I started this petition because I am very involved with Urban Debate Leagues and an alumna of Northwestern University's College debate program. Debate is near and dear to my heart and I strongly believe that debate, as a tool, is extremely powerful and can be used to help middle school and high schools in public schools across the country, as they navigate the world and try to fight back against oppression. Because I recognize the power of debate, I am deeply disturbed and heartbroken at some things that have come to light about the leadership of the National Urban Debate League. #StopBigUDL Linda Listrom constantly demonstrates a lack of skill, awareness, and capacity to perform her job duties. The NAUDL tournaments have become a hotbed of racial microaggressions as well as a space for NAUDL to strip students of their stories by strategically putting students in a position where they essentially are made to credit NAUDL for all of their successes publicly. I am sharing recently published articles on this exact question. 1.http://newarkteacher.blogspot.com/2015/04/why-newark-science-left-national.htm “The following was a letter written to Linda Listrom, the Executive Director of the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues on March 13. To date there has been no response. Well meaning white missionaries can do insidiously harmful and racist things. I believe that the movement of urban debate is important. Hopefully this is something we can learn from.” -Jonathan Alston, Director of Debate, Science Park High School, Newark, NJ 2.http://lbsbaltimore.com/white-power-and-black-voices-why-we-cant-rely-on-good-white-people/ “The Baltimore Urban Debate League (BUDL), under the leadership of Pam Block-Brier, is bound up in the non-profit industrial complex. We no longer will support BUDL in any way, shape or form. We are building the Walter Carter Leadership Institute to offer quality debate, advocacy and leadership training to young people in Baltimore. Those who are interested in helping to support grassroots debate training should support our work.” - Dayvon Love, Director of Research and Public Policy for Leadership of a Beautiful Struggle, #LBSbaltimore, Baltimore City, MD 3.http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/03/boston-debate-league-believes-debate-can-help-students-struggling-most-city-schools/xL70Cnzg08i3IP22gfjNDN/story.html “Finally, this last piece tells the story as framed by the Boston Globe of the Boston Debate League. The League is very successful and scholars like the individual from New Mission spotlighted in this piece are numerous and their narratives are vast and incredible. As a former employee of the BDL, I commend the effort of all the staff, students and coaches for their Athena-like effort in supporting the growth and success of the BDL. Unfortunately, you can see from the Executive Director, Steve Stein’s commentary, he suggests that all BDL students are vulnerable and debate in some way saves them. Or perhaps Steve himself assumes all personal salvation, like so many white liberals with too much money and not enough humanity.” -Veronica Switzer, former Talent Manager, Boston Debate League, Boston, MA (resigned). The culmination of the egregious behavior on behalf of NAUDL leadership is an email recently sent to all leagues directors in which Linda threatened that she would ban students, schools, and even entire leagues from the National Competition if they were found making arguments that the Urban Debate League institution is, by and large, a racist and problematic institution. Here is a copy of a recent email she released to the Urban Debate community: http://www.cross-x.com/topic/58802-naudl/ We need to stand up and demand that white liberals are held responsible for their problematic internalized racism. Here is a quote from a former UDL alum on Linda's statements: “I think that it is disturbing that critique of urban debate as exploitative was lumped together with misogynistic and demeaning language. I do not think that those arguments (about UDLs being exploitative) are beyond reasonable critique, we need (and probably must, and should) to be able to grapple with that possibility. If people feel threatened by those arguments, the best answer will be found through more debate, not less. This goes hand in hand with a statement made later on in the email where she goes on to say, “It is also insulting to the sponsors who are paying for the debaters’ plane tickets and hotel room." ...This implies that if you can afford to buy in to tournaments you can run(argue) whatever you want but if you're in a position where a UDL buys in for you then that comes with the power for them to choose what you're allowed to say? I feel like that is antithetical to most of the mission statements, not to mention would kind of make the statement she made later on that, “it is not appropriate to argue at an urban debate tournament that urban debate is racist or exploitive" painfully ironic. I would implore us all to remember that racial justice is not something that our students ‘– many of whom are students of color – are interested in” saying that deeply devalues that hard work that our students are doing to combat racism in their own lives as well to take on the beast that is institutionalized racism as they navigate (Substitute; Public Schools) , college, and the working world. When I think of something I am interested in I think of Star Trek, not a centuries long battle for equity.” Thank you, Veronica Switzer and Crew Original Background edited 4/11/15 I started this petition because I am very involved with Urban Debate Leagues and an alumae of Northwestern University's College debate program. Ms. Listrom constantly demonstrates a lack of skill, awareness, and capacity to perform her job duties. She recently sent an email to all leagues directors that specifically said she would ban students, schools, and leagues from the National Competition ...

The Tennessee legislature has decided that local control of local parks should be overturned. This legislative overreach will prevent localities from setting reasonable rules for using our parks. There is clear evidence that carrying guns endangers the public. Many innocent persons have been injured in Tennessee communities by guns, to the point where we are faced with a health epidemic due to gun injuries. Yet, the Tennessee legislature has passed legislation to prevent localities from establishing reasonable restrictions on gun carry on their local park property. Please stop this legislation from becoming law.

