Due to COVID-19, 194,000 people have died in the US and other 6.5 million people have become ill with the virus, without knowing the long-term consequences of the disease. Following misleading information from the Federal Government, the disdain of many made of the pandemic a political flag, and little or no resources were offered, especially in minority communities. As usual, inequality takes its toll in our “hermanas” y “hermanos.” “For low-paid employees whose work is rarely if ever glorified — the people who clean the floors, do the laundry, serve fast food, pick the crops, work in the meat plants — having the jobs that keep America running has come with a heavy price. By the odd calculus wrought by the viral outbreak, they have been deemed “essential.” And that means being a target. Along with blacks, Latinos have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in California and other parts of the United States, becoming infected and dying at disproportionately high rates relative to their share of the population. Health experts say one of the main reasons Latinos are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 is because many work in low-paying jobs that require them to leave home and interact with the public,” said the LATimes.

The University's inaction in the face of ResStaff’s explicit concerns and action items over the last few weeks has made it clear that public health is not the priority. The University has repeatedly referred to the Wolverine Culture of Care, but has not extended this same care to us. If U of M administrators do not want to live up to the Michigan Difference, we will be the difference ourselves. Health comes first. ResStaff will not stand for anything less than policies and adequate resources that reflect this priority. As of Tuesday 9/8/2020 at 9PM, University of Michigan ResStaff have decided to strike on the basis of these demands: A. Regular access to testing for all of ResStaff (not only symptomatic individuals) B. Providing sufficient, effective PPE to ResStaff and Students C. Enforcement of social distancing and face coverings inside and outside of residence halls and dining halls D. Enforcement of currently unenforceable guest policy by non-student employees that can be seen by future employers or academic institutions E. Hiring and staffing to normal capacity for all facilities and housing teams F. More specific public and ResStaff communication and transparency G. Hazard pay for ResStaff H. A formal statement of no retaliation from Housing Administration should a ResStaff Union be formed A more detailed list with sub-items, as well as other resources, can be found on linktr.ee/umichresstaffreform. Tell University Housing to stop prioritizing its wealth, and start prioritizing the health of its students.

Now is the time to have paid sick leave for all Michigan workers! The COVID crisis has magnified just how vital paid sick leave is, and how unprepared we were when the pandemic hit. Paid sick leave has been proven to be an effective policy to reduce the spread of the virus. Paid sick leave for all workers is critical as we re-open, is the best way for businesses to stay open and would help get the nation working again while supporting public health. While Congress passed emergency paid leave for many, it was temporary and limited, omitting as many as 106 million workers nationally and 1.7 million working Michiganders, many of them essential workers and on the front lines risking their lives and further exposure. Many of these workers are disproportionately people of color, women, and low-wage workers. Michigan Paid Leave for All (MiPaidLeave4All) is a coalition of individuals, businesses, community groups and nonprofit organizations that have committed to organize and fight for the right of EVERY worker in Michigan to have access to paid sick time to take care of themselves and their loved ones when illness strikes. The coalition is composed of civil rights, economic justice, faith-based, and women’s rights organizations. Together, we are united in a long-term fight in Michigan for establishing Paid Leave for All. Combined, these organizations have decades of experience strategizing, organizing, and mobilizing on behalf of racial, economic and gender justice in policy making. We firmly believe that no singular group can bring about this change. Together, however, through a coalition built on trust, we will be able to fight for and amplify policies that enable workers to have the ability to care for the families they work to support and sustain without losing their jobs, incomes, or livelihoods. As a coalition of your collective constituents, we expect our goal of achieving a public health policy that affords paid leave for all Michigan workers to be heard, listened to, and supported by you. We know that working individuals, their families and the state are strongest with time to heal from illness or injury, to welcome a new child, to help a loved one recover, or to ease their passing. We believe that everyone should be able to take time to care for themselves or a loved one without risking their job or paycheck. Being there for family is what matters—no exceptions. Right now the United States is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave for members of its workforce. Current laws have failed to keep up with the needs of our workers, families, or our businesses in the 21st century. Having widespread access to paid leave would also give workers the confidence in their employers to abate their fears and concerns about getting exposed to COVID-19 (and other likely communicable illnesses) while on the job. Despite existing protections from retaliation for workers who are exposed or who may need to take time off to quarantine because they or a close contact has been exposed, many workers are still concerned that without adequate paid leave policies, they will have to choose between risking their physical health and their financial health. It’s a zero-sum situation and lose-lose situation for our workforce and the power to rectify that is at our collective fingertips. This is a workers’ rights issue, an economic justice issue, a racial justice issue, and a gender equity issue. And as a matter of equity, it’s time for paid sick leave for all of Michigan workers, not just those who already are lucky enough to have access to it. Because of dedicated community organizing Michigan has a Paid Sick Leave law; however, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that it is inadequate. We must update and expand it in the very short term in order to cover every working person, to provide paid leave for a longer period of time than the current law provides, and include health pandemics, as SB 961 sponsored by Sen. Erika Geiss does. We urge you to support SB 961 so that Michigan is never caught unprepared again, whether the crisis is national or personal.

The funding for Lyme disease is one of the lowest even though it is the fastest spreading Tick-Borne disease. Scientific research appears to be ignored or suppressed that could help patients, and conflicts of interest are present that can influence research, testing, and treatment. It is time that these things were addressed and for change to happen.

Lyme disease affects 300,000+ people however only a little over 30,000 cases are officially reported. Many of these individuals have long term effects even after treatment. The Lyme community has called for more effective testing and treatment over the past 30 years, but that request has fallen on deaf ears. They are told that testing and treatment is effective even though research indicates otherwise. Change needs to happen, lives are depending on it. Sign this open letter and make a difference.

