Intersections are dangerous when properly marked. The risk of fatalities and other injuries exponentially increases at unmarked and dangerous intersections like this one. With the exploding increase in traffic flow and pedestrian usage, upgrading this intersection is critical to preventing preventing fatalities in Nuckols Road. Other intersections in Forsyth County similar to the Habersham Trce / Nuckols Rd have been upgraded AFTER FATALITIES have occurred. As a resident of the community for over 12 years myself I have seen the exponential increase of traffic usage (both Residential and Commercial) on Nuckols Road, which runs right through center of our community. Nuckols Rd is a high traffic road that is abused by local car dealers, motorcycle riders, non-residents using it as a bypass road between Buford Dam and Highway 20, and has no ADA Complaint crosswalks for subdivision residents for Habersham At Lanier and Habersham On Lanier. Nuckols Rd is clearly marked an a posted 30 Mile Per Hour Rd, which is very rarely observed by drivers. We have seen and appreciate the significant road improvements that include repaving and a sidewalk that stretches down Nuckols Road from Buford Dam Rd to Highway 20. These road improvements alone have created more traffic because non-residents of Nuckols road communities utilize it as a high speed bypass road. This along with the number of disabled persons, ageing residents, motorcycle riders, increased commercial traffic, car dealer test drives, and overall residential growth have contributed to decreased safety within our community and required immediate resolution before something catastrophic happens. As a community, we do our diligence to maintain a productive relationship with local car dealerships and often request them to ask their employees to respect the speed limit and be aware of the pedestrian traffic as these drivers roll through our community. At the end of the day, our words and requests only fall on deaf ears. As more residents move into our community, and most recently with the Covid pandemic, the use of the newly installed sidewalks has blown up! Parents with children, People with Pets, Joggers, Walkers, Handicapped residents, and even our elderly community are more active than ever. Why is the speed deterrent requests for a 4 way stop, speed break, or at a minimum a MARKED pedestrian cross walk so important? Currently there is no safe ADA Compliant intersection crosswalk that crosses and connects both sides of the community. § 40-6-92. Crossing roadway elsewhere than at crosswalk: To cross the road as a pedestrian means jaywalking and moving traffic does not have to yield to pedestrians, creating a safety issue. § 40-6-72 - Stop signs and yield signs: Vehicles, including School busses entering the intersection from Habersham Trace must still yield right of way to oncoming traffic coming from a blind curve, even after they entered the intersection. There is no deterrent to encourage speeders to slow down or stop for our children in school buses. On both side of Habersham Trace there are handicapped children, handicapped adults, elderly and coming soon a person who is permanently bound to a motorized wheel chair. All of whom need access to a safe crossing point that can be enforced by the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Freeman and his department are aware of the handicapped children in our community and are continually watching out to protect our most vulnerable residents. They are also aware of the issue of dangerous speeders abusing Nuckols Rd. FCSO officers are limited in their ability to stop speeders because of the minimum distance rule that is required to use a laser to ticket them. The speeders are aware of this and take advantage of this. However, an improved traffic control intersection w/ ADA Compliant crosswalk at Habersham Trce / Nuckols Rd would not only be an excellent and enforceable speed deterrent, it would also drastically increase residential safety, and help FCSO reduce wasted resource time by giving FCSO officers a focused traffic enforcement point. A speed deterrent, even as minimal as a MARKED (Painted and Sign) Pedestrian crosswalk, drivers are required to slow down and yield (if needed) to pedestrians without swerving around them. Approving and installing any form of speed deterrent like this pedestrian crosswalk will accomplish 3 important things. 1. A 4 way stop with MARKED pedestrian crosswalk will provide a safe crossing point at Nuckols Road between both sides of the Habersham Community for all of the residents (handicapped or non-handicapped) to utilize the wonderful sidewalk some of our SPLOST funds were used for 2. A 4 way stop, with a MARKED pedestrian crosswalk will indirectly create a safe speed barrier, as drivers will be more alert to the presence of pedestrians while recalling that pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk. It won't be a harsh physical speed deterrent like a speed bump, but it will be a deterrent that is enforceable and safe to use when pedestrians are present. 3. A 4 way stop with a MARKED pedestrian crosswalk will also assist the Forsyth County Sheriffs office with their mission of keeping our roads safe by creating a focus point during the day when Pedestrians and Vehicle traffic co-mingle in the same spaces, at the same time. These improvements will increase overall safety for local residents, protect county resources, reduce wasted enforcement resource time, and most importantly increase overall property values. At the end of the day we all want the same things; safe roads, safety in the community, and reduced the use of wasted resources. Having this 4 way stop with pedestrian crosswalk will benefit everyone.

