Allied Waste Services of North America. LLC, d/b/a Republic Services of West Virginia has filed a proposed rate increase of 44% with the Public Service Commission. This proposed increase comes on the tail of a huge decline in service and what appears to be a lack of interest by Republic agents to complaints of trash not being picked up for weeks at a time and requests for refunds due to lack of service. Along with the current recycling services need and desire by a vast number of WV residents, we request that a more modest increase of 15% be instated and residential and business single-stream recycling included in the weekly pickup services.

Amazon.com is a powerhouse in the sale a distribution of goods and information in the United States and has the authority to dictate what is and what is not available for purchase on its website. Further, Amazon.com should be held accountable for any profits it has obtained in contributing to the commercial sexual exploitation of children through the sale of Mickey Royal’s titles through Amazon.com. The books written by Mickey Royal clearly detail the exact steps child sex abusers should take to successfully lure, manipulate, enslave, and sell our children for sex and profit. Here is an excerpt from the book The Pimp Game: Instructional Guide: “You’ll start to dress her, think for her, own her. If you and your victim are sexually active, slow it down. After sex, take her shopping for one item. Hair and/or nails is fine. She’ll develop a feeling of accomplishment. The shopping after a month will be replaced with cash. The love making turns into raw sex. She’ll start to crave the intimacy and be willing to get back into your good graces. After you have broken her spirit, she has no sense of self value. Now pimp, put a price tag on the item you have manufactured.” (Smith et al. 2009) And this is no lie. This is precisely how vulnerable children are lured away every day to be raped, abused, and commercially sexually exploited right here in the United States (Mitchell, et al 2010). The pimps and exploiters of the world would have you believe the children for sale on the streets are willing participants. This book is proof otherwise. This book is proof of the twisted abuse tactics used by exploiters to meet their own needs for power and money. The issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children is a complex one which I invite you to look deeper into. To be a successful exploiter one must prey on the individuals with the least amount of power seeking the most amount of belonging. Children are not only a desirable commodity for sex from buyers, they are also ideal candidates to be manipulated and controlled (Gibbs et al., 2012). The average age of children being targeted by exploiters, commonly known as pimps, is between the ages of 11-14 years old (Hammer et al., 2002). That’s right, children, from all walks of life, between the ages of 11 and 14 years old are the most vulnerable targets to be lured by exploiters who use means of force, fraud, and coercion including rape, torture, and kidnapping to bring these children under their control and sell their bodies for sex and profit. More devastatingly, the children most at risk to be targeted by exploiters are among our most vulnerable; those who have been involved in the child welfare system due to abuse and neglect in their homes (Colby, 2011). Don’t be fooled by the idea that any exploiter is in the business of only enslaving ‘consenting adults’. The issue of the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States is overwhelming. As a nation we are scrambling to merely begin to get a grasp on just how many children are being commercially sexually exploited each day (Nixon et al., 2002). Andrew Oosterbaan, Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice, says, “The stark reality is that the supply is never-ending … I mean, that little girl who started as a runaway on the streets in Washington State and ended up on the streets of Miami Beach as a prostitute is way too typical … There is an endless supply — and it is almost surreal to have these words leave my mouth — endless supply of victims. But that’s the stark reality.” (Smith et al. 2009) Tina Frundt, Founder of Courtney’s House, and Survivor of domestic minor sex trafficking, explains, “I was 14 years old, and the way the pimp came at me was that at first I didn’t even know he was a pimp. He came at me like a boyfriend. Yes, he was an older boyfriend but he cared about me.... Six months later he told me ‘Let’s run away together. We can have a beautiful house and family.’ And I did believe him, and we ran away, and then the story changed and I met the other girls that he had in his stable. And I had to go out every night and work the streets — the alternative was being gangraped by a group of pimps while everyone watched.” (Smith et al. 2009) Say what you will about free speech; the right to pen an instructional guide and other like material on the topic of identifying, coercing, and enslaving human beings for the purposes of selling their bodies for sex is not in question. What is in question is the culpability of a worldwide leading retailer in promoting and profiting from the commercial sexual exploitation of children by allowing these materials to be sold through their online storefront. Tell Amazon.com how you feel and sign the petition to ask Jeff Bezos, Founder, Chairman, & CEO of Amazon.com, to take responsibility for protecting our most vulnerable children. Tell Amazon.com to stop promoting and profiting from the instructional guide and other materials on pimping written by Mickey Royal. References: Colby, I. (2011). Runaway and throwaway youth: Time for policy changes and public responsibility. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 2(1), 1-11. Gibbs, K., & Kendoll, S. (2012). Child welfare practices for cases with child sex abuse (Oregon, Department of Human Services, Office of Safety and Permanency for Children). Salem, OR: Oregon DHS-CAF Division-CPS Program. Retrieved from http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/publications/child-welfare-practices-abuse.pdf Hammer, H., Finkelhor, D., & Sedlak, A. J. (2002). Runaway/thrownaway children: National estimates and characteristics. National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART)., pp. 1-12. Washington, DC: USDOJ. Retrieved from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffilesl/ojjdp/196469.pdf Mitchell, K. J., Finkelhor, D., & Wolak, J. (2010). Conceptualizing juvenile prostitution as child maltreatment: F...

