As a physician, I am very concerned about the plans to replace some of the grass in Carmel Valley parks with artificial turf. Artificial turf is toxic to humans and the environment. One of the most commonly used artificial turf uses infill consisting of ground up old tires, which contains toxins including dangerous chemicals and lead that are loosely packed into the turf and can be easily inhaled, absorbed or eaten. These chemicals have been implicated in causing lymphoma in soccer goalies, among other health concerns. As a mother of two boys at Ocean Air Elementary school, I am particularly concerned that one of the parks to be affected is Ocean Air park. On the off chance that a selected turf may not contain these directly toxic compounds – for example some use silica for infill – it still is dangerous in other ways. It does not support our desert ecosystem. It requires regular maintenance, including frequent washing with WATER, often weekly, to keep it clean. This dirty outdoor carpet also is prone to growing bacteria, MRSA (flesh eating bacteria), mold and fungus, and for that reason it requires regular spraying with toxic antibiotic chemicals that wash off into our groundwater. It also gets very hot in direct sunlight and increases ambient temperatures and can cause burns. While I certainly understand the need to conserve water in the drought, I have unsuccessfully requested a safe and environmentally friendly option instead of toxic turf. This concerns me because I have enough patients already with devastating neurological diseases; I want to protect our kids from this. Relevant articles: "As the turf ages and weathers, lead is released in dust that could then be ingested or inhaled, and the risk for harmful exposure increases. If exposures do occur, CDC currently does not know how much lead the body will absorb; however, if enough lead is absorbed, it can cause neurological development symptoms (e.g., deficits in IQ). Additional tests are being performed by NJDHSS to help us better understand the absorption of lead from these products." -- http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/artificialturf.htm "There are now 153 cancer cases reported, and of those, 124 are soccer players with 85 being soccer goalies. Many of them are student athletes." -- http://www.ehhi.org/turf/turf_cancers.shtml "The most conservative approach would be to limit access to an artificial turf field that contains lead. Proper maintenance can reduce exposure risk. Field users should wash properly afterward and ensure that their clothing is washed." -- http://www.state.nj.us/health/news/2008/view_articlea114.html?id=3190\ "The study evidences the high content of toxic chemicals in these recycled materials. The concentration of PAHs in the commercial pavers was extremely high, reaching values up to 1%. In addition, SPME studies of the vapour phase above the samples confirm the volatilisation of many of those organic compounds. Uses of recycled rubber tires, especially those targeting play areas and other facilities for children, should be a matter of regulatory concern." -- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653512009848 "Hazardous chemicals in synthetic turf materials and their bioaccessibility in digestive fluids." -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18728695 "Carbon black, which makes up 20-40% of crumb rubber, has been identified as a cancer-causing chemical by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment" -- www.ceh.org/get-involved/take-action/a-cocktail-of-harmful-chemicals-in-artificial-turf-infill/ “What to Know About Artificial Turf Fields.” Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center. --http://www.mountsinai.org/static_files/MSMC/Files/Patient%20Care/Children/Childrens%20Environmental%20Health%20Center/ArtTurf_Fact%20Sheet_final_2011.pdf Further Resources: http://ehhi.org/reports/turf/turf_report07.pdf http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2265067/

Too many times people are in situations in which they are unaware of their basic rights while dealing with law enforcement. This course serves the purpose of self-empowerment while at the same time potentially saving lives.

Anti-choice extremists are on the attack, releasing videos that have been deceptively sliced-and-diced in an effort to drag Planned Parenthood’s name through the mud. Steve Knight and his anti-choice friends in Congress are now using these videos as an excuse to defund Planned Parenthood. Like any bully, Steve Knight and the anti-choice extremists won’t back down until we stand up to them. Add your name. Sign the petition. Tell the anti-choice bullies in Congress to back off!

According to a report Wyoming NORML received, there is a harmful influence being foisted upon Wyoming voters by an organization of people who politically oppose the Legalization of Cannabis in Wyoming. These are people who seem to be unaware of their lack of political standing in this state in holding a political town council meeting in order to lobby against a bill that will be introduced by a legally registered political lobby of Wyoming while they are not a political entity at all. They are supposed to be servants of the public as is our Governor. It's one thing to have an opinion and to express it freely. It is another thing entirely to attempt by color of authority to bamboozle the public with quotes from a HIDTA Report that is over 4 years old and to pretend that this data is current is a bald-faced lie in contradiction to ALL of the current reports about youth, teen use, criminality, and traffic incidents coming directly from Colorado's own data collectors. There are plenty of published reports on our website to contradict what the Police Chiefs would like to have the public believe. What hypocrisy is being used to attempt to sway people into believing a point of view that does nothing but enhance the public perception of abuse of police powers? This is an outrageous attempt to malign and thwart the will and the rights of the people of Wyoming to exercise their powers to be included in the decisions made by the government of this state that is of and for and by the people. We the people demand that the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police immediately retract their untruthful statements or face investigation of being an unregistered political lobby and be barred from conducting their slanderous "Marijuana Education and Awareness" project in opposition to ANY legislation brought by the people of Wyoming. You are simply citizens with one vote apiece and if you're going to be untruthful with the public, we will certainly sway the day. Stop the legal lies and legalize!

