Lancaster City’s monthly reporting requirement is set out in Section 3 of Administrative Ordinance No. 14-2025, codified in Chapter 30 (Budgets and Control).

Section 3 requires a Monthly Budget Report, defined as a monthly cash flow report: a financial statement of revenues and expenditures by department, bureau, and line item (organized to match the budget ordinance), showing the amount budgeted, the cumulative amount collected or expended, and the percent of each line item collected or expended by the end of each month. It must be submitted to City Council, the Office of the Controller, and to the public within 21 days of the end of the preceding month.

More than 50 Black leaders gathered at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Harrisburg to learn more about Janelle Stelson’s campaign — and to endorse her. That’s the headline. Not because endorsements are rare, but because Black folks are organizing in public, together, in our institutions. This is the first step toward real political infrastructure: relationships becoming alignment, alignment becoming structure, and structure becoming power.

Nine months out from Election Day, the 2026 midterms have moved from “next year” to a measurable, shifting contest. The Horse Race is a monthly tracking memo produced by the Black Voter Outreach Network of PA’s Research Division—a straight read of the political environment using the indicators that shape outcomes: presidential approval, the generic ballot, major issue pressures (like costs, SNAP, and healthcare), and what those signals suggest for control of Congress and for key fights in Pennsylvania. It’s not prediction or punditry—just a consistent, evidence-based snapshot of where things stand and what’s changing, updated each month.

The City of Lancaster raised a flag today. The county will issue a proclamation later this month. 

Today There was speeches. Photos. Logos lined up neatly. A proclamation read aloud. Black organizations invited into City Hall for a moment of visibility. And later this month the county commissioners will invite similar groups to county government building to the same. 

It will stop there.

Black History Month did not begin as a celebration.

It was an act of resistance.

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week as a direct challenge to Jim Crow. Black people were being erased from textbooks, classrooms, and public memory by design. Teaching Black history was not symbolic—it was defiant. It was dangerous. It was a refusal to accept erasure as fate.

Let's stop pretending.

The Trump Administration is terrorizing Black and Brown immigrants.

Not immigrants broadly. Not "undocumented people" in the abstract. Black and Brown immigrants.

They are targeting Black people. They are targeting Brown people. They are targeting Latinos. They are targeting Somalis. They are targeting Haitians.

The administration is hunting them, detaining them, and killing them because of who they are.

President Trump sent ICE into Minneapolis to terrorize communities of color. That is the point. The administration concentrates raids, stops, detentions, and armed confrontations where Black and Brown people live. Fear is not an unintended consequence. Fear is the goal.

John Donne wrote,

“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

In Minneapolis this month, that bell has tolled more than once.

Two lives — two people — were taken by federal immigration enforcement.

Tomorrow is January 15th.
My birthday.
And the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, born in 1929.

On Monday, January 19, 2026, Lancaster County will do what it does best when it comes to Black people: pause briefly, pose politely, and move on unchanged.

There will be prayer breakfasts.
Photo ops.
Proclamations.
Committees shaking hands with one another.
Churches reading excerpts.
Nonprofits posting quotes.

And then—nothing.

No feeding the hungry.
No housing the unhoused.
No clothing for the unclothed.
No material changes for Black people who live here every single day.

By Tuesday, the Black community will once again be an afterthought—until February rolls around, and then again until Juneteenth. Ritual recognition without responsibility. Symbolism without sacrifice.

That is why I will not celebrate MLK Day in Lancaster.

Right now, as we speak, the federal government is shut down.
SNAP benefits are frozen.
Workers are not being paid.
Families are going hungry.

Across Lancaster County, people are stepping up — churches, nonprofits, and neighbors are organizing food drives and meal programs to make sure no one is left behind. That is good and righteous work. It is what Dr. King would have called the work of the Good Samaritan — stopping along the roadside to help the wounded and hungry when others pass them by.

By the end of this year, Lancaster City will be hiring its fourth police chief in less than five years. Four leaders, four approaches, four promises — and still, the same unease.

Chief Richard Mendez is retiring in December. The city has said it will appoint an interim chief to serve in the meantime, which means the next permanent police chief will likely be chosen by Lancaster’s next mayor after the new administration is sworn in.

That kind of turnover raises a simple but serious question:

🏛️ Spotlight: U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D–PA‑12)

Bill: H.R. 4387 – Division on Community Safety Act
Summary: Proposes a new division within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) focused on community safety and public health initiatives.

What’s the issue?

Public health is more than hospitals and clinics—it includes violence prevention, mental health, substance use support, and building safety networks within communities. But there’s no central hub within the federal government coordinating these efforts under one roof.

There are no records of John Lewis ever visiting Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He did travel to Philadelphia on two occasions to receive awards: once in 2012 to receive an honorary award from the University of Pennsylvania for social justice advocacy, and in 2016 to receive the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center.

This Week’s Spotlight: Rep. Ismail “Izzy” Smith-Wade-El (D – Lancaster County)

Bill: House Bill 908 – Termination of Long-Term Parole Supervision
Summary: A second chance for aging parolees who’ve served time and stayed on track.

What’s the issue?

Thousands of Pennsylvanians remain under parole supervision for years or even decades after they’ve been released from prison. This long-term monitoring can create major obstacles for people trying to rebuild their lives—especially for those who have stayed out of trouble.

Tomorrow, America will light up the sky with fireworks. Families will gather. Flags will wave. Politicians will deliver patriotic speeches. But for many of us—Black, Brown, poor, working-class—this year’s Fourth of July carries no joy. There is no cause for celebration.

At a time when our country should be striving to lift its people up, Congress has passed what they proudly call a “big, beautiful bill.” But its beauty lies only in the eyes of the privileged. For the millions who rely on Medicare and SNAP, it’s a betrayal. This bill slashes support for the most vulnerable Americans. It punishes the poor. It prioritizes austerity over humanity. And it reminds us, once again, that the system is not broken—it’s working exactly as it was designed to.

Make no mistake: this is the GOP’s vision for America. This bill is a direct assault by Republican lawmakers—backed by the Trump administration and its allies—on working people, the elderly, and the poor. They want to shred the safety net and sell our suffering as 'tough love.' But it is nothing more than calculated cruelty.

Sixty-one years ago today, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. This landmark legislation was the culmination of a long and arduous struggle, marked by immense sacrifice and even the loss of lives, including those of Medgar Evers, Harry T. Moore, and three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

The path to the Civil Rights Act was paved with years of protests, beatings, arrests, and heartbreak. Brave individuals put their bodies on the line, confronting police dogs and fire hoses, with some paying the ultimate price. President Kennedy championed this legislation before his assassination, and President Johnson honorably carried it forward as a tribute to his memory.

This Week’s Spotlight: Rep. Nikki Rivera (D – Lancaster County)

Bill: House Bill 923 – PACE/PACENET Social Security COLA Moratorium Extension
Summary: Keeping prescription coverage accessible for thousands of Pennsylvania seniors—despite rising Social Security payments.

Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the United States—June 19, 1865—when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally received word of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It is a day of profound significance, rooted in the collective memory of Black resilience, survival, and the ongoing pursuit of justice.