This is a continuation of ICE’s targeted harassment of the most vulnerable in our communities. If Sister Ugboaja is forced to return to Nigeria, she will likely be tortured, which is why she was granted a protection from removal order in 2019.  Sister Ugboaja isn’t the only one. In July, Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo and his wife Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero were detained by ICE agents as they were flying from Texas to North Carolina for a religious retreat. Both are assistant pastors from south Texas who are in the U.S. on religious visas and in the process of obtaining green cards. They claimed that ICE threatened them with prolonged detainment if they didn’t sign voluntary deportation papers. Public pressure works, even against ICE. We must  block the deportation proceedings against Sister Leticia Ugboaja before other religious leaders are put in deportation proceedings.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is trying, once again, to silence the public. Did you know that you are "unnecessary and burdensome red tape" in the eyes of the EPA? The agency is accepting comments until August 21st on its proposal to make a change to the way permit applications for air quality permits are reviewed. At present, the review includes an opportunity for the public to comment. The change would eliminate that process for facilities considered to be "minor sources" of pollution and leave it to the states to decide if the public should have an opportunity to comment. "Minor sources" include diesel backup generators and natural gas turbines, like those used at data centers. For example, this Spring, the PA DEP received a plan approval application from Amazon Data Services for its Falls Township data center for 280 natural gas generators and 3 diesel tanks. DEP says the facility will remain a "synthetic minor," a facility that would exceed maximum "minor source" levels without the operator taking steps to keep the facility in compliance. A "minor source" is by no means a trifling matter. Please add your name to this petition we will submit to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Thank you! And please consider taking an extra minute or two to submit a comment. The EPA Is accepting comments on its proposed rule change until August 21st. We've created this EZ form you can use to submit a comment. We'll format your comment as a PDF and submit it to the docket on Regulations.gov. We do this because agencies count petitions as one comment, even if a million people sign it. The number of signers will not go unnoticed, but will not "count." Even the letters some organizations ask you to sign and send are treated the same way. Our form ensures that each submission will be unique and, therefore, counted. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5VrVoZh8yQz9JyZHCsg2S6UPNRW8_1lnzaSy6iD8Z4rPOTQ/viewform If you prefer to submit your own comment, you can go directly to Regulations.gov at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/07/2026-13667/minor-new-source-review-program-air-permitting-public-participation-requirements-for-state#open-comment EPA's press release - https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-streamline-state-and-local-permitting-process-minor-sources

As loyal viewers, we are asking for his representation.  As a film historian, I am concerned that Turner Classic Movies is attempting to rewrite film history. Since they do not own the films of 20th Century Fox, they promote the stars and studios of the films they do own, giving the impression that Fox and its stars were less important. In the book by Bruce Cogerson, The Top 50 Movie Stars: Statistically Speaking, using box office figures adjusted for inflation and awards, Tyrone Power is listed as the 21st biggest male star in film history. This list includes modern stars - Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio etc. Yet in TCM’s book, The Top 50 Leading Men of the Studio Era, Tyrone Power is eliminated. How is this possible? Yet actors whose films are owned by TCM are there who were less popular. This may seem unimportant. Yet we live in a time where there is an aggressive effort to rewrite our country’s history and the contributions of some of our citizens. However, the legacy of talented individuals needs to be preserved. 

We ask that Riverfront Nights continue in some form during the Ross’s Landing refurbishment, preserving the music, community, boating tradition, local vendors, and economic activity that make these events so important to Chattanooga.

Permanent corrective action to armor the cliff with a rip rap system has been in place since April 5, 2013 – Project # GXUN 13-0016 – and even has been funded several times, with that money then put to other wartime uses. Local, state, and federal agencies are all aware of the problem and detailed studies have been completed with multiple State and local agencies participating. But year after year this project, important to thousands of military and federal personnel, drops out of the funding formula despite this long-standing plan and remedy. Meanwhile prices rise and the damage continues, making the immediate cliff a danger, though not one person has been injured in all this time. The site is currently under the ownership of Hanscom Air Force Base’s 66th Air Base Group, with many of its neighbors to the south on Humarock Beach having adequately armored their properties on their own dollar. The people who have signed this petition (with family and friends who know of and have enjoyed 4th Cliff) urge these lawmakers to take action and see that Project GXUN 13-0016 gets funded this year, saving Fourth Cliff for posterity as an R&R gem. It is also sanctuary to three endangered species of birds.  As a 100% disabled veteran with a Purple Heart and two Bronze Star metals from combat in Vietnam, Fourth Cliff has been a great blessing to my wife and I for 45 years, from tenting to renting guest houses, to holding our daughter’s wedding in the Pavilion, to beachcombing, swimming, and fishing. My three grown children and grandchildren enjoy and love Fourth Cliff. This is our favorite location in all of New England, no, in the United States, a real gem. Contemplating a future without it is almost too hard to imagine.  The announcement of its closure late this year for safety reasons (though no one has been injured there in its history), drove me to post this petition and urge our lawmakers to “Save Fourth Cliff!” It is not too late. Find a way to fund this 2013 project now, and provide the resources needed to upgrade an important historical site and campground for thousands of military members and residents who are an important boon to the local economy.

