the Problem Gambling treatment funding has been eliminated from the state budget. IL residents in need of problem gambling treatment can not receive services. Many agencies are closing their programs, and others will not be able to offer services to persons in need.

I'm a RN who worked at a California State Prison (CMC) where large numbers of Black and Hispanic mental health patients are severely abused and tortured. Routinely locked naked in tiny unheated cement boxes for 24-hrs a day, poisoned with hallucinogenic drugs and subjected to sexual humiliation and agonizing torments--signs and symptoms of severe psychosis are often seen in just six days. Nurses reporting the abuse are harassed and fired. I saw at least a dozen who were fired, including both of our union reps. Using nurses to pretend torture chambers are really hospitals violates the Nurse Practice Act. The California BON needs to forbid it's members from participation. This was done in concentration camps where medical personnel assisted in similar abuses. I worked in Germany after the war, where the nursing profession is disdained for this. In going over hundreds of inmate files, I discovered that many appeared to have been convicted for the same crime, just a few names and dates changed. I suspect the reason they are locked up in secret "mental health treatment facilities" is to prevent them or their loved ones from ever obtaining legal representation. After six days of torture and drugging, most are unable to form meaningful sentences. No mail, phone calls or visitors are allowed. The staggering number of deaths by "suicide" are certified by MD's working for CDCR. No mention of torture is made but deaths resulting from torture can not be called suicide, to say nothing of the suspicious way razors, drugs, rope and other deadly implements end up in locked isolation boxes. I noted that a black teacher was given 7 years for helping students cheat on tests. At CDCR, white officers and medical personnel involved in torturing people to death get promotions. If you feel shooting unarmed black men in the back with 45 caliber hallow points needs to stop, how about the hundreds of victims CDCR is holding incommunicado in medieval dungeons pretending to be "medical treatment centers"? No cameras are allowed but some sickening video has escaped. This atrocity has been going of for decades, resulting in many slow, painful deaths, harming thousands of individuals, families and communities. It is also very, very expensive. One officer in particular, a records expert with 30 years experience is involved in creating phony arrest records, testified to confessions that never happened, verification of crimes that never occurred, and may alone be responsible for falsely imprisoning thousands of innocent people. The documentation is extensive. If RN's are removed, they will be harder to hide the torture as medical care. Please sign this petition if you are interested is saving innocent Americans from hideous torture and death. Paul Spector RN, EMT-P, CPT. U.S. ARMY Ret.

Naturligtvis måste vi ha en ordentlig badplats i bygden så att alla kan få njuta av sommarens härliga bad i vår lilla insjö!

Coming soon to Florida: A scared and lonely child denied an adoptive home, some loving couple denied their dream of starting a family -- all in the name of Christianity. Under a bill that just passed the state house, state-funded adoption agencies will be able to deny child placement to single mothers, gay and lesbian couples, or any other family which the agency objects to on the basis of "religious or moral conviction." A few right-wing Christians are calling this "the official beginning of the battle for religious liberty and religious freedom in the state of Florida." But no one who follows Jesus should want to keep children in need away from loving families.

We the people are taking the power back, no longer will we stand by and allow our elected officials to be bought by corporations that do not have the best interests of the people in mind. We will continue to root out corrupt leaders and vote in new progressive leadership for change.

Tulare County ranks third in pesticide use in California, with more than 14 million pounds of active ingredients used in 2012 (latest data available from California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation). Current protection against restricted material pesticides, the most dangerous type, only prohibits aerial application within a 1/4-mile of schools that are in session, labor camps, and neighborhoods. This leaves a loophole for dangerous pesticides to be used in close proximity to mentioned sites—if applied non-aerially. For this reason, farm working parents have begun to ask for stronger protection zones against restricted material pesticides. The research is there. There are studies that highlight the following among other potential harms: community susceptibility to pesticide in agricultural areas (1), the detrimental impacts of pesticides on kids’ health (2), and exposure to agricultural pesticides as not a good thing (3). Stronger protection is possible and realistic. With the signing of AB 947 in 2002, California agricultural commissioners were authorized to apply regulations to agricultural use of pesticides within a quarter-mile of a school. With this supportive legislation in place, protection around school sites can be a great start. On behalf of concerned families in Tulare County, we ask for your support to better protect the health of Tulare County children and communities by signing our petition to urge the Tulare County Ag Commissioner to include all applications of restricted material pesticides onto established quarter-mile protection around schools that are in session and other sensitive areas. 1. Quirós-Alcalá L, Bradman A, Nishioka M, Harnly ME, Hubbard A, McKone TE, Ferber J, Eskenazi B. "Pesticides in house dust from urban and farmworker households in California: an observational measurement study." Environ Health. 2011 Mar 16; 10:19.doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-10-19. 2. Schafer KS, Marquez EC, Chandra M, Hutchens K, Reeves M, 1. Watts M; Pesticide Action Network North America. "A generation in jeopardy: how pesticides are undermining our children’s health and intelligence." http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/KidsHealthReportOct2012.pdf. Published October 2012. Accessed April 13, 2015. 3. Shelton JF, Geraghty EM, Tancredi DJ, Delwiche LD, Schmidt RJ, Ritz B, Hansen RL, Hertz-Picciotto I. 2014. "Neurodevelopmental disorders and prenatal residential proximity to agricultural pesticides: the CHARGE study." Environ Health Perspect 122:1103–1109; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307044.

