Time and time again, the far-right majority of the Supreme Court has put special interests and politics ahead of people and above delivering justice under the law. But we cannot and will not be silent. Student debt fuels economic, gender, and racial inequality. Our persistent racial wealth gap means that students of color, especially those who are Black and brown, are more likely to have student debt, borrow in higher quantities, and face more struggles in repayment. A higher education should be the key to a better future, instead of a lifetime debt sentence that limits borrowers’ ability to buy homes, start small businesses, and save for retirement, cutting into opportunities for wealth-building over their lifetimes. This is why student loan cancellation is so important. Trump's agenda includes dismantling the Department of Education (DOE), which would have devastating impacts on our communities. The DOE oversees the Pell Grant and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) which gives aid to college students who need financial aid. The DOE also enforces the civil rights of students, and supports school programs that support students with disabilities. But Trump, Republicans, and Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices cannot have the last word. We won’t let them win. We have to push back and be in solidarity with each other. Together, we can keep getting loud to show the President Biden that he has the power to to give millions of Americans the student loan relief they need and deserve. President Biden must cancel student debt via executive order before Trump and Republicans gain control over all three branches of our federal government. Will you sign the petition?

By signing this petition, you are showing the CCBC administration that you want a strong and fair working relationship in our negotiations to make the college an even better place for our students and faculty to learn and grow.  

As Allegheny County Council contemplates a vote on the proposed increased fees for Title 5 operating permits, some have argued that this would place an unfair burden on U.S. Steel, because of the recommended increase from $8,000 to $53,000 that the company would have to pay. For a company that earned $2.14 Billion in 2023, that is a specious argument. ACHD has been admonished by EPA for the huge backlog in such permitting, and the assessment of the fair cost for the staff work required to resolve this problem is long overdue. Our once largest employer, U.S. Steel, is today a mere shell of itself. More importantly, the company has failed to maintain its ancient Mon Valley Works, at the same time that it has been investing $6 Billion in more modern facilities in Arkansas, a right-to-work state, leaving a vestige of their worst operations here, facilities that emit the toxic air that we are condemned to breathe. Our region’s largest employers, our healthcare establishment and universities, are nonprofit organizations. Our region also boasts a major concentration of other nonprofits. None of them pay taxes. Simultaneously, our economic base is threatened by downtown office building foreclosures, which are driving down real estate assessments in the post-pandemic, work-remotely world.  Consequently, Allegheny County is facing major budget deficits. The economic and demographic future of our region lies in promoting economic growth through the tax-paying tech businesses that are here.  But we cannot grow that sector when more and more of their lifestyle-conscious workforce refuses to come to Allegheny County, one of the 1% worst places in the country for cancer, lung and heart diseases related to air pollution, with up to triple the rate of youth asthma. The time is long overdue to face reality, promoting the changes that can free our region to grow economically and demographically. A first step in this direction should be action taken by Allegheny County Council and its Health & Human Services committee to approve the fee increases that will allow ACHD to begin to increase its capacity to protect the health of all of our residents, while costing taxpayers nothing!

• Camp displacements can cause unhoused neighbors to lose vital survival items. If replacing these items is even possible, it takes resources away from more sustainable homeless response solutions. Neighbors can also lose vital records such as photo IDs and Social Security cards, which are required for employment and housing and take heavy time and monetary resources to replace.  • Camp displacement – and the fear of displacement – can cause and worsen mental health conditions. In addition to creating feelings of dehumanization and traumatization, sweeps disrupt routine and can cause neighbors to be removed from existing social connections, which can worsen mental health stability.  • Camp displacements can cut neighbors off from life-saving medicine and care. While being displaced, neighbors can lose vital and hard-to-replace medical care for HIV, diabetes, hypertension, substance use and mental health conditions, and other conditions, harm reduction supplies, as well as equipment such as wheelchairs. If outreach staff cannot find neighbors after a camp displacement, these neighbors may also lose their only existing connection to services.  • Camp displacement can put residents into more dangerous and isolated environments. Following displacements, residents may seek safety in more isolated locations. In addition to being more difficult for service providers to access, these locations may lack safe water, bathroom facilities, and escape from the elements. This is especially dangerous if a camp displacement causes a loss of survival equipment that allows them to be protected while living outside in extreme weather.  • Camp displacements cost communities thousands of dollars. This includes personnel costs, medication and medical equipment replacement costs, and vital document replacement costs. Outreach to locate and rebuild trust with displaced neighbors requires additional costs and time. Our communities rise when we work to lift up our most vulnerable citizens. Please help us stand with our neighbors surviving outside to demand better for our city. We're all in this together! 

