On Sunday, May 16, Senator Jon Ossoff led 29 Senators in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel & Palestine to prevent further killing of civilians. On Monday, May 17, the Washington Post reported that members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee [HFAC] had just learned that Biden had approved a new weapons deal with Israel, even though the deal had been notified to the committee as required by law on May 5. These are offensive weapons similar to those that Saudi Arabia has used to kill civilians in Yemen. In response, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro and other HFAC members expressed concern about the weapons deal and the message it would send about the urgency of a ceasefire and urged that the weapons deal be delayed so Congress could review it. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi & Majority Leader Steny Hoyer overruled them and insisted the weapons deal would go forward without Congressional review. Senators don't work for Nancy Pelosi & Steny Hoyer. If even one Democratic Senator would speak up about this, it would give House Democrats more courage to insist on reviewing the weapons deal before it goes forward. In addition, under the Arms Export Control Act, a single Senator can introduce can introduce a resolution of disapproval on the arms deal and force a floor vote, as Senators Murphy and Paul did on Saudi arms deals in September 2016 & June 2017 in opposition to unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen. Urge Members of Congress, especially Senators Sanders & Warren, to speak up about this weapons deal, demand that it be delayed & reviewed, and introduce legislation to force a floor vote, by signing our petition. References: Sen. Ossoff leads 29 Senators to call for immediate ceasefire: https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/press-releases/sen-ossoff-leads-28-senators-urging-immediate-ceasefire-in-middle-east/ WaPo article on House Dem opposition in arms deal https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/17/power-up-biden-administration-approves-735-million-weapons-sale-israel-raising-red-flags-some-house-democrats/ Rep Castro's statement demanding delay and review: https://twitter.com/AlexWardVox/status/1394369401420488708 House Dems demanding delay & review overruled by Pelosi & Hoyer: https://twitter.com/AlexWardVox/status/1394680891088285699

The Utah State Office of Education is cutting Adult Roles & Financial Literacy as of Fall 2022. We CANNOT, we WILL NOT let this happen! Adult Roles and Financial Lit. has long been the capstone class students take as they exit high school and begin their adult lives and careers. It has been THE course that prepares an individual with the personal, relationship, and financial skills to be successful in life and in ANY career. It IS personal and professional productivity. This course is a legacy in many high schools, and it is being taught to and empowering third and fourth generations in many families. When the Financial Literacy graduation requirement emerged in 2008, it was an unparalleled success. It is the one course where finance is embedded in relationships just as it is in life. Finance is behavioral. Research and data demonstrate that personal and family finance is more than crunching numbers. It is emotional and relational, and when taught in that context, efficacy skyrockets. It has been the shining star in Utah’s unique tradition of education. The Family and Consumer Science (FCS) teachers are uniquely educated and qualified to teach this content. FCS empowers individuals. FCS empowers families. ALL Utah students must continue to have access to this specialized and timely course. #saveadultroles (Sign, Comment & Share)

So many people don’t have access to sufficient internet which disproportionately effects poor people, people of color, people in rural areas. Students have been meeting at fast food restaurants to do homework and attend classes, in parking lots of libraries and town halls. Anyone who is without good internet access is at a major disadvantage for so many things like access to information, education, health care, government services, essential goods.

Police brutality against African Americans in the United States of America has gone beyond reproof. It is beyond time for there to be sensible legislation that affords African Americans the same rights and privileges that American citizenship offers other Americans. We have witnessed: Little to no repercussions for police officers’ blatant murder of African Americans; Perjury in court and/or to grand jury, where officers grandstand on their “fear” of African American citizens they are called upon and paid with taxpayer dollars to protect and serve; A lack of de-escalation techniques employed when interacting with African Americans; No repercussions for individuals who fraudulently call police on African Americans that lead to the harassment and, in most instances, murder of our beloved people. This is highly unacceptable and intolerable. We believe that, in every instance, life should be preserved, which is in accordance with our right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as dictated in the Declaration of Independence and our 14th Amendment right to “due process under the law.” In cases regarding African Americans, we are rarely afforded that constitutional right. We believe that the colors of our skin should not be weaponized against us and should not come with an automatic guilty verdict. The legal right to “equal protection of the laws” is also a right that is afforded to us under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. However, in cases regarding African Americans, we are rarely afforded that constitutional right.

