Councilman Barbee and Councilman Stephens cost the city taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars when they failed to show up for several council meetings in a row. By not showing up to meetings, city council could not conduct city business and official meetings were not able to be held. Both Councilmen intentionally boycotted official meetings for political reasons. The taxpayers should not be required to pay the costs of their political agenda's.

H.R. 6666, otherwise known as the COVID-19 Testing, Reaching, and Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act, was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on 5/1/2020. This bill is sponsored by Representative Bobby Rush (D) of Illinois District 1. The bill has 59 cosponsors, 58 Democrats and 1 Republican. Summary H.R. 6666 provides 100 billion dollars this year and unlimited federal funding in future years to create and operate a massive and likely unconstitutional surveillance, testing, and tracing enforcement system under the guise of “protecting” Americans against coronavirus. H.R. 6666 is a federal funding bill. It proposes to create a surveillance infrastructure that can be used by the federal government, as well as local and state governments and private businesses, to require medical testing and tracking of all citizens in violation of fundamental civil liberties as set forth in the Bill of Rights, which include the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution designed to protect individual rights and limit the power of the government. H.R. 6666 lacks safeguards and conditions related to funding of the proposed surveillance operation to prevent it from being applied to intrusive programs mandating testing and surveillance without an individual’s voluntary consent. If this legislation is passed by Congress and enacted into law, it could lead to denial of an individual’s right to appear in public spaces and travel; the right to employment and education or participation in government-funded services, and the right to receive care in a government funded hospital or other any other medical facility. H.R. 6666 specifically allows for funded entities to home quarantine a person against their will, even while they are healthy. Once a vaccine is available, the testing and tracing results potentially could be used to force individuals to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine against their will. According to a Press Release from the sponsor Congressman Bobby L. Rush, “Reopening our economy and getting back to normal will be all but impossible if we do not step up our testing efforts and implement robust and widespread contact tracing,” said Rep. Rush. “Until we have a vaccine to defeat this dreaded disease, contact tracing in order to understand the full breadth and depth of the spread of this virus is the only way we will be able to get out from under this.” The Devil is in the Details H.R. 6666 would allow The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award federal grants to eligible entities to conduct diagnostic testing for COVID–19, to trace and monitor the contacts of infected individuals, and to support the quarantine of such contacts. Through the use of mobile health units, as necessary, individuals would be tested and provided with services related to testing and quarantine at their residences. The amount of money appropriated for fiscal year 2020 would be $100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion dollars) and more money may be appropriated by Congress as necessary for any subsequent fiscal year during which the emergency period continues. A grant recipient may use the federal grant funds, in support of the above referenced activities to hire, train, compensate, and pay the expenses of individuals; and to purchase personal protective equipment and other supplies. Priority will be given to applicants in “hot spots” and medically underserved communities and to entities that hire residents of the community where the activity will occur. Hot spots are defined as a geographic area where the rate of infection with the virus that causes COVID–19 exceeds the national average. Medically underserved communities are communities given that term in section 799B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p). Entities eligible for the grant money are defined as a federally qualified health center, school-based clinic, disproportionate share hospital, academic medical center, nonprofit organization, institute of higher education, high school, and any other type of entity as determined by the Secretary of HHS. H.R. 6666 Does Not Guarantee Privacy Section 2 (e) of H.R. 6666 is entitled “Federal Privacy Requirements”, but it does little to protect privacy. It states that “Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any Federal privacy or confidentiality requirement, including the regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–191; 110 Stat. 2033) and section 543 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290dd–2). In actuality, H.R. 6666 offers few privacy protections for Americans who will be surveilled and tested without their consent under programs funded with this grant. In fact, Americans can expect their privacy to be violated under TRACE funded programs. That is because the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) 45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(i) has always allowed disclosure of private health information to government officials and other government approved entities including foreign governments without the knowledge or consent of the individual for the purpose of conducting public health surveillance, investigations or interventions. Bill of Rights Cannot Be Suspended During A “Public Health Crisis” The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution cannot be set aside by the federal government or state governments during pandemics or other public health emergencies. In The United States Statement of Interest in Support of Plaintiffs, filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a case last month in which church goers attending a drive-in sermon were issued citations for violating an executive order in Mississippi, the DOJ stated;

With six months to go until the November elections, the U.S. Senate has a waning opportunity to show our country what compassionate, bipartisan leadership looks like, and whether majority leader Mitch McConnell is capable of that leadership. His legacy will likely be defined by how the Senate meets this historic challenge. An obsessive focus on reshaping the federal judiciary will pale in comparison to an underwhelming and tepid response to the significant needs of our commonwealth and nation to meet the coronavirus crisis. Sen. McConnell's recent actions are deeply troubling. From stating, “Some of these governors, particularly the Democrat governors, it seems, enjoy this extra power over people’s lives, and ... the governors have been struck down, been overruled, for being sort of drunk with power at the opportunity to keep everybody locked up,” to recently saying that President Obama should "keep his mouth shut," and calling him "classless." This comes on the heels of his irresponsible suggestion that states should declare bankruptcy instead of expecting federal support. Please sign and share our petition to encourage Leader McConnell to make the most of the moment, and set a new, bipartisan direction for his leadership of the current Senate session.

