We must take steps to support and protect the rights of our community.

Steve King making outrageous racist remarks is unfortunately nothing new. However, his awful consistency is no excuse for complicity. Most recently, King shared a racist meme regarding Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland survivor and #NeverAgain movement leader, criticizing her for wearing a Cuban flag. He has also tweeted "you can't rebuild civilization with someone else's babies" which won him the praise of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke who called upon white supremacists to move to Steve King's congressional district, Iowa's 4th, if they wanted to have leadership that reflected their values. The very next day on WHO radio Steve King doubled down on his bigotry when commenting on demographic trends indicating Caucasians will someday be in the minority "Blacks and Hispanics will be fighting each other before that happens." This calls for unequivocal condemnation from all respectable leaders and political parties.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that by 2026, the American Health Care Act [TrumpCare] would increase the number of Americans without health insurance by 24 million. TrumpCare would reverse the expansion of Medicaid that Illinois adopted under the Affordable Care Act. Under TrumpCare, Illinois would no longer get a fixed share of its Medicaid costs, but would get a fixed sum per person in the program, regardless of costs. TrumpCare would take away addiction and mental-health coverage from 1.3 million people. [1] More than 356,000 Illinois residents have coverage through plans purchased on the Affordable Care Act exchange. More than 3 million Illinois residents are covered by Medicaid, about one-fourth of Illinois residents. About 650,000 Illinois residents are now covered under the Medicaid expansion of the Affordable Care Act. The federal government now picks up about half the cost of Medicaid in Illinois. [2] The TrumpCare bill would also block Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds. Planned Parenthood of Illinois operates 16 centers that provide cancer screenings, breast health care, contraceptive services and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Planned Parenthood of Illinois provided reproductive health care services to about 60,000 people in 2015. [3] Even Republican Governor Bruce Rauner admitted that "Illinois won’t do very well under the changes that they’re recommending" under TrumpCare. [4] If the Illinois legislature debated and voted on a resolution against TrumpCare, it would put pressure on Illinois Republicans to oppose TrumpCare. Already, more than 50 Republicans in Congress have expressed opposition or skepticism towards the bill. [5] So far, Illinois Republicans have not done so. Urge your representatives in the Illinois Legislature to debate and pass a resolution against TrumpCare by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-gops-health-care-plan-could-strip-addiction-and-mental-health-coverage-from-1-3-million/ 2. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-obamacare-replacement-illinois-0308-biz-20170307-story.html 3. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-obamacare-replacement-illinois-0308-biz-20170307-story.html 4. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/03/07/the-new-provisions-of-trumpcare/ 5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/07/whip-count-heres-where-skeptical-republicans-stand-on-the-gops-obamacare-replacement/

Come on. Seriously. If you know these two then you all agree. It's time. It's time to just stop all the mushy Facebook stuff and just get hitched. We can't take it much longer. What are you waiting for? Seriously.

To strengthen the quality of presidential applicants whereby exemplary standards are required and expected. The nature of the position directly impacts thoughts and behaviors of children, adolescents and young adults.

Broken windows arrests have always disproportionately impacted poor communities of color, specifically Black people. But now under Trump, these prosecutions are having devastating consequences for our non-citizen community members. In fact, under the new Executive Order, just being accused of a crime could lead to deportation. The NYPD has stated its intention to cooperate with the federal government’s new enforcement regime and reiterated its continued commitment to broken windows policing. District Attorneys are the only people who have the power to halt these prosecutions by declining to prosecute these cases.

Many schools in Virginia do not have a licensed nurse to provide safe and ethical medical care. For some Virginia students, school nurses may be the only healthcare resource they have access to. School nurses have the potential to be community health equalizers in the care of Virginia's socioeconomic disadvantaged and disabled child and youth populations. School nurses support and facilitate school inclusion for all students. Public schools could be an economical, common-sense platform for the frontline application of Virginia’s community public health intervention programs coupled with the potential for long-term research. Incorporating a community’s public health approach with school health programs has the possibility to improve health equity and health literacy, target resource application with long-term cost efficiency not only in money but overall improved public health and wellness. My own experience working in a public school setting has been impacted by a lack of medical appreciation and understanding for the role of school nurses. Many of the administrators and school board decision makers do not have a medical background and lack the knowledge base needed to envision the potential of a public health approach/ application to the school health needs. This issue is most apparent in the area of students with disabilities. One of my most important roles is advocating for the federally protected civil rights of students. School nurses are the necessary experts for 504 plans. I truly believe school nurses could help the state of Virginia in reaching its goals for wellness, health equity, and reduction in healthcare cost. An “out of the box" vision for the state of Virginia's school health program could positively impact more than the success of students, but the success of communities. American Academy of Pediatrics Statement https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/AAP-Policy-Statement-Recommends-Full-Time-Nurse-in-Every-School.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR:+No+local+token National Association of School Nurses https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullView/tabid/462/smid/824/ArticleID/803/Default.aspx https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullView/tabid/462/smid/824/ArticleID/17/Default.aspx The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools http://www.healthinschools.org/ More Information https://www.facebook.com/schoolnurseforeverychild/

Severe funding cuts would deeply hinder responses to major humanitarian crises, of political, economic, environmental, or societal nature, and terrorist attacks. To cut funding so dramatically during a period of "unprecedented global hunger" is callous and disgraceful. We cannot allow these proposed budget cuts to materialize.

Recently, authorities removed 310 animals from Friends for Life, including the therapy dogs that are owned by the three volunteers that reside there. We, the undersigned, are against the closure of the Friends For Life facility, and support the return of the animals seized.

Rep. Steve King's blatant and dangerous racism cannot be tolerated. Despite his outrageous statements, King is still the Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice—which oversees constitutional rights, Federal civil rights, ethics in government, and more. Speaker Paul Ryan tried to distance himself from King's statement with light criticism. But critiques are not enough. King is in no way fit to chair the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice—or any other committee. This weekend, Rep. Steve King of Iowa tweeted his support for a Dutch nationalist politician saying, "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." This statement is the latest of King's many racist comments—and he's even doubled down on the statement saying, "I meant exactly what I said." In the same interview, he went further and said, "If we care about our stock, our country, our culture, our civilization—we need to have enough babies to replace ourselves and hopefully grow." Allowing Rep. King to continue to chair the committee further normalizes this terrible brand of racism and hatred. Former KKK leader David Duke and Richard Spencer, another white prominent supremacist, both celebrated and praised King's comment. And as attacks on Muslim, immigrant communities, and communities of color escalate in the wake of Donald Trump's toxic presidential campaign and subsequent Executive Orders, we cannot allow racism and white supremacism to be further normalized. Republican leaders have the ability to remove King from this committee and must do so immediately and send the message that racism and hatred will not be tolerated and rewarded by members of Congress. They must do so immediately.

Thousands of historic Massachusetts law library books are being shredded. In Massachusetts, we have a Constitutional Right to free legal advice, Article 11, of the Massachusetts Constitutional Declaration of Rights, which is guaranteed by the Massachusetts County Law Libraries. These books belong to the Citizens of Massachusetts, and they are being destroyed. They must be protected.

The reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule is a stark example of “evidence-free” policymaking that ignores scientific data, resulting in a policy that will harm women and children around the world and, ultimately, the American people. For more information, see article in New England Journal of Medicine (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1701294). For information on bill, see here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/210