Budget cuts at UMass Boston are having a devastating impact on students, faculty, and staff.

1. This is required by the US Constitution. 2. Our national leaders have lied to us too many times. 3. The people have a right--and a duty--to hold members of Congress accountable.

There’s a lot of work ahead if we are to have a truly clean Democratic Party that can effectively oppose the fossil-fueled agenda of Trump’s Republicans. In Virginia, we’re going to have to get our state Democratic Party to turn off the Dominion Power dirty-money pipeline. Virginia is lagging behind its neighboring states on the renewable revolution because of Dominion’s influence-peddling. And now politicians on the Dominion payroll are supporting the fracked-gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline projects. It’s crucial that the Virginia Democratic Party knows that climate hawks all over the nation will support a decision to ban corrupting political money. Add your name: tell the leaders of the Virginia Democratic Party to support a ban on political contributions from Dominion Power and other fossil-fuel companies.

Each week brings new revelations about Trump and his colleagues' ties to Russian efforts to sway U.S. elections. But we still don't know the extent of contact, or even collusion, between Trump campaign aides and administration officials and Russian intelligence, or Trump's own financial entanglements with Russia. From former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the deception continues to unfold. Americans deserve to know the truth. But the Department of Justice, even with the recusal of Jeff Sessions, can't deliver a truly independent investigation. And congressional committees have similarly demonstrated that they too are incapable of thorough independent investigations. Republican House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes stepped aside after unethically, and potentially illegally, meeting with Trump; and Republicans have voted again and again against independent investigations. That's why, amid the near-constant drumbeat of news related to the Trump/Russia scandal, Congress must create a special, independent commission to lead an investigation, and the administration should appoint a special prosecutor charged with getting at the truth about Trump and his associates’ possible collusion with Russia.

President Trump insists that American companies stop outsourcing production. Yet, he and his daughter continue to outsource production of their merchandise, with no commitment to stop. They continue to benefit financially from outsourcing. He is in effect saying,' Don't do as I do; do as I say.' This is the height of hypocrisy!!!

Alt-right “conservatives” and white supremacists do NOT belong in the White House. He’s a racist, xenophobic, misogynist, and a anti-Semitic nationalist. Remove him from the Security Council is not enough - remove him completely!

We urge Jefferson County supervisors to pass a county resolution supporting a factory farm moratorium until Iowa has fewer than 100 water impairments and the weaknesses of the Master Matrix are adequately addressed. At any one time, Iowa has over 22 million hogs and 70 million chickens that are predominantly confined on over 9500 factory farms. The state is incapable of adequately regulating the factory farms we currently have. We don’t need more! Seven Iowa counties that already adopted a factory farm moratorium because they recognize the harm corporate livestock production can impose on their constituents and the environment. These harms are documented in over 50 years of respected peer-reviewed studies: Air pollution. Water pollution. Road degradation. Quality of life deterioration. Public health degeneration. Rural economic decay. And the continued loss of traditional, independent livestock producers, once the economic and social backbone of rural communities. Iowa’s factory farms produce 22 billion gallons of manure annually. It is spread over fields and can run off into Iowa’s water. Manure is a leading cause of impaired waterways in Iowa’s rivers and lakes. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports 800 documented manure spills and over 4 million fish killed from manure spills since 1996 and 754 water impairments throughout the state. A moratorium would pause new and expanding factory farm development until we can clean up our dirty waterways and fix the myriad of problems associated with corporate controlled livestock production. A pause could open avenues for family farmers to migrate regenerative agricultural practices that cause no harm. That’s why the Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture (IARA), a coalition of 25 national, state, and community organizations in Iowa, is calling for a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms until there are less than 100 water impairments in the state. JFAN is a member of IARA (cleaniowanow.org) and supports the Alliance’s call for a moratorium. If seven counties can pass a resolution, why not Jefferson County? We strongly urge the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors to join their fellow supervisors who’ve demonstrated a deep concern for the health and well-being of their constituents and the environment by adopting a resolution in support of a factory farm moratorium for Iowa.

As responsible owners of residential real property in a tourist-driven beach resort town, many of whom have made significant investments in homes here, and who have endured outrageous property tax increases, we strongly object to this unreasonable infringement on our property rights. While the City has put forth an absurd rationale related to phantom nuisances created by transient lessees, citizen stakeholders know the truth. Residents have become increasingly reliant on supplementing their income through rentals to offset spiking city taxes and in 99% of instances fully comply with all existing codes related to noise and nuisance. As big developers enjoy constant concessions and tax breaks, individual residents are being penalized for their resourcefulness and we will not stand for it. We must unite to defeat this proposed Ordinance, and the Council must know their reelection depends on their position on this issue. Come to a meeting to let your voice be heard, Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 10AM at the City Council Chambers at the Asbury Park Municipal Building. http://www.cityofasburypark.com/egov/documents/1491327389_00943.pdf

As a black female, I no longer want to stand by and say nothing; it is up to us at the grassroots level to speak up and condemn Senator Cotton's unfortunate and outrageous name-calling of another woman, especially a black woman who has served our country proudly, as has Ambassador Susan Rice. Last week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was disparaged by Bill O'Reilly; this week, Ambassador Susan Rice was vilified by Tom Cotton. Instead of bragging about this, Senator Cotton should refrain from this behavior in the future and apologize to Ambassador Rice. Now.

Childcare workers are constantly abusing their power. Our children need to be monitored so we know their safe and can have proof when they tell us they have been hit and the staff denies it. Feb. 14 a man was arrested for molesting a child in daycare, four weeks ago a five month old babys arm was broken by an employee at a daycare. The stories go on and on. Employees need to be better trained with more than 12 units in child development. They need to be watched! Our children are innocent and need to be protected. Without cameras it will always be the childrens word against the teachers. My family member said he was hit by his daycare teacher and the teacher said he was lying so it was dismissed by the director.

Since President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) failed spectacularly last month to pass a long-promised healthcare bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), progressive voices have urged politicians to solve the problems of rising premiums and unequal access to care with nationwide Medicare-for-All. But the Trump administration is taking the opposite approach, as it tries to revive its dead healthcare bill with even crueler legislation: Late Monday, Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials proposed a harsher healthcare law to the far-right Congressional Freedom Caucus, in an attempt to garner their support for a new bill. The White House proposed allowing states to apply for waivers to jettison two core Obamacare regulations. Those regulations require insurance companies to cover essential health benefits (EHBs), which includes coverage for pre-existing conditions, and also prevent insurers from charging sick people higher premiums. [From Commondreams.org]

There has been a 2803% increase in the number of opioid related bookings in Palm Beach County alone since 2011. The numbers are probably even more significant in Broward and Miami Dade & Pinellas Counties.