Preserve the environment, community and small businesses of Castroville, TX. Wal-Mart destroys small communities and invites a culture of consumerism that is not healthy for the future of our town and future generations.

The proposed site is right next to the road and would destroy our pristine views. The tower is not needed and needs to be STOPPED!

The AFL-CIO recently filed proposals to let big-bank shareholders demand greater transparency around golden parachute practices that make huge payouts available to executives who leave big banks for top posts in government. The banks reacted in panic and are working as we speak to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission to step in, allowing them to keep their policies a secret and their shareholders in the dark. Wall Street executive, Antonio Weiss, was recently in line to receive a $20 million bonus from his investment-bank employer for agreeing to take a Treasury Department undersecretary position. Weiss, who eventually took an advisory job that did not require Senate confirmation, is only the latest in a series of would-be and actual public officials who have stood to benefit from these “golden parachute” deals. When bankers get large bonuses for taking government jobs, it sends a dangerous message about who is really calling the shots. If the big banks think these practices are defensible, they should let their shareholders know the facts and judge for themselves. Sign our petition and call for Wall Street to allow shareholders to vote on these practices.

Senate Bill 541 has created a platform for Election Regulations the Remove Control of the voters at large. This is OUR State and we need to increase bi-partisan voter participation and REMOVE the persuasions of in-state and out-of-state Corporations and those that hide behind Non-Profit Organizations.

Governor Christie's administration stated in a court brief filed in November 2014, “The scope of the environmental damage resulting from the discharges is as obvious as it is staggering and unprecedented in New Jersey.” Gov. Christie is on record stating: I am your governor. Young or old, republican or democrat, rich or poor, regardless of color or heritage – I promise you this: I will work every waking hour of every day for a better life for all of our citizens. He has failed to uphold this promise by accepting a settlement of 250 million dollars in the case of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Exxon Mobil Corporation rather than uphold the Superior Court's determination of "abnormally dangerous activity" warranting penalties for damages amounting to BILLIONS of dollars as "a matter of law." This settlement is unacceptable to the people of the State of New Jersey.

The USDA recently approved a GMO apple. The new technology engineers apples to prevent them from turning brown when sliced. But apples are just fine the way nature made them! These genetically engineered apples haven't been proven safe to eat. They were created using a questionable new genetic engineering technique that could have unintended side effects for the health of the plant and for the people who eat these apples. We need to make sure that big apple sellers like fast food chains won't sell these GMO apples!

