Passenger service in northwest Connecticut was alive and well until 1971. After the service ceased much of the area has suffered and become a modern day ghost town. Freight cars utilize the existing rails on a daily basis and this project is "shovel ready" and has been on the back burner in Hartford. Restoring passenger service would not only boost the local economies, but attract tourism, give families easy access to children at area private schools, and create a pathway to the Massachusetts line which has been funded and is underway. Let's fill in the gap. Toot Toot!!

As an anonymous researcher at the NIH, my experiments have been devastated by the shutdown. I keep hearing the stories from my friends: Months of work with cell cultures that require daily tending is down the tubes. Sensitive behavioral training and testing is ruined. Animals will have to be destroyed when we get back to work because, sadly, they will be useless as research models (imagine a partial-inducement of Parkinson's Disease in a rodent: what can you do with this now that it is not characterizing anything in the human?). Humans enrolled as research subjects--something that takes months of paperwork and coordination--will likely not return for follow-up testing because timing is critical on these types of experiments. The list goes on and on. As a post-doc, and after a long haul of education and training, I make very little money. I work every weekend and many nights, but I love what I do. I do it because I believe in basic science. It's one of the most noble careers, because for me, it represents a quest for truth. And I feel white hot anger that these elected "representatives" toy with federal funding like it's play Monopoly money. I'm just one story. But I know I represent the vast majority of government-employed basic science researchers who are sitting at home right now wondering what they can do. So I hope you will sign this. A voice of reason is only as strong as those that join with it. Please help me get a message to Congress--maybe they'll quit ignoring some of us on the ground.

Congress, in its unwillingness to compromise on a budget, has unnecessarily shut down the government. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be unpaid throughout the shutdown. Members of Congress should do the decent thing and forgo their wages for the same period. Our elected representatives at every level are voted in to represent us and our interests. Without a forfeit of wages, the officials making these decisions prove further that they are out of touch with the common citizen. The rash decision to shut down the government is damaging our already fragile economic recovery. The forfeiture of pay is the least they can do to prove that they are sincere in their efforts to provide a government worthy of its citizens.

As an artist, we are losing Art Spaces. Art is just as important as physical education and environmental education. We have plenty of environmental education centers in the state of Maryland. Please help us save the Art Galleries at Quiet Waters Park. If you've enjoyed the art galleries at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, please sign and share the petition.

You have failed us and do not deserve a salary. No pay for no performance. End the shutdown. The Affordable Care Act is LAW--get used to it.

To allow all of those at the Downingtown STEM Academy to see how a true man grows facial hair.

Why Am I starting this petition? As a physician, I have met literally thousands of men who resent having been circumcised. Any alleged advantages are far outweighed by the disadvantages. No one, and especially not a doctor, has the right to remove normal body parts without the express written consent of the individual person. None of them gave their permission.

Congressman Randy Neugebauer has proven himself unfit to represent the people of Texas by voting to close the government. Further, he is not worthy to berate federal employees who were doing their job despite his vote to force them into furloughs.

At an August town hall meeting, Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) said that supporting a federal government shutdown would be “irresponsible” and have a “huge, negative impact.” He even said he opposed a shutdown as a way to delay Obamacare. Now, he has time and again voted with the tea party for a government shutdown. Join Daily Kos and Progress Iowa in demanding that Congressman Tom Latham get back to work—and reopen the government without delaying Obamacare.

The law states that hearsay does not hold up in a court of law but that is exactly what is happening. No one has done any fact digging to collaborate his stories. The G.A.L. wrote a motion to the judge all because of something he said including a 4 page letter that was nothing but hearsay, assumptions and opinions. That is why he has full custody because with the letter and 4 other caseworkers saying the same thing I had no chance at fighting. I received only minimal visitation that lasted a couple months. She and her dad do not get along and when he gets frustrated he calls the police and says she is being "unruly" and to take her to JDC then she mostly lives in a group house for troubled teens. I prefer her there if she can't be with me because of her fathers verbal, mental and even physical abuse. No one will listen to my side of the story or my daughters. This is outrageous. People in these positions should know that they're two sides to every story and that there are bitter ex's out there. All my visitation was up to her father. When she in the group home I would attend parent groups and a mini, 15min session with my daughter once a week and that was all I got to see her for a while. I didn't see her for Thanksgiving, Christmas or new years. She went to the psychiatric ward for attempting suicide and he wouldn't let me visit her there either. When she was in JDC seemed to be the only place he could not stop visitation. He was also not telling me when her court hearing were or anything that was going on with her. I had to request a court appointed lawyer to get notified of her hearings. The first one I was notified of (4 months after he received full custody) the G.A.L. put through for a no contact order because of the medication I am prescribed and that the doctor insists that I stay on. The main thing is drugs and alcohol which I have not drank for 5 years and am currently in a program that I have been in for 3 years that has kept me off of opiates. As I mentioned earlier she has a 4yr old half brother. That case has been closed for almost a year on him and since my ex had something to do with the outcome of my son he lives with my cousin who is his guardian. When she got the letter for legal custody it was worded so that we could come up with our own arrangements. His guardian is very protective of him and wouldn't let me have him so much if I were so "unfit" My husband and I have him almost 4 days out of the week and wake up to go over and put him on the bus for pre-school. On the other hand I am so "unfit" I can't even see my 15yr old. I am afraid to mention this at any of the court hearings because my son has already been through enough and I want him to be left alone and out of "the system". All I ever wanted was my fair chance and I didn't think that was asking too much but I never got it and neither did Haeligh. I ask that this case and workers on the case be investigated for any way they might have broke the law or not done their job to the best of their abilities. Haeligh needs to receive some justice and have her entire family.

We desperately need help. We have clearly demonstrated that we are not capable of solving let alone addressing our own problems.

Taxis, Limos and sedan services that are registered with the MD PSC are expected to pay 25 cents per passenger for EVERY trip that you pass through or goes into the city!