In two weeks the L.A. County Board of Supervisors will meet to discuss a possible moratorium or ban on electronic dance music events, for which they are using the term "raves". L.A. Banning raves does not fix the problem as the events will move elsewhere with possibly less stringent guidelines. We should keep the events, which house both cultural and economic benefits to L.A., within our own county and not jeopardize jobs or condemn county residents who patronize these events to further safety risks by making them drive outside of our county. L.A. City and County has some of the strictest guidelines for event production and has the opportunity to take the lead on a holistic approach to event safety. We, the Electronic Music Alliance (EMA), welcome the participation of our city and county agencies and officials in the development of festival standards EMA has been working on for the past 6 months specific to "raves". EMA is happy to work with L.A. City and County to share expertise and best practices. EMA is a non-profit and global membership alliance of dance music fans, artists and industry idealists encouraging our community to be the "Sound of Change." We organize around issues important to the community like health, safety, greening and giving back to our local communities through charitable works. Save Our Raves --Keep Raves in L.A. Thank you.

Dear Neighbors, The builder has applied at least the 4 times to divert the watercourse by covering a portion of the South Fox Meadow Brook. An approval for anything more than ingress/egress will set a precedent for covering bodies of water throughout Scarsdale. I expect that many of you share the same concerns with respect to the consequences of diverting a watercourse by covering bodies of water. I believe the general welfare of the community is protected by limiting proposed coverage to ingress/egress.

The Charlottesville Cavaliers youth basketball team was knocked out of the annual National Travel Basketball Association (NTBA) annual tournament this past weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, not because they lost, but because one player is a girl. In previous years, 10-year-old Kymora Johnson had always been allowed to play at the NTBA competition with her mixed-gender team, the Charlottesville Cavaliers. This year, the team was on a five-game winning streak, making it to the final four, when the NTBA decided to invoke its brand-new policy that barred Kymora and her team from playing in the tournament. Kymora had gone through the entire registration process, but John Whitley, NTBA president, said they hadn’t noticed Kymora as an active participant of the team. “We have no problem with the girls sitting on the bench,” he said. “We don’t care who sits on the bench with the teams, that goes for anybody … to sit on the bench.” The NTBA’s new rule says girls can play in league games and scrimmages, but not in the national tourney. It’s 2015. The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team has just won its third World Cup title, Serena Williams has just won her sixth Wimbledon title, and just this week, Katie Ledecky has blown through the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle swimming world record. No sport should deny women and girls the chance to compete.

Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. We filed a lawsuit challenging the Loafer logging Project in December 2013. In April 2014, in response to WELC’s lawsuit, the Forest Service pulled its proposal, but now it’s back. We are fighting this project because it would not only impact native and endangered species in the short-term, but would preclude some of the last remaining untouched Western forests from wilderness protection.

Shell has the GREEN light and is ready to do some hefty drilling in the Arctic. Top officials from the Obama Administration say that there is a 75 percent chance of a major Arctic Oil Spill. I need your help in urging top officials with the Seattle Port, State of Oregon and United States Department of Interior. Their dangerous drilling machine is ready to leave the Seattle Port and head to the Arctic. Are you ready to make sure it doesn't go anywhere near our ocean and polar bears?

New York City Police Department claims an investigation is in the works regarding this police brutality incident in Staten Island's 122nd precinct . But as yet, NYPD will not say if any disciplinary measures have been taken. The video of the assault is self-evident that these four officers lack the appropriate judgment to safely serve our city's citizens and have no business patrolling the streets of New York City armed with guns and badges. There is nothing that indicates the level of force was appropriate, or that four officers could not have detained the subject without hospitalizing him.

An oil company is proposing to drill in Broward County, only a few miles from the city of Miramar. This oil well would be located in the Florida Everglades and would endanger critical water resources that millions of South Florida residents rely on. This permit is one of several recent proposals to drill in the Florida Everglades. And loopholes in state law allow drilling companies to use fracking techniques to produce more oil and gas, with almost no oversight over the chemicals being injected underground. All forms of drilling and fracking (including hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing and acid matrix stimulation) are inherently unsafe, especially in Florida where our aquifer is so vital to our livelihoods. In states across the country, the extraction of oil and gas has led to serious health and environmental issues, and communities are taking action by passing ordinances to prevent fracking. Florida state agencies are currently reviewing this drilling proposal, but the Broward County Commissioners can weigh in by passing a binding ordinance prohibiting this well and any future drilling and fracking in the county.

I, and I'm sure many other consumers, would prefer not to do business with this company. I would like choice in delivery service when I order online.