Some people would like to preserve Atco Raceway as a treasured landmark. To those people, I would say that it is a nostalgic idea for preserving a place that generations have enjoyed. To all people who get their drinking water from wells in the surrounding area, whether Atco Raceway is preserved as a landmark or not, we cannot and should not allow the asphalt to be pulled up and replaced with gravel. As reported in The Pine Barrens Tribune by Mr. Thomas J. Stalba, Jr., of Hammonton, NJ, "Now they (IAA) are trying to convince the board and the community that they are a 'used car establishment' that should be able to tear up paving and put 6,000 recently wrecked cars, and the fluids remaining in them, on a bed of gravel with a water table that is as little as 1.7 feet below the surface of the ground on top of the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, right next to the Mullica River watershed, in the heart of the Pine Barrents." Carl Miller, as quoted in The Pine Barrens Tribune, who said he has participated in drag racing since the late 1960s, "called allowing cars in disrepair to be parked on gravel 'a terrible idea' that would allow chemicals to seep directly into groundwater with little possibility of containment." Car liquids, such as gasoline, antifreeze, brake fluid, and even oil do not have the chance to pool under a vehicle if there is gravel underneath. Do the residents of Atco, NJ know that they are responsible for their clean drinking water? Visit these two state sites: https://www.nj.gov/health/ceohs/documents/pw_faq.pdf https://www13.state.nj.us/DataMiner/Search/SearchByCategory?isExternal=y&getCategory=y&catName=Certified+Laboratories IAA states that they have millions of dollars in insurance should well water become contaminated. How would the homeowner know if his well water was contaminated? He would have to use a NJ state certified testing center that would cost thousands of dollars. Then do a second test just to be sure that the chemicals we are drinking now are "within allowable limits." Then it is our responsibility to make every effort to fix our own wells. The cost to do this would be thousands and thousands of dollars each year for each homeowner. When I moved to Atco almost 30 years ago, we were presented with giant carbon tanks placed inside the laundry room by the State of NJ. We were told that the blueberry field at the end of the road had sprayed pesticides on the plants and the pesticides made their way into the water table in "amounts that exceeded what was allowable." You see, we are still drinking water with contaminants already. We just cannot afford to test our well water annually, as the State of NJ recommends. Why then are we allowing the very obvious poisoning of our water table to occur? If you believe this is an injustice, if you want to keep your loved ones safe, if you want to stop what is so obviously wrong from occurring, you will sign this petition to stop this from happening immediately. Then tell your neighbors to sign as well. We all deserve clean drinking water. We certainly pay enough in our taxes for this "privilege." Thank you for listening.

First Class Mail continues to provide an affordable and secure method of communication for millions of Americans. The Delivering for America Plan diverts resources and equipment away from letter processing to prioritize package services. This betrays the mission of the Postal Service to be a vehicle for communication that binds the nation together chasing profits for the private companies that are proposed to handle mail in the expanded implementation of Surface Transfer Centers. Diverting mail outside the Postal network is already creating service delays and increasing the incidents of lost mail as the Postal Service no longer maintains custody of mail throughout the delivery process. Individuals, small businesses, and local governments rely on First Class Mail to exchange information and ideas, receive remittance payments, or issue legal notices. Allowing Postmaster General DeJoy to bull doze the implementation of these changes past the public will forever alter the network that has been built to provide the excellence that has become synonymous with First Class. Do not settle for adequate when the opportunity for excellence is still attainable. Demand more!

Our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people. Advancements have been made with respect to equitable treatment of LGBTQ persons throughout the nation. But the ideals of our founders have yet to be realized. The City of Roseville has a diverse LGBTQ community which continues to struggle for inclusion especially in this time of extreme divisiveness. The City of Roseville has a duty to: * bring its residents together, * to support one another, * to show solidarity for all its citizens, and * to invite everyone to reflect on ways we all can live and work together, committed to mutual respect and understanding, committed to supporting dignity and equity for all people in the community. The City of Roseville can demonstrate its support for our city’s diversity and our LGBTQ community by flying the rainbow flag at City Hall during the month of June.

