Falling behind San Francisco and New York, Vermont should consider bringing in mandatory 12 week paid parental leave. With the Child Care shortage around our state, many child care facilities are asking parents to pay to hold spots until they're ready to go back to work. Now we have to take a cut in our pay, continue to pay our bills and pay for child care before we go back to work? Stop this nonsense and become the progressive state we know you are!

I have been in a manual wheelchair for more than twenty years due to a degenerative condition that has made it necessary to move to a powered wheelchair. After more than two years of fighting with the State of Arkansas' Medicaid program for authorization, I finally received a powered wheelchair this past Christmas Eve. It is Invacare's top of the line M 41 Pronto with "Sure-Step," it retails for six thousand dollars, and it is inadequate for navigating the real world. It has less than two inches of ground clearance and gets stuck three out of every four times trying to get over the 3/4" high threshold of my front door. It cannot make it over cracks in the sidewalk to take my trash from my apartment to the dumpster. When the hard plastic drive wheels are even just a little bit damp, they spin uselessly. It should have come with a membership in an auto club because it leaves me feeling as though I will need to call for a tow truck every time I leave my home in it. We disabled have legal rights that are being denied by Medicare and Medicaid and those programs need to be made to comply with the A.D.A.

An Open Letter to All Super-delegates, On behalf of America's voters, As a firm believer in the power and goodness of American democracy, especially when it is given free reign, unimpeded by the corrupting influences of corporate financing or backroom power-politics, we implore you to use your Super-delegate status to back, and declare for, Bernie Sanders, should he win the popular vote in any Democratic primary. As we now know, a number of elected Democratic officials have promised their support to Hillary Clinton regardless of, and in opposition to, their constituents’ wishes and those constituents’ majority votes for Sanders. These are officials elected by The People, and who now defy the People’s mandate, presumably reflecting unknown and unknowable backroom deals and DNC favors, and in clear violation of their oath to carry out The People’s Will. In light of emerging coverage of dubious financial collusion between the National DNC and many (33) states’ Democratic Party chapters, we ask, even respectfully demand, that you honor the will of America’s voters in this most important caucus and election process, so that true Democracy prevails. Please continue to stand with the American voter, and we will continue to stand with you. Sincerely – America's Voters

Spanish Fork does not need another Walmart, even a Neighborhood Market, at 2550 East and US Highway 6, Spanish Fork, UT, This is a duplication of services that is within 3 miles of itself. This is unnecessary, and it shows poor judgment on Walmart's part to think that after closing more than 100 Walmarts around the country in January 2016, that Spanish Fork would allow them to expand further.

On March 1st, despite overloaded caucus locations in counties with strong support for Bernie Sanders, Bernie recorded a 58% victory over Hillary. Yet, after adding in the "super" delegates from Colorado, it was a split decision. This is not the way democracy is supposed to work. Leaders should listen to their constituents. We are watching.

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For years, the Koch brothers’ corporate and political network has been harmful to Pennsylvania. Their billionaire egos are keeping working people from seeing higher wages. Their big-money influence made for a serious budget crisis. The last thing Pennsylvania needs is two out-of-touch billionaires who hurt the ability of working people to get ahead.

We are writing you today to request your help to pass a resolution that would ban the use of single use plastic bags in Keene, NH. Plastic bags are an unnecessary environmental hazard since many eco-friendly options exist like canvas shopping bags. As Greenpeace has stated: “Every year, 15 billion pounds of plastic are produced in the U.S., but only 1 billion are recycled. At a time where many people are trying to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are collectively using about 12 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bags that are used each year. Many of these bags end up on the streets and sidewalks or caught in tree branches. Others wind up in rivers and streams, where they are washed out to sea. Once these bags end up in the oceans, they join other types of plastic trash from around the world and are often swept up in currents to make its way to enormous whirling eddies of trash. The largest, near Hawaii, is more than a thousand miles across and contains more plastic than plankton. Plastic bags and other bits of floating debris are mistaken for food by seabirds, turtles, and other marine life. Up to 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles die each year as a result of plastic debris.” We can break ourselves of the plastic bag habit. Some governments and retailers have begun taking steps to phase out plastic bags. San Francisco banned them in 2007, and several countries have either banned or taxed the use of plastic bags. Just recently, Cambridge, Massachusetts passed a ban on plastic bags. We hope that Keene can be another example of a community that shows environmental responsibility. I encourage you to take a stand and add our city to the growing list of cities and towns that are banning plastic bags.

Industrial hemp is an agricultural commodity that is cultivated for use in the production of a wide range of products, including foods and beverages, cosmetics and personal care products, and nutritional supplements, as well as fabrics and textiles, paper, construction and insulation materials, and other manufactured goods. Hemp can be grown as a fiber, seed, or other dual-purpose crops. Congress added Sec. 7606 to the 2014 Farm Bill which defines industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and authorizes hemp research and pilot programs by universities and state departments of agriculture. In 2015, states including Colorado, Kentucky, Oregon and Tennessee authorized hemp pilot programs conducted by farmers and more than 3,900 acres of hemp were harvested. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been certifying hemp crops organic under the National Organic Program (NOP) for more than 15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of consumable USDA organic hemp products have been sold worldwide. Currently hemp foods and supplements are sold by thousands of U.S. retailers and hemp seed products are widely recognized as safe and nutritious. Hemp crops in Canada, Europe and China are certified organic under the NOP each year. Hemp seed and fiber is 100% legal to import and sell in the U.S. and legal USDA organic certified hemp products, made with hemp grown in other countries, are sold in thousands of retail outlets across the U.S. Sterilized or processed hemp seed is excluded from the definition of marijuana under 21 U.S.C. 802(16): (16) The term ‘‘marihuana’’ means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds or resin. Such term does not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination. - Petition prepared by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) -

Per the ACLU of South Carolina: -S. 997 is blatantly unconstitutional and pre-empted by federal law. -This bill is an invitation for state officials to cast needless suspicion on lawfully admitted immigrants based on national origin or religious beliefs. - If it were constitutional, this bill will make refugees vulnerable to attacks from violent vigilantes.

Per the ACLU of South Carolina: -S. 997 is blatantly unconstitutional and pre-empted by federal law. -This bill is an invitation for state officials to cast needless suspicion on lawfully admitted immigrants based on national origin or religious beliefs. - If it were constitutional, this bill will make refugees vulnerable to attacks from violent vigilantes. UPDATE: As of 4/6/16, the clause of the bill permitting the refugees' information to be made public has been removed. The rest remains.

Media outlets continue to report projected superdelegates votes, as if they have been officially cast. This is irresponsible reporting, and it must stop.