My name is Demetrius DeBaise, and for the last five years I have worked as a baggage handler at Newark International. Every day I lift overweight bags for hours on end for just $8.25 an hour. The stress of trying to provide for my family on so little income has nearly broken me. And now, Governor Chris Christie and his cronies in the Port Authority just blocked my raise. This week the director of the NY/NJ Port Authority ordered raises for low-wage workers like me at JFK and LaGuardia airports. But Newark workers were left out. The reason? Chris Christie and his top person at the Port Authority refused to go along. Christie’s cronies at the Port Authority punished an entire town by closing down bridge lanes. Now they are bullying me and my co-workers to protect the profits of major airlines. Punishing working people while protecting the powerful is classic Chris Christie. This isn’t even the first time Governor Christie has tried to stop me from getting a raise. Last year he actually vetoed a minimum wage increase for New Jersey workers. We want a wage that lets us pay the bills and support our families, and it’s not fair that we may be denied the raise other workers over the Hudson will get just because we’re unlucky enough to have Chris Christie as our Governor.

As we are sure you have been reading about in the news, Erie County Council has been asked to consider an Ordinance guaranteeing upwards of $35 million worth of bonds to be issued by Erie County Convention Center Authority to fund the construction of a hotel at the Bayfront Convention Center. In addition, it is important to note that the county has already guaranteed the initial $100 Million Dollar investment for the development of the Convention Center and the Sheraton Hotel. County Council’s action on this matter is imminent and we ask that you take a moment to consider whether this guarantee is in Erie County’s best interests. While the initial investment was controversial, and remains so now as the Sheraton doesn’t pay any property, county, or city taxes, the investment the public made has helped create a demand on the Bayfront for additional retail, entertainment and hotel facilities. Quite simply, the government has done its job. It has created an environment that now makes it attractive for private developers to continue to develop the Bayfront. Now, the Scott family, the largest hospitality developer in Erie County, with a proven track record is proposing a $150 Million Dollar Harbor Place project. This development includes entertainment, retail, office, residential, and the very hotels the Authority is looking for. Also, it is important to note that a privately developed hotel would pay taxes, and the proposed publicly funded hotel would not. In fact, upon completion Harbor Place development would pay approximately $4.8 Million dollars in taxes yearly. Now it is time for private developers, not government, to continue to develop the Bayfront. If the 200 room publicly funded hotel is approved, Harbor Place development will be in jeopardy. The county tax payers should not have to take on the burden of financing another hotel, when a private developer is ready to take this on. I ask County Council to NOT GUARANTEE the financing of a publicly funded hotel on Erie's Bayfront.

Beyonce.

Manor Superintendent Kevin Brackmeyer’s job may be in jeopardy, one year after being appointed to the post. Trustees will meet behind closed doors to discuss appointing an interim superintendent, but any board action must take place in open session. The agenda doesn’t explain why the board is considering replacing the district leader, but previous board meetings hint that trustees have been discussing Brackmeyer for months. Tuesday’s meeting will be the second time this month that trustees have discussed the superintendent in closed session and at least the third time in the past four months. On Jan. 13, the board discussed the status of Brackmeyer’s contract but took no action. In October, the board deliberated in executive session, but took no action, on the “appointment, employment, evaluation, duties, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee, including the duties, assignment and responsibility of the superintendent.” Before the October meeting, the last time the superintendent was discussed behind closed doors was in July, when the board conducted the superintendent evaluation, according to board agendas. Brackmeyer’s current contract runs through the end of 2015. He earns a base salary of $168,302 and received a 3 percent raise in July with the other district employees. Brackmeyer and board President Desiree Cornelius-Fisher did not respond to requests for comment. This past January, the board appointed Brackmeyer as superintendent to replace Andrew Kim, who left for the larger, 19,000-student Comal school district in July 2012. Brackmeyer served as interim superintendent for six months before being appointed, and previously was the principal at Manor High School since 2009. During his tenure, the school improved and was rated by the state academically acceptable in 2010, the first time in four years it had not been rated unacceptable. About 86 percent of the Manor district’s 8,600 students are Hispanic and black, and 77 percent of all students come from low-income families. Nearly one-third of all students speak little to no English. The district had academic struggles for years, with multiple under-performing schools, but has seen improvement in test scores and graduation rates in recent years. The success of the district’s second regular high school, Manor New Tech, which boasts a 100 percent graduation rate, has attracted national attention. In 2010, U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan called the school “a model for reaching underserved youth.” More recently, President Barack Obama visited the school in May, recognizing the school for providing largely underprivileged students “the real-world skills they need for college and beyond.

