What does financial regulation have to do with the baby formula crisis? More than you might think. Just four companies sell almost all baby formula in the United States: Abbott, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle, and Perrigo. This concentration in the industry leaves the supply chain vulnerable. Abbott Laboratories, a $35 billion conglomerate, is under fire for manufacturing baby formula in dirty facilities that caused two babies to die of a bacterial infection and made at least two others sick. Now, one of the biggest factories in the country is closed while regulators work to ensure it’s free of contamination, which means desperate parents are driving hours just to find formula. How did this crisis happen? One reason is that regulators let Abbott Laboratories buy back more than $5 billion of its own stock while it covered up unsanitary conditions in its factory. Instead of making sure their product was safe, Abbott’s executives lied to safety inspectors while spending corporate cash on pumping up its stock price. Before 1980, corporations were outlawed from buying back their own stock — and there’s no good reason regulators shouldn’t outlaw it again. This year, the biggest corporations are expected to spend a record $1 trillion on stock buybacks, shattering records and showering cash on shareholders — instead of investing it in product safety, innovation, or workers. The baby formula crisis should be the last straw. It’s sickening that Abbott would buy back stock instead of keeping babies safe. Chair Gary Gensler at the Securities and Exchange Commission has the authority to slam the brakes on corporate buybacks. Chair Gensler is doing good work to rein in financial wrongdoing, but needs to hear from us that this is important. Please help us send a message to Chair Gensler that corporate stock buybacks are bad for everyone but the CEOs and executives they enrich.

The City’s funding is crucial to the Health Gap’s continued work of meeting people where they are to improve our health outcomes. City Council’s support of Closing the Health Gap has helped our community in the mission to close the health gap. • The Health Gap has reached over 923,000 households through the WE MUST SAVE US CAMPAIGN, COVID- 19 Community Resources website and Town Halls to provide COVID-19 resources and vaccine education to the communities. • Since 2004 The Health Gap has reached over 1,094,307 people through its Do Right! Campaigns throughout 22 targeted Cincinnati neighborhoods, teaching people how to eat, move, and live right. • Over 141,280 have attended the annual Health Expo, where over 36,000 health screenings have been performed and countless valuable health information provided. • The Health Gap’s Do Right! Kids Initiative has 3,221 students participating in in-school and afterschool activities. • Do Right! Block by Block Initiatives in Mt. Auburn has impacted 1,000 participants annually. Tell your story, sign the petition and show Cincinnati City Council why their continued support of Closing the Health Gap is important in continuing the important work of eliminating ethnic and racial health disparities in Greater Cincinnati.

Under SB 964, the California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California systems would be required to develop accelerated programs for social work degrees, such as allowing students to combine their last one or two years of undergraduate study with their graduate work to complete both programs more quickly. Senate Bill 964 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would offer $37,000 in stipends to students pursuing a master’s degree in social work who go on to work in behavioral health at a public agency while creating a state fund to increase pay and provide bonuses for licensed professionals already working in the field. We must urgently restore and revitalize the behavioral health workforce. Our most vulnerable will receive the aid they need with a rejuvenated workforce treated equitably and representing all Californians.

Bills 597 & 598 would cut all funding to community based behavioral health care systems in Michigan. These bills would privatize the Medicaid Mental Health services by giving full financial control and oversight to for-profit insurance companies. These bills would eliminate public accountabily, transparency (e.g., not be subject to comply with the Freedom of Information Act) and the ability to collaborate with community partners such as law enforcement, hospitals, schools, courts, housing and more. Over 62 Michigan counties have already passed resolutions opposing these bills and the Wayne County Commission is in direct opposition as well. Sign the petition to help us put a stop to SB 597 and 598 today! Bill 597: http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0597 Bill 598: http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0598"

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. On behalf of all student athletes and students, we hope that you will take this time as an opportunity to invest in their mental health. The Mental Health Reform Act embedded in the 21st Century Cures Act includes funding to promote integrated physical and mental health care. A policy requiring student athletes to speak with a mental health professional at least once during their sport’s season. Just as students are required to have annual physicals and dental check up requirements for player eligibility. We are asking you to work on creating a mental health component to add those requirements. In addition, athletes experience emotional trauma from being out of the game due to an injury. If an injury occurs that causes an athlete to be out at least 3-4 months, speaking with a mental health professional prior to returning to play would be just as beneficial. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I am asking policy-makers to support a student athlete mental health initiative.

Addiction is a brain disease, not a choice. Individuals in Connecticut with Substance Use Disorders are overdosing on heroin and fentanyl at alarming rates. In March, 2022, Connecticut received approximately $95 million from the Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family settlement, yet addiction treatment is still not readily available. The agreement authorizes Connecticut to use a portion of the settlement funds to establish an Opioid Survivors Trust to directly aid survivors and victims of the opioid epidemic. WHERE ARE THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS? CONNECTICUT NEEDS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO ADDICTION TREATMENT NOW!

If we are to be a country of religious freedom, then we need to be a country free from religious influence in our laws and government. For no one who lives under laws created by religious influence and zealotry has freedom of religion, only freedom to be subjugated under a singular religion.

Justice Gorsuch should hold no influential office in the Colonial Williamsburg organization as long as he pursues overturning Roe and Casey. His actions are egregiously uncompassionate, harmful, and inconsistent with the values and mission of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. As the organization stands to have "the future learn from the past", it must acknowledge that this decision is legally, intellectually, and socially regressive and would be desultory for the health, safety, and well being for a large portion of the American public. Colonial Williamsburg should stand against such behavior and expel Justice Gorsuch from its ranks.

