We have a right to clean air. In light of the recent fire at EMR, reports of air pollution, explosions and smells coming from the various industries in our community, hearing that GP Gypsum wants to increase their output extensively is extremely distressing and should be unconscionable considering we are designated as an Environmental Justice community. What does that designation mean if not that there is a dire need to reduce emissions and not allow them to increase? We love our community, and we need it to be healthy. Increasing emissions from any source in the neighborhood would be a huge step back and jeopardize public health in a City where childhood asthma rates are an alarming 33% (compared to 9% in NJ). We need the Department of Environmental Protection to protect our community from increased pollution and risk!

Representatives from ARC-SouthWest and South first were requested to stay at home until further notice. We were not offered to work from home, just like we have been doing since Covid started. This time, we were not offered any type of solution besides staying at home. On 2/22/21, we were ask to either use PTO or not get paid. There is a third option that upper management decided to ignore "reserved PTO" which is used for "emergencies". However, this option was never offered. This is hurtful, as an ARC employee I feel used. We have been working throughout Covid19 since March of 2020. We never complained about not getting hazardous pay or a raise. This is completely unfair and it should be illegal to steal PTO from employees. Upper management has been stepping all over us, as employee appreciation we got 1 canned water container from Rainwater... Why not using that money and give us at least a .5 raise? In the meantime we are opening 2 new clinics in Austin Texas. Please look into this, is not only ARC, other companies are following the steps of ARC. To top the cherry, most of our spouses are getting covered by "hazardous weather" and they get to keep their hard earned PTO. ARC needs to be brought to light and exposed their unfair treatment to their employees. I know we are not HEB but they should act better than this. Thank you for your time and consideration. Att: Really pissed off ARC employee

Democrats are in charge of the Senate -- and they’re vowing to use their majority to make cannabis legal.1 When Mitch McConnell was Senate Majority Leader any cannabis legalization bill was dead on arrival. But guess who’s not running the Senate anymore? Now we have a clear and urgent pathway to legalize cannabis and pass restorative justice reforms to address the millions of people harmed by the disastrous “War on Drugs.” Sign the petition: Tell Congress to repeal the cannabis ban and pass restorative justice reforms now! Back in November, along with electing President Joe Biden, every cannabis legalization or decriminalization initiative won at the ballot box.2 That’s a clear mandate. Of course, legalization is only part of the process. Right now, even though cannabis is legal in 15 states and DC, an estimated 40,000 people are still in jail for cannabis offenses.3 Democrats in Congress have been introducing bills to legalize cannabis and restore justice for low-level drug offenders for years. But Senator Mitch McConnell blocked cannabis legalization in the Senate. But McConnell no longer runs the Senate, and Democrats control Congress and the White House -- for now. If we want to see an end to the “War on Drugs,” then Democrats need to act now. Sign the petition: Tell Congress to repeal the cannabis ban and pass restorative justice reforms now! Sources: 1. CNBC, “Democratic senators will push to pass pot reform bill this year,” February 1, 2021. 2. Ibid. 3. Forbes, “With 40,000 Americans Incarcerated For Marijuana Offenses, The Cannabis Industry Needs To Step Up, Activists Said This Week,” June 26, 2020.

A nonprofit organization, COVAX, will help with distribution of more than 800,000 of the Astra Zeneca Covid vaccines to the Guatemalan government. These 800,000 vaccines will give priority to vaccinating healthcare workers. However, these 800,000 doses will only be enough to vaccinate approximately 2% of the Guatemalan population, given that two doses are required. Moreover, the efficacy of this vaccine after the 2nd dose is only 70%, which is a much lower efficacy than those vaccines being given in the U.S. Most of the population of Guatemala cannot expect to receive vaccines until at least the end of 2022.

We want Nevada to put Seniors First for receiving the Covid vaccine. To date, Nevada has not prioritized 65+ and residents with underlying conditions. Meanwhile, most states (three-quarters) have given these “at risk” groups top priority. In fact, Florida has vaccinated 65+ seniors for nearly 2 months. In Nevada, the 60+ age group makes up 84% of the Covid deaths. While Nevada’s older population continues to die from this disease, many non-essential, younger workers have received the vaccine. The current playbook is simply not working equitably. Since January 12, the CDC has recommended that all states adopt the 65+ guideline and we ask Governor Sisolak, and other county/state officials to immediately do the same. Lives are at stake, especially the most vulnerable citizens.

The New Hampshire Progressive Coalition is deeply disappointed, though not at all surprised, by the decision by a majority of Republicans in the US Senate to acquit Donald Trump of the crimes for which he is obviously and demonstrably guilty. This acquittal, undertaken by a group of officials who were not only jurors and judges, but also witnesses to and victims of the charged crime, should drive home an understanding among people of good will that the Republican party as a whole has abandoned all semblance of decency, fairness, and fealty to the rule of law and the tenets of democracy. Given the behavior of the Republicans, and taking them at their word, we fully expect the GOP to be as resistant as possible to any and every initiative that the Biden Administration and the Democrats propose. Though Democrats hold a majority, it is a slim one that requires that all Democratic representatives and senators #LinkArms and stand together.

