By removing any increase in the minimum wage for tipped workers, the Portland City Council left 40 percent of low-wage workers out. These workers need a raise too. In Portland, the median hourly earnings for tipped workers is just $8.77, according to Restaurant Opportunity Centers United. Many of these workers rely on food stamps to get by. Very few of them get health care or paid sick days. Even at the very highest-end expensive restaurants, servers earn just $14.50 an hour--still less than a living wage in Portland--contrary to the false claims of restaurant lobbyists. On paper, employers are supposed to bring tipped workers up to the full minimum wage if their tips are too low. In practice, this simply doesn't happen. The Department of Labor has found a violation rate of over 80 percent. The only two members of the City Council to vote for giving tipped workers a raise were Kevin Donoghue and David Marshall. Mike Brennan, Nick Mavodones, Ed Suslovic, Justin Costa, David Brenerman, Jill Duson, and Jon Hinck all voted to lower the tipped minimum wage to $3.75.

I am starting this petition because I, among many others, was unable to continue my education beyond high school even though I've attended North Carolina schools since I was 6 years old. As Undocumented Students we have to pay three times as much as an in state student even though we have lived here for many years. At this moment there are 20 states that currently have in state tuition for Undocumented Students. I urge you to sign this petition to show your support. I sincerely hope that we are given the chance to fulfill our dreams of becoming teachers, doctors, scientists, physiologists and many other things that we can accomplish with a higher education.

The tragedies that happen overseas cannot be ignored just because they aren't happening at our doorstep. The first step in changing minds is changing lives. Not by weapons this time. Not by invasions or through conversions. But through kindness. A kindness that costs so little to us personally. I create this petition because I want the world to see the United States the way that it should be. As an entity for good in the world.

Mississippi state Governor Phil Bryant has made it clear that he will not take down this symbol of American Apartheid. PEPSICO, AT&T, CAPITAL ONE, ALLSTATE, and DR. PEPPER and other companies yield great profit and promotion from their financial sponsorships of college football games played in Mississippi, their continued silence on this issue is a statement of complicity with the governor. These companies make great profit and promotion off the labor of young African American men--and yes it is labor event though they are "playing" football-- but it amounts to exploitation when the lives of these young men have no value when they are off the field. The flag's historical record dating back to Mississippi's secession from the union is one that quite literally says that African Americans are less than human. Governor Bryant's zeal to hold on to the flag even in the face of the Emmanuel 9 and countless recent acts of violence associated with that flag since, shows an allegiance to that legacy. It has to stop and the flag must be removed. These companies plain and simple make money off bigotry. We must act to end this.

There may be conservatives who will love our message! Why are we silencing our candidates? There are deadlines in some states for changing party affiliation! Our party needs to be heard right away! And often! Any suppression of free speech is Un-American!

We are working toward making the inner city a safer and healthier environment with more space for urban gardens, areas for children to get outdoors and be more physically active, space for elders to safely take a stroll, more exposure to nature, decreased traffic flow in neighborhoods and more. This can be done by converting some of the neighborhood streets into green space. This plan is exploring integrating geothermal energy in order to lower the cost of heating and cooling and lower greenhouse gases. Basically we are working from the ground up, toward healthier neighborhoods and a healthier planet.

The hats are so expensive.

If the Fireworks Safety Act of 2011 is repealed, the state would be losing out on money. It would also make people lose their jobs and the unemployment rate would go up, and it would also create more abandoned buildings in the state since the firework stores would have to go out of business.

