This has had a negative effect on Lavallette community members who cannot walk or bike to the Ocean Beach facility. It is a serious safety concern for Ocean Beach residents. Also, it is inconvenient for mail carriers, who face hardships and delays in delivering to Brick.

I walk up and down Gardner Street frequently, but I often have to walk in the street, because sections of the northeast side of the sidewalk are a jumble of loose and torn-up bricks. This sidewalk had to be repaired in 2004, 2009, 2010, and again (this month) in 2013. It's time for a permanent fix for this sidewalk: a reconstruction that doesn't fall apart every few years, that makes the sidewalk usable by all, and that is appropriate to the architectural styles of the neighborhood.

On Tuesday, the Georgetown City Council will vote on a proposal to have the city abandon a regional effort to build commuter rail linking Georgetown to cities as far south as San Antonio. Traffic on I35 is some of the worst in the nation. A commuter rail system will allow people in Georgetown to easily visit Austin and San Antonio without the maddening traffic and impossible parking. It'll also help reduce air pollution and our dependence on oil. Unfortunately, some on the Georgetown council want to quit the Lone Star Rail District, which means Georgetown wouldn't be a stop on the line. We could have regional rail within 6 to 10 years, but Georgetown would be left out. Tell the Georgetown City Council to reject this proposal and stick with rail.

The North Carolina governor and a state legislator made a callous decision to change unemployment benefits under HB 4 beginning in July 2013 rather than January 2014. Not being able to wait six months is now forcing the loss of federal unemployment benefits to over 70,000 individuals and families like myself who are still struggling to find work. North Carolina has the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country.

We urge our local and state partners to join us in opposing California Assembly Bill 1407. We believe that low-income consumers deserve the right to be protected through regulatory process to ensure affordability of utilities programs (Lifeline programs) that help them meet their basic living needs. See below for information about AB 1407

As an educational consultant, at Important Steps Early Intervention agency, in one of the most underserved boroughs, the Bronx, I have had the immense pleasure of working with these families to effect change in the lives of their children born developmentally delayed. In the wake of devastating reforms to the NYS DOHMH and NYS DEPT of EDUCATION countless families are in danger of losing their Applied Behavioral Analysis/ Special Instruction/Occupational Therapy/Speech Language Pathology and Physical Therapy services. The consistent bureaucratic red tape to obtaining Medicaid Approvals, and NYCDEI addendums have made it difficult for agencies to survive in this economic climate. The reimbursement schedule has increased to a point where it can take longer than 90 days for agencies to get paid, and in turn pay clinicians for services already rendered, not including staff and business overhead. THIS MUST STOP!! Early intervention services provides the fundamental educational foundation that children born with developmental delays rely upon to have a chance of a different life. Not only do recent reforms negatively impact the lives of children, but also agencies like Important Steps, who must endure increasingly difficult financial and bureaucratic hurdles to obtain the necessary medicaid/city approvals to thrive. These critical services positively impact the lives of Bronx families on a daily basis! PLEASE HELP US TO REDUCE New York City and State APPROVAL TIMES AND REDUCE REIMBURSEMENT TIME FRAMES. WE NEED YOU TO PLAY AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES WHO CANNOT FIGHT ALONE!!! CAN WE COUNT YOU IN? SIGN OUR PETITION TODAY!!

Thousands of homebound seniors will not get a hot meal tonight because Congress has cut funding for Meals on Wheels as part of the sequester. For millions of seniors, Social Security isn't enough to lift them out of poverty and hunger. In the past decade, there was a 78 percent increase in senior hunger.

All current and future retirees are concerned about our retirement safety net.

Unemployment is at 7.6% and many of those people are on Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC); let the Congress live on unemployment and see if they can live with a 22.2% cut in benefits. Why should people who are unemployed be punished because the Congress can’t get what they want from the President?

Hours are being drastically cut at the Burton Post Office. This is the first phase to closing the post office. The Burton Post Office is located on Vashon Island and provides service to hundreds of people, particularly on the south end of the island. The Burton post office is an important part of the community.

Nearly 50% of the people receiving food stamps are children. The 20 billion dollars in cuts proposed by the House would make 2 million households ineligible for this benefit. For children, no food stamps means no eligibility for a free school lunch, which certainly leads to an inability to learn and may mean no food at all for them that day. This is happening NOW, how can you even think of making it worse? The Senate is proposing 4 billion dollars in cuts, but even that is too much. Food stamp benefits need to be INCREASED! A hungry child is a child who can't learn, and a generation of people who cannot fulfill their potential is a generation of workers who cannot compete in the global marketplace.

Yes, someone I care about lives on less than 800 dollars a month. She can't afford to pay rent and utilities and buy "luxuries" like soap and toilet paper or able to afford to do laundry. Many of the poor aren't dirty because they want to be. It cost money to stay clean. She goes hungry at least 1 week out of the month. She can't afford to buy the healthy foods she needs for her diabetes and heart problems. It's a life of pain, terror, misery and feeling degraded for those in America who are truly too sick, disabled, and/or too elderly to be able to work no matter how much they wish they could.