Possible good news, for a change, in Congress -- some modest tightening of access to guns may pass.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, prepping for more of this pandemic plus the next one (?); a Hogan veto increases election results uncertainty and (for sure) opens up more time for Big Lies to grow; Dem Guv hopefuls feel pressure on education futures; state's higher ed schools show variety in recovery from COVID pause.

The Memo will be posted here Monday after the email version is sent

In a final veto dump on the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, Gov. Hogan erases laws for better transit, more transparent and easy voting and protecting tenants against eviction. What's not to like? We have the reaction to that and more in state action, plus the prospect of a week when both US House and Senate will be in at work and dodging questions about, you know, guns and dead elementary school students. Read on ...

Look here for fun stuff on national elections and the Trump Effect as well as less fun stuff about the rise in COVID infections in Maryland, and what some school districts are doing to respond.

Let’s band together to turn back the attacks on our fundamental rights and the attempts to roll back advances we’ve made when it comes to racial and environmental justice,  progressive economic policies, and the need for a just and equitable response to the pandemic and healthcare disparities. We know it’s no small feat to take on growing corporate power on one hand and the rise of a white nationalist movement on the other. But it can and must be done!

By banding together, in communities across the country, we stand a good chance of stopping what those forces are doing. We know that the majority of Marylanders support our issues. We just need to build more grassroots progressive power in order to prevail. It’s not easy but it is fairly simple in many ways: each of us can organize or donate to support organizing;  we can host a meeting or go to a meeting, we can vote and we can help voter turnout efforts for progressive candidates. We can write a letter to the editor,  march,  demonstrate, show up, and express our solidarity with one another. It’s a critical time to work together on many fronts, including the ongoing work to push for support for families and individuals who are dealing with the impact of  COVID and the overdose crisis.

Find the tools you -- we -- need to make change and advance our communities here, in the Weekly Memo. Read on -- and take action.

Replace who? Working people of all identities have lots to stick together for -- to fight off the predatory corporations and banks and the right-wing politicians and media crazies they have bought and continue to support. But too many desperate people are vulnerable to conspiracy theories about “replacement” that goad them to find folks of a different hue, origin or identity to blame.  And so, we have Buffalo, which will burn in our hearts. Until the next heartbreak.

 We should be in solidarity against those big-money pundits, their corporate enablers and the gun culture that they always dangle in front of the desperate and vengeful. But the lure of rapidfire revenge steadily peels off the desperate and easily-duped and brings camo-clad tragedy, where real harm reduction (mental health aware-care, not militarized cops and easy gun purchases) could have brought a different outcome.

Cities like Buffalo struggle with gun violence, even of the sort that drives many miles to find black people in groups large enough to shoot. But they are near-powerless to change it locally.  So we’ll start with the federal side this week, where gun control can be expected to bubble up again in Congress. So News U Can Use starts in DC this week.

It’s been an unbearable past week as we started the month of May: hearing as we did about what’s spelled out in the draft brief by Justice Alito on abortion rights, seeing Governor Hogan refuse to release state approved funds for the abortion care clinical training program, and learning in the past few days that we’ve reached the tragic milestone of a million COVID related deaths in this country and fifteen million deaths in the world. It’s hard to take in and absorb such devastating news. We hope you got to take a little break from it all yesterday on Mother’s Day as we paused to celebrate our family members and friends who are moms or all those we know who help the kids in their lives. 

Now it’s time to raise some hell! Time to lift our voices, to organize, raise money, get in the  streets, help elect candidates who pledge unwavering support to abortion rights, women’s health and healthcare for all. Please join us!

In news you can use this week: Hogan is backfilling his GOP credentials for a prez run by withholding appropriated funds to train workers for reproductive health clinics. Also: One commentator argues that slow-thinking Democrats have allowed the threat to democracy to deepen. Long Covid may afflict up to 300,000 Marylanders. Prince George's plays it straight down the fairway, despite dodgy resignation ploy. Plus what's going on (or not) in DC in a big week for health care.

To our members and supporters in Maryland:

Our New Era PAC is an effort to turn the tide in Maryland politics away from corporate-funded officials who carry water for big business, not working people and families.

Please join us May 21 to celebrate the anniversary of this ground-breaking effort and ensure that the people's voice is heard loud and clear.

Maryland's Blueprint for school reform is grounded in the proven community schools model, in which "wraparound" services are added to an enhanced and enriched community-centered curriculum in schools where communities themselves are impacted and struggling.

In this account from IndyMedia's "Our Schools" reporting project, veteran education reporter Jeff Bryant shows how shortsighted "economies of scale" budgeting has led to bad outcomes in a school system that was a showcase for the community schools example. One factor that crippled Oakland, and should give Maryland and DC schools pause as they enter the community schools project, has been the invasive charter school movement.

Some parts of Bryant's deep dive into the Oakland experience have been condensed in this version.

Eid Mubarak! We wish all who are observing a happy and prosperous Eid!

A team of Progressive Maryland staff traveled to Denver this past weekend to attend the People’s Action Strategy Summit. Two of PM’s leaders, Mike Walsh and Alfrieda Hylton, also attended the event. Each of them shared their personal stories with the full assembly, Mike’s about health care and Alfrieda’s about ending the drug war. We’re so grateful to them for sharing their powerful and moving stories from the stage with the 300 folks in the room and others of us who watched on zoom. And Sulma Arias, the new Executive Director of People’s Action, delivered an inspiring welcome speech on Friday to open our first in-person large gathering since 2019.