Recently, Joe Scarborough -- the host of MSNBC’s morning show “Morning Joe” -- criticized Jorge Ramos’, one of the most respected journalists within Spanish language media, after challenging Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. Scarborough even went so far as to offensively suggest that Jorge Ramos was just trying to get his “15 minutes of fame.” Such comments show just how out of touch MSNBC is with the rest of America. But it get’s worse. Instead of reprimanding Scarborough’s biased reporting on Jorge Ramos exchange with Donald Trump, MSNBC is rewarding him by expanding his show at the expense of one of our community’s most respected Latino journalists, José Díaz-Balart. According to Mediaite, MSNBC is planning to cut José Díaz-Balart’s 9-11 a.m. show “The Rundown” as it shuffles its morning line up. This move, which would take José Díaz-Balart off the anchor chair, effectively cancels the only show hosted by a Latino on MSNBC. José Díaz-Balart built his career at Telemundo and has strong ties to the immigrant and latino communities, but now MSNBC may be ending his show just so that they can give an extra hour to “Morning Joe.” Every morning, José Díaz-Balart reports the facts about immigrant contributions in the United States. He’s a critical voice for millions of immigrant families across the country. As a journalist, it has been José Díaz-Balart who has spoken to President Obama about his executive actions, challenged Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, and has consistently spoken to DREAMers about their advocacy efforts. MSNBC cannot have it both way - they cannot claim to be a reliable cable news network, while silencing journalists like José Díaz-Balart.

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently asserted that the Iran nuclear agreement “isn’t the start of some broader diplomatic opening” with Iran. [1] Clinton was wrong to try to foreclose the possibility of a broader improvement in the U.S.–Iran relationship, which could help resolve regional conflicts, saving many innocent lives. To try to rule out a broader improvement in the U.S.–Iran relationship is something that President Obama and Vice-President Biden have not done and would not do. Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering has argued that the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear agreement could present an opportunity for the United States to coordinate more openly with Iran on mutual interests in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, noting that the U.S. is already coordinating with Iran in Iraq. [2] In the wake of televised images of the Syrian war refugee crisis, there have been new calls to “do something” [3] about the Syrian civil war. Unfortunately, “something,” for pro-war voices, means more bombing and more killing. A better idea, more likely to succeed, is to use more diplomacy and more politics to achieve a political agreement involving as many political actors in Syria as possible and as many involved countries as possible – including Iran. We should use diplomacy with Iran to help end Syria’s civil war – just as we used diplomacy to address the problem of Iran’s nuclear program. Urge the Obama Administration and Congress to support direct talks with Iran to help end Syria’s civil war by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/09/09/today-in-politics-clinton-to-weigh-in-on-iran-deal-as-trump-and-cruz-try-to-crush-it/ 2. http://www.us-iran.org/news/2015/9/5/hon-board-member-thomas-pickering-discusses-possibility-of-us-iran-cooperation; http://www.c-span.org/video/?327950-1/discussion-iran-nuclear-deal 3. http://fair.org/home/the-syrian-refugee-crisis-and-the-do-something-lie/

A new study from Penn State painted a bleak picture for Pennsylvania on climate change: we can expect an average 5.4 degree increase in temperature, making our state more like Washington DC by the year 2050. This means increased smog and asthma attacks, more insect-borne diseases like West Nile virus, threats to drinking water from flooding, and the list goes on. The evidence of human-induced climate change and its disastrous impacts is undeniable. And 436 Pennsylvania experts just agreed: now is the time to act. Now is the time to slash carbon pollution from power plants. But instead of acting, Senator Toomey has continued down the path of climate change denial, questioning humans' impact on global warming and actively fighting efforts to slash power plant pollution. Tell Senator Toomey his choice is now: stand with you and 436 experts on climate, or with polluters and their special interests.

Children who are bullied do not want to use the multi-person facilities in a school (i.e. Restrooms, Locker Rooms) more often than not because that's where bullying often happens. In any area where the attackers can isolate from public view their acts on the one being attacked, they can bully with freedom. This isn't just true for the transgender child; it's for any child seen as different by someone else and harassment begins. {Single Person Restrooms} is so easy a problem! Too easy a problem not to resolve right now, TODAY! A child in elementary school shouldn't be expected to stand up to attackers, because by law we've forced them to be there. No child of any age should be expected to defend themselves, because by law we forced them to be there. Can we at least agree on that? Regardless of your moral opinion about transgender adults, ALL CHILDREN HAVE TO BE PROTECTED if we wish to call ourselves a loving society. This shouldn't have to stand up to debate. It simply needs to be done. Erica Elizabeth Ravenwood - for The TransgenderMovement.com http://www.thetransgendermovement.com/