My daughter has two advanced degrees from prestigious universities, many other skills, but is still under-employed. She has so much debt that she must lived at home for now. (She’d love a good full-time job that would pay for living expenses and health insurance. We are paying for the health insurance at this time – which she found through the marketplace.) It is worth it in so many ways, including economically, to invest in our future, by having the government forgive educational debt at this time.

My petition to give Grandparents visitation rights comes because I am not allowed to see my only Granddaughter .My Daughter-In-Law and her Mother do not like the idea that I am a Bronco Fan and live with my 94 yr. old Mother They do not speak to both elder Great Grandmothers ,( their own and mine), nor I, the Grandmother; for no reason at all but selfish reasons. I have been threatened that I will never see my Granddaughter ever if I speak to the other Grandma and vise versa. The Great Grandmothers and myself have never had any criminal background. This is a ridiculous and hurtful control game played on elders citizens. I have one son, one Granddaughter. My older son, Jeffrey was killed in a car Crash on Sante Fe and Platte River 10 yrs ago. My Daughter-In_Law can only have one child. My Granddaughter, Charlie Marie is all I have. Every holiday has been missed with her. If my Son tries to do anything, he is ridiculed by my Daughter-In-Law, her Mother, Sister and Friends.... which is not the Grandmother's problem...The child is innocent. Colorado only has a law that a Grandparent can only get visitation rights if the parents are divorced. Please help to Change the Law so that Loving, Warm, kind Grandparents can visit their Grandchildren no matter what other Family Issues take place. We cannot leave out the elderly citizens any longer. They have a Right to see their loved ones as much as anyone does.

It appears that some 2016 presidential hopefuls are defying campaign finance laws and raising huge sums of money through Super PACs, 527s and other political committees disguised as sham nonprofits, by claiming they're not candidates or even "testing the waters." Governor Jeb Bush's Right To Rise Super PAC has set a fundraising goal of $100 million, but hasn’t said what for (I wonder!). Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker bragged at an event in Iowa: "You know, the process tells us that legally we have to say we are 'exploring,' because the minute you say something else, a whole series of things happen. So as we 'explore,' we will come back many more times." Supposedly they’re just private citizens raising millions and millions of dollars in donations. More likely, their real goal is to dodge contribution limits, coordination restrictions, and disclosure requirements meant to prevent corruption.

I have lived in St. Louis Park for most of my life and have watched these developments pop up repeatedly in my neighborhood in the last couple of years, near Edina and Linden Hills. The final straw was being notified that a "vacant" lot (where four 150-year-old Bur Oak trees reside) is going to be developed into a 3700 square foot single family home that removes two of the largest trees. The city is being tarnished by all of the new development. Despite the city requiring neighbors to be notified of new construction and having a tree preservation ordinance in place, there is little that the city does to intervene in cases of new house construction (the tree preservation ordinance doesn't even apply to single family homes). There is nothing else for us to do besides take action and try to preserve what history we have left. UPDATE: Our efforts are being noticed. The City Council has responded and the media are taking an interest. We were on WCCO radio yesterday and have started a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/saveslptrees/timeline). The developer has offered to sell us the property back so we need to take action now. Stay tuned...

Heroin is killing not only our town, but our state. We have very little affordable treatment for addicts and almost none of this treatment is available. The waiting lists are way too long, and our number of overdoses and deaths rise daily. This needs to change. The epidemic has gone too far for too long.

Measure E was passed in June 2014, allocating $99 million to maintain and improve the LGSUHSD facilities [1]. Although the community voted to pass Measure E, LGHS students nor the community were given the opportunity to provide input on how to allot these funds. The Los Gatos community has been underrepresented in the decision to replace the natural grass on Helm Field with artificial turf. Turf is harmful to the environment, unsanitary, and all around unpleasant to spend time on. It does not have the ability to self-sanitize, so bacteria from people’s blood, sweat and spit, as well as animal feces, sits stagnant, and contaminates the field. Temperatures on turf fields are much higher than that of the surrounding air [2], making turf an undesirable surface on which to exercise or play sports . Turf burns and open wounds are infected by the bacteria in the turf. Evidence indicates that cardiovascular damages are augmented from turf [3]. Concerns regarding natural grass are as follows. 1)Turf allows high frequency use of fields to accommodate the multitude of sports teams. -What we are asking for is a compromise. Keep natural grass on Helm Field and convert all other fields to turf. 2)California is in a drought and water should be conserved. -There are other ways to conserve water. Replacing plumbing fixtures with low flow toilets, water efficient faucets, low flow shower heads, and grey water systems can all contribute to water conservation. Governor Brown is asking for a 25% decrease in water usage. It is achievable despite keeping natural grass on Helm Field; we will already be greatly reducing water consumption by converting all other fields to turf. 3)Maintaining natural grass on athletic fields is expensive. -We suggest saving on utility bills by installing solar panels. There will be a maintenance cost savings even if not all athletic fields are converted to turf. THE GRASS ON HELM FIELD IS ICONIC AND IS CHERISHED BY ALL; WE SHOULD KEEP IT THAT WAY. [1]http://lgsuhsd-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1257795556253/1238131251731/6438291839875242085.pdf [2] https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/synthetic_turf/crumb-rubber_infilled/fact_sheet.htm [3]http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/turf-wars-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-turf