With six months to go until the November elections, the U.S. Senate has a waning opportunity to show our country what compassionate, bipartisan leadership looks like, and whether majority leader Mitch McConnell is capable of that leadership. His legacy will likely be defined by how the Senate meets this historic challenge. An obsessive focus on reshaping the federal judiciary will pale in comparison to an underwhelming and tepid response to the significant needs of our commonwealth and nation to meet the coronavirus crisis. Sen. McConnell's recent actions are deeply troubling. From stating, “Some of these governors, particularly the Democrat governors, it seems, enjoy this extra power over people’s lives, and ... the governors have been struck down, been overruled, for being sort of drunk with power at the opportunity to keep everybody locked up,” to recently saying that President Obama should "keep his mouth shut," and calling him "classless." This comes on the heels of his irresponsible suggestion that states should declare bankruptcy instead of expecting federal support. Please sign and share our petition to encourage Leader McConnell to make the most of the moment, and set a new, bipartisan direction for his leadership of the current Senate session.

This action is important for so many reasons, such as Mr. Trump and his administration’s: 1) racist and violent rhetoric; 2) dangerous refusal to sufficiently handle the current COVID-19 pandemic and its numerous associated issues; 3) shameful detention of immigrants and their families; 4) purposeful raiding of taxpayer funds to benefit the richest segment of US citizens; 5) flagrant unethical and unlawful behaviors; and 6) other issues too numerous to mention. - - - We must make our disapproval unequivocal. Please lend your voice to this political action. - - - “There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and against in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world.” ― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

I am the mother of one of Tiffany's 4 grandchildren. My child is 4 years old currently, and was 1 years old the last time she seen her grandmother alive. Tiffany died on April 29th, 2020 in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility. Tiffany was experiencing symptoms of COVID19 for two weeks and was placed in solitary confinement amid her suffering. She was locked in a shower, and complained of shortness of breath as she passed out multiple times before any prison staff came to check on her. The prison staff tried to revive her unconscious body multiple times, but she was dead before anyone let her out of the shower. Tiffany was a loving grandmother to all of her grandchildren. My daughter will never get to meet her grandmother again. Tiffany got through her prison sentence by holding on to hope that she would be able to see her grandchildren again. I am asking for your help to petition the NJDOC Commissioner and Governor to help bring real prison reform to our NJ state prison systems. There are countless inmates who are afraid for their lives due to witnessing the death of Tiffany Mofield. If we can get this petition signed by as many people as we can, together we can shed light on the horrific prison conditions our friends and loved ones face. Commissioner Hicks and Governor Murphy should provide transparency to our citizens of the State of NJ so that we are confident in our prison system's practices regarding inmate fair access to health care and humane treatment. We need a prompt and thorough investigation into Tiffany's death and her medical treatment up until she died. Help the family of Tiffany Mofield get Justice and bring change to our prison systems.

This is important to me because the system is corrupted and removes children and husbands every day from their family, and this shouldn’t have happened to this family. The parents are really good parents; if you ever met them you would fall in love with them, and it warms my heart to see how they both interact with their children when they had them home.

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately ravaged Black and brown communities compared to their white counterparts. The small business market is no different, as minority-owned small businesses have struggled to stay afloat during this global health crisis. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a loan program put forth by the Small Business Administration to give small businesses incentive to keep employees on payroll. However, 75% of the loan must go towards payroll — rent and utilities can only be paid with the other 25%. Minority and women-owned businesses on average have fewer employees compared to white, male-owned businesses. Many do not have employees at all. These businesses either didn’t qualify or the funds had been exhausted by the time their applications were processed. Another hurdle for minority business owners to overcome is the relationships banks already have with non-minority businesses. Banks participating in loan-forgiveness programs are more likely to issue loans to existing clients. Unfortunately, businesses owned by people of color are less likely to have commercial banking relationships. A reformed PPP should include demographic questions on loan applications to provide a better sense of who is receiving the loans and give business owners more leniency with how the loan is allocated. It is simply not enough for Congress to replenish the funds if these problems persist. Congress must take the corruption out of government relief programs and create an economy that truly works for everyone.

There are several reasons why counselors need the ability to get a national license, not one that ends at the state border. 1) Mental health needs are going to skyrocket in the aftermath of the pandemic. Creating an agile, responsive, national force of mental health workers that can respond to mental health criss "hot spots" will be important. 2) Clients, who have started seeing a counselor out of state during the COVID 19 exemptions, may have to start all over again with a new counselor when the exemptions run out if Congress doesn't act. 3) Counselors run into problems when clients who reside in one area temporarily move to another state (think of college students who go to college in one locale, then may go home to a different state). Current licensing laws don't adequately address current reality and our new telemental health capacities. 4) The pandemic has shown us how arbitrary state lines are when it comes to health emergencies. If these rules can be waived now, then surely we can find a more permanent workable solution. Please tell Congress we need a national solution to the problems created by state-by-state licensing for counselors. At the very least, we need a national approach to licensing telemental health providers so when crises arise, we can respond swiftly and in a unified way.

