On March 29, 2020, the state of Ohio shut down. The US Government passed the CARES act to ensure that US Citizens had a necessary financial lifeline to pay their bills in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The state of Ohio's unemployment system was grossly outdated and lacked the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the federal CARES act to supply Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to millions of Ohioans. As a result, there was a massive delay in providing assistance to those individuals and families who needed it the most. The tip waged, the contract employed, the freelance, gig-workers and the self-employed. These are some of Ohio's lowest paid workforce. The Ohio PUA system did not go live until May 12th, over a month after the shut down, a time when many fell egregiously behind on their bills and struggled to provide. They were assured that back pay would be given. On July 15, the ODJFS erroneously and maliciously flagged over 226,000 Ohioan's PUA claims as fraud, most of which are erroneous flags as these individuals did provide their proof of income, proof of identity and banking information upon filing and these claims were not approved until they did so. The Ohio Unemployment system was already exhaustively overwhelmed by the sheer number of claims which they are responsible to process. Now hundreds of thousands of workers and their families have had their only source of income taken from them without notice, without cause, and without explanation. Calls to the PUA hotline went unanswered as did calls to the adjudication centers. Individuals who did manage to reach a representative were given a plethora of flimsy excuses and outright lies as to what was going on. The reality is, they didn't know either and could offer no help whatsoever. The amount of misinformation provided by the agency was staggering. Calls and letters to the governor, the state representatives, and the news media went ignored for over a week. According to a recent interview with the news media, Kimberly Hall of the ODJFS finally addressed the situation and claimed that these 226,000 individuals are legitimate cases of fraud. She employed this excuse to justify not paying benefits to already struggling Ohio families in the midst of a global pandemic. There is no logical or conscionable reasoning for Ms. Hall's handling of this matter. There is no logical or conscionable reasoning for withholding benefits to individuals who have already submitted their information upon applying for assistance. Above all else, there is no logical or conscionable reasoning for the director of the ODJFS to be so concerned with fraud in the middle of a global pandemic as to go so far as to erroneously deny benefits to hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who are the most at risk for homelessness due to this crisis. With the abundance of resources available, to say that there was no other way to detect and address fraud in this system is not only irresponsible, but an immense dereliction of her duty to the people of Ohio to whom she is responsible for assisting. The reasons Ms. Hall has cited do not hold up. Her reasons were that individuals were having their personal bank accounts compromised, particularly online banking institutions and prepaid card systems. It is the responsibility of the individual and their financial institution to investigate fraudulent transactions to their personal bank accounts. It is the agency's duty to ensure those individuals are paid on time. Stopping the payments injures innocent citizens and does nothing to punish the criminals. Other reasons cited were failure to prove identity or income, to which each application could not be approved without, and if so, that responsibility falls on those who approved the claims without verifying the information from the start. The excuses are invalid, there is no justification in the world that the state of Ohio or the ODJFS can provide which can justify the course of action that they used to address this matter and their own incompetence. The already overburdened unemployment system cannot support the abundance of claims it currently has. We've spent 81 million on this failed system and now will require many more millions of dollars to adequately train and employ enough workers to facilitate the correction of Ms. Hall's incompetence. In the meantime, 226,000+ Ohioans are at risk of being homeless by next week when their rent or mortgages are unable to be paid. Children will go hungry as the lifeline providing for them has been unceremoniously cut without remorse or resolution. The freeze on evictions and foreclosures has been lifted and the food banks are empty. Ohio has failed it's most at risk populations by the choices and political motivations of one individual. This issue requires IMMEDIATE resolution to those affected. If Ms. Hall and the ODJFS is incapable of fulfilling that resolution, then further action by the State of Ohio to ensure that IMMEDIATE action is taken to prevent homelessness, hunger and poverty to those impacted by this crisis. The people of Ohio deserve answers. They deserve to be paid. They deserve a state that is aimed to see them succeed in the midst of this crisis. In the midst of a pandemic, there is a responsibility to ensure the livelihoods of ALL Ohioans, this was the very PURPOSE of the federal CARES act and the PUA. Ms. Hall has utilized this opportunity to facilitate an unnecessary fraud investigation against the people of Ohio with regard to their financial institutions. It is the responsibility of the individual and their financial institution to determine fraud, and is a gross overreach of the ODJFS Director. The State of Ohio has ignored its citizens for too long in this matter and immediate resolution is now sought.

Buried in the 177-page GOP COVID-19 relief proposal are BILLIONS of dollars for weapons of war wish list: fighter jets, helicopters, and missile defense systems. That’s right, while they’re nickel and diming families who desperately need protections and benefits to put food on their tables and keep roofs over their heads — Senate Republicans are ready to hand out $29 BILLION for Pentagon pet projects completely unrelated to COVID-19. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the power to reject this absurd proposal and stop it entering the final bill, because nothing the Senate has proposed can become law without House approval. Add your name to tell Speaker Pelosi: NO COVID-19 relief money for weapons of war!

