four town halls around the state on school improvement prospects in your community. All that this week. Read on.

Past and future – one story came to an end yesterday, a story of great achievement that nevertheless ends, as it must, in grieving.

The larger history, for better and worse, goes on.

We have news and views on both.

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.