President's Trump's treatment of PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor as she fulfills her professional obligations during a national crisis is unacceptable. Recently, during COVID-19 conferences, he told her, “Be nice. Don’t be threatening,” and called her questions “nasty.” Consider the messages he is sending the world about Black women and girls. Trump has a long history of mistreating people of color, women and the press. His aggressive attitude toward Alcindor is a culmination of these biased, undemocratic and dangerous behaviors. As the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS) recently pointed out in a joint statement: “As far back as November 2018, Trump leveled verbal abuse at Alcindor along with fellow Black women journalists Abby Phillip of CNN and April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks… Both groups have noted the president’s pattern of using demeaning language toward women journalists of color and other journalists.” Sources: NABJ and JAWS statement: https://jaws.org/2020/03/31/jaws-and-nabj-stand-against-unacceptable-treatment-of-yamiche-alcindor/ Examples of Trump’s racism: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-racist-examples_n_56d47177e4b03260bf777e83 Trump attacks the press: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html Women who accuse Trump of sexual assault: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-running-list-of-the-women-whove-accused-donald-trump-of-sexual-misconduct_n_57ffae1fe4b0162c043a7212

Every single human being is stressed now with everything that has evolved as a direct result of this crisis. Pharmaceutical drugs have proven to wreak havoc around the world causing many deaths. while cannabis is a safer alternative for many and has never killed anyone. Re-legalize cannabis NOW, it is the only humane thing to do at this point.

Las Vegas has approximately 150,000 hotels with a homeless population of approximately 5,286, as reported by their survey in 2019. There is more than enough room among those hotels to house those who are suffering from homelessness. These people being forced to stay in the streets and in parking lots are human beings. They deserve to have a safe place to stay at all times, but especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Show Las Vegas and the rest of the country that this treatment of those suffering is unacceptable. Demand they open up their hotels for those without homes.

According to data collected by John Hopkins University and reported by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, this weekend Missouri led the country with a 600% increase in the number of cases reported. As of Sunday at 3:00 p.m. according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, there were 903 Cases of COVID-19, including 12 deaths. As faith leaders we are concerned about the most vulnerable Missourians who were at risk long before COVID-19 became a part of our lexicon. These neighbors include the under and uninsured including 83,000 uninsured children, our unhoused siblings, financially insecure, immune compromised, poor, disabled, incarcerated and immigrant Missourians. The U.S. Census reported that the number of uninsured Missourians grew in 2018 to approximately 564,000 with close to 100,000 children being uninsured. As you are aware, Missouri legislators have refused to expand Medicaid putting more Missourians at risk. The rapid spread of COVID-19, the inaccessibility of testing to all Missourians and the lack of treatment available forces uninsured and low income Missourians to be at risk for needing life-saving health care they cannot afford or premature death. These conditions overlay one health crisis on top of another. Next week marks the beginning of “Holy Week.” Christians across the world and in Missouri will observe Good Friday. In the words of Rev. Dr. Robert Hill, “Easter weekend should not lead to additional crucifixions, one Good Friday is enough.” That week also is the beginning of Passover, Rabbi Doug Alpert reminds us, “There is no greater value in Judaism than Pekuach Nefesh-the sanctity of human life.” Help us to preserve human life and decrease the opportunity for additional deaths. We are concerned that many of our neighbors, congregants and even family members will not be passed over by COVID-19 because you have refused to issue a clear order to shelter in place. Across the state some local mayors and county officials have rightfully issued shelter in place orders but the lack of a statewide shelter in place order has caused confusion and given some the erroneous implication that this pandemic is not dangerous. We need clear leadership from the highest office in the state to ensure that faith communities and families don’t misinterpret the lack of a shelter in place order for the state of Missouri, as a license to proceed with worship and other gatherings during these highly regarded religious holidays. This would lead to more illness and death. In doing so people of faith across Missouri could proclaim our faith and hope as people using all of our God-given resources to enhance life and a shared and fruitful future.

