The PEOPLE want Elizabeth Warren to be the next Democratic Minority/Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate. This petition is to encourage the Senate to listen to the people! Senator Warren has again and again shown that she has the pulse of the country's citizens. She is a tireless fighter who is determined to help the middle class. So, we ask the Senate to not be a slave to some misguided blind loyalty to "seniority" system and elevate Sen. Warren to leader.

“Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” Many employers ask that question before they will even consider employing someone. That screens out more than 20% of all Americans who have a criminal record. “Ban the Box” refers to the policy of removing the check-box that asks about criminal history from job applications. When people make mistakes, they should make amends. But once they have, they should be treated no differently than anyone else. But too often individuals with convictions in their past are discriminated against when it comes to hiring. This is particularly problematic because young men of color are far more likely to be convicted of a crime. If employers must ask about convictions, they can ask later in the hiring process. As the call to “ban the box” spreads across the country, it has become a powerful movement for fair hiring. According to the National Employment Law Project, “Roughly 70 million people in the United States have some sort of criminal record, and nearly 700,000 people return to our communities from incarceration each year. Supporting the employment opportunities of people with records creates safe communities, reduces childhood poverty, and strengthens families.” 13 states and more than 90 cities and counties have adopted fair chance policies. It’s time for Pennsylvania to join them. Ask Gov. Wolf and your state legislators to “Ban the Box” in Pennsylvania.

Chris Christie is letting ExxonMobil off the hook for nearly 9 billion dollars it owes for polluting wetlands and waters in North Jersey. Plus, the proposed settlement includes dozens of other sites not part of the original lawsuit. Instead of making Exxon pay to restore these environmentally sensitive areas, Christie cut a deal with Exxon for just $225 million.1 That’s only three percent of the cost! Exxon should pay the bill for returning wildlife habitats and water quality to what they once were—not taxpayers. But Christie is more interested in keeping Exxon executives happy so that they'll donate to his presidential campaign, just like they did when he chaired the Republican Governor's Association. Before Christie's deal can be finalized, it must go through a public comment period and be approved by a judge. This is our chance to weigh in and tell the Christie administration that New Jerseyans oppose letting Exxon off the hook. If enough of us speak up, we can send a message to Chris Christie that his constituents overwhelmingly want to see Exxon—not New Jersey taxpayers—pay the bill to restore the water and land Exxon destroyed.

My son tested at genius levels in kindergarten in a non-common core state where he lived with his father. After moving to Arkansas to a common core state, he is struggling to just stay right below average. The homework for 2nd grade is several hours every night and my step daughter who is in the fourth grade has 3 to 4 hours of homework each night that I can not help with. The kids are so stressed and overwhelmed by this new way of learning. Most I know have started having self esteem issues. The teachers also don't agree with it. It just needs to stop.

I am a resident of Baltimore City and I am very concerned about the health impact water shut-offs will have on my 75,000 neighbors who will be unable to wash their hands, shower, or drink from the tap. These families have been labeled "delinquent" despite the fact that they simply can't afford to pay the rising price of water in one of the nation's most impoverished cities. These shut-offs must be stopped to protect these families from harm and to avoid a city-wide public health crisis in Baltimore.

I am not thrilled with the idea of voting for another Wall Street-friendly Clinton. I want a genuine progressive to be the Democratic candidate, if not Elizabeth Warren, then Martin O'Malley.

We the residents of Hawaii depend on the animals that we're given to King Kamehameha so we the people could be self sustainable. Allowing Nature Conservancy Director Suzanne Case to head the Department of Land and Natural Resources will be a total disaster to our race and our culture. With Suzanne Case being the Chairperson of DLNR there will be no animals to harvest because of fences and eradication. People of Hawaii, one day the ships will stop coming and the only thing that we will have to eat is the animals in the forest, fish that swim in the sea, and the produce that that our farmers produce!!! Remove Nature Conservancy Director Suzanne Case NOW before its to late!

The Delaware Senate voted on 4/2/15 to repeal the death penalty in the state. The bill will most definitely meet strong opposition once it reaches the House, and needs strong support from citizens who feel the current public policy should be abolished in favor of more sensible approaches to reforming prisoner management and supporting our law enforcement agencies. The death penalty continues to fail as a policy to serve any purpose of improving public safety. It overburdens the criminal justice system, wastes taxpayers' dollars and needlessly hurts more families. It does not serve as a deterrent to violent criminals and is far more expensive than housing these offenders for life. Tax dollars currently spent on capital punishment could equip our police officers so they may effectively solve more cases, and could fund programs to improve prison management and the safety of correctional officers and inmates alike. http://delonline.us/1ao8A5E

We want the public to use our parks and public places without fear. I do not feel safer knowing the person nearby is carrying a loaded gun. This act will actually keep people from enjoying our parks and public places. Veto that bill, Gov. Haslam!

