This is the petition we’ll deliver to our governor, legislators, regulators, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, and other elected and appointed officials during the Pennsylvania Climate Convergence in Harrisburg this June.

The United Farm Workers elected farm worker leadership requested to meet with Gov. Newsom on Cesar Chavez Day. The Governor has chosen to not meet with farm workers elected by their peers. Farm workers are speaking up. A worker delegation will go to Sacramento to meet with the state Latino Caucus on March 31. Support them by signing their petition today. Farm workers will make it clear to CA's Gov. Newsom that a living legacy to Cesar is not just proclamations and holidays. It's meeting with those most impacted when making public policy decisions. It's taking decisive steps to make real change. Last year Gov. Newsom vetoed their landmark bill which would have granted farm workers the same voting options California voters have enjoyed for years. These are the same voting choices that Governor Newsom used to defeat the Republican recall in 2021, including giving people the option of casting ballots in the comfort and security of their own homes. His veto came despite huge support for the bill in both state houses. The 50 billion dollar agricultural industry has strong opposition to the bill. Farm worker Francisco Naranjo organized support for the bill last year. He is committed to making this law happen saying, "Without this law farm workers don't have a fighting chance. Growers will continue to manipulate the process and intimidate us to take away our voice. Being allowed the privilege to vote offsite would allow farm workers to make their own decision and vote for a union with its benefits without supervisors' interference." Farm workers ask people to listen to them, to join in conversation, and to help their voices be heard by those in power. Sign the petition asking Governor Newsom to sign the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act.

The CannaJustice Coalition leading this work in VA is proudly partnering with Minorities for Medical Marijuana and Morring Law firm here in the Commonwealth to push this message forward. Legalization can be a way to dismantle the War on Drugs or re-activate it. As the number four reason for deportation and the reason why many are barred from housing, education and employment, we must legislate legalization that makes the public feel safe, and ensure police are not targeting them for a legal substance. As of August 31, 2021, the state is responsible for incarcerating 570 people for 599 marijuana-related offenses. There are 229 people incarcerated with a non-drug related Most Serious Offense (MSO), 331 people incarcerated with Drug Sales MSO and 10 people incarcerated with Drug Possession MSO with their families sooner. There are even more of our loved ones on community supervision due to marijuana that need to be set free from surveillance. Cannabis expert, Shaleen Title, explains that this a crucial and vulnerable moment for the future of the cannabis market. While states are making historic progress creating paths for small businesses and disenfranchised groups, larger companies are expanding, consolidating, and lobbying for licensing rules to create or maintain oligopolies. Federal legalization will only accelerate the power grab already happening with new, larger conglomerates openly expressing interest. Left unchecked, this scramble for market share threatens to undermine public health and safety and undo bold state-level efforts to build an equitable cannabis marketplace and reduce the impact of disproportionate policing. Virginia must recognize our role in protecting our people but also our place in the federal legalization conversation that stands up to exploitative businesses and demands an equitable return for those impacted by the racist War on Drugs.

Wolves are key apex predators for balanced ecology of wild lands. Yellowstone Park in 1960s is a good example of what will happen to wild land when wolves are absent, total collapse of ecology, no animals or vegetation. Without sufficient healthy wild land, our future generation will not even have clean water to survive. Hence the Federal government's project Conservation Atlas. You cannot conserve healthy wild land without having healthy numbers of wolves. Killing them must stop NOW. Protect them now, they will repay us in tenfold.

Collectively we can make changes for the betterment of our youth and the communities through work release, education, innovation and hard work.

For decades spanning several councilmembers and prosecutors, the Detroit Shoreway has tried time and again to frame American Food Market as a cause for drug distribution within the community yet despite numerous police raids and injunctions have found no evidence for these claims. As of March 4th, 2022, Councilwoman Jenny Spencer and the Cuyahoga prosecutor's office of Michael o'Malley chose to enact a nuisance law rarely used in history as a new tactic to shut the store down temporarily. They claim it is the responsibility of the store owners to enforce laws surrounding drug trafficking happening near the store or else suffer the consequences for other people's actions. It is the duty of law enforcement to patrol the neighborhood from crime, not small business owners.

First the Florida GOP described the “Don’t Say Gay” bill–HB 1557–as legislation that would protect parents’ rights in education. But now Governor DeSantis’ press secretary has exposed the real agenda behind this egregious bill. In a recent Twitter post, the governor’s spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, accused the bills’ opponents of being groomers of young children (aka pedophiles), going so far as to single out Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a legislator of the utmost integrity. In earlier controversies, Pushaw called the Archbishop of Miami a liar, blamed Democrats for organizing a Nazi rally to hurt the governor, and harassed members of the media for reporting factual information.

Riverside Hospital has systematically and consistently failed to provide adequate staffing on all units leading to patients experiencing delayed or missed care, missed activities and interventions, and delays in admissions. Riverside Hospital has an obligation to its staff and community to provide the best care possible, not the most cost-efficient care possible. RN morale is at an all-time low and nurse mental and physical health is in jeopardy as they are not able to provide the care that their patients need and deserve. With the current staffing conditions RNs are “triaging” their responsibilities, potentially leading to serious consequences. The current unsafe staffing conditions will only worsen as our colleagues consider retirement or resignation in order to find better staffing and working conditions with other employers.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is celebrated for abolishing slavery, but what if we told you slavery is still legal? There’s actually an exception clause in the Thirteenth Amendment that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. Today, more than 150 years since its passage, incarcerated people — many of whom are Black and brown — are forced to work for little to no pay. Incarcerated people who refuse to work are often beaten, denied visits and calls from loved ones, put in solitary confinement, and even denied parole. BUT, there’s hope! In the last 3 years, three states have ended this exception in their state constitutions and truly abolished slavery. In 2018, Colorado became the first state since Rhode Island — the only state to have fully abolished slavery prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment — to end the exception and abolish slavery. Utah and Nebraska followed in 2020. In all three states, the ballot initiatives were the result of unanimous, bipartisan legislative votes. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the social awakening of many people across the U.S. to the horrifying reality of anti-Black racism, more than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions. Tennessee, Vermont, Oregon, Louisiana and Alabama will all be on the ballot this year and several others are expecting to be. The time to act is now.

Every one of the students who were told to evict has the potential to do good in this world. And the key to unlocking that is exiling them from the Collin College Student Housing Community? That is mental! That has no place in a just society. Compassion does. And this arbitrary decision is absolutely unjust and shortsighted. Collin College is tangibly harming everyone involved in their decision to evict for a single, unprosecuted event.

The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents, medical professionals, and teachers among others if they are affirming trans kids as who they are, labeling it as “child abuse." We’re exhausted. Trans kids deserve the right to lead happy lives with space to pursue their dreams, regardless of where they live. A majority of Texans believe people should be able to be themselves, support their families and live freely. It’s ridiculous that trans youth continue to be threatened here in Texas and across the country by their state government, the very same leadership that’s supposed to advocate and care for them. The DFPS is already facing crisis levels in Texas, attending to credible reports of actual child abuse. DFPS doesn’t need the additional burden of investigating reports that parents seeking to affirm their child through treatment are engaging in child abuse.

These American children, and their parents, must be protected AT ANY COST!