The localities of Greater Richmond share transportation needs, including the absorption of 300,000 more people by 2027. But, the region currently has no central transportation authority empowered to both plan and fund projects that would benefit the common good. This Richmond Transportation Authority can only be created by the Virginia General Assembly.

America needs leadership - not divisive partisanship. We are being ripped off every way to Sunday by state governments and corporations while Boehner and Ryan keep screaming about killing Social Security and Medicare. And all the Repubs can do is try to create noise about the Secret Service sex scandal and the GSA crooks. Those issues are easy to fix, fire the perps and put them in jail for a few years Stop the minor noise BS. Here's a real problem that needs to be fixed TODAY!

Right now the government is planning on taking the Pell grant away from millions of students nationwide. The aim is to stop anyone who has accrued more than 12 full-time semester hours from getting the Pell grant anymore. This does not take into account the many students who are working toward BA degrees in their chosen field. I personally have a great GPA and an excellent record but will be forced to quit school when this goes into effect in July. There will be a lot of students who have poor records, participation, huge drop rates, and they will be allowed to continue? Do we want serious students who have worked their butts off to maintain a good record and GPA to be forced to quit?? Should students with a poor record be allowed to continue while dedicated students are forced to mortgage their souls in order to continue?? Something needs to be done to weed out the poor students and allow those who are serious to continue!!

There have been petitions before to demand a standardized gratuity to be added on to bills. This petition, however, asks that all restaurants and bars increase price points by 20% so that gratuity is automatically added into the bill. This way, the server is happy and the customer doesn't have to deal with calculating the tip. It is astonishing to me that in this day and age that the United States still treats service industry workers as second class citizens. It is not an easy industry to work in, and its workers deserve fair pay. If you have ever visited France before, you would know that their service industry workers are treated as professionals and don't have to worry if they are going to make rent or now, because it is not up to the customer what they make.

On April 18, Reuters broke a story about the largest natural gas producer in the country, Chesapeake Energy. CEO Aubrey McClendon reportedly took 1.1 billion dollars in loans "from three companies that list Chesapeake Energy HQ as their address." Chesapeake Energy was rated as a buy by Goldman Sachs and other investing firms, but was rated as bankrupt, neutral, or dump by Jefferies, Standard and Poor's, and CitiGroup (to name a few).

Caffeine is one of the most widely accepted and addictive substance in the United States. As the #1 food import into this country, it acts as a stimulant to increase focus, energy and productivity. However chronic use has shown that it actually decreases energy levels and focus, significantly affecting American productivity. With the wide variety of caffeine containing products that are marketed(energy drinks, coffee, soda, anti-sleeping pills, etc....) it would be advantageous to tax this substance to significantly increase tax revenues while increasing awareness of the potentially detrimental effects of caffeine.

Today, college students / graduates face the burden of an unpresidented amount of student debt. There needs to be away to reduce this burden while encouraging financial responsiblity. Loan forgiveness may make sense to encourage certain behaviors such as service and employment in certain professions such as education, law enforcement, safety, and medicine, but in other cases, people should be able to be given a means to meet the financial obligations they have voluntarily accepted and be protected when luck and events out of their control conspire against them.

If you believe that it's unfair that over 40% of American's pay absolutely no Federal Income Tax, please sign my petition. As a member of the 60+ percent that do, it is your time to voice your opinion.

Money should belong to the people, not the banks, and should be issued in sufficient quantity to meet the productive capacity of the nation, not withheld from circulation by banks that did nothing to deserve it.

It's nearly impossible for a family of four to live on $17,160 a year, the current minimum wage for a full time worker, especially in a state like Connecticut with our high cost of living. Speaker of the House Chris Donovan is leading the fight to pass HB 5291, which would raise Connecticut's minimum wage to $9.25 per hour over a two-year period and index it to inflation. There is a big vote on Speaker Donovan's bill in the Appropriations Committee on Friday, and Governor Dan Malloy's strong public support is key. But the opponents of this bill, who represent big corporations, are pushing Gov. Malloy to oppose it.

Rental properties continue to raise the rent while the economy is in such a poor state. Which means the big rental corporations are making millions of dollars while the "middle to lower class" people are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. I think its unjust and Obama should force rental properties to lower the rent to a amount where it's a third of the average income.

The majority of our states are "At will" employment states. While it is understandable that the term "At Will" means that you may terminate your employment whthout cause, employers also have the right to terminate your employment without cause. For EMPLOYEES that have been terminated for truly doing nothing wrong, it is extremely detremental in their efforts to find and secure future employment. The fact that future employers see a termination on your employment records biases their desire to employ you, whether you were at fault or not. I believe that employers must prove that an employee was truly in violation of company policy before they are terminated.