UT has the single largest licensing program out of any university in the country, and we know that the top two contenders, the Dallas Cowboys and VF Corporation, are embroiled in scandals concerning sexual assault, domestic violence, and sweatshop abuses. Dallas Cowboys - In May 2007, the WRC issued a report about the Dada Dhaka factory, a Bangladeshi factory that produced clothes for the Cowboys. The WRC investigated the factory in light of allegations of anti-union activity. Investigations demonstrated that workers who had attended labor rights trainings were threatened with violence and subsequently fired. One woman, who was previously injured while working at the factory, underwent threats by management that they would attack her if she did not leave her position. - In 2011, the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights reported on the Ocean Sky factory in El Salvador where workers sewed apparel for the Cowboys. The report reads “the 1,500 mostly women workers at Ocean Sky are locked in a Free Zone, surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by guards armed with shotguns...Workers report being drenched in their own sweat, since afternoon factory temperatures reach 98 degrees Fahrenheit...Factory drinking water is filthy and contaminated with fecal coli which can cause diarrhea, intestinal illness and infections. Six workers were fired for daring to alert their colleagues that the factory water was unsafe to drink...Illegally, all overtime is mandatory...Workers earn a base wage of 72 cents an hour, and 92 cents counting the attendance bonus...Even the Salvadoran Ministry of the Economy puts the workers' wages at one-quarter of a family's basic needs." - Also in 2011, a report was released about the Apple Tree factory in El Salvador. Workers were producing Cowboys-logo infant apparel and were illegally forced to work overtime with no additional compensation for their time. Workers often became sick after drinking the factory-provided water, underwent vicious harassment and abuse from management, and were denied of a multitude of legally-ensured rights. - The same year, the Cowboys pulled orders from the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia, withholding severance owed to 2,800 workers. The company lied about its relationship with the factory, and it was only after immense pressure from labor groups like USAS that the Cowboys paid $55,000, a meager portion of the $3.3 million owed in total. - The Style Avenue factory in El Salvador also had numerous labor violations. According to a report conducted by the Worker Rights Consortium in 2011, “Style Avenue was found to have [...] forced overtime, illegal terminations, verbal abuse by management, failure to respect freedom of association, locking workers in the factory, excessive heat, and unsanitary conditions. After the publication of the report, additional violations occurred, which prompted the WRC to contact the licensees and urge remediation.” - ESPN Outside the Lines produced an expose in 2012 highlighting the Cowboy’s labor violations in the Cambodian factories Bright Sky and Suntex. Workers were routinely forced to work 60 hours a week, which is a clear violation of Cambodian labor law. VF Corporation - In December 2010, four Bangladeshi garment workers died and 100 were injured in clashes with police outside a factory owned by the Korean-based YoungOne group, a major producer of North Face and owner of the rights to North Face in Korea. At issue was failure of the YoungOne factory to implement a new minimum wage increase. - In 2010, VF was producing at That’s It Sportswear factory in Bangladesh (owned by Hameem Group), which burned, killing 29 workers and injuring more than a hundred. The factory had illegal construction, no proper fire exits, shoddy wiring, and locked exit doors. Workers were trapped on the top floors of the factory. Many jumped to their deaths. VF had repeatedly inspected the factory and yet had completely failed to address the safety hazards. - In October of 2012, another VF factory, Eurotex, which was disclosed as a producer of collegiate apparel, burned in Dhaka. This was a major fire, though it did not completely destroy the factory. No one was killed in the fire, because the factory was closed for a holiday – if the fire had occurred during the workday, many could have died. When contacted about this fire, VF claimed that their own disclosure data was wrong and they had stopped using the factory. - In August of 2013, the Worker Rights Consortium conducted a safety assessment of Optimum Fashion, a long-time VF contract factory producing collegiate apparel. After VF attempted to prevent the WRC from accessing the factory, the WRC’s inspection uncovered a number of very serious safety hazards, all of which constitute violations of university code of conduct provisions requiring licensees to maintain safe workplaces and any of which could result in injury or death to workers. These violations “included inadequate means for workers to escape the factory in the event of a fire and structural flaws that would facilitate the rapid and widespread propagation of deadly smoke throughout the factory building.” - In January of 2014, a 20 year old YoungOne worker was shot and killed by police during a strike over stolen wages despite promises by YoungOne group to change its practices after the aforementioned 2010 murders. YoungOne produces up to 40% of all of The North Face’s apparel. - On April 2, 2014, over 48,000 workers walked off the job at the Yue Yuen factory, a supplier for Timberland (a VF brand), in China’s largest strike in recent memory. The Yue Yuen workers had been robbed of years of legally owed social insurance payments and it was only after a massive strike in which several workers were beaten and kidnapped that the factory agreed to begin paying full social insurance and higher wages. - On June 20, 2014 in Bangladesh, the Medlar Apparels factory caught fire, a factory that has supplied VF apparel as fa...

Our members include some of 100's of people stuck in payday loans as high as 459%!!! Faith and Community groups want protections from this kind of interest rate but we are nervous that the bill might not get heard. Interest rates like this trap hardworking people into a terrible debt cycle, and keep local families down.

David Corn of Mother Jones published a scathing article exposing Bill O'Reilly's lies that he was involved in combat in the Falklands. In 2013, Bill O'Reilly stated: "I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us." Yet in his own memoir O'Reilly doesn't describe even being anywhere near the Falkland Islands. After the Mother Jones piece was published, O'Reilly lashed out at David Corn by calling him a "despicable guttersnipe." Journalists should be held to standards. Brian Williams was suspended from NBC News for 6 months for lying about being in combat. Why should it be any different for Bill O'Reilly? Sign the petition and tell Fox News to suspend Bill O'Reilly for his Falklands combat lies.

We call on the New Hampshire state legislature to support a constitutional amendment overturning the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC). Since this flawed decision, New Hampshire has faced a deluge of outside spending. In the 2014 congressional election, outside groups spent more than 49 million dollars on three congressional races in New Hampshire- one of the highest amounts of outside spending in the nation. We believe that this is unacceptable.