We, the citizens of Escambia County, demand that the Commissioners of Escambia County and the RESTORE Committee Members do not support the development of the Clark Sand Pit property for any use other than what was agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the North West Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) and Escambia County. And that the Clark Sand Pit not be developed for a Wakeboard Park or other recreational use for the following reasons: a. The north lake is the only lake in the Clark Sand Pit that may be used for Bayou Chico Sediment. b. If the Clark Sand Pit is developed for recreational use, Bayou Chico sediment will not be permitted in the Pit and the restoration of Bayou Chico will become too costly to fund. c. Escambia County agreed to use the Clark Sand Pit for Bayou Chico dredge sediment and storm water retention as its primary use. See MOU with NWFWMD. d. Recreational use of the Clark Sand Pit jeopardizes the restoration of Bayou Chico and is not in the best interest of the home owners and businesses within the Bayou Chico water shed district comprising of over 24,000 privately owned business and residential land partials.

2015 has revealed serious problems with the presidential selection process for regional Federal Reserve Banks. First, Federal Reserve Banks rebuffed requests for transparency and public input. Then, vacancies at the Philadelphia and Dallas Federal Reserve Banks were both filled with individuals involved in their own selection. Now, with the Minneapolis Fed’s selection of Neel Kashkari, all three spots have been filled by former Goldman Sachs insiders, an outcome that undermines the Fed’s claim of independence from influence by major banks. Sign our petition now to demand Janet Yellen commit to reforming the presidential selection process by requiring that each regional Fed bank establish: 1. A public list of candidates being considered for the position of Reserve Bank president. 2. A town hall opportunity for the public to ask questions of the current Reserve Bank president and the chair of the board of directors that is leading the process. 3. A commitment to interviewing at least three candidates who are not Wall Street bankers for the position of Fed President.

I am in the process of having my dog Molly, trained by a Certified Professional Trainer to become my Service Animal. In September the Department of Veterans Affairs set a policy that will affect me and thousands of Veterans who will be obtaining Service Animals to help them with their disabilities. The VA has chosen just two non profits, one of which is based in the UK, and is primary for Seeing Eye Animals, as the benchmark/certifiers of these animal to become eligible for insurance coverage benefits. By this standard you MUST qualify your animal with a less-than-100-member organization to be eligible for this benefit. These "qualified" organizations are proprietary to their animals and most will not "test" animals from non member trainers.

I am starting this petition because Trump's words are damaging the very nature of our country. I can't stand to sit by and listen to the news media who seems to have accepted this 'plan' as a possibility. Why does anyone listen to him? This is dangerous rhetoric which is already taking its toll on people who could be affected. We must speak up and let Trump know that people are listening and won't tolerate what they hear.

Norte Vista High School is an important place in our community that honors the Native American and Hispanic culture of Riverside in its choice of name and mascot. Unfortunately, there are those that want to erase our connections to our Native American roots by changing the mascot; we cannot allow a prominent symbol of honor and history to be removed from our school, and we cannot allow the peoples that lived here before to be forgotten. We ask you, Dr. Salazar, to bravely ignore those who would erase our heritage, and to not change the mascot that we love, respect, and who helps us to live up to the mission of our school by embodying the realization of unlimited potential.

Hourly employees are protected by law and paid overtime hours if they work longer than 40 hours per week. We need a similar protection in place for exempt employees who many times are pulled in to work 16 hour days non stop because the company doesn't want to hire and pay for the hourly paid help, when they can get the work done 'for free'. This can end up in loss of family, shortened or loss of life, lawsuits clogging the system. Simply put, people who work very hard at what they do, deserve to have time away from work to pursue their own life outside of work, to have regular planned absences from work, vacation time, at least one day off each week as well as compensation for the 'me time' hours given.

