The summer heat has begun and farm workers and other outdoor workers desperately need a federal heat standard. With the way the government has shifted to the right, the need is more urgent than ever. An example occurred on June 17. Texas is first in work-related heat exposure deaths and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just made it worse. He signed a bill to nullify local laws mandating water breaks for construction workers. Farm workers will surely face the same risks if conservative values overrule common sense protections in state and local government. The only real solution to save lives is federal action. Demand OSHA enact immediate heat regulations. Heat risk is real. Climate change is happening and outdoor workers are more and more in danger every year. Extreme temperatures could make thousands of workers seriously ill -- and even suffer heat stroke and die. Farm workers are as much as 35 times more likely to die from heat than any other civilian occupation. Only a handful of states -- California, Oregon and Washington -- have policies on farm work in extreme heat. This lack of regulations puts farm workers in an impossible situation where they are forced to choose between making a living and taking care of their health. Currently, OSHA is relying on the "general duty" clause that says the general duty of an employer is to provide safe working conditions. That's not enough. Instead, workers need more robust enforcement, including criminal proceedings. The men, women and children working in our fields can't wait. A Department of Labor committee just recommended OSHA pass permanent rules, but that can take years. Workers need immediate heat standards to be put in place NOW -- before people die due to political gamesmanship like Gov. Abbott's move. Leaders in Congress have been working on this, but to date, nothing has been passed. Heat deaths are preventable tragedies. The prevention is nothing complicated: shade, cool water, rest, education and monitoring. Sign our petition today and demand OSHA enact immediate heat regulations NOW!

The Board of Supervisors in Grayson County, Virginia is under attack by Evangelical Christian churches seeking to ban abortion care. We can't let that happen. The Virginia Constitution and Virginia Act for Religious Freedom firmly declare that religious extremism has no place in politics. Abortion is still legal in Virginia, and Grayson County does not have the power to countermand state law. This local ordinance was drafted by the FEDERALIST SOCIETY and TEXAS RIGHT TO LIFE for the purpose of sowing division and confusion for people seeking abortion care in rural southwest Virginia – the last central access point in the South for reproductive healthcare. Please join us in asking the Board of Supervisors to reject this harmful ordinance.

Many lives are at risk.

It’s important that this change happen because the death of my son destroyed me and my family and other families

We, the students of Northwestern University have been disheartened by the news that Dr. Sherrell Luckett will not be joining our academic community in the upcoming fall quarter. As students who recognize her exceptional qualifications and contributions to the field of drama and performance studies, we believe it is imperative to understand the reasons behind this decision and explore potential avenues for rectifying the situation. Dr. Luckett's impressive credentials are undeniable. With her distinguished position as the founding Director of the Black Acting Methods Studio and the Director of the Helen Weinberger Center for Drama and Playwriting at the University of Cincinnati (UC), she brings a wealth of expertise and experience to our institution. Her numerous affiliations and collaborations, both within and outside UC, highlight her dedication to interdisciplinary approaches and the pursuit of excellence. Her influential residencies at esteemed institutions like the Lincoln Center, Harvard University, and 92Y further demonstrate her impact on the arts and scholarship. We, the students of Northwestern University, firmly believe in the importance of transparency and fairness in our academic community. Therefore, we request that the university administration provide us with a clear explanation of the circumstances that led to Dr. Luckett's exclusion. We deserve to know why a highly qualified and respected individual has been denied the opportunity to contribute to our learning environment. By signing this petition, we express our support for Dr. Sherrell Luckett's appointment and urge the university administration to address our concerns promptly. We believe that a thorough investigation into this matter will not only promote transparency but also ensure the inclusion of exceptional scholars within our academic community.

It's important to the citizens of the city to have a police department who uphold the law and not above it. With great responsibility there must be oversight. Policing like this is dangerous, if am officer will be so cold to shoot an innocent animal like this we prefer him to not have a badge to kill humans next.

First, some of you have asked, why boycott Marriott after the fact. Because we need to send them a message that aligning with this radical hate group "has a cost" and also send a message to all other corporations that might align with or donate to Mom's for Liberty that there "will be a cost." Moms for Liberty is an organization that has been labeled an anti-government, anti-student inclusion and a radical group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The organization has ties with the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, sovereign citizen groups, QAnon conspiracies, Christian nationalists, and in one case, with the founder of the AK-47-worshiping Rod of Iron Ministries church in Pennsylvania. The organization quotes Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin in their materials. Marriott needs fumigate the Philadelphia Downtown Hotel because once you let "roaches" in, it's hard to get rid of them Marriott's diversity policy is nonsense! Marriott's LGBTQIA+ policy is total BS! Instead they chose: Profits over diversity! Money over morality! Cash over conscience! Send them a message that if they accept hate, they don't get our business. Some of you have also mentioned that in order to sign the petition, moveon.org requests your email so they can send you email blasts. This may be true, but unlike change.org, they don't sell your information and you can immediately unsubscribe as soon as you get the first email. Additionally some of you have indicated that you have a problem with moveon.org because they have supported "extremists." Please note that when you sign our petition you are not supporting moveon.org, you are supporting our petition. If you know of a better website to host our petition, we will gladly consider it. SIGN THIS PETITION AS YOUR "PLEDGE" THAT YOU WILL NOT VISIT OR STAY AT A MARRIOTT OR AFFILIATED PROPERTY (LISTED BELOW) UNTIL MARRIOTT DISAVOWS MOM'S FOR LIBERTY! STAND STRONG AGAINST HATE! Michael "Mike" Gottesman, Attorney (Retired) Founder, New Jersey Public Education Coalition www.njpecoalition.org www.facbook.com/groups/njpec [email protected] Twitter @njpecoalition TikTok @njpecoalition

