DCS has destroyed and torn apart not just my family but several others. They place children, but with people who haven't even really changed and go right back to doing the same thing. I've seen them give kids back in just a few short months and close the case soon after and something starts all over again. The parents who want their children can't seem to get them back. The department lies and makes false promises to parents. They don't try to help families or care how it is affecting everyone as a whole. Myself personally have dealt and are still dealing with them and the department along with the therapist who sees my older children and has them convinced that I don't want them or love them. I have my youngest daughter, whom the department failed to inform the court of when my rights where terminated, and failed to inform the court that I owned my place. And, my attorney was no help. When I filed my appeal, I was told I could continue seeing my children with no change. As of October, they took my visits away and informed me they were moving forward with adoption and to treat my case as if there was no appeal in place. They had set up a goodbye visit without asking if I was available, and when I wanted to change the date because I had to work, the therapist told the caseworker that I didn't want to see my children, so now they are denying me a goodbye visit. They won't answer any of my questions. Now they are doing the same thing to a friend of mine; they told her to clean her house and then her children can come home. Her home is clean and they are not letting them come home. I love my children and want them home. Something needs to be done about DCS. I've never hurt my children or neglected them. They always had clothes, food, beds, and have never been abused. There are people who are starving their children and beating their children and nothing happens to them until it's too late. My children went to private schools and were active in their school. Please sign this petition to put a stop to DCS and have something done. Thanks

My local congregation of friends are discussing sponsoring a Syrian family and we want the world to know that the governor of Florida nor the right wing state legislature do not represent the caring people in this state and other states who are not willing to turn our backs to the families horrendously displaced by the militarization of the world wreaking total destruction of everything good and decent or humane. We will step up to act humanely and not stick our heads in the sand. Let it be known that we have done this before when thousands of refugees fled Vietnam. Many thousands ended up in Florida on Eglin Airforce reservation and the people of Florida took them in. Thank you for caring, Johnnie Bohannon

According to New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan, "People are dying nearly every day in New Hampshire from the heroin and opioid epidemic, and we all need to work together on a comprehensive approach to strengthen our efforts to combat this crisis and save lives." Yet, there is currently a 5 month waiting period in the state of New Hampshire for anyone struggling with chemical dependency to access inpatient chemical dependency treatment and detox due to insufficient resources in our state. Many heroin addicts will not survive the 5 month wait to access inpatient treatment. Given the severity of a heroin addiction and the agonizingly painful process of detox, many heroin addicts cannot successfully complete the detox and treatment process through outpatient treatment alone. Multiple research studies demonstrate that investing in treatment programs for chemical dependency is a much more effective strategy to both keep communities safe and reduce the overall cost to taxpayers than incarcerating people for drug related crimes.

Currently, high schools in Okaloosa County start at exactly 7 o' clock in the morning. These start times are harmful for our teens, in regards to their mental health, grades, and their safety. Furthermore, early school start times are linked to increased drug use, sleep deprivation, depression, and other health problems related to lack of sleep. Many organizations, such as Start School Later, say that starting high school classes later would reduce tardiness to the first two periods of classes, improve student's grades and test scores, decrease drug use, reduction in car crashes among teens, and improvement in student's attentiveness. A few years ago, in neighboring Santa Rosa County, the starting time for high schools was moved to 9:15am as part of a new three-tiered busing system to save money on busing students to school. After this change, school attendance and grades improved and there were fewer tardies in first period. Another school district which changed their start time from 7:45am to between 8:55am and 9:10am saw their graduation rate jump from around 82% up to 90%.We support the three-tiered system, as it's the most cost-effective way of busing students to school. To keep elementary school parents happy with current elementary start times and to provide middle and high school students more time to get the sleep they need, we propose that these changes be considered: One option is to move the entire district 30 minutes later, so that means that the high school would begin at 7:30am. But Florosa and Longwood elementary schools would start at 9:30am, and in Seattle parents complained about these late elementary start times, and wanted them to start earlier, like 8am. Also not all schools are at the 7:45am minimum start time we request for all schools. Another option is to move all middle schools to the third tier, with elementary schools now starting directly after the high school tier. Start times would be 7:55am for the high schools, 8:30-8:35am for the elementary schools, and 9:25am for middle schools. Baker School would be on the 2nd or third tier (due to large busing area and one bus run that runs for up to 100 minutes long), and Laurel Hill on 2nd tier. There are many counties (with both early and later high school start times) in Florida that have middle schools on the third tier, such as Pinellas County, Bay County, Escambia County, and Leon County, among others, with middle school starts as late at 9:30am. In general, we request that the School Board and Superintendent come up with a later start times plan that meets these guidelines: - No bus stops, regardless of elementary, middle, or high school bus before 7am. - No school should start before 7:45am, and preferably not before 8am. - Middle and high schools must start at 8:30am or later, as per the CDC and AAP recommendations. - No schools should start after 9:30am, so afternoon bus runs are not after sunset. - Use the bus optimization software purchased in 2014 to optimize and shorten bus runs to allow the bus window to be shortened, saving money. - Finally, please implement later start times in August 2017, because doing nothing is to do harm. Please make the change now to help our middle and high school students get the recommended amount of sleep each night.