While there, dozens of participating organizations and leaders committed to building long term organizing efforts to win healthcare justice for all, to end environmental racism and fight climate change, to win a National Tenant’s Bill of Rights, to end the war on drugs, and to reinvigorate movement politics. We’re excited by the potential our national network has  to build and wield grassroots power. We’re honored to have you in this struggle with us. 

Will you help us spur others into action? On the immediate front, please get involved with our 2022 election campaigns, donate your time or money, door knock and talk to voters, take a shift at an early voting site, or sign up to phonebank. Let’s make Maryland better together!

In Solidarity, 

The Progressive Maryland Team

Our system of democratic elections is really an intricate one and it depends on people's routines -- routines that many of us don't even think about ordinarily but REALLY had to focus on during the pendemic.

Along with your personal routines that get you to the polls or make sure that you get that mail ballot requested and returned on time are the routines of others. And many of them got disturbed in the 2020 election, especially in other states, in ways that have thrown doubt on the strength of our democratic process. Some of those, we see in this week's News You Can Use, are election judges -- who are wondering if they can continue doing this nearly-free public service when faced by open abuse from people who seem to think a staggering democratic process is to their advantage.

Your democratic rights are threatened in many different ways -- that hasn't gotten better. See what you can do, here.

Acknowledging that K-12 schooling in Maryland already contained structural inequalities that were only widened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Maryland school leaders embarked on the full implementation of the Blueprint, or Kirwan, plan for improving the state's system. This article from Maryland Matters outlines the task and players; additional access to information is included.

We know we’re living in challenging times, burdened by the inequities in our system and trying to stave off the serious threats to our democracy and our fundamental rights. That’s why organizing is so important right now here in Maryland and around the country! We’re very inspired by the news of what advocates, workers, and activists are doing: from Earth Day actions last Friday that brought people into the streets, to the union organizing that’s happening at Amazon facilities, Starbucks stores, college campuses (including locally at AU and the University of Maryland), at hospitals, and at manufacturing plants and coal mines. Public support for unions is now at historically high levels and that’s good news!

We’re organizing ideas and people, and tapping into people’s strong desire for change - and we need you to spur others into action. On the immediate front, please get involved with our election campaigns: donate your time or money; door knock and talk to voters; take a shift at an early voting site, or sign up to phonebank. Please check out the Maryland Elections and Candidate Corner section to learn more about getting involved. Let’s transform Maryland politics together! 

A lot of news -- disasters, war, climate decline -- just thumps you in the noggin and leaves you stunned and feeling helpless. In this weekly blog post we try to round up news from Maryland and the federal government that offers you a path to make change. Still feeling kind of surrounded and alone? News you can use shows how people acting together make bigger change, so join Progressive Maryland to open that window.

And just like that, the 2022 Maryland General Assembly has adjourned. Thank you for keeping pace with us over the frenzied 90 days of the state legislative session! Your advocacy helped us secure some major progressive victories this session, including the Climate Solutions Now Act, which will dramatically reduce emissions in the coming years, and the Time to Care Act, which will establish a statewide paid family and medical leave program in Maryland. Thank you for your hard work and support...

The General Assembly session is over, peaceably and successfully, with apparently lots of winners and few losers. Having extra money will do that.

Will we say the same for our political culture after the July 19 primary settles many of our leadership questions?

News you can use, here, about the new laws and new faces, as well as what you can do about the less-than-satisfactory politics on Capitol Hill.

Today is Sine Die, the final day of the Maryland Legislative Session until it reconvenes in January 2023. As the General Assembly prepares to adjourn at midnight tonight, we’re taking stock of some of the major victories of this legislative session. The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, a sweeping bill to dramatically reduce statewide emissions over the coming decades, has become law, as has the Healthy Babies Equity Act, which guarantees Marylanders access to prenatal care regardless of their immigration status...

SESSION IN ANNAPOLIS HAS CELEBRATORY VIBE When you get today's Memo, the Assembly is highly unlikely to have adjourned sine die, so you may have a chance to get word about YOUR priority bills to your members before the Session ends. We do our best to keep up with the state of play in NEWS YOU CAN USE on our BlogSpace.

Their Assembly office staff will keep grinding on all the way to the finish line, and probably still after the legislators have sung "auld lang syne" and adjourned to their pubs of choice. Remember to thank them.

This will be the last Assembly session for some of these members, and not always of their own choosing, as a well known political analyst once put it. The new General Assembly seated next January will be starting a new four-year turn and we, the voters, can have something to say about who they are. Progressive Maryland will have some recommendations over the next weeks before the (delayed) primary.

With just one week left of the Legislative Session, we are eagerly anticipating Governor Hogan's decision on multiple important bills. The good news is that some of our priority issues are moving forward - the Time To Care Act, Climate Solutions Now Act, Healthy Babies Equity Act, Stay of Eviction Proceeding for Rental Assistance Determination bill, and Cannabis Reform all passed the General Assembly and are now in Hogan’s hands. We are urging him to sign off on the bills (or not take any action) so these bills can go into law. If Hogan does veto any of them, we will be pushing the General Assembly to override the veto before the session ends. See below for ways you can take action and stay tuned for more legislative updates!

This morning, we met with activists from across the country in DC to call on President Biden to cancel student debt through executive order before the pause on federal student loan repayments expires on May 1.  

Whether you love showing up for rallies or prefer to participate virtually, there are opportunities for everyone to get involved in the fight for a better future. Check out this week’s Memo for plenty of updates, events, actions to take, and news you can use!