Time and time again, the far-right majority of the Supreme Court puts special interests and politics ahead of people and above delivering justice under the law. But we will not be silenced. Millions have had to wait in economic limbo for nearly a year—we will not accept a return to the failed status quo. It’s up to President Biden and his administration to ensure we finally receive promised relief another way. Student debt fuels economic, gender, and racial inequality. Our persistent racial wealth gap means that students of color, especially those who are Black and brown, are more likely to have student debt, borrow in higher quantities, and face more struggles in repayment. A higher education should be the key to a better future, instead of a lifetime debt sentence that limits borrowers’ ability to buy homes, start small businesses, and save for retirement, cutting into opportunities for wealth-building over their lifetimes. This is why student loan cancellation is so important. Republicans and Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices cannot have the last word. We won’t let them win. We have to push back and be in solidarity with each other. Together, we can keep getting loud to show the Biden administration that we need them to use every single tool in their toolbox to give millions of Americans the relief they need.

In Illinois, pain patients are a very marginalized and stigmatized community. Pain medicine prescriptions continue to decrease, as doctors become afraid of legal reprisal, while we have a record number of overdose fatalities. Previously stable patients on long-term pain therapy have taken their lives or, in desperation, been forced to resort to the illicit market, which has caused even more overdoses. Illinois has one of the lowest prescribing rates in the US but the 14th highest number of deadly overdoses. Recent data reveals that not a single overdose fatality is attributable to prescription pain medicine. The state agencies are substituting their judgment for doctors and destroying the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. Many people are unaware of the toll that restrictive state policies have taken on Illinoisans. Oncologists have decreased prescriptions by 50%. Children with terminal illnesses are denied pain relief. Veterans, who became injured serving our country, have lost access to their medicine—to such an extent that suicides increased by over 1/3. Millions of Illinoisans are one accident away from being a chronic pain patient, and even palliative care and hospice specialists are turning people away because they’re afraid of legal consequences. The American Pain & Disability Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that tries to protect the pain community. We have to fight with hospitals who won't give terminally ill children pain medicine, veterans who served us but are now in terrible pain from combat injuries, and more---but we can't protect doctors and patients as they need to be protected without legislation. The current policies are harming one of the most vulnerable communities in the state. You can visit our website for more information, at www.4APDF.org. Please support HB 2046 to protect pain patients and their healthcare providers—countless lives depend on it! Sign the petition to help get this bill passed now!

After interviewing more than three dozen BIPOC elders 50 to 80 years of age, we found most low and moderate-income elders are struggling desperately. Their living conditions, in public senior housing, assisted living, and not-quite-affordable market housing is very often deplorable: These are tiny living spaces, no storage, often dirty/stained, and with infestations (at no fault of their own), with poor air quality, and absolutely no green spaces. The health of these elders had become compromised, suffering from joint problems, asthma, hypertension, depression, anxiety, loneliness, despair, and at times, suicidal ideation. Not due so much to their age, but due to the deplorable living conditions, and lack of relationship or community. The above conditions can manifest as Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, along with manifestations of physically terminal and debilitating illnesses. This should not be, and we want to remedy this forgotten population and create community, relationships, and healthy living environments for them. When Gov. Healey spoke about opening state-owned land to build affordable housing, the Grandmothers’ Village Project attempted to schedule a meeting with her. Twice she canceled the meeting and the third time she just didn’t bother to respond. Viewing her posts on social media, I often wondered if she will only meet with an organization if there is a press photo opportunity. If this is true, it’s very sad that she will not meet with her constituents without the photo op! What needs to happen: We need a new and vibrant method of building affordable housing in Massachusetts. This housing should be off-grid electrified using solar, hydrothermal or geothermal methods of energy. We know about the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), the Biden Justice 40 Initiative, and other programs that are now available from the Federal government to afford the average, individual person a way to greenify and electrify their homes. This money is available for organizations and businesses as well. So, my question to Gov. Healey is this: Why not allow smaller organizations to build this desperately needed housing in a way that will never burden low-income folks financially. Nor will it cause illness through toxic building materials. Nor be so small that people are forced to downsize to a place of having nothing left that is meaningful to them. Gov. Healey cannot allow just the big developers to come in and build their status quo, cheap, toxic materialed housing where they pile as many people inside as possible. Their housing developments will be fossil-fueled creating a deeper burden financially for low and moderate-income residents. The Grandmothers’ Village Project would like to see all new housing built to be green and off the grid. We want to build it! We need your support! Please Sign this petition!

