In addition to hundreds of thousands broken families, the economic costs to American society from mass deportations are in disproportion to the economic benefits that Latinos bring to the US economy. While direct costs to taxpayers amounts to about $70 billion in enforcement agents, detention facilities, immigration judges and transportation, the Center for American Progress estimates that approximately $4.7 trillion is lost in economic output, nearly a trillion dollars in lost tax revenue over the next decade, while the conservative American Action Forum calculates some $2.6 trillion in lower GDP over 10 years, according to Unidos US. The increase in apprehensions has come as a growing number of migrants seek asylum. The demographic profile of those crossing the border has changed, too: People traveling in families, not single adults, accounted for the majority of those apprehended last year (56%). And most of those apprehended were from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which have struggled with violence and a lack of economic opportunities.

As residents of a severely fire-affected region in Oregon, we are concerned that transitioning work to online during the pandemic crisis is enabling some incredibly irresponsible behavior from schools, agencies, and employers during this absolutely unreal forest fire crisis. The fact that some families can work from home does not make it a reasonable expectation for students and employees to work from home when the air quality is in the hazardous zone. ALL activities that are not essential for basic infrastructure and survival should have been shut down. There is no excuse for school, even online school, to be open today; it is irresponsible. We are ALL emotionally, intellectually, and physically impaired right now. PPS needs to halt classes IMMEDIATELY until air quality improves. According to NASA the ground-level carbon monoxide concentration in this region reached OVER 126,000 PPB this weekend. Other days, the CO concentration was recorded as high as 86,000 ppb. Obviously, these concentrations are not sustained for prolonged periods at ground level, but these are shockingly, horrifying above unsafe concentrations, which OSHA identifies as as above 50 ppm (50,000 ppb). We are certainly breathing sustained elevated concentrations down here on the ground, and what it means is that even those of us with robust respiratory systems that are not sensitive to the high levels of particulate matter in the air are suffering from chronic low-key oxygen deprivation. Feel like you can't think? Have no energy? Can't stay awake? That's why. Teachers need to be supported in order to support students. Their health and well-being matters, as well as that of the greater community. There can be no such thing as “getting behind”, when the neurological capacity for growth and learning are limited due to the nature of the current environment. Teaching to the ideal conditions is a fool’s measure; we must adapt to the conditions that exist. Just as you close schools for unprecedented weather systems that disrupt daily activities, it is appropriate to close schools for unprecedented environmental health threats that disrupt daily activities. Students, teachers, and staff need to focus on health, safety, and self-care during these hazardous air quality days. We cannot evacuate Portland; there is literally nowhere for Portland to go. But we are facing unprecedented and unelucidated health risks, and that PPS is expecting employees and learners to proceed as if it were business as usual is absolutely irresponsible, negligent, and untenable. Please shut it down. Sincerely, Mxm Bloc

These fire crews work tirelessly to serve and save our state when we're at our most vulnerable. Yet, they are denied access as they re-enter into society. They put their lives on the line for us, let's give them the opportunity to start new, serve the community, and create a new life with the skills and experience they possess.