America is failing in our fight to stop the Coronavirus pandemic. That’s because Donald Trump is a dangerous and narcissistic president who surrounds himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear. As a consequence, the U.S. Coronavirus death toll is far higher than it could have been. Many thousands of people have died because of Trump’s bogus claims and war against science. Scott Atlas is not an epidemiologist nor an infectious disease expert. But he does appear a lot on Fox News. Atlas even told notorious Fox News host Tucker Carlson, “There's no real good science on [the] general population, widespread in all circumstances, wearing masks.” This kind of bogus analysis is killing thousands of people across the United States. Atlas is a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford. The Hoover Institution is funded by right-wing foundations and donors who have an anti-government agenda. The Hoover Institute's director is former Bush adviser Condoleeza Rice. We must stop right-wing fringe voices like Scott Atlas and push for a rational public health strategy that stops the pandemic and protects the lives of people across our country. SOURCES: "A New Coronavirus Adviser Roils the White House With Unorthodox Ideas,” The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2020, authors Noah Weiland, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Michael D. Shear and Jim Tankersley. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-scott-atlas-coronavirus.html "Dr. Atlas on COVID mask message: 'Massive amount of fear, bordering on hysteria,'" Fox News, August 12, 2020. “Condoleezza Rice Begins Work As Hoover Institution Director,” Hoover Institution, Stanford University, September 1, 2020. https://www.hoover.org/news/condoleezza-rice-begins-work-hoover-institution-director Screenshot of Dr. Scott Atlas from Fox “News” used under Fair Use Doctrine.

Specifically, this legislation will: ● Require adequate transparency and approval around voting changes, including any attempts to deny voting rights or impose overtly stringent requirements for voters. ● Strengthen federal oversight and accountability around proposed changes to election procedures, particularly around specific measures and in specific jurisdictions that have a record of voter suppression. ● Grant the Attorney General authority to request federal observers be placed where racist threats to voting are prevalent. ● Ensure that “racial minority groups, language minority groups, or minority groups on Indian land” are not prevented from voting due to practices such as changing boundaries, voting locations or voter registration rolls. A recent Intersections of Our Lives poll shows that women of color voted at historic levels in the 2018 midterm election. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said the stakes were too high not to vote. Yet, 25 percent of Black, Latina, and Asian American and Pacific Islander women voters said they did not think their vote was counted accurately. Our democracy and our ability to influence decision-making that impacts our bodies, lives and families is fundamentally threatened when we are not all able to participate in the democratic process. #ProtectTheVote by signing this petition to show your support for voting rights. Urge Congress to take action to stop voter suppression. Call or email your Congressional leaders today, and let them know that you support the passing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!

Privatized ICE detention exacerbates the mass incarceration crisis created by the U.S. prison-industrial complex. Mass incarceration allows those in power to continue to exploit, forcibly displace, abuse and profit from people who are marginalized, disenfranchised, criminalized, and silenced. As one particularly brutal wing of this privatized system, ICA-Farmville has a history of failing inspections, failing to prevent and contain disease outbreaks, and failing to treat our immigrant friends, family, and neighbors with basic human dignity. Their profit-focused management has resulted in maggot-infested food, mumps and COVID outbreaks, and repeated inappropriate and unnecessary uses of force. Join our call to tell the investors who made this operation possible that profit from pain is inhumane.

There is much confusion among parents and teachers regarding Mon County’s re-entry plan for the 2020-2021 school year. The official release posted on 8/14 states that remote is no longer an option. But in emails sent 8/15, the board president states that remote is still an option, and The Dominion Post indicates that remote learning is one of the three plans sent to the governor on 8/14. How can both be true? The new plan (every-other-day instruction, with no remote option) was not an option on the Mon County parent survey but appears now to be the only plan available for families who want their students to be taught by local teachers. Additionally, the burden is placed on teachers, even those with families themselves, to bear the brunt of both remote and in-person classes. As a result, many families (including those of teachers) are reeling, contemplating leaving jobs and jeopardizing their livelihoods in order to provide the assistance their children will need in any of the remaining options, including every-other-day instruction, virtual, or homeschooling.

We've told you about the dire situation happening at Primex Farms, a nut company in Wasco CA. The situation is escalating. According to a July 26 CNBC article, 150 of the 400 workers have now tested positive. In addition, a UFW census shows 49 of their adult family members and 34 children have tested positive for COVID-19. Sadly, one Primex worker has since died. A second worker, who tested positive, was removed from life support and sent home for palliative care; she is not expected to survive. Protesting Primex's flawed response to the virus, employees walked out on strike and formed a picket line. Workers were requesting safety measures, including social distancing procedures, company provision of personal protective equipment such as face masks and payment of sick leave for infected or exposed employees. The company promised improvements, but when they did not happen, workers -- including those in quarantine with the virus -- defied the company and held a virtual press conference. Now the major pistachio and almond processing company is retaliating against key groups of outspoken workers. This company uses several staffing agencies to supplement their direct hire workforce. Many of the workers who spoke out worked through USA Staffing. On July 22, Primex told the dozens of workers employed by USA Staffing that they were terminated because “production had dropped” -- but then they brought in new workers the same day! Brisdey Nieto is one of these fired workers. She tells us, “The company's anti-union consultant told us that due to the union taking the actions it had taken the clients had heard and therefore production had dropped. They were firing us. I could not believe that. I saw that same day they hired new workers and that they had started working. If production had dropped; why hire new workers?” The UFW immediately filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board for the company illegally retaliating against the workers for union activities and joining together to improve conditions. Workers don't want to wait; they want their jobs back now and they want to be protected on the jobsite. They're asking you to sign their petition telling the company to rehire them, with appropriate coronavirus protections in place. Workers are hoping to turn in thousands of signatures in the next few weeks. Will you add your signature today?

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.