On July 22, 2020, the Department of Labor & Industries announced the launch of a new spoken language interpreting scheduling system with Interpreting Works starting in Fall 2020. The Department of Labor & Industries is requesting that all interpreters enroll now. This is a real-time listing of available interpreting jobs located in proximity, accessible through mobile devices or a home PC. It also syncs jobs assignments with calendars and provides electronic invoicing for PROMPT PAYMENT. Who is responsible for paying the Language Access Providers? The Department of Labor & Industries or Interpreting Works? Under RCW 41.56.113 (2) “This Subsection (2) applies only if the state does not make the payments directly to the language access provider. Upon the authorization of a language access provider within THE BARGAINING UNIT and after CERTIFICATION or RECOGNITION of the BARGAINING UNIT’S exclusive bargaining representative, the state SHALL require through its contracts with third parties that” a. The payment of monthly union dues as certified by the secretary of the exclusive bargaining representative be deducted from the payments to the language access provider and transmitted to the treasure of the exclusive bargaining representative. Labor & Industries is implementing SSB 6245 affecting language access providers without a Collective Bargaining Unit in place. The state of Washington introduced a House Bill 2691 as amended by the Senate in the 2020 regular session relating Collective Bargaining for Language Access Providers, Approved by Governor Inslee on April 2, 2020. This amendment gives the right to language access providers from the Department of Labor & Industries under RCW 41.56.030 to have a “Bargaining Representative” for collective bargaining to a lawful organization. The Scope of collective bargaining for language access providers is limited solely to: 1. Economic Compensation such as the manner and rate of payments, including tiered payments. 2. Professional development and training. 3. Labor-management committees. 4. Grievance procedures. 5. Health and welfare benefits; and other economic matters. The “Exclusive Bargaining Representative” of language access providers in the unit specified in (a) of this subsection shall be representative CHOSEN IN AN ELECTION conducted pursuant to RCW 41.56.070. Governor Inslee, Interpreters Rising is a labor movement organization that encourages the practice to have a collective bargaining unit, the practice to organize, the practice to unionize. The Department of Labor & Industries is acting unilaterally without a bargaining representative to represent language access providers. Such action constitutes a violation of our labor rights. Due to the unprecedented nature of the Coronavirus Pandemic Crisis, Labor Organizations have not been allowed to hold group campaigns or union card signing events as we are observing and adhering to social distancing guidelines set forth by your office. However, Labor & Industries Language Access Providers deserve the freedom to choose their representative by election. The right to fair working conditions, and the right to Unionize! We are calling on you to please take prompt action and delay SSB 6245 from taking effect until June 30, 2021.

Donald Trump is the antithesis of every value upon which the New York Yankees community is based, and has gone out of his way many times over to offend, dehumanize, and harm the very people upon whom the organization depends, both players and fans. He has no business stepping foot through the stadium doors, let alone onto the mound in a position of honor.

To protect the health of teachers, students and community members and create equity for all students regardless of wealth.

Ahead of their in-person conference that was to be held in Orlando, Florida this month, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) stockpiled PPE that would last attendants the duration of the conference. Now however, ALEC has cancelled their in-person conference and opted for an all-virtual convention because of the spike in Florida’s COVID-19 cases. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ALEC has lobbied against public health all over the country. From Washington D.C. to state houses everywhere, ALEC has tapped their expansive network to push for early re-opening of the economy, lax public health rules and policies that clearly prioritize business profit over human lives. The consequences of their reckless actions are on full display as Florida has now become the COVID-19 epicenter of the world. ALEC has an obligation to give back to the very communities that have suffered as a result of their harmful lobbying practices by donating their stockpiled PPE to frontline workers.

COVID numbers have more than double with him making poor decisions for the state. The governor opened the state way too early. Now with him allowing the RNC to come to Florida shows extreme poor judgment and leadership. The handling of the vaccine in the state was totally chaotic. It could’ve been better. The vaccine with the help of President Biden setting a deadline has gotten distributed to several. If we left it to our governor, there will be several of us just sitting in our homes trying not to be infected.

Many students feel unsafe and are concerned for their health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Allowing students a choice to take either online or in-person classes will cause less confusion and will prevent students from being excluded from classes they already enrolled in (which has been happening to many Bloomsburg University students in order to ensure safe social distancing protocol).