Right now, the Trump administration is in a mad dash to build a border wall before the elections in order to rally an increasingly violent racist base of supporters, seizing public and private lands and tossing aside over 40 federal laws. The flagship piece of the wall runs right through the city of Laredo, TX a densely populated city right on the Rio Grande river. If built, the wall would stoke further anti-immigrant hatred across the country, and impose destruction on border towns and cities for generations. There is no "national emergency" happening in Laredo. That is a manufactured story created by the administration. Laredo is actually safer and more peaceful than most US cities. The wall serves no actual security purpose. In truth, the wall is a symbol meant to stoke racism across the country. It also has lasting, devastating impacts on the communities in which it is built. The border wall in Laredo would carve a path of destruction through Laredo, TX destroying public spaces, historic structures, public parks, private homes, places of worship, even a children's home run by Catholic nuns. The wall is not just a fence, it would be a 30 foot tall prison wall more than twice the height of the Berlin Wall. It is a 200 foot wide security corridor, that would militarize the entire waterfront of Laredo, which is precious to the people of Laredo, and has been theirs for for 265 years. Laredo depends on the Rio Grand for 100% of it's drinking water. If built, the zone would not only cut off all 250,000 residents from accessing their river, the now federally owned zone would void over 25 federal laws protecting water, land and air quality. Stand with the vets who are defending their city. Please sign this petition to have our vets' backs. Also, CLICK HERE TO WATCH an epic video of the actions that vets and the community are taking to stop the wall. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=325605755230333 Thank you! FOLLOW US on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vets-United-To-Stop-The-Wall-111198500719227 Once you sign the petition, there are 3 other things you can do: 1) Send the vets a PERSONAL LETTER OF SUPPORT https://forms.gle/L2rZdn2e8YJc1EcP7 2) SIGN UP with No Border Wall Coalition for updates on the Vets' actions: www.noborderwallcoalition.com All solidarity is welcomed, Deepest thanks, Vets United to Stop The Border Wall, The No Border Wall Coalition, Laredo, TX

The Delaware River Basin Commission was established in 1961 by the Governors of your states and President Kennedy to protect this vital river basin that provides drinking water for over 15 million people. Yet right now the DRBC is failing to live up to its mandate with New Fortress Energy’s Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal project that will set a dangerous national precedent for the transportation of extremely volatile fracked gas by trucks and rail tank cars to export the gas overseas. The company is using the Delaware River as it’s testing grounds for an expedited plan to get around federal safety regulations instead planning to send hundreds of trucks and rail tank cars per day across the river watershed for export overseas from the site of an old DuPont munitions plant in Gibbstown, NJ. Trump signed an Executive Order last year to fastrack LNG by rail and his administration issued a special permit for this project. The DRBC wrongfully approved this project without looking at all the facts or providing the public with adequate input to express concerns and expert testimony over a year ago. This project has been cloaked in secrecy. Recently in July, the DRBC’s Hearing Officer ruled that they had done nothing wrong in handling this permit application or approval after formally hearing the case from a regional organization - Delaware Riverkeeper Network. The DRBC Hearing Officer ignored the potential impacts that this project can have on the water quality of the river including how the proposed site for the export terminal has PCBs and how these and other pollutants at the site could be disturbed by dredging the river. Furthermore, concerns about disturbance of pollution from the old DuPont munitions plant, including contamination with toxic and carcinogenic nitrobenzene, and others such as aniline, and mercury, have not been adequately addressed. The Hearing Officer also refused to accurately consider impacts on the ecosystem of the river including the federally endangered Atlantic sturgeon, rare freshwater mussels and their habitats at this location. Lastly, the DRBC refuses to look at the impact the over 1600 truck trips and up to two 100-car trainloads of LNG per day could have to the river basin as well as public safety. If there is a release of LNG in an accident, the fire burns so hot it can’t be extinguished, the vapor cloud can explode and cause catastrophic damage for miles, and people nearby can die. In fact, 22 rail tank cars have the equivalent force of the Hiroshima bomb. Thousands of people are speaking out. A large group of doctors and health experts and scientists have written about the dangers of the facility to public health. Let’s heed their warning. We ask you to reject the Hearing Officer’s findings, rescind the existing permit and stop this project!

The Medfield community needs to have a voice at the Wednesday, Sept. 9 Dale Street School Building Committee (SBC) meeting (7 p.m. start time), yet the meeting notice shows no time set aside on the agenda for public input BEFORE votes are cast on the proposed site and building scenario for a 575-student school. (A public forum specifically on site selection had been previously planned, but never materialized.) Our Board of Selectmen is also scheduled to cast its own vote related to the overall "preferred solution" for the Dale Street project at its Sept. 15 meeting. A public forum is tentatively slated for AFTER that meeting on Sept. 22, so that means two town boards will not have their votes adequately informed by community input. (No public hearing is legally required prior to SBC and Selectmen casting its upcoming votes related to the Dale Street project.) We believe that before any town committee votes on such a significant decision with economic, educational, environmental and historic impacts, community members should have an adequate chance to weigh in. Now is the time to engage Medfield community members in the critically important site selection and schematic design decisions -- not after preliminary votes are cast. Our school building committee risks having the project derailed without sufficient community input early on in the process.