We are enraged with ISIS for killing people who do not agree with their extreme Islamic beliefs. Yet about two weeks ago, Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, and Mike Huckabee attended and spoke at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. At that conference Kevin Swanson spoke at length about the Bible saying we can kill people for being homosexual. This is not an acceptable stance for someone who wants to be President of the United States.

We are speaking up to protect the rights of California's homeowners and tenants. California has strict foreclosure laws that must be followed exactly or the foreclosure sale is VOID, and strict laws for Unlawful Detainer to protect residents from illegal eviction. Much of California's housing crisis is caused by judges who fail to enforce these laws in thousands of individual cases, and by our Attorney General and District Attorneys who fail to prosecute housing crimes. Governor Brown and all our lawmakers say they are concerned about our deficient budget, unemployment, homelessness, and the shortage of affordable housing. STOP the second wave of this statewide scandal, and keep people in their rightful homes! CHIEF JUSTICE TANI CANTIL-SAKAUYE (http://www.courts.ca.gov/chiefjustice.htm), who also heads the California Judicial Council (http://www.courts.ca.gov), must collaborate with California's OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (https://oag.ca.gov/) and Governor Brown to guide the judges and protect against illegal foreclosures and evictions. JUDGES should investigate the paperwork and procedures in any Unlawful Detainer (eviction) case that follows a foreclosure sale, housing discrimination, or any other questionable activity. Fraudulent, counterfeit, robo-signed documents are NOT LEGAL and must not be allowed to substitute for legal documents. Any VOID foreclosure sale means the buyer CANNOT evict the residents. When speculators realize they cannot evict after a VOID sale, they will stop buying the houses at auction, and lenders who must keep these homes might be more motivated to modify the loans. Right now, the lenders (loan servicers) refuse to modify loans because they get more cash when they sell the house. Notice the low participation rate of lenders in the Keep Your Home California (KYHC) principal reduction program (PRP): http://keepyourhomecalifornia.org (Scroll down to Resources and click "Reports and Statistics" to find a map of California, where a mouse click reveals loan modifications by county.) ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS must restore funding to assist foreclosure victims. As of June 30, 2015, homeowners no longer have assistance from the California Monitor (https://oag.ca.gov/mortgagesettlement) to report violations of CA Homeowner Bill of Rights, and no longer have legal assistance for themselves or their attorneys through California Homeowner Bill of Rights Resources (http://calhbor.org/ see "Note to readers" at bottom of page). ATTORNEYS and JUDGES should follow the case law and legal guidance provided by reputable sources, including the website for California Homeowner Bill of Rights Collaborative (http://calhbor.org/resources/). __Protections for California Tenants in Foreclosed Homes (updated May 2014) [PDF] http://www.calhbor.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Foreclosure-memo-6.4.2014.pdf __ Representing California Tenants & Former Homeowners in Post-Foreclosure Evictions (Updated through April 1, 2015), including when to CONSOLIDATE an Unlawful Detainer case with a Wrongful Foreclosure case, so the victim of unlawful attempt at eviction to stay in the home while the court examines the evidence. http://calhbor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Post-FC-Eviction-PG-Apr-2015-update-FINAL.pdf __Litigating under California’s Homeowner Bill of Rights & Nonjudicial Foreclosure Framework (Updated through June 2015), explains how to enforce California's Homeowner Bill of Rights, which was championed by Attorney General Kamala Harris and signed into law by CA Governor Jerry Brown to protect homeowners as they apply for a loan modification. http://calhbor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/PG-June-2015-update.pdf Video of signing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8g0P0sRwR0 DISTRICT ATTORNEYS should use their Foreclosure Crisis Recovery Funds Grants ($5.2 million total) from Attorney General Kamala Harris to combat mortgage and foreclosure fraud. See how much each county was awarded, and ask, "How was that money really spent?" http://oag.ca.gov/content/grants/fcrfg-awards EVERYONE: Send this petition to judges, attorneys, lawmakers, real estate professionals, bank employees, community activists, home defenders, reporters and anyone who who cares about housing rights.

