We are students in 7th grade trying to help the environment by getting rid of a harmful product. The use of Styrofoam can harm both the environment and one's health. The creation of Styrofoam releases 57 harmful, chemical by-products into the air. Styrofoam is not biodegradable and is not easily recycled. Therefor, there is no easy way to dispose of it without harming the environment. Not only does Styrofoam harm the environment, but eating or drinking out of a Styrofoam container can harm your health. The Styrene that is in the Styrofoam leaks into and contaminates the food or drink you will be consuming. By signing this petition, you are committing to stop the use of Styrofoam in your household!

A recent series by the New York Times documented horrific conditions for nail salon workers. Employers regularly steal employee wages, paying some workers as little as $1.50 an hour. Workers are regularly exposed to toxic chemicals without any real protection, leading to serious health problems, miscarriages and birth defects. This kind of exploitation has no place in New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie should join New York in imposing emergency measures to protect nail salon workers, including salon by salon inspections and a campaign to inform workers of their rights.

The entire year 9 computer science class has no work to do 1 day a week. This is affecting our education, and even stops us from being able to work on exam coursework.

In September of 2013, the Chair of the KCTS Board of Directors, Paula Rosput Reynolds (Former Safeco CEO, Chief restructuring officer of AIG, and an executive and board member of many major oil and gas companies) announced her excitement that KCTS was being presented a golden moment: the acquisition of Fisher Broadcasting Corporation by the media conglomerate, Sinclair, created a vacancy of top management talent that KCTS could seize upon. The board suddenly replaced Moss Bresnahan, a seasoned PBS Executive, with Rob Dunlop, a former KOMO Radio and Fisher executive. Almost immediately, Dunlop began making a series of far-reaching changes in the station. Loss of Community and Worker Appreciation Prior to 2013, KCTS’ stated the mission was to “improve the quality of life in the communities we serve by providing meaningful programming on air, online and in the community that informs, involves and inspires.” Since that time the mission has changed and, along with it, much of the direction of the station. The mission is now “To Inspire A Smarter World.” Ironically, the change included enormous reductions in the areas of the station which might have seemed to most live up to the new mission. For example, KCTS’ education unit was closed down, its outreach unit drastically cut back and eventually shuttered, its popular Science Café (run in cooperation with the Pacific Science Center) and History Café (a partnership with the Museum of History and Industry), were ended, and its national distribution unit, which prepared KCTS program for wider broadcast to other PBS stations, was also shut down. Also in 2013, the station announced drastic cuts in employee health care benefits and the elimination and restructuring of many jobs. These policies led to a serious reduction of the KCTS work force and community pledge drives. While pledge drives are not popular with everyone, they do allow an opportunity for the community to thank the station for its service and for the workers and volunteers of KCTS to thank subscribers and members for their generous gifts that make it possible for the station to provide excellent PBS and community-driven programming. The most recent, and perhaps most questionable of these decisions was the elimination of a dozen producing, photography, editing, and audio positions, with the result that only a couple of members of the station’s production unit remain. While the station has seen other layoffs during earlier management regimes, they have been made necessary, at least in part, by serious financial straits—in one case the station was millions of dollars in debt. But as even Dunlop admitted, there was no financial need to lay off these workers: In an interview, Dunlop stressed that the cutbacks were not financially driven. The station’s latest audited financial report shows that it had a surplus of $460,940 in fiscal 2014, compared with a $47,843 loss in FY13. Underwriting was also up $178,000 and total revenue grew by $293,000 during that period. There was no crisis of viewership either; he told KUOW radio that the station audience is currently “stable.” Recently the station has announced a Digital First Initiative that will eliminate studio productions, studio pledge drives, and, according to Dunlop, will dramatically change the way local programming is produced and made available to viewers. If these changes prevail, the KCTS community will receive much of its local programming solely in short-form videos delivered mostly through phones, computers and tablets rather than broadcasting. The rationale for this is that younger viewers are not watching the television broadcasts. Dunlop claims that KCTS’ audience is mainly children and viewers over the age of 50. While this is true, it is not new. KCTS has always been more attractive to older viewers, who are also more likely to contribute. So the elimination of so much that KCTS does must be driven by other motives beyond the PBS mission. One of the most troubling is the possibility that KCTS management may plan to sell off their digital channels to other media conglomerates. The Spectrum Auction In 2016, The FCC will hold an auction that will allow broadcasters to sell all or part of their federally- licensed frequency to the highest bidder. Why? Because the lower frequency of TV travels farther and penetrates walls better. This makes the TV band more valuable to broadband companies. “A Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) study claimed that $62 billion worth of spectrum could become $1 trillion for wireless, and one proposal would require all TV stations, including LPTV, to give up all spectrum, with subsidized multichannel services replacing over-the-air TV, even after viewers spent a great deal of money on the DTV transition.” This means that the frequency allocated to broadcast television is 16 times more valuable to broadband providers than it is to TV station owners –according to the study. That is a powerful reality that is not widely understood. So, we have no choice but to ponder how the shift from TV to other media will be made, and what, if anything, will replace local public television as a community service. The valuable model of community-funded television allows KCTS to meet a public need. If the station is shifting focus away from viewer funded television and shifting toward a larger funding source or sale of its license, the average viewer’s voice could be drowned out. Will our KCTS Vme and Create channels be sold to the highest bidder? Some anonymous unconfirmed reports tell us that KCTS may be undergoing plans to get out of the community license contracts for its Vme and Create channels that especially serve the Hispanic community and children. Is this a way to seize upon the lucrative sale of the TV frequency public asset? If the TV frequency is going to go to something else, what will take the place of Local TV? Traditional broadcasters oppose the idea of ...

In the world where cultural history is disappearing every day, I believe the craft rich India beautifully made traditional objects must be preserved. Museums, caretakers of these crafts, must be supported and sustained to make history and traditions available to future generations. Leadership and foresight is needed. Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian, built 20 years back has more than million objects of Native Americans, American Indians, that are cared, respected, showcased and preserved. I find this incredibly short sighted and should be stopped.

When I graduated from high school, I did not know how to grow my own food. The majority of Hawaii's students graduate yearly having no acquired skills of self sustainability. Stop sending our graduates into the workforce without the skills necessary to self sustain themselves and their families.

Let's bring a level playing field to politics by overturning Citizens United. We are ALL affected by this.

I believe that too much money and time is spent during election campaigns. If we want to have greater say in government, we need to get big money, ie. corporations, out of politics. This committee would be a first step in the process.

Bird populations are declining at an alarming rate with an estimated 1 billion birds killed by window collisions per year in the US alone. Let's stop being the nation's example of the problem and be an example for the solution.

Safety on the roads is a top priority for everyone. If allowed to obtain a Driving Privilege Card, studies show undocumented drivers who have passed written, road, and eye tests are less likely to be involved in car accidents. Furthermore, Driving Privilege Cards will require these drivers to purchase car insurance and prove residence through proof of tax payments for two years. Driving Privilege Cards will thus improve the economy and increase tax revenue.

I have three children, two of whom were given devices for which they have no demonstrated need. Arlington has wonderful teachers. They deserve a 1:1 program that has been developed to meet their needs and implemented with sufficient training for them and sufficient transparency for the rest of the community.

To feel safe in my community and everywhere I must go to go about my daily business, it is essential for our community, our state and our country to be safer. We need to focus on making our lives free of fear. Please join me in working to make our families safer in this era of lack of equality and justice brought on by decades of neglect of our Congress and the Executive branch.