President Biden said, “I sincerely hope that the writers’ strike in Hollywood gets resolved—and the writers are given the fair deal they deserve—as soon as possible. This is an iconic, meaningful American industry. And we need the writers, and all the workers, and everyone involved to tell the stories of our nation.” Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony, acting under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), are refusing to treat writers with dignity and respect. In a letter to its members, the Writers Guild of America’s Negotiating Committee wrote that “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a "day rate" in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession.” The impact of the companies' greed is not just causing harm to these workers, it is limiting the stories that come from the communities we need to hear from most. As the industry’s business model becomes unsustainable for emerging writers there will potentially be fewer stories penned by historically marginalized communities. The lack of representation impacts us all —and it’s especially jarring given right-wing attacks on sharing diverse stories in classrooms and libraries. It also just means the range of TV shows we get to see will be worse. It's pretty clear that writers and creators should be fairly compensated to ensure creative talent of all backgrounds can contribute to the quality content we all love. The Writers Guild of America simply wants a fair contract. Please add your name to support these writers and the millions of people their work impacts every day.

Tenants have rights! If they won’t hear us separately they will have no choice but to hear us all together. Our safety and quality of living matter. We need resolutions and not excuses! From plumbing issues to loitering. We deserve better!

Bring Rep. Ciscomani to Tucson for a live town hall with his new constituents. We deserve to question our representative to Congress.

Starbucks' new CEO has a chance to turn the company around and treat workers with respect. Let's call on him to act! Starbucks, like so many corporations, is doing everything in its power to keep workers from winning their union and a fair contract. They know when we stand together, we're more powerful and can win the respect we've earned.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid provide safety and security for the millions of seniors, families, and veterans who rely on these benefits to retire, access health care, and feed their families. Speaker McCarthy and the House Majority are threatening to force a catastrophic economic default unless their extreme demands to gut these overwhelmingly popular and hard-earned benefits are met. Their willingness to hold the economy hostage and make working people pay the price is nothing short of extreme and dangerous. Default would devastate individual Americans and communities of color across the country. After a lifetime of hard work and paying in, 48.6 million seniors rely on Social Security assistance every month to pay their bills. Nearly 64 million seniors rely on Medicare for their health coverage. More than 84.8 million Americans receive life-saving coverage through Medicaid. The entire country will suffer if our economy defaults. The majority of the House GOP supports cuts to essential programs. The Republican Study Committee, which includes 75% of House Republican members, released a budget for 2023 that would take measures to reduce or eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP benefits – voucherizing, means-testing, cutting funding, and imposing stricter requirements to gut coverage for millions of Americans.

PETITION: CTT offer to allow for full USPS tracking of US inbound registered mail. Dear CTT Postal Service of Portugal, We are kindly asking you to redefine your tracked offerings concerning international outgoing registered mail to the USA. Who we are? We are a community of Portuguese crafters and online shops with over 50% of our sales going to the US market. We ship several thousand parcels of sold goods to our private customers in the USA, and are sending you this request due to the continuous problems with deliveries to the USA. What is the issue? Registered airmail tracking numbers (with barcodes) do not appear in USPS tracking systems. CTT only allows us to track up until leaving the country. If USPS continues to not scan the tracking numbers the packages will simply disappear. We don't even receive a message stating that it has arrived in the US. We need to provide proof to our customers that packages have arrived in the US. We are experiencing a huge growth in claims, refunds and negative feedbacks from our US customers and as result we keep loosing business and you too will loose business. We pay the highest possible form of shipping CTT offers, yet it is not supported by USPS systems as seen in this notice on their website: ************************************************************************ International Registered Mail Tracking Suppression of Import Registered Mail Effective October 1, 2015, the Postal Service™ will no longer offer visibility for international import Registered Mail™ items unless International Posts have upgraded to offer their customers U.S. Postal Service® products that come with visibility. The International Posts which have upgraded to offer their customers Postal Service products that offer visibility are listed here: https://about.usps.com/pos.../2015/pb22424/html/info_002.htm ************************************************************************** How will we know when the recipient receives the package? How will we know if the recipient signed for it? How will we know if a notice has been left or unclaimed? How will we know it there is a delay? What do we ask: We would kindly ask you to become compliant with the USPS registered airmail tracking system even if that means the cost to ship Registered mail piece from Portugal will increase significantly. That will allow the USPS to scan packages as soon as they arrive in the US. Would like this information to appear on your website so that all your customers and our customers in the US could have access to this information. If this information does not appear CTT will inevitably receive thousands of customer services complaints and requests to "Reclamações" to search for lost Registered mail, which CTT will have to compensate. We would like all our clients to have a clear understanding that our packages have actually left Portugal and are waiting to be processed in one of the USPS sorting facilities on the US territory. We really hope for your understanding and cooperation. Thank you very much for your time, From the Portuguese online sellers, self employed small businesses, crafters, regular registered mail senders of gifts and of course many thanks from our recipients in the US. * * *