Former President Donald J. Trump is facing 37 federal charges, including 31 violations of the Espionage Act, for stealing from and refusing to return top-secret nuclear and military documents to the government. Trump believes he is above the law, and the outcome of this federal case is critical to proving to the nation that he is not. It’s imperative that an impartial, trustworthy judge oversee this high-stakes trial. Judge Cannon is not this person. Last year, Judge Cannon wrongfully intervened in the Department of Justice investigation into Trump’s withholding of classified documents, barring the DOJ from using the seized materials in the continued investigation. Her ruling was ultimately reversed by a conservative court, citing she had no authority to intervene. She claimed to be protecting his reputation as former president of the United States, but the court responded with, “To create a special exception here would defy our nation’s foundational principle that our law applies ‘to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank.’” It’s clear she did not adhere to the mandate of equal justice under the law. Despite federal law requiring judges to recuse themselves when their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or when they have “a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party,” she has yet to do so. And with the stakes this high, we can’t wait any longer for a judge with integrity to oversee this trial. Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga has authority under federal law and internal court procedure to reassign a new judge to this case, one who will prioritize equal justice under the law. Photo credit: Illustrated / AP Photo / Southern District of Florida

“The mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the profession’s history, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective: -service -social justice -dignity and worth of the person -importance of human relationships -integrity -competence.” (NASW) Social Work Core Competencies: Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities The links between human-animal violence have long been evidenced and recorded. The white supremacist patriarchal capitalist colonial machine objectifies and commodifies the living Earth through processes of social stratification, hierarchy, and psychological wages. Between factory farming, food deserts, social-economic inequities, health disparities, social determinants of health, environmental racism, colonial and patriarchal constructs of medicine, rape-culture, human-trafficking, drug-trafficking, wildlife-trafficking, global climate change, intimate partner violence, family violence, intergenerational abuses and traumas, urbanization, industrialization, housing injustices, genocide, displacement, and political-economic constructs of kyriarchal conglomerates of the Earth(ling) industrial complex, spawning from a culture of toxic masculinity, white supremacy, patriarchal, and imperialist senses of entitlement to the exploitation, abuse, domination, and possession of Earth(lings’) bodies, perpetuating cultures of exploitation and violence, the empirical evidence of the interconnectedness is irrefutable. The recognition of sentience and life in all beings is critical for fostering empathy and compassion for a harmonic and peaceful society and OTH animals deserve rights of their own. Several of our human clients’ main social support and sometimes only trusted social support, consists of their interspecies families. This ranges from the child who is bullied in school with little to no human friends, who cannot wait to go home to their canine family member, the cat being burned alive by the youth who feels helpless and enraged identifying with dad who is beating his mom while he is intoxicated as he learned it from his dad, and then that young person grows up to beat his partner, people experiencing poverty where there closest confidant and sometimes only confidante is their OTH companion or family member, the person who doesn’t attempt suicide and holds on, because of the love and connection they feel with their companion or family member, the examples are endless. The more-than-human world and re-connecting with our “roots” is essential for collective and individual healing, with more access to Our shared Nature as belonging to Earth, embracing values of connection, reciprocity, reverence, and compassion for all living beings. For more information on OTH animals in social work: https://socialwork.du.edu/humananimalconnection/about-institute-human-animal-connection https://www.routledge.com/Post-Anthropocentric-Social-Work-Critical-Posthuman-and-New-Materialist/Bozalek-Pease/p/book/9780367677855 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/janimalethics.7.1.0096 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-020-00697-x https://socialworksynergy.org/2014/12/03/social-work-beyond-human-rights/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230306868 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137372291 For more information about the links between human-animal violence: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151887 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742517769/Animal-Rights-Human-Rights-Entanglements-of-Oppression-and-Liberation https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-19201-2 https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvxhrmr1 https://burningbooks.com/products/racism-as-zoological-witchcraft http://blackyouthproject.com/three-ways-black-veganism-challenges-white-supremacy-unlike-conventional-veganism/ https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Violence-in-Ecofeminist-Perspective-Intersections-of-Animal-Oppression/Hunnicutt/p/book/9780367776916 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786606464/Critical-Animal-Studies-Towards-Trans-species-Social-Justice https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-link-between-animal-cruelty-and-human-violence#:~:text=Animal%20cruelty%20is%20a%20predictor,and%20sexual%20abuse%20of%20children. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246522/#:~:text=Often%2C%20companion%20animals%20can%20become,43%2C44%2C45%5D. https://nationallinkcoalition.org/what-is-the-link https://vetsocialwork.utk.edu/ https://www.fordham.edu/info/20361/gss_continuing