Millions of people around the world may not get COVID-19 vaccines until as late as 2024--unless President Biden reverses the Trump administration’s deadly Big Pharma boondoggle at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

We, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, call on President Biden to take action for immigrant rights. We will hold President Biden accountable to the immigrant rights reforms he already promised AND also demand that he works to demilitarize the border and provide legalization for all. We have not forgotten the three million people who were deported under the Obama-Biden administration. Justice today does not only look like reversing anti-immigrant policies but actively seeks to repair the harm that has already been done to countless families. MIRAC will continue to push for legalization for all and an end to the whole system that profits from the mass-incarceration and the mass-deportation of immigrants, and also from the superexploitation of the labor of immigrants who live under constant fear of deportation. Please sign our petition to tell President Joe Biden to meet these demands! If you would like to get involved with MIRAC, please provide your email here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uUMnByB-S6JGMOd7q9wgyavae_5sXwQEcpsbTOKFOgk/edit

Unless policies change, billions of people around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries will not get access to a COVID-19 vaccine until 2024. This is a threat to people around the world, to the US, and to the entire global economy. We can address this problem by ensuring that intellectual property restrictions do not interfere with vaccine access. President Biden himself committed to share vaccine technology with other countries when asked this past summer by activist Ady Barkan. One critical way to remove barriers to vaccine access is to reverse the Trump administration’s deadly opposition to the WTO TRIPS Waiver proposal. U.S. opposition to this waiver, a hallmark of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 failure, is a huge roadblock to efforts to produce and manufacture accessible and affordable vaccines for all. The waiver would allow for the production of generic versions of vaccines and treatments necessary to end the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives worldwide. The people of the U.S. stand with South Africa, India, and over 100 other countries: we want President Biden to stop opposing this proposal to temporarily waive World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that protect pharmaceutical corporation profits over human health.

This is extremely important because we do not want to send out the wrong message to members on our campus or elsewhere, nor do we want to give a platform to someone who has explicitly expressed views contrary to our call to respect the dignity and life of all people. While she may have a unique testimony to becoming an anti-abortion activist, Abby Johnson, in recent videos and Twitter posts, has expressed beliefs and values that do not embody the Church's or Catholic University's consistent life ethic, including egregiously racist remarks and arguments.

Governor Cooper just held a press conference asking schools to begin offering in-person education. However, coronavirus numbers are still revising, with dangerous, more transmittable variants spreading, and the state isn't offering any protection to keep teachers safe. Teachers need to be protected before requiring them to return to in-person instruction. The variant strains identified in North Carolina make the virus much more infectious and allow transmission with much less viral load. Statistics have also recently shown that children make up 1/5 of the cases in North Carolina and have been key in virus transmission. Everyone is talking about the kid's safety while ignoring that school buildings are full of adults too- many of them high-risk. This response by Governor Cooper is not based on science and what is best for our teachers and students- it is based on pressure to return to in-person school regardless of the consequences. If teachers are being required to return to in-person instruction, they should at least have the option for protection of the available vaccine. Vaccinate teachers now.

My name is Lois and I live in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Before the pandemic I worked at an Inn as a dishwasher -- but then, like millions across the country, I was laid off. Each month without work is an impossible decision between paying my water and sewer bill or making repairs on the house so it’s not condemned. It feels like I’m never going to get out of my terrible financial situation. I need to be able to take care of my family. I'd like to get back to work at a safe, good paying job and ideally it would be doing something that helps the country. I want to help us build back better with clean energy -- with the right training, I would be a great administrator or an instructor that we need to make it happen. Clean energy workers are builders, roofers, engineers, electricians, accountants, administrators, researchers and teachers who are all working to deliver renewable energy, like wind or solar power, to create a cleaner, safer, more just country, and I’d love to join them. Congress should see these crises as an opportunity. They have the power to get us back to work NOW, after delivering relief checks, while also tackling the climate crisis and environmental injustice. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can lead the way. We can solve these problems all at once. Climate Action = Jobs, and right now we NEED good paying jobs that get folks like me back to work ASAP. President Biden’s plan to build back better with clean energy means creating millions of good-paying, clean energy union jobs that provide relief. And it means protecting our air and water for communities suffering from decades of environmental racism, who are consequently disproportionately suffering from COVID. At the same time, we’d tackle the biggest existential crisis of our time -- climate change. Millions of people like me want to get back to work. We want to be part of the fastest growing industry in America, which we need to grow even faster. At 50, I’m an older worker, and it’s harder for me to find work. The hospitality industry that I was in before the pandemic has been affected badly and probably won’t recover for a while. I’ve been trying to cobble together unemployment insurance, and the $600 stimulus check was helpful, but it’s gone, and without work I can’t pay my bills. With the right investments in our economy, all of us can thrive. Congress needs to deliver for the American people as quickly as possible. We can build a clean energy future and create good paying jobs, with an emphasis on the low-income communities and communities of color who are bearing the brunt of COVID and the climate crisis. Congress -- we have no time to wait. ADD YOUR NAME: Demand Congress take immediate action to create clean energy jobs and get Americans back to work NOW. Lois P. Pittsfield, Massachusetts