Last year a web-show sponsored by AFV, The Undercurrent, broke a series of stories on the Koch brothers' donor conference at the St. Regis Monarch Bay Hotel in Dana Point, CA, which was attended by several Republican Senate candidates — Tom Cotton, Joni Ernst, Cory Gardner, and Mitch McConnell. The first three all disclosed the trip in their filings with the Federal Election Commission. From examining FEC and Senate Ethics reports, it appears as though McConnell did not. Mitch McConnell is the number one opponent of campaign finance reform, having fought against contribution limits and disclosure over the last 30 years in both the Senate and the Supreme Court, most recently with the disastrous McCutcheon decision, which eliminated the aggregate cap on individual contributions to federal candidates in one election cycle. Pre-McCutcheon the limit was $123,200. Now, there is no limit. In honor of the first anniversary of McCutcheon, Lauren Windsor, the executive producer of The Undercurrent and the executive director of AFV, filed a complaint with the FEC to compel the Majority Leader to explain who paid for his stay at the St. Regis last summer. And today, AFV asks you to sign our petition asking McConnell to disclose the information. Perhaps he broke the law, perhaps he did not. But either way, the American people — you — deserve to know who is paying his travel bills as required by the very campaign finance disclosure laws he disdains so much.

The effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for the treatment of Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders is supported by decades of clinical research (https://www.kennedykrieger.org/patient-care/patient-care-programs/inpatient-programs/neurobehavioral-unit-nbu/applied-behavioral-analysis). Yet insurance companies in Oklahoma continue to deny coverage for ABA therapy on the basis that it is "experimental" or "investigational"; that it is "habilitative" or "educational" in nature; or that the DSM-IV diagnostic codes for pervasive developmental disorders are simply not covered at all. Considering that the CDC estimates 1 in 68 children have been identified and that early intervention with ABA therapy is such a crucial element of a successful treatment plan, it is imperative that insurance companies be required to provide coverage. Furthermore, ABA has demonstrated effectiveness for persons with autism throughout the lifespan. Coverage for ABA should not be limited to children, but should be available to all.

My wife's daughter, Trilynn Brueggeman-Bruce was removed from the mother and the legal father while they forced the child (and, without checking her in, the mother as well) to remain for 72 hours. All the while, false documentation done by doctors and nurses of this hospital, made neglect look like the reason to later, after 3 days, have her placed elsewhere by DHS (and it stated so ON THE FIRST DAY, AFTER HER FIRST EXAM, before any kind of proof was given or falsely shown!!) We the parents were railroaded by Child Protective Services and the justice system in Iowa, so that healthcare and our state can embezzle federal funds to use for other reasons. Instead of placing her in the care of the married parents who have little or no criminal history, the judge has given her to the biological father, who has an OWI and assault record, and who is NOT married; and terminated our rights, all because we didn't agree with her completely illegal removal, and wouldn't jump through a score of unneeded hoops, which only served to make the state and the healthcare giant, Unity Point Hospital (the same two entities totally responsible for her being removed) money. Help us get her back where she belongs, in a complete and loving family!

My state, Tennessee, is a wonderful place to live. It's very peaceful and there are not many people around who might bother you. I'm very shocked by the Texas-like attempts to de-facto ban abortion by over-regulating abortion clinics, forcing them to shut them down. These regulations must be stopped.

Beginning tomorrow, if you have windshield wipers on in Massachusetts, you must have your headlights on. It's a good law; I have no issue with it. However, not only is it a ticketable offense if you are stopped, but the insurance companies are allowed to add a surcharge onto your insurance. That is dead wrong. They get enough from us and this is going to hurt those who can least afford to pay any more than they do already. It does not affect me, I have a new car so my lights are always on. But it infuriates me that they are getting away with making this a surchargeable offense.

The South Dakota Department of Education is proposing top notch new science standards for K-12 students that include sound climate change education. But climate science deniers are trying to stop adoption of the South Dakota Science Standards. Opponents are creating the impression that parents don’t want climate science taught in South Dakota. At a recent hearing on the new science standards in Sioux Falls, one parent called evolution and climate change “fringe ideas.” Another said that “many South Dakota families have values that don’t match the school standards as proposed.” If they are successful, South Dakota kids will not only be kept in the dark about climate change, they will be denied access to a world-class science education. The Board of Education may vote on whether to adopt NGSS in May. It’s critical to tell Board members now that the vast majority of South Dakota parents strongly support the new standards and climate change education. Tell the Board of Education to adopt the South Dakota Science Standards that include climate science for all South Dakota students. Thank you for taking action!

Let's increase voter participation in Hawaii by making voting easier, not harder.

Protect Our Children (protectourchildrencoalition.org) is a coalition of parents groups and environmental and health advocates calling for a one mile minimum separation between schools and oil & gas wells or related infrastructure projects. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is accepting comments until May 4th on a proposed set of regulations that does not include the separation we've been calling for.

On February 12, those making a million dollars a year reached the annual tax cap. After that day, none of their income will be taxed to pay for Social Security. Meanwhile, 94% of Americans -- those who make less than $118,500 a year -- will chip in a portion of every single paycheck, all year long. That’s right. A single mother working as an ER nurse pays 6.2% of every paycheck toward Social Security, 12 months out of the year. Meanwhile, a wealthy investment banker on Wall Street isn’t paying a dime into the system for the rest of 2015. They say we can’t afford Social Security. No. We can’t afford to keep giving unfair tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires! Add your name. Sign the petition and tell Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Mark Kirk, and Rep. Rodney Davis it’s time to end the Social Security tax break for millionaires!

Now that I am drawing on my Social Security, i can do volunteer work in my community.