There is only one way We the People can fight back, and we must do it now before voter suppression laws take away our fundamental right as citizens of a democracy to elect our government. My name is Laura Rubalcaba and I believe in Democracy. I believe in the People of this Great Country. We will not go down like this. Take this pledge and ask ALL of the reasonably sane people you know to take this PLEDGE TO VOTE in 2014. This is a @@Petition. As such, all signers will receive regular email updates and opportunities to join collective actions that are computer and/or phone based for as long as the petition is active. You can easily find these email updates by looking for the "@@" in the Subject line of you email inbox. We will NOT email you for donations. ps. you may contact me directly via the link (my name in red text) under the title of this petition.

WTF

As economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes have argued, part of the cost of a war is caring for veterans afterwards. Now Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing to use money from the war account to pay for his veterans' benefits bill, including reversing the cuts to military pensions. 18 military and veterans organizations have backed the Sanders bill. [1] Urge Congress and the President to support Sanders' proposal to use war funding to pay for veterans' benefits. References: 1. http://www.govexec.com/defense/2014/01/senator-suggests-using-war-funds-pay-vets-benefits-bill/77381/

On Tuesday, January 21, federal prosecutors indicted Bob and Maureen McDonnell on charges stemming from the Star Scientific gift scandal. These charges only underscore the need for real ethics reform in Richmond. Politicians in Richmond will try to pass an empty bill with no real changes so they can keep accepting free dinner, free Redskins tickets, and free trips to France. We deserve better. We deserve better than ethics reform legislation so full of loopholes any elected official could still accept shopping trips, vacations, Rolex watches, and rounds of golf, just like Bob McDonnell.

We believe switching public workers from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan undermines retirement security and means our state will eventually end up retiring workers into poverty. Trying to fix greater budgetary issues on the backs of workers who did nothing to create the problems is unjust. All Pennsylvanians will be affected by this as local economies suffer when the personal spending of retirees is diminished and tax payers will be harmed as more retirees will need various types of public assistance to support themselves in retirement. We are better than this.

We need a government of, by, and for the people–not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Citizens United unleashed a flood of special interest outside spending, and candidate fundraising is also dominated by the wealthy. For example, 2012 U.S. Senate candidates got 64% of the money they raised from individuals in contributions of at least $1,000—from just 0.04% of the population. These big money donors largely determine who runs for office, who wins elections, and what issues make it onto the agenda in Washington. When candidates dial for dollars or attend high-priced fundraisers, they are hearing from a narrow, rich slice of America—donors who don’t share the same priorities as the rest of us. The very wealthy, for example, are less likely to support policies that give working families a fair shot at economic security—like investing in jobs, a strong minimum wage—and more likely to focus on reducing the deficit. The result is a Congress with warped priorities that favor the donor class and neglect the rest of us. The Government By the People Act helps put our government back in the hands of ordinary Americans in three key ways: • My Voice Tax Credit: This $25 tax credit ($50 for joint returns) for small political contributions will help millions of ordinary citizens support candidates who share our priorities, not just those of the donor class. • Freedom From Influence Fund: This fund will amplify our voices and change candidates’ incentives by matching small contributions, making a $50 check worth $350 or even $500 to a qualified small-dollar candidate. This makes door-to-door fundraising and house parties with constituents as valuable to candidates as high-dollar fundraisers run by lobbyists. • Fight-Back Fund: This fund will give small-dollar candidates a fighting chance against Super PACs and dark money groups who flood the airwaves in the final days of an election. Qualified candidates can get a last-minute match of up to $500,000 to fight back in a close race. Together, these provisions can change the game. Candidates can run for office in a new way, We the People can have our voices heard, and wealthy donors can start paying their fair share of taxes rather than paying for politicians who will write them special breaks.

I attend National Louis University I am a student in their Graduate program, and during the last semester I discovered that National Louis University have been deducting $110 from my students loans for CTA Venture cards. I did not request a Transportation card or consent to such deductions because I drive to school and pay for parking. I requested reimbursement from school administrators and was given an appeal form that stated " If your reason to not receive a Venture card is because you do not use it, your request will be denied, due to the agreement the University made with the CTA". This agreement is not in the students interest, especially when student will have to pay these students loans back, with intrest. The automatic deductions should stop immediately and students should be given the option to apply for school transportation. In addition , refunds given to students retroactively, who were denied the options to op-out the venture card program since it's enactment.

To Repeal and fix the Biggert -Waters Act