The impending foreclosure avalanche will hurt many Americans. Foreclosures will increase the houseless population, and will DISPROPORTIONATELY affect black and brown homeownership and further widen the generational wealth gap. The American Rescue Plan needs to direct resources to help homeowners NOW

Essential workers voted and essential workers decided. We sent lawmakers to Washington who promised to stand with us to deliver racial and economic justice. Across the country workers like me are still struggling on poverty wages, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on. We have kids, rent, bills to pay. The $7.25/hr minimum wage just doesn’t cut it for anyone, anywhere. Enough is enough. No one should work 40 hours a week and still have to choose between rent and groceries. Congress will only act if we do. Add your name to tell Congress that we need a $15/hr federal minimum wage NOW.

SB-22 would give fourteen unprecedented powers to the Chair of the Henry County Board of Commissioners. It establishes that the Commission Chair can “develop the policies of the county” (522-523), essentially granting the Chair unilateral control over the county government. Our nation is built on the principles of shared and balanced power. SB-22 concentrates that power in the hands of the Commission Chair. It only affects Henry County, and no reason is given for why it is being done. No elected or non-elected official approached the residents of Henry County before attempting to pass this legislation. We have been caught completely off-guard. As residents of Henry County, we must oppose this legislation. A dictatorship must never have a chance to take hold in Henry County. Government power should never be concentrated in the hands of a single individual, regardless of their loyalty or political party. Stand with the principles of good government and tell your representatives and senators in the General Assembly to vote “NO” to SB-22. Don’t let a dictatorship harm Henry County. We cannot blindly grant such tremendous powers to unknown future chairs. We must protect our children and our county's future.

The New Hampshire Progressive Coalition is deeply disappointed, though not at all surprised, by the decision by a majority of Republicans in the US Senate to acquit Donald Trump of the crimes for which he is obviously and demonstrably guilty. This acquittal, undertaken by a group of officials who were not only jurors and judges, but also witnesses to and victims of the charged crime, should drive home an understanding among people of good will that the Republican party as a whole has abandoned all semblance of decency, fairness, and fealty to the rule of law and the tenets of democracy. Given the behavior of the Republicans, and taking them at their word, we fully expect the GOP to be as resistant as possible to any and every initiative that the Biden Administration and the Democrats propose. Though Democrats hold a majority, it is a slim one that requires that all Democratic representatives and senators #LinkArms and stand together.

Millions of people around the world may not get COVID-19 vaccines until as late as 2024--unless President Biden reverses the Trump administration’s deadly Big Pharma boondoggle at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In a world full of walls, social media is a powerful tool to help us share our stories and support one another and our common humanity — no matter our religion, race or nationality. We know Facebook is considering its responsibility to implement guardrails to keep the platform safe and accessible for us to connect across space and difference. But we are deeply concerned about Facebook's proposed revision of its hate speech policy to consider "Zionist" as a proxy for "Jew" or "Jewish." The proposed policy would too easily mischaracterize conversations about Zionists — and by extension, Zionism — as inherently antisemitic, harming Facebook users and undermining efforts to dismantle real antisemitism and all forms of racism, extremism and oppression. We cannot dismantle antisemitism if we are blocked from voicing our opinions and sharing our experiences with each other. We can discuss, debate and even disagree, as long as we share the belief that all of us deserve safety, freedom, and dignity. We ask Facebook to not erect barriers impeding users from connecting with each other as we engage in this work. This is the wrong solution to a real and important problem: those who fuel antisemitism online will continue doing so, with or without the word “Zionist.” In fact, many antisemites, especially among white supremacists and evangelical Christian Zionists, explicitly support Zionism and Israel, while engaging in speech and actions that dehumanize, insult, and isolate Jewish people. Importantly, this move will prohibit Palestinians from sharing their daily experiences and histories with the world, be it a photo of the keys to their grandparent’s house lost when attacked by Zionist militias in 1948, or a livestream of Zionist settlers attacking their olive trees in 2021. And it would prevent Jewish users from discussing their relationships to Zionist political ideology. Facebook scrutinizing specific words won’t keep any of us safe, but it will prevent us from connecting on the political issues important to all of us and block us from holding people and governments accountable for their policies and actions. The current Israeli government, and some of its supporters, have demanded that Facebook add “Zionist” to its hate speech policy. This would shut down conversations about accountability for policies and actions that harm Palestinians. Facebook should refuse to cooperate with those who seek to build more walls to keep us apart. We call on Facebook to not add “Zionist” as a protected category in its hate speech policy.

We, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, call on President Biden to take action for immigrant rights. We will hold President Biden accountable to the immigrant rights reforms he already promised AND also demand that he works to demilitarize the border and provide legalization for all. We have not forgotten the three million people who were deported under the Obama-Biden administration. Justice today does not only look like reversing anti-immigrant policies but actively seeks to repair the harm that has already been done to countless families. MIRAC will continue to push for legalization for all and an end to the whole system that profits from the mass-incarceration and the mass-deportation of immigrants, and also from the superexploitation of the labor of immigrants who live under constant fear of deportation. Please sign our petition to tell President Joe Biden to meet these demands! If you would like to get involved with MIRAC, please provide your email here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uUMnByB-S6JGMOd7q9wgyavae_5sXwQEcpsbTOKFOgk/edit

Unless policies change, billions of people around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries will not get access to a COVID-19 vaccine until 2024. This is a threat to people around the world, to the US, and to the entire global economy. We can address this problem by ensuring that intellectual property restrictions do not interfere with vaccine access. President Biden himself committed to share vaccine technology with other countries when asked this past summer by activist Ady Barkan. One critical way to remove barriers to vaccine access is to reverse the Trump administration’s deadly opposition to the WTO TRIPS Waiver proposal. U.S. opposition to this waiver, a hallmark of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 failure, is a huge roadblock to efforts to produce and manufacture accessible and affordable vaccines for all. The waiver would allow for the production of generic versions of vaccines and treatments necessary to end the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives worldwide. The people of the U.S. stand with South Africa, India, and over 100 other countries: we want President Biden to stop opposing this proposal to temporarily waive World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that protect pharmaceutical corporation profits over human health.

We’ve come to expect police union leadership to defend cops’ violence and abuse—but now Mike Mazzeo, president of the Rochester Locust Club, is saying it’s appropriate for a 9 year old—who wasn’t even a suspect—to be manhandled, handcuffed, and ultimately pepper-sprayed by police officers. It’s beyond excessive use of force, and it appears that the child’s 4th amendment rights were violated. But Mazzeo thinks the cops’ actions were appropriate: • “Those officers in those scenes, they broke no policy. There’s nothing that anyone can say they did that’s inappropriate.” • “I don’t know who could do any better job.” • “It resulted in no injury to her. Had they had to go and push further and use more force there’s a good chance she could have been hurt worse.” No community, especially its Black and brown folks, should be expected to trust or respect a police department with someone like Mazzeo in a position of leadership. Mike Mazzeo is the same police union leader who defended the officers who mocked, suffocated, and killed Daniel Prude. Mazzeo is also suing the state of New York to stop it from releasing the disciplinary records of Rochester police officers. Mazzeo’s defense of these officers—and his defense of the officers who killed Daniel Prude—are textbook examples of the playbook police unions use to shield violent and dangerous cops who are caught abusing their power and breaking the law: • When police are caught doing something that is clearly wrong, say they were following protocol and blame their training. • Deceive and lie to obscure and confuse the truth about what happened. • Attack city officials, activists, and others in a position to hold police accountable. It’s not just outrageous for Mazzeo to justify these officers’ violent actions towards a 9 year old girl—it’s a big part of what helps violent and biased police continue to get away with abuse. If Mazzeo can say these things and remain the leader of the police union, it virtually guarantees that Rochester police will continue to be unaccountable and violent. His behavior and way of thinking encourages police brutality, and it makes accountability for police and necessary reform impossible. Mike Mazzeo has to go. Please join us in calling on Rochester’s Mayor, Chief of Police, City Council members, and Police Accountability Board to force Mazzeo’s departure, now.

This is so important because we need to honor her hard work. First, she was passionate about freedom and rights for all Black people. Next, she didn’t back down no matter how hard it got. Finally, she was strong and caring even when she went to freedom herself, she risked her life to get other enslaved people back to freedom too. We also think it would be great to put a statue of Harriet Tubman in Lake Eola Park, but we know that might be expensive so only if you can. I think that our City of Orlando should make Harriet Tubman day because we are a City where all that work that we believe in needs to be celebrated.

When you purchase products from Publix, you support radical republicans who espouse lies, disinformation, and a willingness to subvert democracy. A nation-wide boycott, must be initiated to send a strong message that radical republicanism has no place in our communities. Do not patronize this company. Furthermore, in the last election cycle, Publix donated to the GOP traitors: Kat Cammack Mario Diaz-Balart Byron Donalds Neal Dunn Scott Franklin Matt Gaetz Carlos Gimenez Brian Mast Bill Posey John Rutherford Greg Steube Dan Webster and Rick Scott These are the Florida members of Congress who attacked our democracy with lies and disinformation, and who voted to overturn a United States Presidential election. Additionally, Publix Super Market heiress, Julie Jenkin Fancelli, donated more than $300,000 to fund the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Publix's motto is "where shopping is a pleasure," however there can be no pleasure in a country under attack by radical republicans espousing flames of insurrection and treason. For this reason, we are calling for a complete and total boycott of Publix, until funding of radical republicans stop. Works cited: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/publix-jenkins-family-heirs-are-donating-to-trumps-2020-campaign-10319032 https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2021/01/30/publix-heiress-alex-jones-paid-jan-6-trump-rally-before-riot/4323807001/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-rally-funded-by-top-trump-donor-helped-by-alex-jones-organizers-say-11612012063