Senators have introduced the “Railway Safety Act of 2023” to address some of the concerns about rail safety that resurfaced after the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The bill calls for stronger safety standards for all trains carrying hazardous materials and also expands those standards to trains not currently subject to high-hazard flammable train, or HHFT, regulations (like the train in East Palestine). We need this legislation to pass swiftly in the Senate, so it can go to the House, and then Biden's desk. People deserve protection and regulations so that railroad workers are able to feel safe at work, and residents feel safe knowing trains passing by their communities will be less likely to derail. A second train derailed in Ohio just a few days ago. We don't have time to waste to take widespread action towards rail safety. Photo Credit: The New York Times

Please join me in advocating for raising the Federal Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers. I have watched my mother work her body to exhaustion for over thirty years, never making more than $2.13/hour. She has been afraid of retribution if she advocates for herself. The plight of the average server is often overlooked when we talk about issues with minimum wage even though the tipped worker minimum wage has not increased in 32 years. I am sick and tired of having this vulnerable segment of the working population left out of the conversation. Please join me in championing those without a voice.

As short-term rentals increase, residency decreases.* Short-term rentals drive up the cost of living. Short-term rentals deplete the availability of long-term rentals. Regulations on short-term rentals are becoming common in Texas cities and have been upheld by courts.** Short-term rentals are expected to continue to grow in number by 20-30% annually.*** 20% of Marfa's housing is currently short-term rentals with more being built as you read this.**** * From the Wall Street Journal article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/vacation-rentals-in-the-desert-e63eb21e (this article is behind a paywall, but an audio file is available at the top of the page without a login). ** Information provided by Texas Neighborhood Coalition *** Statistics provided by Granicus **** Information gathered from Granicus and the Presidio County Appraiser

It's going to destroy the article. It's going to destroy the world, our world. It's going to destroy future generations, It's going to destroy everything we need more people to sign it we are going to die we need to take action the isn't much time left please just listen to me, Listen to us all. Please I beg, Spread awareness, Do everything you can please I don't want to die I'm just a kid I don't want to lose everything my home, Please help.

In 2018, the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era rule, which had required rail companies to upgrade brake systems on trains carrying certain hazardous materials. Norfolk Southern was among a group of rail carriers who opposed this regulation and that contributed more than $6 million to Republican lawmakers in the 2016 election -- the most contributed by the rail industry to one party in over two decades. But that’s not all! Norfolk Southern has spent nearly $80 million on lobbying efforts over the last 25 years, including opposing two-person crew requirements on every train -- a safety measure that workers say is vital to limiting train derailments and that the Trump administration again rejected. In allowing the industry to regulate itself, the Trump administration said “that no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time” and said separately, “the expected costs of requiring ECP brakes would be significantly higher than the expected benefits of the requirement.” It’s up to us to hold greedy corporations accountable to workers and to communities across the country.

ExxonMobil just crushed the record for the most profitable year in the history of the ENTIRE western oil industry. They netted $56 billion in profit in 2022!1 The fact that this happened the same year gas prices went through the roof makes it very clear what exactly was going on. The White House has now twice called out the oil industry for price gouging consumers2,3 and it’s time for Congress to respond by passing the Windfall Tax. Sign the petition: We need a Windfall Profits Tax! In 2022, ExxonMobil set a new record for the most profitable year in the history of the western oil industry. ExxonMobil isn’t the only one exploiting consumers, fossil fuel companies across the industry saw historically massive profit margins. The combined industry profit this year is almost $200 billion!4 Instead of investing these massive profits into lowering prices, corporations have been sending it to their shareholders in the form of stock buybacks. This is all a result of disgusting greed and exploitation. The oil industry took advantage of the war in Ukraine and public anxiety around inflation to jack up gas prices. CEOs at ExxonMobil and Shell are drenched in obscene profits while regular working people have been crushed by soaring prices. Congress must pass the Windfall Profits Tax. Sign the petition: We need the Windfall Profits Tax! Big oil corporations have price gouged and profiteered off the War in Ukraine and inflation anxiety. Now they are swimming in record-breaking profits. Windfall Profits Tax, NOW! Sources: 1. Reuters, “Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022,” January 31, 2023. 2. The Guardian, “Biden accuses oil companies of ‘war profiteering’ and threatens windfall tax,” October 31, 2022. 3. Reuters, “White House blasts Exxon over historical $56 bln annual profit,” February 1, 2023. 4. Reuters, “Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022,” January 31, 2023.