To increase the electability of Vice-President Biden put aside your personal feelings about the candidate, set aside your personal feelings about the candidate's specific policies. Some Bernie fans cannot imagine voting for Biden. There are other voters who would rather abstain from voting than to cast their vote for Biden. Remember 2004 when Ralph Nader attracted not only independent voters and helped to place George W. Bush into the White House. Remember when numerous voters sat out the election in 2016, refusing to vote for Hillary Clinton. If they had chosen “the lesser of two evils” (as many described their choices), and cast their votes for Hillary Clinton whom they regarded as an “imperfect” candidate, Donald Trump would not have won! A non-vote for the Democratic candidate, adds one more vote for Trump. We believe that by naming strong possible candidates for a cabinet, Biden will remarkably increase his chances of winning. Remember the amazing group of Presidential Candidates? Imagine them as cabinet members: Corey Booker Kamala Harris Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren Amy Klobuchar Pete Buttigieg Bill de Blasio Julian Castro Jay Inslee We want Joe Biden to choose a Winning Team now. Please sign the petition.

Capital punishment is an issue in the United States of America. There are many states that have currently legalized and retained the right to execute criminals for their crimes. Capital punishment is a cruel and unusual punishment, it is more costly than imprisonment, and many innocent lives are being taken because of it. Capital punishment should be abolished in the United States of America. First, capital punishment should not be legal because it is a cruel and unusual punishment. There are many different methods of execution, but not a single one is better than the other. All are heinous. Cruel and unusual punishments consist of lethal injection, hanging, gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad, and beheading. It is understandable that criminals deserve the worst for the horrific crimes that they commit, but death is not the answer.  Next, capital punishment shouldn't be allowed because it is more expensive than a prison sentence. All the lawyers, judges, and other personnel put more hours into preparing, trying, and reviewing the issues, given that a life is at stake. In addition to the people who are participating in the trial, the equipment required to perform the execution is also very costly. If a criminal just got sentenced to jail, it would be a lot less expensive and the person would still be alive. Lastly, capital punishment should be abolished because many innocent people are being killed. The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, more than 165 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated. Capital punishment should no longer exist because many people who are guilty of nothing have been killed. Unless it is absolutely certain that the person who is thought to be guilty actually is, nobody should be executed. In conclusion, capital punishment is a big problem and it only leads to more problems. Death should not be permitted. People deserve a second chance in life and they can't use their second chance if they are dead. We are on a mission to abolish capital punishment. So, who's with us?

During the Wisconsin primary this spring, thousands of voters risked their health and defied a stay-at-home order to exercise their right to vote. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only story of states not being prepared to hold safe and fair elections in the middle of a pandemic. Every American deserves the right to cast their ballot safely and without unnecessary risk. That’s why we support the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020, n. This bill would do the following: Expand Access to Vote-by-Mail: Vote-by-mail could be the only safe and secure option for some Americans. States must offer multiple options for requesting, receiving, and returning mail-in ballots while maintaining the security of our voting system. Expand Early In-Person Voting: While all Americans should have the choice to vote by mail, it is crucial that we recognize that many people will prefer to vote in-person. We must make in-person voting as safe and available as possible. Expanded early voting will allow voters to cast their ballot a few days or sometimes weeks before Election Day. Expand Online Voter Registration: We should not make voter registration complicated if we really want everyone to participate. Online voter registration is a safe, accessible and secure way for voters all across this country can sign up to participate in our democracy. It allows eligible voters to quickly and easily register to vote online from the comfort of their own home. We know that when we knock down barriers to casting their ballot and make voting more accessible no matter who you are, more people -- especially young people and people of color -- turn out to vote. And when we all vote, we create a stronger democracy. Please add your name if you agree our nation must do more to guarantee safe and fair elections in 2020. Stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved.