**Pilots, we need your support!** As you may have heard over and over again, there’s been some concern about the future of our right to grow and maintain well-groomed beards now that Hawaiian Airlines has joined the Alaska Airlines ohana. I have written a letter to Alaska management regarding this issue, and am hoping you'll help me emphasize it to those who make the decisions regarding .  This petition isn’t about union negotiations or giving anything up in our contracts—it's simply about ensuring that we, as pilots, have the freedom to wear a well-groomed beard if we choose to. We're asking everyone—especially our female colleagues and those who choose not to grow beards—to show solidarity in support of this important issue. A well-groomed beard is part of many pilots' identities, and maintaining this right will help preserve that sense of individuality and pride. And for the bald guys (like me) let’s be honest, it's all we've got to add some semblance of style and good looks.  If not for me, do it for my wife! Let’s stand together and make sure our voices are heard. **Sign the petition today!**

The latest reports estimate this year’s Pentagon budget topline will be close to one TRILLION dollars. About half of that astronomical amount is slated to go straight to contractors, just like it has in years past. It’s meant BILLIONS for companies owned by Elon Musk — and there are BILLIONS yet to be made. Right now, U.S. tax dollars help fund the SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield satellites Musk created — and he’s turned those profits into the kind of enormous political and social power that include a role in the Trump administration. We all pay a steep price: In just the past year alone Elon Musk has used Starlink to disrupt Ukraine's military communications, leveraged Twitter to undermine democratic discourse across the globe, and created the America Pac, a political action committee where he and his cronies plowed unlimited amounts of money toward Donald Trump and MAGA Republican candidates. Next, Musk may very well be “regulating” the very governmental agencies who award lucrative government contracts to his companies It reeks of corruption — but we’ll need a groundswell of grassroots activism to break this feedback loop in its tracks. The Pentagon is accountable to Congress and the public. That’s why we’re working to send Defense Secretary Austin a message tens of thousands of people strong. Join us.

Fellow Tulsa Public Schools Parents and Guardians, We need your support to ensure that our classrooms remain places of learning, inclusivity, and growth—not platforms for political agendas. We have created a petition urging Tulsa Public Schools leaders to reject this mandate. By signing, you can join us in demanding that political rhetoric stays out of our classrooms. Let’s ensure our children’s education remains focused on their growth and future, not the ambitions of elected officials.

Over the next four years, roughly 250 circuit and district court judges are, or will become, eligible for senior status. On top of the current and known future vacancies in states with two Republican senators, there is a very real chance that Trump will get to appoint another 200+ lower-court judges. Not to mention the fact that, depending on retirements at the highest level of our judicial system, he will also likely get to appoint at least two more Supreme Court justices.  The effects of this cannot be understated. We’ve already seen the damage the current Trump justices and judges have unleashed on our civil rights. For instance:  • All three Trump Supreme Court justices were part of the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. • Judge James Ho (5th Cir.) was part of the Fifth Circuit’s opinion that would have sharply curtailed access to mifepristone, the abortion pill. He also wrote a dissent in the case, where he would have gone even further than the majority opinion in some respects. • Trump’s circuit court judges have repeatedly authored or joined anti-worker opinions, including cases which made it harder to file discrimination claims.   There is a very real possibility in four years' time that a majority of the justices and roughly half of all active lower-court judges will be Trump appointees. This is our last chance to act to confirm judges who will help protect our fundamental rights and serve as the last line of defense to uphold our nation’s laws and the Constitution.