Dear Friends, We in New York City have an amazing opportunity to substantially reduce the use of the world's most widely used throwaway product--the single-use shopping bag. New Yorkers currently use 10 billion carryout bags a year, which costs the city $12.5 million annually to dispose of. Reducing bag use is the low hanging fruit in transforming the throwaway-economy that is wrecking our habitat. The great news is that the City Council has introduced a bill to reduce the amount of single-use bags in New York City by mandating that stores charge a small 10-cent fee for each carryout bag provided to a customer. Customers can avoid this fee simply by refusing a carryout bag or bringing their own bag. Last month, over 70 environmental and community organizations sent letters to the Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito urging them to pass the bag bill by Earth Day. Now we need your help: Sign the petition below to let the Mayor and Speaker know that you support this initiative! We've all seen plastic bags caught in trees in our neighborhoods and littering the sidewalks, and it has to stop. This bill will have a positive impact on our environment and is fair to all New Yorkers. We need your support now to make sure the bill is passed by Earth Day. Spread the word: #byobag by #earthday!

The Montana Senate and House have passed a bill, finally accepting the reality of people across the state who currently fall through the cracks. Now they need to give final approval to the legislation and send it to Gov. Bullock for his signature. Let's give our Montana lawmakers the message: Pass the bill, before this legislative session ends.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Education Management Corporation (EDMC), who operate the chain of Art Institutes, for $11 BILLION! So what about the parents and the 151,000+ students who attended during the years 2003 to 2011, who were innocent of the crimes committed? Would paying back the student loans make them accessories to the fraud? Making these parents and students pay monies that were intended for education, but were used for salaries and bonuses for executives in the company, is NOT in line with our Constitution. Consider THIS: Then-President (and now CEO) Edward West received $1,551,802 in compensation for 2009, $5,486,905 in compensation for 2010, and $6,355,982 in compensation for 2011. Then-CEO (and now Chairman) Todd Nelson received $1,812,996 in compensation for 2009, $3,804,121 in compensation for 2010, and $13 million in compensation for 2011. The year 2006 saw the takeover of EDMC by Goldman Sachs and its private equity partners. Source: Huffington Post article below. I enrolled at Ai Pittsburgh in 2009 and graduated with an Associate's in graphic design in 2010. I, like many others, had been lured in by their claims of high employment ratings and being the first, therefore the best, school for graphic design. This is far from the truth as many of the courses had nothing to do with graphic design and failed to provide the tools needed for the professional field; such as web design. I endured the same situation as Matt Bors in the Huffington Post article saying, "that many of the students in his classes had no talents to speak of, and it was clear that they would not be able to get jobs as artists or designers." This created an atmosphere not of creativity, but of confusion, discouragement, discontent, and low spirits. As they say, "If I only knew then, what I know now", I never would have signed my parents or myself up for a $50,000 debt for a lack of education only to find out that my enrollment directly contributed to the fraud. $11 BILLION seems quite unfathomable to students and parents now burdened by sums that are miniscule in comparison. I have not paid a cent to contribute to this company's fraudulent action, and I refuse to pay a cent, or let disciplinary action to be taken upon myself or my parents. The loan company is threatening wage garnishment. How is this possible when they are accomplices to a HUGE fraud scandal? This scandal has been recognized in the Supreme Court, who then took action against EDMC. Loan agency Sallie Mae, now Navient, was hand-in-hand with EDMC, handing out loans to anyone who asked. So what happened to the $11 BILLION? While a civil court case could prove punitive damages to the ones affected, the least I am asking is for the debt to be lifted for all those in attendance at the Art Institutes from 2003 to 2011. View these articles on the EDMC money scandal, read the comments people have made on these articles, sign the petition, and help out those who have been conned into this scheme. http://www.pdnonline.com/news/The-Art-Institutes--3531.shtml http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/edmc-professors-and-stude_b_1909449.html http://petapixel.com/2011/09/02/us-gov-sues-the-art-institutes-for-11-billion-fraud/ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/education/09forprofit.html?_r=0 http://www.studentsreview.com/specific_detail.php3?uid=3147 Quote from Huffington Post article: "Senator Tom Harkin's Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee calculates that 77.4 percent of EDMC's 2010 revenue came from U.S. Department of Education student financial aid." In 2012, an online petition was started by Vaughn Reynolds at Change.org. He sought to unite Art Institutes students at various campuses in opposition of the teacher layoffs, to educate students and the public about the impact of Wall Street ownership of colleges. The petition has more than 2800 supporters so far. A related Facebook group has over 1800 members. Find the Facebook link here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aistudents/?ref=ts