Disinformation and complaints of inconvenience should not drive our state's policies for public safety, especially when it's our children we're protecting. I truly believe our collective voices can cause change for the better.

My name is Rudy Howell, and I am a poultry farmer in North Carolina. My wife and I raised chickens for a major poultry company for over 25 years—that is, until they terminated me for telling the truth about how this industry hurts workers, animals, and the environment. Years of being a top producer and never having had a single disciplinary action against me, and still they sent me packing for speaking up about the consequences of corporate influence in the food industry. Utterly discouraged by inaction from my company and regulators, I brought in videographers to discuss public health concerns, animal welfare, and unfair business practices I and my fellow farmers endured at the hands of poultry industry. It was shortly after the scenes from the video of my chicken house were published that I was given my walking papers. Well, I am not about to stay quiet. Currently, only a handful of corporations control our food from farm to fork. Over the past 50 years, fewer and fewer multinational agribusiness corporations have come to control more and more of our food system, shutting out local and family farmers in the process. With unchecked power, companies have standardized exploitative practices that are harmful to farmers, to rural communities, to the animals themselves and to our environment. But it doesn’t have to be this way! I’m not the only farmer they did this to, and there are countless others too afraid to talk for fear the poultry companies will do them the same. This system pits farmer against farmer, with the lowest performing paying the bonus of the top performer. The system operates to keep farmers from talking with each other and sharing information. Their dark-money ties and big-shot lobbyists have done a hell of a job keeping farmers like me quiet and consumers like you blissfully unaware. That’s why I was so pleased to see things finally starting to change earlier this summer in the antitrust Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy that President Biden signed, but the USDA and Congress must ensure that family farmers are part of the solution by updating the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) to address the treatment of livestock and poultry farmers by meatpackers, swine contractors, and poultry companies. These reforms are long overdue, and it is critical that we move as expeditiously as possible to complete this rulemaking process. Concentration of corporate power has contributed to a host of problems such as racial inequity, climate change, rural degradation, animal cruelty, and worker/farmer exploitation. Recently, the administration took an important first step in showing its commitment to increasing competition across the agriculture sector and rectifying the situation. The Department of Agriculture announced that it was going to improve the Packers and Stockyards Act to protect farmers of color from discrimination, assure that farmers can associate freely and that whistleblowers are protected from retaliation, and improve court access for farmers who wish to bring lawsuits against industry bad actors—but it must have congressional support to enact truly meaningful change. When companies have this much power, they can cut corners and bend the rules in their favor, even at the expense of farmers, rural communities, workers, our environment, and consumers. In this David-and-Goliath dynamic, good people could lose everything if they speak out against unsafe practices, corruption, and injustice. For the safety and sustainability of our food system, we must break the culture of fear and retaliation in industrial agriculture. Farmers need a #FairShake. Sign my petition if you agree!

Because we can not and should not tolerate nor pay for this type of ineffectiveness in our local politicians and leaders. also, our Children and community should not be subjected to politicians and leaders who knowingly and willfully endanger them and us.

PLEASE READ AND SIGN OUR PETITION FOR THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN DOLLARS. These funds will not be available again. Our elected representatives should pause and listen to their community, to people who are "boots on the ground every day." The decisions made now by our Quorum Court will have an impact on Washington County for generations to come. We have to get this right.

Scott County has been losing much needed employees due to higher pay rates in other counties. There is a shortage every where and Scott County needs to show their respect and appreciation to/for their dedicated employees by providing fair, just and competitive wages.

Walmart is a great place to find a wide array of low-cost essentials among other things. However, recently it has caught my attention that Walmart stores are still selling MyPillow brand pillows. I like Walmart for the quality products I get for a specific price point. With the CEO of MyPillow supporting the capitol insurrection and the lies about election fraud, I’m disheartened by Walmart’s refusal to cease the sales of these products. I worry that allowing CEOs to lie publicly and spark unnecessary discourse about our democratic elections. Hopefully with enough signatures, we can let Walmart know that we’d like to continue shopping at their stores, but not while they sell products who’s profits go towards overturning a democratic election.

Every year, dictators and foreign governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars to manipulate American politics and bend U.S. foreign policy towards their interests. As America's largest arms customer, Saudi Arabia's monarchy spends vast sums in the U.S. every year to promote the idea that their dictatorship should be a U.S. ally. Meanwhile, the Saudi dictatorship does everything in its power to block freedom and reform at home. Saudi Arabia's rulers jail and kill peaceful critics, torture women's rights activists, bomb civilians in Yemen, and intervene against democracy across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's current dictator, Mohammed bin Salman, is no exception. Ed Newberry of the U.S. lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs is one of many unethical lobbyists who have worked as registered foreign agents for Saudi Arabia's dictatorship. But he and his firm are the only ones who still represent the very Saudi office that was directly involved with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Newberry's bloody contract began with a payment of $1.2 million via Saud Al-Qahtani, the head of the Saudi Center at the time. Al-Qahtani has been sanctioned by the US government for his role in murdering Khashoggi. His Saudi monarchy center was also named in a recent US intelligence report on Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi's murder in Turkey by Saudi agents, which stated: "The 15-member Saudi team that arrived in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 included officials who worked for, or were associated with, the Saudi Center for Studies and Media Affairs (CSMARC) at the Royal Court." Help take our country’s politics back from the brutal dictators who want to bend our fragile democracy to their will. Demand that Ed Newberry and Squire Patton Boggs stop working for Saudi Arabia's dictatorship. Urge Ed Newberry and Squire Patton Boggs to cancel their contracts with Saudi Arabia's dictatorship and the so-called Saudi Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court (CSMARC). SOURCES: 1) "Edward J. Newberry, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs,” https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/professionals/n/newberry-edward-j 2) “Top Lobbying Firm Is Still on the Payroll of Saudi Center Implicated in Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder,” Mother Jones, March 3, 2021, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/top-lobbying-firm-is-still-on-the-payroll-of-saudi-center-implicated-in-jamal-khashoggis-murder/ 3) “Amendment to Registration Statement Pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended,” received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit, U.S. Department of Justice, March 1, 2021, https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Amendment-20210301-140.pdf 4) “Short Form Registration Statement Pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended,” received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit, U.S. Department of Justice, September 20, 2016, https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Short-Form-20160920-634.pdf. 5) “Assessing the Saudi Government's Role in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence, February 11, 2021, https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Assessment-Saudi-Gov-Role-in-JK-Death-20210226v2.pdf 6) Saud Al-Qahtani: Saud al-Qahtani Helped Kill Khashoggi, Tortured Prominent Activist https://dawnmena.org/saudi-arabia-saud-al-qahtani-helped-kill-khashoggi-tortured-prominent-activist/