I implore all Americans to stand up, be heard & do something to help better your life & the lives of all those around you! If we don’t speak up NOW, there will never be change… We have the power to change the world, right the wrongs, unlock the chains of injustice & demand a better quality of life! Change starts with you! Your voice matters! You CAN make a difference! Stand with me in pleading… no, DEMANDING more from our government! We demand more assistance to climb our way out of poverty! We demand our government to respect & hear the people! We demand a better quality of life for our children! And lastly, we demand action from our government! If change doesn’t happen NOW, I fear those people who feel frustrated & unheard will begin to revolt. We do NOT need a revolution, we need a resolution… When parents go hungry so their children do not, you know there is something inherently wrong with the system. When the people are scared to seek medical help because of the outrageously high costs, there is something inherently wrong with the system. When a parent has to choose between working just to pay daycare or staying home to raise their children and not being able to pay rent, there is something inherently wrong with the system. We are not asking for a handout, we are asking for a leg up! I implore you to take these words seriously. For if you don’t, the people may rise up to seek justice themselves. We will no longer stand by and go unheard and unseen. We will shout from the rooftops until change happens! I will stand up for what is right, even if I have to stand alone…

Health care is a human right. Republicans have been increasingly supporting radical positions on eliminating abortion to gain support across the nation, but this shouldn’t be an issue of red vs. blue—this is an issue of restricting access to health care for millions. Accessible and affordable health care is already limited in our country, and losing access to vital reproductive healthcare is just going to put more individuals and communities in danger. These bans impact marginalized communities the most, and we need public health officials to step in and take action to protect and expand access to abortion and broader reproductive health now. In 2021, the Department of Health and Human services took action and announced new resources to protect abortion patients and providers in Texas after the tragic passing of SB8. Unfortunately, at the same time, other states have been inspired by Texas’s limitations to abortion and by bans increasing across the country. Right-wing justices on the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, which is why it’s crucial that President Biden and HHS take action to prepare for the worst—and protect access to safe abortion for all. Sources: 1. "What’s Happening With Abortion Legislation in States Across the Country," The New York Times, April 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/article/abortion-laws-us.html 2. "Minority women most affected if abortion is banned, limited," Associated Press, February 1, 2022 https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-business-health-race-and-ethnicity-3fff455cce7ef0d8694f5371f805ea18 3. "The negative health implications of restricting abortion access," Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, December 13, 2021 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/abortion-restrictions-health-implications/ 4. "HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Announces Actions to Protect Patients and Providers in Response to Texas’ SB 8," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, September 17, 2021 https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/09/17/hhs-secretary-xavier-becerra-announces-actions-protect-patients-and-providers-response-texas-sb.html 5. "Roe v. Wade's future is in doubt after historic arguments at Supreme Court," NPR, December 1, 2021 https://www.npr.org/2021/12/01/1060508566/roe-v-wade-arguments-abortion-supreme-court-case-mississippi-law

Nurses have gone above and beyond to keep the Stanford hospitals running through the pandemic and to maintain the world-class care that has built the hospitals’ reputations. In the face of a staffing crisis, unprecedented case loads and extremely high patient acuity, Nurses have continued to pour our hearts into helping our patients. Since January, we have put forward proposals in contract bargaining to address serious issues and create a sustainable workplace for Nurses at Stanford’s adult and children’s hospitals, but management just keeps saying no to many of our demands. Even after working with a federal mediator after our contracts expired on March 31, we were unable to reach a fair agreement. The hospitals have refused to acknowledge the understaffing that makes our work so hard. We are fighting to recruit more Nurses, reward the Nurses are working in the critical care areas, allow Nurses to take time to rest and recover, and to get meaningful mental health resources to Nurses who need them. When we could not get these basic commitments from the hospitals, more than 93 percent of eligible Nurses voted to authorize a strike. Now, the hospital executives are trying to use our health benefits as a weapon to break our resolve and prevent the strike. This decision is cruel and immoral. Health benefits should not be used against workers, and especially against the very health care professionals who have made Stanford a world-class health system. Please stand with Nurses and demand that the CEOs David Entwistle and Paul King immediately reverse this decision and pledge to maintain our benefits while we work to reach an agreement. Colleen Borges, pediatric oncology Nurse at Lucile Packard and CRONA president Kathy Stormberg, radiology Nurse at Stanford and CRONA vice president Eileen Pachkofsky, pediatric oncology Nurse at Lucile Packard and CRONA vice president

INDICTING THESE INDIVIDUALS IS ONLY FAIR! COMMIT THE CRIME, DO THE TIME! By NOT acting, & indicting them, YOU ARE ENABLING THEM, TOO! By your inaction, you are normalizing terroristic behavior from our elected public officials. Congress has ways to deal with traitors amongst their ranks. THERE ARE LAWS TO DEAL WITH THEM! USE THEM!!!!!! CENSURE THEM! WRITE RESOLUTIONS TO EXPEL THEM! DEMOCRATS, CALL FOR THEM ALL TO BE EXPELLED! DO YOUR JOB TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC FROM FUTURE DOMESTIC ENEMIES. You took the oath, to protect us from enemies, foreign & domestic. HONOR YOUR OATH! If you DON'T indict them, they are emboldened to continue lying to the public, inciting continued violence from their supporters, & not only obstructing a Democratic agenda, but still in office, pressing for their abysmal agenda, which persecutes women, children & families across the nation. Furthermore, since they're not charged with insurrection, they can run for re-election, no problem! And continue terrorizing the country! WE CALL ON CONGRESS & WHITE HOUSE & DOJ TO DO YER JOB!!! CENSURE, CHARGE, REMOVE THESE TRAITORS FROM OFFICE, & BAR THEM FROM FUTURE ELECTIONS. I personally urge all of you to DESIGNATE THE GOP AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION! Although this sounds fair to me, probably most Americans would not agree with this measure - yet.