There are so many missing persons who have disappeared in national parks and these people are not on names or the charlie project. So we as citizens do not have a true count on missing people in America. It is not fair for families to have no way to reach out and get info on there missing lived ones.

Many scientific studies have linked noise exposure to direct and cumulative detrimental physical and mental health effects that include, but are not limited to, hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, reduced productivity, negative social behavior, sleep deprivation, annoyance reactions, and increases the frequency of antisocial behavior. Nuisance noise adversely affects health and well-being in the same way as chronic stress (H. A. R. Jensen, B. Rasmussen, and O. Ekholm, “Neighbour noise annoyance is associated with various mental and physical health symptoms: results from a nationwide study among individuals living in multi-storey housing,” BMC Public Health, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 1508, Nov. 2019, doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7893-8. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7893-8. )

For decades, California has underfunded mental health services. As a result, the criminal justice system often serves as the state’s default mental health provider, with jails and prisons filled with people suffering from mental illness. In addition, an estimated 10% of law enforcement agencies’ budgets – and 20% of staff time – are spent responding to individuals with mental illness. A direct consequence of our overreliance on law enforcement responses to mental health crises is that almost a quarter of all people killed in police-involved shootings since 2015 had a known mental illness, with black men dying at a disproportionate rate. Between when Derek Chauvin’s trial started and his conviction for the murder of George Floyd, 64 people died at the hands of police. More than a dozen of them had a known mental illness or were in the throes of a mental health crisis. In 2019, Miles Hall, a 23-year-old black man living in Walnut Creek, was in the midst of a schizophrenic mental health crisis when his family called 911 for help. Despite being familiar with Miles’ condition, the officers resorted to lethal force within a minute of their arrival. Law enforcement officers are not mental health experts and should not be expected to serve this role. A better system for Miles and all Californians is possible – one that leads with treatment, not law enforcement. Last year, the federal government established “988” as the new 3-digit alternative to 911 for mental health crises. Callers to 988 will be connected with around-the-clock support, including mobile crisis teams that can respond to the scene with trained mental health professionals and peers rather than law enforcement. If California does not act now, the state will lose critical federal support and funding. Please urge California lawmakers to pass, and Governor Gavin Newsom to sign, Assembly Bill 988 (Bauer-Kahan) – also known as the Miles Hall Lifeline Act – to implement the 988 system in California and take concrete steps to reduce shootings where mental health is involved. AB 988 will ensure that we respond to a health crisis with a health response.

More shortages and price gouging are planned for this summer for Texans on the ERCOT state utility grid.   The extreme $9,000 (per megawatt hour) price hike energy law will continue to be applied. That law  was created during past legislation.   The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) order used it for the first time during Winter Storm Uri.  This petition's requested legislation is vitally and urgently needed and must be passed before the end of this legislative session to reverse the price hike order and to nullify the bad energy laws it cited. These conflict with and violate other laws including: Texas Administrative Procedure Act, the Public Utility Regulatory Act ('PURA'), Public Utility Commission rules, and due process rights. These emergency pricing decisions are not reasonably supported by expert advice or evidence regarding either shortages or costs or protections for the public. This moment in history is a tipping point for Texans.  If this happens Texans can regain control over pricing and management of our public utilities.   If this does not happen, the first time emergency price hike order will be approved by default (legislative inaction)  and the first time payout to investors will initiate federal commodification protections for  investor rights and creation of a new Wall Street hedge fund "Suppliers of ERCOT During Shortages"  market which will include investor-owned suppliers of both water and energy to our state  ERCOT utilities. Also NOAA long term forecasts predict very extreme heat and drought in the future starting this summer and extends these severe predictions over the next year.  https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/two_class.php Regarding both energy and water utilities: shortages in one lead to shortages in the other, and price gouging in both.  See Facebook Site "Water Angel - conservation"  to learn how the emergency extreme energy price gouging happened during Winter Storm Uri and how the legislature and governor-appointed energy boards have been responding since the storm ended.   Not  all of this has been reported at once for YOU to see the BIG Picture until posted on FB site "Water Angel - conservation."

Child care facilities remain on the brink of closure! Please tell Colorado to give their child care facilities the funds Congress allocated for them. Please ask the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care to provide better oversight of these funds. Please ask the General Accountability Office to investigate misappropriation of these public funds.