1) The management plan being considered for the Town Forest (and Fournier) lot specifies the majority (50 acres) of Town Forest land be used to "Crop Tree Release" - a term used to greenwash logging - versus 24 acres of reserve. Our Massachusetts forests are critical in mitigating climate change, preserving native wildlife and habitats, safeguarding soils, providing clean air and water, and offering public recreation. Logging our forests harms these values, while protecting our forests from cutting enhances them. Keeping our forests standing would allow them to absorb and store carbon at an increasing rate for centuries to come. This would complement the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to the plan, there is no citizen support for active logging. Let's create old growth forest in Conway in the Town Forest! All the much larger surrounding lands (Northampton Water Supply, Conway State Forest, Cowl's Lumber) are being actively logged. The MA DCR rejected citizen and Conway Consideration recommendation to make the Conway State Forest a reserve. Making the Town Forest as a reserve would make up for the lack of reserve in surrounding lands. Invasive species control and trail creation and maintenance should also be allowed. 2) Residents and users of the beautiful and historic Cricket Hill Road have endured years of logging with accompanying noise, disturbance, frequent oil spills, trucks, and rutted trails. The state is planning 10 years of logging in the Conway State Forest. The disastrous first Town Forest logging project had many serious oil spills at a landing located adjacent to a wetland. Subsequent logging projects are a constant strain and disturbance to the area and have also had oil spills. If private landowners or the state need landings, they should be located off another road. Cricket Hill residents and users need a break! Why was Cricket Hill designated as a sacrifice area by previous Selectboards without citizen input? We ask that the Conway Selectboard to rescind any permissions to locate logging landings on Cricket Hill Road and Cricket Hill Extension.

UFW is working around the clock to assist farm workers already dealing with repercussions from the pandemic and a dangerous heat wave. Now with the recent wildfires, the danger is escalating. Cal/OSHA is supposed to be protecting the workers, but according to what we are hearing, many workers just aren’t protected. Legislation passed last year mandates the grower provide N95 or equivalent masks if the Air Quality Index is over 150. Sadly, we are hearing again and again of cases where this just isn’t happening. According to a poll of farm workers the UFW conducted three days ago, 84% of farm workers have not been given N95 masks from their employers. A KPIX story from earlier this week said, shared the story of Antonia, a Watsonville strawberry picker, who said her employers “do not provide any of the workers with masks, gloves or other protective equipment, which is a violation of California law, according to Cal/OSHA officials.” The UFW is reaching out to our union growers to ensure they are acting to protect union members—even if it means going above and beyond legal requirements. At contract companies, we are hearing reports of N95 masks being distributed or work being halted. We also regularly communicate with tens of thousands of farm workers, most of them non-union, and enlisting the help of workers and supporters to find and report the locations of violations. We’ve secured 50,000 N95 masks and will be distributing them -- through our organizers and local groups in fire-affected areas -- to the workers who need them most. We should NOT have to be doing this. It’s the employers’ obligation, and it’s OSHA’s job to make sure they do it. Cal/OSHA is publicizing what the law is -- but that’s not enough. They need to be proactively in the fields making sure that the necessary protective gear makes it to the workers. Cal/OSHA’s inaction is putting the workers in grave danger. Sign the petition TODAY. Tell Cal/OSHA they need to be in the fields right now to ensure the people who labor so hard to feed us are kept safe.