I'm not the only single mother who has suffered at the hands of Kathy Stein's repeated injustice and abuse of power.

We've seen what power the Supreme Court has over what happens in our country. The most outrageous example is the ruling on Texas and its basic ban of all abortions. This is just the beginning of Republicans taking control of the country state by state with the assistance of Trumps nominees. He did irreparable damage already while president and with the help of his Trump Republicans, is still moving our country toward religious control over not only women, but the LGBTQ+ community. How soon will it be before they have control over all aspects of how each and every person in this country lives? Do you want to wait until you are the next person or group they come after? We moved into the 21st century and people with a 19th century mindset is slowly taking over the country. How are we to compete in such a world? We'll lose the respect and backing of each and everyone of our allies. We are the country that's supposed to be representative of how the world should be. We are no better than the Taliban when it comes to the rights of our Mothers, Sisters, Aunts and Nieces. As a gay man, we have fought for equal rights, not more or better rights, just what everyone else has naturally. Am I as your friend, brother, uncle, nephew or son to be treated like I'm not human because of my sexual orientation? Am I to return to being denied human rights? In the 70's in Pittsburgh, PA, I witnessed first hand the not so perfect police protection for gays and lesbians that straight white men and women have. I personally witnessed two of Pittsburgh's finest come into a gay bar, go to the bar, get alcoholic drinks and handed an envelope with money in it. That was our protection. Protection not to be harrased or arrested. The owner, when I wanted to protest begged me not to do so. My mother, at the age of 91, walked myself and my husband down the isle. She was a devout Mormon and yet she loved me unconditionally. When the law passed she made this comment: Better hurry and do it before they changed their minds. Well, she wasn't far off. I believe this is where we are headed and without the support of the gay community and those who love us, we may just end up where we were in the 70's and before.

We need to protect the rights of women that has been fought and won by those women before us. Our constitutional rights are being torn away from us with forced pregnancy and birth. Women have a right to choose. Roe v Wade gave us that right.

This petition is a companion to a sign-on letter organizations are invited to sign. Find the letter here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfywuN-6wKXEOW2Zwqy5dHmhIt2XtwlHxJ2AgiQaA8KRPk8yQ/viewform Here's an excerpt: Kurt Klapkowski, Director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Planning and Program Management at DEP, told the Council, “We have to be able to defend our decisions with data. And that was the attempt, with working with Penn State, that's what we were attempting to do was to develop that data to be able to have a program that we could go to the Environmental Hearing Board and the Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court under the constitution and under the statutes that we administer, that would be defensible.” He continued, “I don’t think we would have any objection to working with [the Council] and the Legislature to try to figure out a way to develop that data. I think we're hopeful that the study that we funded and expect to have finished will provide data that will allow us to have a program that we can defend in court. But that's really the bottom line for us, I mean we can only exercise the authority that we’re given within the limitations that we have and that's what we're attempting to do.” The study he refers to is the PennState study expected to be completed by the end of the year. A growing body of peer-reviewed research has consistently demonstrated that road spreading of drilling waste damages the environment and poses risks to public health. As is the case with virtually all peer-reviewed research on oil & gas drilling, the trajectory has been one that has broadened and deepened our understanding of impacts already occurring and potential risks, not one that has reversed our thinking in any way. Spending taxpayer dollars in the search for data to support your intended policy shift is an unacceptable professional and ethical breach of your duty to the Constitution you swore to uphold. DEP must halt any plans to develop regulations that would allow road spreading of drilling waste. Instead, the DEP must ban road spreading of drilling waste under any circumstances.

UPDATE: The Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization strikes down the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, and with it, the federal protection of the right to abortion. Right now, extreme and cruel anti-abortion laws passed by GOP lawmakers in various states are going into effect because of this decision. We need Congress to act. Congress must immediately pass the Women's Health Protection Act. The Women’s Health Protection Act would stop the Republican onslaught of anti-abortion and abortion-restrictive legislation coming out of state legislatures across the country. It would block states from creating barriers to care and would protect health service providers' ability to offer abortion care. It passed the House in 2021 without a single Republican vote but failed to pass the Senate. Sign our petition now and tell the Senate to protect an individual’s right to choose—and eliminate the filibuster to allow this popular, bipartisan bill to pass.