Congress could soon add a dangerous provision to expand and empower ICE’s violence — violence that killed two more people last month — to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Proponents of the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) claim they’re focused on decreasing retail theft. In reality, CORCA would sneakily hand DHS, ICE’s parent agency, even broader authority to collect, analyze, and share our personal information. More facial recognition. More data-sharing between police and corporations. More opportunities for reckless ICE agents to terrorize our communities with violence. That’s the world we’ll live in if the Senate adds this dangerous provision as an amendment to the final bill. But with the Senate NDAA currently stalled, we have a critical opportunity to push lawmakers to keep CORCA out of the final bill. Stopping the addition of CORCA to the NDAA will require all of us joining the movement partners already speaking out. We need to flood Senate offices today with messages demanding they reject deepening an era of ICE violence and impunity.

AI technology is advancing faster than community leaders and elected officials can keep up, and in Ohio, many of these data centers are going up without full transparency around who is behind them. Meanwhile, billionaires are getting richer from data centers that put a drain on local communities and force everyday people to foot the bill.  A 2022 study from UCLA and Columbia University found that historically redlined communities face the brunt of the pollution and toxicity from data centers.  Our communities will only suffer more with the construction of more centers and we deserve better.  Sign the petition calling for a data center moratorium!

 Every child deserves timely access to specialized medical care, regardless of where they live. Families in Prattville and the surrounding communities should not have to travel approximately 90 minutes to Birmingham during a medical emergency to reach a dedicated children's hospital. While Montgomery has a hospital that treats children, it is not a specialized children's hospital and its emergency department is often overcrowded. When a child is seriously ill or injured, long travel times and extended waits can add unnecessary stress to families and delay access to pediatric specialists. Our community continues to grow rapidly, yet access to specialized pediatric healthcare has not kept pace. Expanding pediatric services closer to Prattville would improve access to lifesaving care, reduce the burden on families, and provide peace of mind to parents who simply want the best care possible for their children. This petition is about advocating for the health and well-being of the children in our community. Every family deserves the reassurance of knowing that expert pediatric care is available closer to home when it matters most.

Trump wants to rewrite the past and sow doubt about our elections to lay the groundwork to contest November’s midterm elections and seize control over future elections. There are checks and balances in our country for a reason. Local leaders run our elections—not the president. Only an authoritarian would attempt to seize control of our elections in order to control the outcome.  That’s why it’s so important that the Georgia Secretary of State join other secretaries of states across the country and double down and commit to overseeing a free and fair election. And they need to know Georgia constituents are watching and support them in upholding the law. They are, after all, elected to serve the people, not the president.  We need to defend our democracy. Join Georgia neighbors and your name to the petition to urge Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to protect essential voting processes from partisan interference and uphold the will of the people! 

Trump wants to rewrite the past and sow doubt about our elections to lay the groundwork to contest November’s midterm elections and seize control over future elections. There are checks and balances in our country for a reason. State and local leaders run our elections—not the president. Only an authoritarian would attempt to seize control of our elections in order to control the outcome.  That’s why it’s so important that the Minnesota Secretary of State join other secretaries of states across the country and commit to overseeing a free and fair election. And they need to know MN residents are watching and support them in upholding the law. They are, after all, elected to serve the people, not the president.  We need to defend our democracy. Join your Minnesota neighbors and add your name to the petition to urge our MN Secretary of State to protect essential voting processes from partisan interference and uphold the will of the people! 

The CDC’s "Autism and Vaccines" page used to reflect what decades of rigorous research have shown. Now it’s been quietly rewritten to include a reckless line that it is “not an evidence-based claim” to say that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. That’s a fundamental distortion of what the evidence has repeatedly revealed and what the medical community at-large promotes. The CDC won’t say it, but we will: Vaccines do not cause autism.  No environmental factor has been studied more thoroughly as a potential cause of autism than vaccines. Multiple studies, across multiple countries, with different populations and age groups, have all reached the same conclusion: There is no link. These changes to the CDC’s webpage will have dire consequences. Vaccine hesitancy is already a growing threat to public health, putting young children, immunocompromised people, and older adults at greater risk of preventable disease. Sign the petition now calling on Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to remove the misinformation and restore accurate, evidence-based content to the CDC’s autism and vaccines webpage!

Trump's illegal war on Iran just entered its sixth month and shows no signs of slowing. A brief pause in the violence quickly collapsed, with strikes reported in Iran, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. At least seventeen U.S. servicemembers have died. At least 1,700 people in Iran have been killed. At least $100 billion has been wasted. Congress never authorized this war. More than that, Congress ordered Trump to end it through a historic war powers vote. But once again, Trump returned to the playbook he’s most familiar with — violence. Instead of demanding accountability, Republican leaders are moving forward toward a record-shattering $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget Trump can use to wage more war. They’d do it at the expense of social service programs — food assistance, healthcare, and more — that millions of people across the country rely on. It’s a dangerous moment, one that’s made it clear that you get what you pay for: Investing trillions of dollars in war over the last several decades has gotten us exactly that. It’s past time we turn the tables, which is why we’re demanding investments in people instead.