Millions of people are either being denied any Federal CARES Act relief or having the federally issued emergency COVID-19 relief payments issued to help them and their families seized, taken, and used for other intents and purposes --- to pay non-emergency debts. This amounts to institutional and state THEFT of federal emergency relief payments made to help the people of our country during a time of global emergency and national crisis - for PROFIT and GREED. As one example, millions of divorced parents, their families and their children are having the federal emergency relief payments issued to them unlawfully treated as income and seized by the states. Their payments are being seized to pay back "child support" - even if the parents are making regular payments. The states are seizing and taking their emergency relief payments, treating the money and income - and using it to line state coffers and to enrich the states. In effect, this is allowing states to engage in criminal profiteering from the global pandemic. This is the nightmare scenario now unfolding across this country for millions of parents and their families. Parents are losing their jobs and sources of income as a result of business and government shutdowns. Millions of these parents are finding themselves unable to continue paying “child support” (in addition to being denied equal access to their children). Under normal circumstances, these parents would be able to file a motion for modification with the court and state. But our courts have shut down indefinitely because of the crisis. So divorced parents have no way to modify their support orders debts, and interest penalties mount for them each week. As they fall behind, with no access to the courts, their driver's and professional licenses can be suspended and they can be jailed (at state taxpayer expense), making it impossible for them to find new employment. When potential employers do background checks, they don’t care why someone was jailed – all they see is that the person was jailed, so why would they hire you? The state is profiteering because the federal government pays the state matching dollars for every dollar of “child support debt” the state manufactures and reports it as collecting to the federal government (See SSA Title IV-D.) You can be behind or defaulted in student loan payments to the federal government and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be defaulted and behind in your IRS taxes, and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be a convicted felon in jail, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be DEAD or a foreign national, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. But if you are one of millions of parents who owe even a dollar of back “child support,” you and your family with receive NO CARES Act relief. This included parents who are often paying expenses for TWO households, years after their divorces were final, even if you are paying support in accordance with court orders! Divorced parents and their families and children are not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Parents married to immigrants and their families and children are also not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Millions of small business owners have received NO relief. This injustice must be corrected!

In light of the extensive evidence that through late January, February and early March there was a refusal by Donald Trump to take seriously and make any effort to address the growing menace of the Corona Virus, even as he was being repeatedly warned of its dangers (e.g. in the context of his daily Presidential briefings) it is apparent that he was engaging in a dereliction of his duties and as a result was placing every American citizen in peril. Furthermore, as was recently documented in the New York Times, at the end of February Trump and his administration perpetrated a systematic cover-up, lying to and misleading the American public in an effort to convince people that COVID-19 posed no serious danger to them. The Trump administration purposely jeopardized the health, safety and lives of Americans and is culpable for the growing number of deaths that have at least in part resulted from this. They must be held responsible for their inaction and disregard for protecting the lives of American citizens.

As COVID-19 forces NYC's immigrant communities to grapple with death and economic devastation, they may now also face widespread disenfranchisement at the exact moment their voices need to be amplified. In advance of primary elections, the NYC Board of Elections created an online application for absentee ballots on May 5, but failed to provide it in any language other than English. As a result, hundreds of thousands of immigrant voters, afraid to visit polls and unable to vote by mail, could be shut out of primary elections. According to the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, more than half of the 1.6 million immigrants living in New York City are citizens, and 853,000 people residing in the city speak languages other than English. NYC Board of Election may also be violating Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires the Board to translate all materials into certain minority languages. See: https://www.justice.gov/crt/language-minority-citizens Tell the Board of Elections and our elected leaders to PROTECT immigrants' voting rights!

Because until massive testing, tracing, and adequate provisions exist for supportive isolation of coronavirus victims, Ohio remains in a state of emergency. Governor DeWine accepted more than enough risks already in opening Ohio.

1. Robert Kadlec did not disclose he was a consultant with Emergent BioSolutions and he did not bid out the purchase but made private negotiations with the company to pay $2.8 billions of a vaccine. That was a conflict of interest. Emergent BioSolutions got a ten year contract with the United States Department of Health and Human Services. He also did not note in his Senate filings that he had been a part owner of a company with Fuad El-Hibri, Emergent's founder and chairman. 2. He diminished the role of government experts and reduced the decision making to himself and a few advisers. 3. In 2018, he halted an Obama-era initiative to spend $35 million on a machine that would have made 1.5 million N95 masks per day. These masks would have been very helpful for our healthcare professionals in the frontlines. A recently made contract for $62.3 million went to the company which designed the rapid mask machine that was not purchased as planned. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/before-pandemic-trumps-stockpile-chief-put-focus-on-biodefense-an-old-client-benefited/2020/05/04/d3c2b010-84dd-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html

In April 2020, the state of Nevada agreed to relinquish its supply of drugs intended for executions to the pharmaceutical companies who manufactured them, as part of a settlement agreement in the case of Alvogen, Inc. v. Nevada. The state no longer has the means to carry out an execution, yet prosecutors continue to spend considerable funds pursuing the death penalty. We believe that the error-prone nature of the death penalty (nearly 1 in 3 cases have errors warranting retrial or re-sentencing), its bias against the indigent and people of color, its lack of deterrent effect, and the sheer cost of pursuing it should convince our leaders to put an end to the practice before cutting budgets for services that Nevadan's most vulnerable urgently need. Please join us in urging Nevada's policy makers to put an end to our death penalty and focus the state’s scarce resources on priorities such as the public’s health and safety.