Millions of people are either being denied any Federal CARES Act relief or having the federally issued emergency COVID-19 relief payments issued to help them and their families seized, taken, and used for other intents and purposes --- to pay non-emergency debts. This amounts to institutional and state THEFT of federal emergency relief payments made to help the people of our country during a time of global emergency and national crisis - for PROFIT and GREED. As one example, millions of divorced parents, their families and their children are having the federal emergency relief payments issued to them unlawfully treated as income and seized by the states. Their payments are being seized to pay back "child support" - even if the parents are making regular payments. The states are seizing and taking their emergency relief payments, treating the money and income - and using it to line state coffers and to enrich the states. In effect, this is allowing states to engage in criminal profiteering from the global pandemic. This is the nightmare scenario now unfolding across this country for millions of parents and their families. Parents are losing their jobs and sources of income as a result of business and government shutdowns. Millions of these parents are finding themselves unable to continue paying “child support” (in addition to being denied equal access to their children). Under normal circumstances, these parents would be able to file a motion for modification with the court and state. But our courts have shut down indefinitely because of the crisis. So divorced parents have no way to modify their support orders debts, and interest penalties mount for them each week. As they fall behind, with no access to the courts, their driver's and professional licenses can be suspended and they can be jailed (at state taxpayer expense), making it impossible for them to find new employment. When potential employers do background checks, they don’t care why someone was jailed – all they see is that the person was jailed, so why would they hire you? The state is profiteering because the federal government pays the state matching dollars for every dollar of “child support debt” the state manufactures and reports it as collecting to the federal government (See SSA Title IV-D.) You can be behind or defaulted in student loan payments to the federal government and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be defaulted and behind in your IRS taxes, and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be a convicted felon in jail, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be DEAD or a foreign national, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. But if you are one of millions of parents who owe even a dollar of back “child support,” you and your family with receive NO CARES Act relief. This included parents who are often paying expenses for TWO households, years after their divorces were final, even if you are paying support in accordance with court orders! Divorced parents and their families and children are not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Parents married to immigrants and their families and children are also not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Millions of small business owners have received NO relief. This injustice must be corrected!

In light of the extensive evidence that through late January, February and early March there was a refusal by Donald Trump to take seriously and make any effort to address the growing menace of the Corona Virus, even as he was being repeatedly warned of its dangers (e.g. in the context of his daily Presidential briefings) it is apparent that he was engaging in a dereliction of his duties and as a result was placing every American citizen in peril. Furthermore, as was recently documented in the New York Times, at the end of February Trump and his administration perpetrated a systematic cover-up, lying to and misleading the American public in an effort to convince people that COVID-19 posed no serious danger to them. The Trump administration purposely jeopardized the health, safety and lives of Americans and is culpable for the growing number of deaths that have at least in part resulted from this. They must be held responsible for their inaction and disregard for protecting the lives of American citizens.

As COVID-19 forces NYC's immigrant communities to grapple with death and economic devastation, they may now also face widespread disenfranchisement at the exact moment their voices need to be amplified. In advance of primary elections, the NYC Board of Elections created an online application for absentee ballots on May 5, but failed to provide it in any language other than English. As a result, hundreds of thousands of immigrant voters, afraid to visit polls and unable to vote by mail, could be shut out of primary elections. According to the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, more than half of the 1.6 million immigrants living in New York City are citizens, and 853,000 people residing in the city speak languages other than English. NYC Board of Election may also be violating Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires the Board to translate all materials into certain minority languages. See: https://www.justice.gov/crt/language-minority-citizens Tell the Board of Elections and our elected leaders to PROTECT immigrants' voting rights!

We are deeply concerned about the growing number of COVID cases and deaths in our community. Palm Beach County's death count ALONE is higher than 18 other states. The handful of extremists who held a ReOpen Rally in front of your meeting last night do NOT represent the vast majority of residents who want Shelter in Place to continue until public health experts deem our county safe to enter Phase 1 of reopening. A poll taken on April 22 from Quinnipiac University showed among registered voters, 76 percent said the economy should only reopen when health experts say it's safe. Only 17 percent say Florida should reopen even if public health officials warn against it. source - https://poll.qu.edu/florida/release-detail?ReleaseID=3659 Please listen to the EXPERTS, not the extremists and keep Shelter in Place for Palm Beach County until health experts believe it is safe to begins Phase 1.

In April 2020, the state of Nevada agreed to relinquish its supply of drugs intended for executions to the pharmaceutical companies who manufactured them, as part of a settlement agreement in the case of Alvogen, Inc. v. Nevada. The state no longer has the means to carry out an execution, yet prosecutors continue to spend considerable funds pursuing the death penalty. We believe that the error-prone nature of the death penalty (nearly 1 in 3 cases have errors warranting retrial or re-sentencing), its bias against the indigent, Black people, and all people of color, its lack of deterrent effect, and the sheer cost of pursuing it should convince our leaders to put an end to the practice before cutting budgets for services that Nevadan's most vulnerable continue to urgently need, at a higher rate than ever before.

Health care workers are getting paid $5000 a week prn,cna lpns. RNs are getting $10000 a week. in new Orleans. An $10000-$20000 a week in new York. Unknown for every where else. But truckers are risking their lifes and health to keep the economy going. They are losing pay freight dropped extremely. Some cant go home due to the virus. Something have to give. Or the next pandemic is when truckers go on strike.