1. This petition seeks to prevent further COVID-19 spread in detention camps. The health of every individual in the United States of America is important and must be protected. Immigrants in detention are kept in close quarters, which does not allow for social distancing. 2. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in detention often are responded to with solitary confinement. This has been proven to have detrimental mental and physical health consequences. 3. Several cases of COVID-19 have already been found in immigrant detention centers. 4. Immigrant detention centers have well-documented issues with providing adequate medical care. Refer to Human Rights Watch and Detention Watch Network reports on the lack of medical care and deaths in detention. 5. Immigrant detention centers are closing off their facilities to visitation because of the pandemic. This further isolates the individuals, families, and children. 6. Community and governmental responses are needed not just to release folks from detention, but to ensure that they have access to safe housing, adequate healthcare, and access to meeting their basic needs. Not everyone has family or friends with whom they can go live with, particularly during this pandemic that requires social distancing. 7. They must be released.

To 10th Floor Brokers, We represent a coalition of your current tenants and allies. We are writing this in light of the current COVID pandemic and how it has impacted all of our daily lives. We are politely requesting that in these uncertain times that rent payments for the month of April be cancelled, as the livelihoods of your tenants, our friends, family, and neighbors, are in flux. With this request, we also ask that payment notices, late fees, or other pressure to pay cease immediately. All of your tenants are doing their best to make it through this difficult time and are staying home to keep all of us safe. Our ability to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our community should not be put in peril due to job loss caused by this crisis. We want to work with you as partners to ensure safe and secure housing for all of our neighbors. To that end, drastic and widespread changes will be needed to your maintenance schedules. Several buildings you manage have long-standing issues of pests, mold, electrical issues, leaky pipes, flooded basements, and the like. We collectively require that all issues and all buildings be fixed - issues within common areas to be fixed immediately, and issues within individual units to be fixed once the State’s “Stay at Home” order is lifted. We also request that any time you plan to enter a unit that you provide 24 hours notice and get confirmation prior to entering the unit. Beyond the scope of us as renters, this is also a general protest. We invite you to stand with us. If your bills are not able to be paid because of quarantine, we invite you to protest those bills as well. We believe systemic change is needed and this is one path for all of us to reach for that. Stand with us in our stand for healthcare for every person in America. It is needed now more than ever. Just as lives will be ruined by landlords who try to harass and evict during a pandemic, lives will also be ruined by crushing medical debt brought on by a widespread illness. Thank you for considering these items. God bless.

Abortion is a time-sensitive procedure that cannot be delayed without serious consequences. Denying safe abortion access places financial and emotional burdens on patients, their families, and on the health care system. Mississippi is one of the most hostile states for abortion rights and due to their only being one clinic in the state, people already have to wait days, sometimes weeks, and travel long distances to access safe, legal abortion care. Banning abortions in Mississippi does nothing but force people to travel out of the state to access the care they need, and during a pandemic, it increases their risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, New York Gov. Cuomo is exploiting the forced labor of incarcerated people to make hand sanitizer but is doing nothing to protect them. In his proud announcement that Corcraft, a state-run corporation operating in state prisons, is manufacturing hand sanitizer scented like a "very nice floral bouquet," he casually left out the fact that the people work for Corcraft are paid less than one dollar per day. And to add insult, people in prison may not even be able to use the hand sanitizer themselves because, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, anything with alcohol content is contraband.  The virus has already made its way into jails and prisons across the state and is wreaking havoc. Riker's Island has at least 40+ cases, an employee at Sing Sing prison tested positive, and the first incarcerated person to test positive is at Long Island county jail. And these are just the cases we know of. Incarcerated people need protection, not exploitation! People locked in prisons deserve safety and wellness just as much as every other New Yorker. Yet, instead of ensuring that, Cuomo has been doing everything to treat incarcerated people with complete disdain -- undeserving of basic rights and human dignity. He has refused to take up the vast majority of clemency petitions and expand parole and medical release for elderly incarcerated people personally blocked the passage of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, allowed New York State to continue to operate under a Jim Crow-era voting law that prohibits incarcerated people from voting, and is currently championing rollbacks to recently enacted bail reforms that would expand the jail population.  Prisons and jails are places where a vulnerable population is forced into close quarters, healthcare is poor, and access to soap, sanitizer, toilet paper is limited at best. Inside a prison or jail, it is near impossible to contain an outbreak of infectious disease. This puts both incarcerated people and the people who work in jails at health risk.  We need your support to make sure Cuomo hears this message loud and clear. People locked in prisons and jails are extremely vulnerable in times like this--but with the power of people like you, we can ensure that they aren't forgotten nor exploited. Sign the petition.

