Governor Bobbi Jindal continues to close mental health facilities, thus, fueling the mental health crisis since Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Criminalizing people with mental illness is dehumanizing and traumatizing. Please sign the petition to "Stop the Criminalization of Mental Illness in New Orleans"

A recent audit revealed that 17 of the 20 government-subsidized childcare centers in Pennsylvania were found to have serious health and safety violations--including concealment of criminal charges against operators. Of the failing sites, only two have been shut down and under state law the audit manager noted that they were not able to investigate more broadly.

Concerned citizens of Woodland Heights have a meeting on June 2, 2015, with METRO to discuss this issue prior to public hearings about the rerouting. Show your support to move the new METRO route to the perimeter roads of Woodland Heights so we can reclaim our neighborhood and our streets, making them safer for residents.

According to Equal Rights Advocates, a national civil rights organization based in San Francisco, a woman in California working full time made a median of 84 cents for every dollar a man earned. You might be wondering if that statistic is from 1965 or something... it's not. It's from 2013. Most people I've talked to have personally experienced the wage gap. A couple years ago, I was working in a cafe and found out that the inexperienced 19-year-old new guy made $10 an hour while I only made $8.50--even though I had 7 years of server and barista experience under my belt, including 6 months at this place. Even our country's most successful women have encountered this, including talented actors like Patricia Arquette, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress earlier this year and called for wage equality in her acceptance speech. A bill to close the wage gap that women face at work passed the Senate floor on a unanimous, bipartisan vote earlier this week. The measure would give California the toughest law in the nation to ensure that women are paid the same as men for performing jobs that are substantially similar. But the fight isn't over: The bill now goes to the state Assembly before heading to Governor Brown's desk. Show your support! Equal pay for equal work!

The 450 unit apartment complex proposed in the "heart of the Agua Fria community" will: - destroy the community's rural residential and historical character - increase traffic congestion, noise, accidents, pollution - adversely impact city residents' use of water due to water scarcity and imposed drought conservation measures - significantly increase all other infrastructure demands on the community - set a precedent which will lead to more medium-high density development in the community; and - there are other city zoning districts that already allow for medium-high density development.

The 450 unit apartment complex proposed in the "heart of the Agua Fria community" will: - destroy the community's rural residential and historical character - increase traffic congestion, noise, accidents, pollution - adversely impact city residents' use of water due to water scarcity and imposed drought conservation measures - significantly increase all other infrastructure demands on the community - set a precedent which will lead to more medium-high density development in the community; and - there are other city zoning districts that already allow for medium-high density development.

It's just a money grab by big cable for people who use large amounts of data. Those who use lots of data (legitimately) are being persecuted and taxed for using the Internet as it was meant to be used

On May 26, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. [1] Bernie presented a strong progressive agenda, including creating jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure, confronting the threat of climate change, and breaking the stranglehold of big money on our elections. But a key element of our progressive agenda was missing from Bernie’s announcement speech: cutting the bloated Pentagon budget. Bernie is right to say that when the super-rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes, it contributes to our obscene rate of child poverty. But it’s just as important to say that when our federal income tax dollars are diverted to wars, foreign military bases, and weapon systems that we don’t need, that contributes to our obscene rate of child poverty as well. We have a problem with the 1% on the revenue side, but we also have a problem with the 1% on the expenditure side. Raising taxes on the super-rich won’t reduce child poverty if we let the Pentagon gobble all the money. Urge Bernie to talk about cutting the bloated Pentagon budget in his stump speech by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHzTdu6Clw

McDonald’s makes $5.5 billion in profit annually, while the cooks and cashiers who do the hard work struggle every day to pay rent or support a family. It’s not right. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just launched a wage board with the power to raise wages for the 180,000 fast food workers in the state, but it's possible they'll miss this opportunity to raise wages where they need to be – $15 an hour – and settle on a wage that doesn't go far enough. L.A. just passed $15 an hour, and it’s time for $15 in New York and across America. It’s a massive opportunity, but time is short – we need to deliver this petition to the wage board by June 22, before they make their decision. We need to send them a clear message: It’s time to end taxpayer giveaways to megacorporations. It’s time for $15 an hour for fast food workers.

On May 19, Los Angeles voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour – giving a raise to 800,000 people. New York is still stuck at $8.75. That’s not right. But right now we have a HUGE opportunity to win $15 in New York for fast food workers. Governor Andrew Cuomo just launched a wage board with the power to raise wages for the hundreds of thousands of fast food workers in the state – but will they agree to $15 an hour? Let’s send them a message loud and clear that it’s time to make New York the first state in the union with a $15 wage for fast food workers. Time is short – we need to deliver this petition to the wage board by June 22, before they make their decision. Sign today.

Shixin Lu is a 43-year-old asylum seeker and a mother of a 13-year-old daughter, Yuening Li. She is in danger of being imminently deported back to China, where she is almost certain to be detained and tortured by Chinese authorities solely because of her peaceful religious beliefs. Shixin and her husband, Austin, are practitioners of Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice outlawed in China since 1999. Tens of thousands of practitioners have since been detained and tortured. Shixin and Austin were both victims of this abuse in the early 2000’s, but following their detentions, they concealed their religious beliefs and built successful careers in China. In January 2014, Austin and their daughter traveled to the United States, joined by Shixin a few weeks later. Shixin was forced to return to China in February after receiving news that her father was ill. While in China, Shixin started to receive threats to her family’s well being. In a panic, Shixin returned to the United States, where she was detained in ICE custody before applying for asylum. Her asylum claim was wrongly denied, despite the substantial proof of warnings from Chinese authorities. Shixin has been detained in county jail like a criminal for more than one year in Calhoun County Jail although ICE has power to parole ( release her) as she is neither flight risk nor danger to public and has a legitimate asylum claim. ICE Field office should use proper discretion and free her now while asylum appeal is pending!

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country. As states move to legalize marijuana, it is time to at least reduce sentencing for non-violent marijuana arrests. Legalization would help reduce inmate populations, and help to raise much needed tax revenues.