We, the people of South Carolina, urge you to put the welfare of every citizen before partisan politics We, the people of South Carolina, urge you not to put educators and school employees in harm's way. We, the people of South Carolina urge you to make masks, social distancing, and all recommendations of the CDC our state policies. We, the people of South Carolina, request you declare a state of emergency in education and find an immediate way for distanced learning to reach every child in communities with no internet connectivity.

As we reopen our schools, we must also support the safety and economic stability of our local communities by ensuring that frontline workers are valued with living wages, family health care benefits, and access to quality, affordable child care and education. We must take this opportunity not just to recover from the COVID-19 crisis but to reset the course of investment in education. We must also begin to tear-down the systemic racism that denies all children a quality education and make fundamental changes to ensure all students and employees can learn and work in safe, clean, and supportive schools – now and into the future. To do so, plans to reopen our schools must be guided by these principles: **Distance Learning Until It is Safe to Reopen Health experts recommend 14 days of no new cases before resuming school in person. All the school districts that do not have low community spread of COVID and adequate resources for a full reopening should be able to continue virtual learning. We call upon local counties and the state government to support virtual learning with community resources and technology support. **Maintain Local Control Local school boards have the constitutional power to make educational decisions for their communities and should be free to do so without threats or punishments from state and federal authorities. School boards are uniquely suited to make the best decisions for their communities, as they are elected leaders who work in conjunction with local organizations to best serve their community. Local school boards should work with a panel of local health experts during the reopening process to make reopening decisions without interference from the State government. **Cover ALL employees wages and benefits as budgeted All workers are essential. As soon as it is safe, School Districts will resume in person learning. In order to maintain continuity and availability of an experienced workforce, we are calling for the School Districts to continue to cover ALL employees wages and benefits as budgeted. The State should call on the Federal Government to allocate additional resources for School Districts struggling during this financial crisis. **Focus on our communities The pandemic has laid bare how much working families depend on schools for food, child care, wellness and other basic needs. Community organizations that support families by becoming “safe havens” for children during working hours should be fully supported by the school district. As communities recover, schools must more fully engage parents and front line workers to identify neighborhood needs and appropriately target the expansion of meal programs, after school activities, health care access (including COVID-19 testing) and other safety-net services. **Ensure full support and resources for our most vulnerable students The shutdown of our schools has disproportionately impacted students of color, immigrants and students with special needs, as well as the essential classified school workers who provide them with critical services. As School Districts are considering reopening plans, learning-loss and achievement gaps must be addressed immediately through expanded instructional assistance, full access to technology for all, counseling and other services that support vulnerable students. School boards need the flexibility to work with individual families and staff to best meet the needs of students, including home visits or other workable solutions. School boards must provide language and translation services for non-English-speaking parents **Prioritize safety and cleanliness for all In the past, the regular sanitizing of classrooms and campuses has long been regarded as a “wish-list” item for schools rather than a priority. As a result, maintenance budgets have suffered the greatest budget cuts, staffing levels have been drastically reduced and school districts have struggled to maintain basic cleanliness standards. We are calling for a SAFE reopening of schools, which will require proper protective equipment for all, training, testing and appropriate staffing of maintenance workers to protect students in every environment where they learn – from school buses to classrooms to playgrounds and cafeterias. CDC Guidelines should be fully adhered along with advice from local health experts. **Training and Technology Support School Districts must invest in providing training on new safety protocols as well as training on new technology. The schools should also provide technology support for the staff who are expected to perform duties virtually during this time. Staff and families also need additional training on best practices to reduce the spread of COVID and other germs. **Recognize and respect the role of essential school workers As most of the world has sheltered at home, custodians, food service workers and other essential school staff have risked exposure to COVID-19 to maintain the safety and well-being of our communities. But their recognition as heroes of the pandemic has also highlighted the low-wage, part-time nature of this predominantly Black and Brown workforce. As we rebuild our schools, we must also support the economic stability of our local communities by ensuring that the contributions of frontline workers are valued with living wages, family health care benefits, and access to quality, affordable child care. **Bold investment in our schools and communities Our response to this unprecedented pandemic cannot be budget cuts and business as usual. We must challenge elected leaders to create a more progressive fiscal system. We must create new revenue streams where the wealthy pay their fair share and our budget is not balanced on the backs of school custodians, cafeteria workers, special education assistants and other essential employees. We must put equity for all of our students and staff at the center of our rebuilding efforts.

To mitigate the spread and devastating effects of the COVID19 virus within our Community. ALL City employees are charged with protecting the safety and well being of ALL Wausau residents. They should be wearing masks.

In the information age, all Mississippians need fiber-to-the home broadband and our EPA is the only one who can do it for 100% of us. On July 18th 2020, FIFTEEN Mississippi electric co-ops submitted applications for over $73,000,000 in grant funds. However, our EPA was not one of them.