AI companies like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, etc use a ton of electric. They use a disparate amount of electric without shouldering their cost.  This is not a NJ issue but is happening nation-wide. Resources:  https://www.fastcompany.com/91229319/ai-data-centers-could-make-your-electric-bill-go-up-by-70

Howard Community College has long been one of the central institutions in Howard County, but recent reorganizations have left the institution and its employees reeling. Senior Leadership at the college has completely changed the structure of the college, cut student services, imposed dramatic changes to classroom education, and has worked to stifle protected union activity on campus. In response, Howard County Senators have proposed a bill to expand the Board of Trustees from seven to nine, institute mandatory trainings for board members, require public comment periods at board meetings, require that all board meetings must be recorded and uploaded to the internet, and require that the board adopt an anonymous, nationally recognized third-party survey for all employees of the college to fill our annually, with an unedited report being given to the board discussing the results. Eleven brave faculty members testified in support of this bill on Wednesday, February 5th, discussing their experiences at the college and how these changes could help rebuild the beloved institution. In response to their testimonials, Senior Leadership attempted to slander and belittle their own faculty that testified in favor of the bill, accusing them of disrupting the academic environment by exercising their rights to testify in favor of a bill. Please sign this petition indicating your support for HoCo 1-25, indicating your support for the brave faculty who testified in favor of the bill, and expressing your frustration with Senior Leadership's poor attempt to attack their own workers.

Immigrants help make this country Great ! Help us get rid of the hateful sign !

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, many families in Western North Carolina remain isolated due to the destruction of essential bridges, their only connection to their homes. Temporary footbridges, funded by nonprofits, provided short-term relief but are inadequate for long-term use. Efforts to rebuild permanent structures have been halted due to FEMA's No-Rise Certification requirements. While these certifications are important for preventing future flooding, they require costly engineering studies and lengthy approval processes that many families cannot afford. Among those affected is my own family: my mother has been unable to reach her home except by four-wheeler, and an elderly neighbor battling cancer is stranded with only a footbridge for access. The storm has reshaped rivers and eroded landscapes, making exact reconstruction impossible for many. We urge North Carolina legislators to take immediate action by: 1. Waiving No-Rise Certification costs for families rebuilding essential access bridges. 2. Allocating funding for engineering studies to assist low-income residents. 3. Expediting the permitting process for critical recovery projects. These families need access to their homes, medical care, and resources now. We cannot wait for another disaster to make this right. Join us in calling for practical, compassionate solutions to this urgent issue.

We all know someone with mental illness and we all have reached times of despair when dealing with them. It would be great to have help in providing adequate care and treatment for them. 

This could hinder and inhibit the sick and elderly’s health, leading into a faster decline. A person could possibly not afford nor be able to find other transportation and be denied government assistant healthcare. 

This was an incredibly destructive and dark event in the CalPERS history, to allow pensioners who paid into the CalPERS system for decades to hang in the wind with 63% of their planned retirement taken away.    ·       Contracts were Irresponsible: CalPERS wrote pension contracts with well over 170 public Joint Powers Authorities (JPA).  CalPERS staff wrote these contracts (building growth for the CalPERS fund) never making the JPA Founding Cities responsible for the CalPERS pensions. Without such a provision, the JPA employees had no knowledge of the peril their pension accounts were in.  There was no way the JPA’s would fund their pension accounts in perpetuity.  Developing CalPERS contracts,  without a means to continue pension plan payments, was an irresponsible and horrendous error!    ·       No Social Security: We are/were public servants, who faithfully paid for decades into our PERS retirement accounts, and we deserved our full pensions. Our pensions have been slashed (since 2016) for reasons we had absolutely no control over. Additionally, the majority of us were prohibited from contributing to Social Security (couldn’t contribute to both SS and PERS) so we have no Social Security pensions to fall back on. Many have had to go back to work late in life, and everyone will be working into our 70’s and 80’s and never make up this retire. Ghost Pensioners Included in Termination Fee:   CalPERS has applied absurd assumptions against us, and we are paying the price of “ghost pensioners” who will never be a cost to CalPERS:   1) The ESGVC $18M “termination fee” has been grossly inflated by the CalPERS Actuary, as follows: calculated in the $18M termination “projection”,  are many “ghost pensioners” who are deemed a “potential future cost”.  The “ghost pensioners” are individuals who were never vested in CalPERS to start with, or withdrew ALL their funds from their PERS account (when they left public employment), but CalPERS says they MIGHT come back into the PERS system at some point in their lifetime.  Additionally, CalPERS is applying an interest penalty of 2.8% to the Termination  Fee of $18M, when it is CalPERS' shortcomings that caused this contract to exist in the first place.  Legislators:  Fortunately, for all rest of the JPA employees in the State of California, AB 1912 was passed to assure that what happened to the ESGVC pensioners doesn’t happen again.  However,  AB1912 did not resove the ESGVC pensioners devastation.  ESGVC was excluded from eligibility for AB1912.  

It happened before and unless we take action it will happen again and again. We deserve peace of mind and the ability to catch and report and prevent further offenses to our Carpenter Elementary School Community. Please join us in signing the petition for our children’s and our school’s safety.  

The 1927  landmarked Montclair Firehouse was once one of the shining jewels of Oakland.  Constructed from steel-reinforced concrete, the building itself is in good condition.  The City's application of a gunite material over the copper roof in the 1960's perfectly protected the interior. Two seismic studies have made very cost-effective recommendations for retro-fitting the building.  The MFAC Nonprofit has obtained current estimates for renovating the building, with all required City permits, and has submitted those, along with a complete Business Plan and Proposed Lease, to the City Real Estate Department, the Community and Economic Development Committee of the City Council, and Councilwoman Ramachandran with no response in 15 months. It is time to make The Montclair Firehouse Arts Center happen in this abandoned building.  Public buildings should be used by the public.  This one has been neglected and abandoned for 35 years by the City of Oakland.  Such waste is shameful.  The MFAC is a community-based citizen group with a proven track record of renovating an abandoned public building in Piedmont into The Piedmont Center For The Arts.  Please help them give this same gift to our Montclair community, at no expense to the City.  A beautiful Arts Center in a building the City has simply abandoned.

The urgency of this matter stems from our unmanageable bills. We need your support to tackle the problem of exorbitant and overdue bills. By uniting and advocating for change, we may achieve some respite from crippling electricity bills, ensuring we can provide basic necessities while fulfilling other financial obligations. Your backing is essential in our quest for fairness.

Former students, colleagues, friends, family and current residents of West New York, New Jersey, please join us in petitioning the West New York Board of Education to rename Public School #3 in honor of one of West New York's greatest teachers, Darcie Eckert Valencei.

The group JRock Development, which originally submitted the plan for the two phases of this development, went out of business between 2008 and 2010. The remaining lots were foreclosed on and sold to a bank. They were then bought by a builder who finished building out the neighborhood. Ridgecrest Road was never completed and only has a base layer. No one has assumed responsibility for this street. We are banding together to request the city accept this street as a public street, perform an assessment, and perform any necessary repairs. The road needs to be properly graded, and the street floods during heavy rains. The city no longer holds the bond the developer had to get as part of the approval process. We are in limbo and asking our fellow citizens of Calera to help us get the City Council's attention and ask them to help working-class families in their community