Governor Rauner vetoed a 215 million dollar education funding package for Chicago Public Schools. HB4036: Amends the State Finance Act. Provides that in addition to any other transfer that may be provided by law, the State Comptroller shall direct and the State Treasurer shall transfer, from such funds and in such amounts as the State Comptroller shall determine, the total sum of $215,000,000 into the General Revenue Fund. Provides that the sum transferred shall not require the direction of or notification from the Governor. Effective upon becoming law, but does not take effect unless an Act of the 100th General Assembly appropriating the sum of $215,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to Chicago Public Schools becomes law.

General Mattis wants to increase U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's catastrophic war in Yemen [1], which has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, including by selling Saudi Arabia even more weapons. In addition to producing humanitarian catastrophe, Saudi Arabia's war is helping Al Qaeda in Yemen. Imitating war profiteer Milo Minderbender in Joseph Heller's "Catch-22," who fights on both sides and bombs his own squadron to increase his profits, by selling arms to Saudi Arabia, we indirectly arm Al Qaeda in Yemen, who we're also bombing. "In their fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels," Just Security reports, "the government of Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and its Saudi backers, have worked with local actors with suspected ties to al-Qaeda. Sometimes this means the targets being tracked by the US are actually cutting deals and getting their hands on weapons thanks to connections they have with the Hadi government and the Saudi-led coalition, to which the US provides support. Laying bare these thorny battlefield alliances in Yemen is crucial as the Trump administration considers stepping up US military involvement in the country." [2] Senators Murphy, Paul, Durbin and Franken have introduced legislation - SJR 40 -that would require the Administration to certify that Saudi Arabia is fighting Al Qaeda in Yemen, not helping Al Qaeda in Yemen, before the U.S. could sell Saudi Arabia even more weapons. [3] Urge Senators to co-sponsor SJR 40 by signing our petition. References: 1. http://thehill.com/policy/defense/330030-trump-admin-weighs-stepping-up-support-for-yemen-fight 2. https://www.justsecurity.org/40200/yemens-complex-battlefield-includes-al-qaeda-links-allies/ 3. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/40

Update: Dec. 6, 2017 Today, the House of Representatives is due to vote on HR 38. (S. 446 & H.R. 38) would redefine who could carry a loaded, concealed weapon in public areas across the nation. Currently, states designate their own laws concerning who is qualified to carry a weapon and this law will undermine the authority of the state. This legislation is extremely dangerous because it would allow the states with the weakest gun laws to set the standard for the nation. For example: "states that have taken the most lax approach to concealed weapons permitting would effectively set the national standard, allowing individuals with no safety training, with violent misdemeanor convictions, or with a demonstrated history of drug or alcohol abuse to legally carry concealed, loaded guns in every state in the country."(1) Most importantly, one version of this legislation would allow individuals who live in states with no training or permit requirements to carry in states that do require such measures. Tell President Trump and Congress to continue to allow individual states to maintain local control and determine their own safety laws concerning who can carry loaded, concealed weapons. Please sign and share this petition with others. Thanks for taking action. _____________________ 1) https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/reports/2017/02/13/414921/federally-mandated-concealed-carry-legislation/

"I went to work with my right eye shut and face swollen. I had a painful tooth ache that led me to the emergency room. Eventually, I found out I had an abscess tooth with severe pain, fever and inflammation. I took only that one day off of work because I could not afford to miss days and still be able to feed my family. As a single mother and sole provider in my house, getting sick was not an option for me. My job would not accept a doctor’s note even though they could see the swelling in my face and pain in my eyes. It was very embarrassing when customers would see my physical pain and suffering. I know I deserve paid sick days and the time off to take care of myself when something like this happens." - Lisa.

All workers need time to care for themselves or a loved one. Earned sick time ensures workers can afford to take time they've earned to go to the doctor or stay home with a sick child -- without losing pay. We don't need a fake 'flexibility' act, we need the Healthy Families Act so we can earn sick time wherever we work in the U.S.A.

In addition to the wall, Trump wants to vastly expand detention camps to lock up more immigrants including families seeking asylum, put more agents on the border, expand raid operations that will terrorize communities, and re-direct more federal funds toward prosecution of immigration violations. These rubber-stamp convictions are intended to warp the statistics and bolster their hate-fueled propaganda portraying immigrants as criminals. Trump is building out a police state, in part through his Deportation Force, so that any challenges to his dystopian detention and deportation nightmare can be swiftly and forcefully suppressed. Already under Trump, we have seen chaos at our airports and in our communities. That chaos and cruelty would only be magnified if Trump gets his way, but in order to implement these plans, he needs more money. We have the power to say NO. Tell Senate Democrats--especially leadership and members of the Appropriations Committee--to say NO to funding for Trump’s Deportation Force.

I am a resident of Pawtucket and I want to see all sorts of conditions IMPROVED for the city I and my neighbors live in, not degraded by this high impact asphalt plant. There is no reason to place such a plant in this or any such urban area near residents. The plant would threaten the health and safety of all people, both nearby and those in the path of winds blowing fumes.

The program that has boasted language and literacy development to improved cognitive skills for students is on the verge of nonexistence. This dual language Immersion at LVCS promote children’s academic achievement. Please help us save the dual language immersion at LVCS.

I know many Palestinians who have been suffering for decades under Israel's Occupation of their land, a slow but lethal ethnic cleansing completely illegal under international law yet virtually ignored by our US media.

President Trump refuses to share his tax returns while he is being audited by the IRS. In turn, he should not be involved with any federal tax reform and tax reduction initiatives while he is being audited.

As a voter in East Marlborough Township, Pennsylvania, my votes are dissolved by the partisan committees who draw voting district maps. This means that our politicians get to choose their voters, rather than the voter choosing their politician. This affects all political parties and the committees drawing the district maps must be independent, nonpartisan, and fair to all voters.

Whereas there are Bills pending in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs titled "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017", WE THE PEOPLE support that these bills be enacted into law, which would prohibit the President from using the Armed Forces to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a congressional declaration of war expressly authorizing such strike. "First-use nuclear strike" means a nuclear weapons attack against an enemy that is conducted without the President determining that the enemy has first launched a nuclear strike against the United States or a U.S. ally. These bills pertain only to a US first strike with nuclear weapons and not to any other relevant situations such as the use of nuclear weapons defensively while America is under attack by such weapons from another nation. In view of escalating world tensions around whether the President of the U.S. would use a first strike nuclear attack, there is an immediacy to move these bills with many co-sponsors to the floor of the Senate and the House for full discussion of the merits of preventing a world-wide nuclear holocaust.