Every family has a right to a safe place to call home. Unfortunately, 4 million people, including many children and elderly, are displaced by war torn Syria. Gov. Jay Inslee has voiced his support for the refugees, but some others want to close our doors. We urge him and the entire legislature to stand by our values of compassion and inclusion and continue to welcome those seeking refuge to our state.

Swell Farmacy appreciates your signature in support of the proposed dispensary! Bringing a new vibrant business that wants to give back to the community will only aid in the ongoing revitalization efforts!

Based on today's statement by Governor-elect Bevin, he wants to follow other governors in refusing certain refugees. I have started to work with a local refugee organization and find it very difficult to reason with him. Instead of publicly (likely without any legal basis) refusing refugees, we send the wrong signal to those in need of our help.

This week, at least 29 Republican governors have said they oppose letting Syrian immigrants into their state following the tragic attacks in Paris. Unlike Europe, which has been overwhelmed by the crisis, the U.S. has a thorough vetting process for every refugee who is allowed to enter the United States. The typical process takes between 18 and 24 months. Furthermore, under the U.S. Constitution, governors can’t deny any group of people entry to their state, nor can they determine our federal refugee policy, which is set by the president. Statements attacking Syrian refugees make no one safer and create an environment where racist attacks are more prevalent. We can be a strong, secure country and a welcoming, moral one at the same time.

I am starting this petition because Gov Wolf has received numerous objections towards his decision to accept Syrian Refugees. I want to show him that there are many people in Pennsylvania who respect and support his decision.

Secretary of State John Kerry says a ceasefire between Syria's government and opposition could be just weeks away from reality, AP reports. [1] Kerry said the ceasefire envisioned by the political process agreed upon in Vienna on 11/14 would significantly help efforts to fight ISIS as well as end the Syrian civil war. “We're weeks away conceivably from the possibility of a big transition for Syria, and I don't think enough people necessarily notice that,” Kerry said. John McCain noticed, and he’s not happy. McCain slammed the ceasefire deal on NPR, on the grounds that it accepts that Russia and Iran have influence in Syria. [2] But a war to remove Russian and Iranian influence from Syria would be a long war indeed. Saudi Arabia and Turkey, key backers of the Syrian opposition, signed the deal in Vienna, but that’s not good enough for John McCain. Secretary Kerry has done what 55 House Democrats [3], led by Jim Himes, urged him to do: get a deal with Russia and Iran to end the Syrian civil war, so the world can cooperate to confront ISIS. As Rep. Himes said on the House floor at the time [4], Washington has to accept that a realistic political deal in Syria that allows the world to focus on confronting ISIS is not going to be “perfect” from Washington’s point of view. Urge Congress to support the Syria ceasefire deal by signing our petition. References: 1. http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-paris-consult-french-leaders-attack-082615127--politics.html 2. http://www.npr.org/2015/11/17/456326738/sen-john-mccain-on-isis 3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/rep-jim-himes--54-house-d_b_8222622.html 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/to-help-syrians-back-real_b_8474446.html