Senate Republicans have chosen Senator John Thune to lead them next Congress. And much like his predecessor, Senator Mitch McConnell, one main “qualification” for the job comes at all of our expense: raking in millions of dollars in Big Money donations. That’s right: the incoming Senate Majority Leader built his candidacy around raising $31 million for the GOP this cycle and setting a new record for the largest transfer of money from his personal campaign to other Senate Republicans.  But Thune hardly stands out – in order to be serious contenders, Thune and the other Senators running had to prove they could keep the campaign cash flowing from the fossil fuel industry, big banks, private health insurers, and other special interests. • A primary selling point for Senator John Cornyn was raising over $400 million for the GOP in his career, including $33 million this cycle.  • And Senator Rick Scott, who’s also independently rich after co-founding the nation's largest for-profit healthcare company, is a leading advocate for essentially ending Medicare and the Affordable Care Act – hardly a coincidence.  • They have big shoes to fill, as Senator Mitch McConnell raised over $1 billion for the GOP during his time as Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader.  The unfortunate truth is that no matter who got selected, Big Money is the real winner – which means the rest of us lose. Wealthy special interests shouldn’t have this big of a say in our democracy; that power belongs to the people. Common Cause knows this status quo must end – which is why we’re fighting to overturn Citizens United and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the DISCLOSE Act.   These critical measures would help shine a light on secret political spending, get Big Money out of politics, and establish small-dollar citizen funded elections – giving ordinary Americans a stronger say in our democracy. Join us in calling on Congress to END the Citizens United era and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the DISCLOSE Act!

President-elect Trump just announced on social media he is nominating election denier and far-right ideologue Rep. Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. If you’re familiar with Matt Gaetz, you already know he belongs nowhere near the Department of Justice, except as a defendant. Here’s what you need to know about Matt Gaetz, and why he simply cannot be allowed to be confirmed as Attorney General: • Rep. Gaetz was one of Donald Trump’s point men in Congress during the deadly January 6th attack – voting to overturn the 2020 election results from the wreckage later that day, and in the months that followed to shield Trump and the insurrectionists he led from accountability. • He’s also an anti-voter extremist – introducing bills to purge eligible voters and even threatening to shut down the government to pass his voter suppression agenda. That’s why he earned a “perfect” score of zero on our 2024 Democracy Scorecard.  • And, his words and actions prove he’s not up to the task of ensuring all Americans are treated equally – he called for violence against racial justice protestors in the summer of 2020, and openly promoted the white supremacist “Great Replacement Theory” the next year.  Attorney General of the United States is one of the executive branch’s most important roles – overseeing the Department of Justice, upholding the rule of law, and enforcing civil and voting rights protections. We already knew the Department of Justice was going to be on Trump’s target list – he swore revenge after they did their jobs and held him to the same laws every other American follows. But Matt Gaetz is, without exaggeration, one of the most extreme choices Trump could have made. We can’t let it stand. Here’s the good news: with a record as tarnished and controversial as Matt Gaetz’s, Senate confirmation is anything but a done deal. We need to speak out IMMEDIATELY to demand Senators put country before party and stop him. Can you add your name today?

President-elect Trump has repeatedly vowed to conduct the “largest deportation effort in American history” and plans to mobilize the military and National Guard to raid our communities. These plans are instilling fear in our immigrant neighbors and, if carried out, will traumatize families through cruel separation efforts. We must prepare NOW to protect our immigrant neighbors’ safety and rights in the face of mass deportation efforts. The election results are not a mandate for cruelty. Governors and local governments have the ability to take strong, proactive countermeasures to protect immigrant communities immediately. Together, we can make sure our local governments are prepared to mount a defense and blunt the worst of Trump’s white supremacist plans. Governors and local governments can immediately implement these crucial policies to protect our immigrant communities:  • Use sanctuary measures that prevent the use of state and local resources in ICE’s deportation and detention operations • Prepare a coordinated response to mass raids by convening a task force to communicate when and where deportations are taking place and funding emergency resources, such as legal clinics, for deportation defense • Expand and publicize state assistance programs, including medical care and food assistance, for mixed-status families and undocumented immigrants in the event Trump cuts basic services to noncitizens  It’s imperative that our local officials take Trump at his word and his record. His anti-immigrant agenda goes beyond mass deportations—it includes cutting constitutional rights like birthright citizenship and cutting critical public benefits for U.S. citizen children while ramping up the militarization needed to enforce his cruel policies. In the face of these devastating policies, our local governments must step into their power as the first line of defense in protecting our immigrant communities. Will you sign the petition to tell Democratic governors to take decisive action NOW to prevent mass deportations and protect immigrants?

If you or someone you love is LGBTQ+ on this campus, sign this petition to take necessary steps in making UPG safer and actually inclusive.