This statement also applies to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s corporate education reform policies. We at Teachers’ Letters to Bill Gates and the following signers hereby assume that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation experts are motivated by a sincere desire to improve education. But we fail to understand how your organization has become the national and global arbiter of the means and ends of education in the United States and around the world. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s narrow focus on standardized testing risks turning learning into drudgery and killing the joy of learning. As the Gates Foundation’s national and global push for the Common Core, high-stakes testing, and teacher evaluations based on test scores has led many governments into a national and international competition for higher test scores, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has assumed the power to shape education policy in the United States and around the world, with no debate about the necessity or limitations of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s goals. We are deeply concerned that measuring a great diversity of educational traditions and cultures using a single, narrow, biased yardstick could, in the end, do irreparable harm to our communities, our schools, our profession, and our students. You and the OECD have much in common, Bill and Melinda. Your imposition of corporate reform policies, which are measured using a single, narrow, biased yardstick, are successful in one area only: making a profit for you, test companies, publishers, and the privatizing corporate reformers. Your policies continue to use our children as guinea pigs in your corporate reform experiments and risk doing “irreparable harm to our schools and our students”. We the undersigned reject the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s tight control of education policy. Venture philanthropy’s influence on public education has been all-pervasive and we demand an immediate restoration of democracy in our schools. Divest from corporate education reform. (Note: We will deliver this letter with signatures along with a published copy of all Teachers’ Letters to Bill Gates at the #EducatingGatesRally in Seattle on June 26th. Readers, please send us a note to add your name as a signer. Join us at the rally! ) Sincerely, Susan DuFresne, General Education and Special Education Kindergarten Teacher, Co-Author of Teachers’ Letters to Bill Gates Katie Lapham, NYC public school teacher, Co-Author of Teachers’ Letters to Bill Gates Anthony Cody, NBCT, M.Ed, Retired Teacher of 24 years, Author and Education Blogger at Living in Dialogue Jennifer Rumsey, Parent, High School English Teacher Mark Naison, Professor of African American Studies and History, Fordham University and Co-Founder of the Badass Teachers Association Julianna K. Dauble, M. Ed. Teacher, Activist & Parent Linda Myrick, Teacher, Bellevue School District Kris Nielsen, Parent, Teacher, Activist Keitha Bryson 1st grade teacher – Highline Public Schools Michelle Murphy Ramey Elizabeth Lynch – Public School Teacher, Adjunct Professor, Grandparent, Activist Lance Fialkoff, Founder, Musical Media for Education (MME) Joan Kramer, Retired School Librarian Noel Hammatt Susan Polos, National Board Certified Teacher, Board Member Section of School Librarians, New York Libray Association Kathleen Canavan, M.Ed. Terry Preuss, NBCT, Career Public Educator, Broward Teachers Union Executive Board, Broward County Public Schools District Advisory Council, Concerned American Parent and Citizen Helmut G. Preuss, Concerned Parent, co-founder ABC+LOVE Tracy Eddins, Kindergarten Teacher, Parent and concerned human Cynthia Liu, Parent and Founder, K-12 News Network Rosalie Romano, Educator for a sustainable future with social justice for all Ani McHugh, Parent and English Teacher Lissa L. Coleman, Certified School Dropout Prevention Specialist Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters Judie Haynes, ESL author, educator and professional development provider Thomas Garrard, Teacher Librarian Amy Walls, Teacher and Parent T. Daniel Brown, Parent, 4th grade Teacher, Grand Ledge, Michigan Susan M. Goncarovs, Art Teacher K-12 and ^0^ Sheri Kittay, Parent and Teacher Karen Glennon Retired Teacher with Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, Master Teacher, author, and parent Krisha M. Allgood, Badass student and Teacher-to-be Ms. Robin Lunt, Parent Sabrina Joy Stevens, former teacher, current public school guardian & Executive Director, Integrity in Education Maria Schrenger, Parent and 1st grade Teacher Marie Corfield, BFA, MAT, Elementary Art Educator, Concerned Parent, Vice President Flemington-Raritan Education Association, Vice President Hunterdon County Education Association http://mcorfield.blogspot.com/ Lesa Aloan Wilbert, M. Ed. Karen Adlum, Trained Professional Teacher, Early Childhood Development/Elementary Education and concerned citizen for our future democracy Robert D. Skeels, public education advocate Becca Ritchie, Veteran Middle School Educator, Education Activist and concerned citizen Mary Reed, 1st grade Teacher Linda Liddell-English teacher Ann Marie Finnen, Music Teacher and Parent Sherm Koons, Teacher, human, Washington County Career Center, Marietta Ohiohttp://hypnohio.blogspot.com/ Jeanne Berrong, California Public Educator Tina Andres, California Teacher and parent Michael Struchen, proud public school English Teacher Jannike Johnsen, M.Ed, Special Education Teacher, parent, and concerned citizen Stewart Bloom, Retired Elementary/Reading Recovery Teacher, Fort Wayne, Indiana.http://bloom-at.blogspot.com Kathleen Jeskey, Teacher, Parent, Grandparent; Oregon Save Our Schools, Oregon BATs Gerardo Barboza, M.Ed. Education Policy Research englishincostarica.org Helen Sadler, Educator Nancy Bailey, Ph.D. former Special Education Teacher and Principal, public education advocate, author and blogger Nancy Bailey’s Education Website athttp://nancye...