Every year, California’s forest fires get worse as a result of climate change and our burning of fossil fuels. As the planet gets hotter, California’s forests get drier. And when lightning strikes or humans make mistakes, the state is devastated. Tens of thousands have to flee their homes, with many becoming climate refugees. The pollution sends hundreds of thousands more indoors for weeks on end. Unfortunately, while Governor Newsom talks a good game on climate, his administration continues to approve new drilling and fracking. We can’t fix climate change if we don’t stop increasing fossil fuel production and use. Under Newsom, California’s oil and gas regulatory agency recently approved a dozen new permits for Chevron to conduct even more fracking in the state. Newsom has also approved drilling permits for more than 1,400 new oil and gas wells so far this year. This is a reversal of Newsom’s previous decision to put a pause on fracking in the state. California needs to move off fossil fuels. But Newsom is continuing our addiction. Meanwhile, California burns. Sources: Center for Biological Diversity, “With New Permits, Newsom Ramps Up Fracking in California, 360 New Fracking Events Approved So Far This Year,” July 6, 2020. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/new-permits-newsom-ramps-fracking-california-2020-07-06/ Food & Water Watch, “Promises, Promises: Gavin Newsom Has Broken His When It Comes To Fracking,” April 16, 2020, Alexandra Nagy. https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/promises-promises-gavin-newsom-has-broken-his-when-it-comes-fracking “Newsom blocks new California fracking pending scientific review,” Los Angeles Times, Phil Wilson, November 19, 2019. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-19/california-fracking-permits-scientific-review-gavin-newsom (Original photo by JD Lasica. Used and modified under license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling will worsen both the climate and wildlife extinction crises. Burning the recoverable oil estimated in the refuge could result in more than 4.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution — that’s roughly equivalent to the emissions from nearly 1,100 coal plants operating for a year. While the Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate — losing 13% of Arctic sea ice per decade — the climate crisis continues to ravage communities and wildlife habitats across the globe. At the current rate, the Arctic could be without ice in the summer by 2040. As sea ice is lost, so are the animals that depend on it for their survival. If Big Oil is allowed to drill into the Arctic Refuge, this wild landscape will be forever scarred. And, once drilling rights are sold, it will be much harder for elected officials to reverse course. Though the threat is high, the fight is not over. That’s why it’s up to all of us to oppose every effort to industrialize this pristine refuge. It’s time to demand the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be protected from oil drilling.

Progressives have been sidelined by the DNC for far too long. The people have spoken and they favor progressive politics. We will not allow our party to be taken over by never Trumpers. We believe in healthcare as a human right, a wealth tax, criminal justice reform, and so does America. We refuse to be pushed aside.

Since 2017 we have had to endure a never ending turnover of inconsiderate renters and an owner that is unreachable. Many of us have lived in and called this neighborhood home for over twenty years. As a result of this ‘party house’ we have had to endure years of sleepless nights, littering, rat infestations, loud music day and night, noise pollution, and masses of people coming and going at all hours. For example my neighbor has had his two children woken at two AM on a weeknight due to the noise. When we approach the renters it is futile because a new renter appears the next day. Since November of 2019 when the "Short Term Rental Law" was passed, this Airbnb listing has continued to have new guests checking in regularly and on a frequency that does NOT comply with the law. In response the neighbors have tried talking with the renters, calling the police, emailing LADBS, reaching out to Mayor Garcetti, and contacting AirBnB. Yet nothing has been done. We are fed up that these owners run a strictly for profit event space in clear violation of the law and have yet to face any consequences. We are a neighborhood of hard working families who just want the owner held accountable for the laws they are violating. In previous years our complaints were based on quality of life but with Covid it is now a health crisis. The listing continues to promote a space suitable for 16+ people to stay at even though it is a 3 bedroom home and is breaking the law according to LA Department of Building and Safety. We want you to help us remedy this situation as quickly and decisively as possible. The home has an owner who lives abroad (NOT ON PREMISES) and it is NOT lived in by anyone other than short term renters and party goers. The home/listing is run by a Real Estate/Contractor and Concierge event company owner by the name of Shay Shalom Gozlan ( livingthedream.com and New Horizon Development) . Who apparently owns and runs several other properties in and around this neighbor that do the exact same thing. During this global pandemic crisis there has been a constant stream of new tenants each week. This home is not only a nuisance but is now a health risk. They and others like them need to be dealt with immediately and for good! We have the right to enjoy our homes in peace and quiet and walk our neighborhoods and feel safe.