Governor Greg Abbott just ordered a stop to all "surgeries and procedures that are not immediately necessary" in Texas. Abortion is essential healthcare, but the Governor's office is trying to apply the order to abortion clinics. Anti-abortion extremists are exploiting the coronavirus crisis to end abortion access as we know it. We need to raise the alarm right now and flood Abbott's office with petitions demanding that he include abortion as essential healthcare and lift current restrictions that endanger the lives of Texans. Add your name to demand Texas keep abortion clinics open.

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly across Washington State, the health and livelihoods of center teachers, directors and owners are under threat, and families are scrambling to find safe care for their children. Issues that may appear to be temporary, e.g. frontline teachers and directors becoming ill and sites shutting down, threaten to cause permanent damage to the early learning system. As capacity decreases, children are withdrawn from care and parents are unable to go to work.Many child care professionals already earn low wages, often with no health insurance. This is true of centers that accept state tuition subsidies or those paid by families. Without immediate state intervention, the COVID-19 pandemic will push child care professionals to economic collapse. Here are some of the supports that our Early Learning System needs to survive this crisis: * Teachers and directors who are unable to work should receive unemployment benefits to cover lost wages without a repayment requirement for reimbursable employers. * All child care teachers and directors should receive free COVID-19 testing and free health care if they become ill. * The State should cover market rate tuition (including private pay) if parents or caregivers are unable to pay due to job loss or work closure. * If a facility must close due to COVID-19 related reasons, the state should cover market rate tuition payments to ensure all providers stay in business and supply financial support for re-opening. * Payments and direct assistance to centers should be based on enrollment, not attendance. * The State should procure and distribute to child care providers all health and safety supplies needed to care for children. * All background checks should be expedited within 24-hours for child care related employees. * Paid substitutes should be provided if staff members are unable to work. * New hires should be authorized to start work without completing pre- service requirements during this emergency. * DCYF must provide updates, in appropriate languages, to centers, teachers and directors on a regular basis, at least every other day, or more often as necessitated by fluid events. * Any emergency changes initiated by DCYF to the WACs that would change or increase regulations should be made in consultation with frontline professionals, including SEIU and WCCA. * All health and safety and licensing enforcement should be paused during the crisis except for the most serious situations that may result in the loss of authorization or license to provide care. * All Early Achievers mandates, ratings, and requirements should be suspended through the duration of the pandemic. * First quarter 2020 L & I and ESD employment taxes, due April 30, 2020, should be waived for all child care providers of 500 employees or less. It’s Time to Respect, Protect, and Lift Up Child Care Professionals!

People losing jobs cannot work

"During the COVID-19 crisis, we all have a responsibility towards our communities to keep ourselves healthy and avoid situations that can spread the virus. As of March 17th, the state of Florida will close all bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and other small businesses in order to help us uphold that responsibility. While this is a step in the right direction regarding health, the effects of these sweeping business closures affect the livelihood of thousands of Florida residents that rely on front-of-the house restaurant, club/bar work or tips to make ends meet. Without a plan in place to supplement the income of these workers, and with no guarantee that unemployment benefits will provide the relief people need in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the country, we demand a moratorium on rent collection. Hard-working people are going to suffer at the expense of the greater good. While we don't deny the importance of instituting these closures, we would be ashamed and heartbroken to watch our government let people who rely on health and wellness care work, restaurant work, work in the entertainment industry (clubs/bars), and other small businesses face evictions, blows to their credit, or be backed into a corner financially through no fault of their own. As a spa business owner and full-time Licensed Massage Therapist, this is my sole source of income. So many other massage practitioners and business owners in the industry, are affected. Simply providing people with an unemployment payment of temporary paid leave at minimum wage would not be enough to cover their typical expenses. We need Broward County and Florida as a whole to put a moratorium on rent NOW in order to preserve the livelihood of so many hard working business owners, healthcare practitioners, and other affected industries during this time of crisis".