This weekend, America will be celebrating Columbus Day.  Commemorating Columbus' conquests. I urge all of you to stand against this by not participating in any "celebration" of this day.  Columbus is a murderer, the Caribbean's and America's Hitler.  Millions of Taino Indians in our homeland were massacred, enslaved as well as, native Americans and Africans. To honor this man is to honor his atrocious acts.  To honor Columbus is to honor murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, rape and slavery.   I will call on all conscientious people to start a movement to have his day repealed as a National Day.  As Americans we must stand united against injustice and our national holidays must represent and support that.

Pleasanton residents coming out of BART station and taking a left on Owens Drive have to face traffic bottlenecks and safety issues every day, as an existing busy 3-lane road was suddenly made one lane. The additional two lanes were given to a builder, so he could make parking for his condo customers. We want to rollback this encroachment of a public road and get back our 3 lanes on Owens Drive.

I'M LOOKING TO OVERTURN HIS CONVICTION OF 43 TO LIFE. LOSING MY SON TO THE SYSTEM HAS EFFECTED ME SO BADlLY, NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE HIM AS HE IS NOT IN AN NYS FACILITY BUT IN AN OHIO STATE PRISON. THIS PAIN I FEEL LOSING MY SON IS WORST THEN IF HE WOULD'VE BEEN DEAD BECAUSE I HAVE LITTLE TO NO COMMUNICATION WITH HIM BECAUSE I'M SO FAR AND IT'S HARD FOR ME TO TRAVEL TO OHIO. HE WAS DENIED ON TWO APPEALS BECAUSE WE HAVE A PUBLIC DEFENDER AND NOT A PAID LAWYER BECAUSE WE CAN'T AFFORD ONE. MY FEAR IS TO NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE MY SON BEFORE I DIE; 43 YEARS IS A LONG TIME. PLEÀSE HELP ME GET MY SON'S SENTENCE OVERTURNED, PLEASE. FROM A BROKEN-HEARTED MOTHER AND FRIEND, THANK YOU, CARMEN L. CORREA

It's about making sure our Family Court Judges stop making custody decisions that hurt our children. All too often, we're seeing Judges place custody in the hands of abusers as a sure way to keep revenue in Family Law- knowing the "good parent" will never stop fighting for their child. Family Court has become a biased, corrupt and broken system. Too many poor decisions are being made, and our children are suffering! It needs to stop!

The right to vote is American's most sacred right. It is disgusting that governor Scott is using a natural disaster to attempt to steal the election for Republicans. This is especially galling since governor Scott ordered the people to leave in the first place.

More than 37,000 Americans were killed by a gun last year, including suicides. And yet Congress has done nothing to address the gun violence epidemic. Enough is enough. It's time for Congress to stand up to the gun lobby.

The deadliest mass shootings happen when dangerous people get their hands on military-style assault weapons utilizing high-capacity magazines. We saw it in Orlando when a single gunman was able to murder 49 people. These weapons are designed first and foremost to wipe out enemy combatants on the battlefield, not for hunting or self-protection. They should have no place in our neighborhoods. We can't wait around for the next mass shooter to strike. We need to act urgently to protect our people.

It is time to end the war in Afghanistan. In this election year, you would expect that those hoping to be the next Commander in Chief of America’s military would be putting forward their plan to end America’s longest war. Yet none of the candidates have put forward a clear, actionable, public plan for peace. This is unacceptable. Please take a moment to demand that all candidates release a plan that will finally end America’s longest war, bring all our troops home, and put forward a plan for peace in Afghanistan.

Our elected officials should be beholden to the people, not wealthy special interests. But the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) undermines that principle every day. ALEC sells corporations private access to lawmakers so they can push their extreme agenda -- while claiming to be a charity so its corporate donors can write off their donations on their taxes. ALEC is committing tax fraud, and it’s weakening our democracy. So today, we’re releasing even more proof: hundreds of documents showing how after funneling millions of dollars to ALEC, oil giant Exxon received private access to legislators to push its anti-environmental agenda. In 2012, Common Cause filed a whistleblower complaint with the IRS to expose ALEC’s abuse of its charity status. Then, last year, ALEC threatened legal action against Common Cause -- accusing us of lying when we said ALEC was denying climate science. But we won’t be intimidated, because we have the facts on our side. We’re releasing hundreds of documents that show how Exxon used ALEC as a vehicle to secretly push its extreme legislative agenda and undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Between 1998 and 2014, Exxon contributed over $1.7 million to ALEC -- and in return, ALEC lobbied for more than a dozen bills that directly benefited Exxon, including blocking and undermining climate science, renewable energy, and environmental and health safety rules. This is undeniable proof that ALEC is a lobby group -- not a charity like it claims. The IRS doesn’t have any more excuses for inaction -- it’s time to hold ALEC accountable.

Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders are being denied the full benefits of necessary chiropractic care due to limitations on the number of office visits and phantom co-pays that are often more expensive than paying out-of-pocket. Medicaid patients have zero coverage for chiropractic. This is a violation of the Affordable Care Act.

As Hurricane Matthew makes landfall today in Florida, millions of people face uncertainty and danger in the days ahead. Unfortunately, due to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, catastrophic weather events like this may now be part of the new normal. Yet, at both the vice presidential and first presidential debates, there wasn't a single question about climate change. For the first time, ABC and CNN have both agreed to consider questions submitted online by the public for inclusion during the debates, and several of the top vote-getting questions are related to climate change. Voters deserve to hear the candidates answer a straight-forward question climate change. We must ask a question that cuts to the heart of the issue and exposes just how ill-prepared a Donald Trump presidency is to address the reality of climate change. CNN has a promising history of questioning candidates on climate change. In March, CNN anchor Jake Tapper questioned both Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich about their plans to address sea level rise at the Republican presidential debate in Miami. With one candidate who tweeted that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, the American people deserve to know the candidate's true plans to deal (or not to) with climate change. For the upcoming town hall debate, the responsibility to ask these critical questions lies in the hands of the moderators and the networks who have agreed consider questions submitted by the public.

Just as we're gearing up for the second presidential debate, Hurricane Matthew is set to be the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 10 years--and its rapid intensification, sustained strength, and torrential rainfall are all consistent with climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution. It's time to make climate change a top priority of the debates and check in on the climate policies and positions of the presidential candidates. Tell the Commission on Presidential Debates to ask the top-ranked internet question on climate change: "As president, what are the steps you will take to address climate change?" This question has received the most environmental votes and it is top 10 overall on PresidentialOpenDebates.com—a site that ABC and CNN moderators have agreed to consider as a source for questions for the upcoming town hall presidential debates. Hurricane Matthew reminds us, yet again, that catastrophic weather events are no longer infrequent occurrences—they are the new normal. We know Donald Trump has denied climate change is even real, tweeting: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." Will he stick with his climate denialist stance or will he concede that scientists are correct? Alternatively, we know that Hillary Clinton understands the science that shows us climate change is a pressing issue that must tackled. However, we need to hear more on the specific steps she will take to address the issue. Will you join me by signing and sharing the petition change the latter part to the Commission on Presidential Debates to make sure that the top-voted internet question on climate is asked during the upcoming debate?