As a Marine Biologist and lifelong Maui resident, I am passionate about saving Olowalu because I have witnessed the die-offs of coral reefs all around Maui due to land development. I know the importance of Olowalu for the recovery of adjacent reefs, and we can't afford to lose this reef. My kupuna have taught me that we need to try every day to be great ancestors; this is one of those moments when I feel I must do everything in my power to set the stage for future generations here on Maui.

The Koch brothers are once again attacking our freedom to join together in unions to improve the lives of all working people, and we want them to stop! In my over 20 years of teaching, I’ve seen America’s economy swing out of balance in favor of corporate CEOs and wealthy special interests who manipulate the rules to benefit themselves at the expense of the rest of us. It’s already way too hard for many Americans to get by, let alone get ahead. Now there’s a new case before the U.S. Supreme Court that threatens to make things even worse. A group called the Center for Individual Rights, which the American Prospect recently revealed has been funded by the Koch Brothers, other right-wing one-percenters, and even white supremacists, is trying to make it even harder for public service workers – teachers like me, as well as nurses, social workers, firefighters and others -- to band together at work in order fight for benefits and wages we can use to provide for our families This Koch Brothers-backed group is asking the Supreme Court to impose the same kind of radical agenda we’ve seen hurt everyday people in states like Wisconsin and every state in the country. Worse yet, just like in Citizens United, this all-out attack on everyday Americans would be enshrined in the Constitution. When I began teaching at a California community college in 1992, it never even crossed my mind not to join a union, and it’s a decision I’ve never regretted. We’ve all seen the research showing that strong unions benefit the middle class. Being a union member has allowed me to speak in one voice with my fellow teachers for things that matter and benefit the community – better training, smaller classes, and wages and benefits that can sustain families. But if the groups behind this case get their way, it will be another major blow to the middle class. Tell the Center for Individual Rights: Enough is enough! It’s time to stop attacking working people -- the teachers like me and other public service workers who work to make our communities better. Sign this petition and join us as we tell the Center for Individual Rights that we will not let corporate CEOs and the wealthy special interests stop us from banding together and forming unions to make our lives better. Lacy Barnes, College Instructor, California Federation of Teachers, Local 1533

On October 20, 2014, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was brutally gunned down by 16 shots from Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. The murder was caught on police dashboard cameras and security video from the restaurant- which was erased by police. [1] With the release of this devastating video evidence, it is now clear that the police lied and Laquan did not act in an aggressive manner. More than a year later, even with full evidence, Chicago city officials did nothing but reassign Officer Van Dyke to desk duty. But now that sustained grassroots mobilizations forced the city to release the video, they are finally charging Van Dyke- not because they believe in justice, but only because they want to avoid mass outrage. In Chicago, Black women, Black men, and Black youth face extreme levels of anti-Black violence and terrorism at the hands of the police. The city of Chicago has no interest in justice and the US Justice Department has consistently failed to defend Black people from racist attacks by police. That is why we are calling for the resignation of the police superintendent and the state's attorney and calling on the governor to appoint a special prosecutor whose only job is to investigate police killings. In addition, we call for a truly independent investigation conducted by the United Nations and Organization of American States into the violation of the human rights of Black people in Cook county and the city of Chicago. Sources [1] “The video that will rip Chicago apart — and why you need to see it,” The Chicago Tribune, 11-10-2015, http://trib.in/1lk39d4 “Chicago Police Sued for Alleged Police Brutality” ABC 7, 07-09-2015, http://abc7.ws/1TqxzWQ

I just signed this,will you? I am saddened to see the many innocent lives that are spent in prison. A simple test would save so many of these people.

Black students--who pay tuition just like their white counterparts--are leaving the University of Missouri because of active death threats against them. The school is on lockdown, classes have been cancelled, white students are walking around shouting "white power," and bricks have been thrown through windows--all in the wake of the University Chancellor stepping down and the President resigning. At the time, I was unable to find any mainstream media coverage about this incident. Racism is pervasive and threats and abuse are rampant. It's the worst we've seen in years. We cannot afford to live in denial or sit back and wait for others to act! Please sign this petition to help these students get back to campus and prevent further harm from being done. This violates their basic human rights! My petition is calling for the government to publicly address these concerns & to declare a no-tolerance policy on racial threats, slurs and discrimination.