We are petitioning the United States Department of Justice to investigate allegations that Pearson has been monitoring social media sites looking for teenagers posting critical remarks of Pearson's invalid standardized testing. In one case in a New Jersey high school, they demanded that a student be punished for a tweet, which was deleted. Not only is this action by Pearson unethical, it is likely criminal as well as no company, no matter how powerful, should be spying on Americans, especially our children. Neither should Pearson, along with the blessings of the New Jersey Department of Education, subject our children to possible violations of free speech. We ask the Department of Justice to advocate for our nation's youth by investigating, indicting, and ultimately convicting Pearson for these egregious breaches of privacy and likely violation of our First Amendment rights.

WE REJECT that, after OTB admitted major losses ($30 million), Albany’s answer was the Medford Casino, placed in the midst of an established residential, school and business area, and built on Long Island’s sensitive drinking water aquifer (South Service Road of LIE Exit 64). WE REJECT the huge FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL BURDENS that will befall our suburban and semi-rural communities: dramatically increased traffic, property taxes, theft crimes, fire/ rescue calls, and property depreciation. WE REJECT the proposed Las Vegas-style neon signs and billboards advertising the casino along our suburban highways. WE REJECT the Cuomo-Skelos-Bellone-Mangano political deception because a vote against the casino referendum was still a vote for the video lottery terminals (VLTs). THEREFORE, we call upon you to immediately rescind the authorization for 1,000 video lottery terminals in each county to be operated by Nassau and Suffolk County Off Track Betting (OTB) corporations. We ask the Senators and Assemblymen to co- sponsor and pass Assemblyman Fitzpatrick's Bill A.5187 to repeal Video Lottery Gaming on Long Island.

This petition was created because legislation is needed to stop businesses from taking advantage of the loophole that allows for unreasonable and incomparable decreases in property taxes and is a violation of the state tax law. These tax cuts require budget cuts to publicly funded programs and services such as education, libraries, road maintenance and repair, search and rescue, senior services, veterans affairs and recreational facilities that support thriving communities.

I work for the USPS and see 1st class mail not being delivered!

This is an issue of free speech and freedom to choose who you want to go to for nutritional advice. There is more than one view on what constitutes good nutritional advice and this bill is an attempt to corner the market on who you can go to for this advise.

Do you want to end homelessness? Do you have family or friends struggling to pay rent? Do you want the State to work towards a Hawaii where all can be safely and securely housed? Hawaii needs more affordable housing and NOW is the time to take action. Recently, the National Low Income Housing Coalition released a report finding that while Hawaii has the highest rents in the nation, the median hourly wage of a Hawaii renter is only $13.86 – less than half of what is needed to afford a 2-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent. Housing is simply not affordable in Hawaii and more needs to be done.

Mayor Bowser is deciding within weeks if she will kill the DC Street Car or expand it in a new, cost effective way. Investments in high-quality public transportation bring economic opportunities and environmental progress. The street car can do all of this more quickly and less expensively than the Metro for areas of D.C. that won't benefit from Metro stops. Neighborhoods like Benning Road, H Street and Anacostia have been in shambles since the MLK riots, and now they have a chance to come back. But the plans to scuttle the street cars could pull the rug out from under them. The DC government screwed up; they spent too much, and stands accused of corruption and ineptitude. But if that's the reason to kill the streetcar, that's the reason to cut everything the DC government does. Instead we should demand more from our new mayor and our city. We need a city government we can count on. That can raise the standard of living for everyone in DC while protecting the environment our children grow up in. D.C. made a promise. The City made a promise to areas of our city that are just rebounding from decades of under-investment, and they are rebounding based on the promise of the Street Cars. Now is not the time to move backwards. It’s time to move forward. I hope you’ll join me in calling on Mayor Bowser to move forward in a cost effective, bold way to move forward on the D.C. Street Car Program.

Washington and Kane County current residents and future generations will be responsible for paying for the multi-billion dollar pipeline; the legislature is not willing to fund the project. There is no apparent real need for the pipeline. "Washington County continues to be the West's most wasteful water user and can do far more to conserve and live sustainably in the desert. "

We are West Roxbury Student Government leaders and are asking that the School Committee, Mayor, and City Councilors amend the budget so that NO SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED! Here is why: -There is no public plan in place for how the buildings and schools will be used in the future -There was was no community process to identify the schools -Parents and students were not notified in a timely way -Parents who don’t speak English were given even less notice -Seats for selective application schools may already be filled or unavailable -Many of the students have already been displaced more than once -Students are not being given options that are equal or better than their current schools -The schools identified are not the poorest performing schools in the district -Perkins Pathways Program students will have no way to complete their programs -There is an ongoing investigation at the Office of Civil Rights regarding the discriminatory impact of school closings in 2010 -The savings is only $2.2 million in a $50 million deficit--the harm greatly outweighs the savings -This does not just impact the schools being closed, it will have a ripple effect of instability across the district Until there is a thoughtful, community-driven plan for all of the schools and buildings in the district, including a comprehensive facilities master plan, no schools should be closed.

We request that the decision made on March 5 to end the decades long tradition of graduation at Gordon be overturned. We ask the H-W school committee to adhere to its own stated core belief: engaged citizens of the 21st Century demonstrate respect for themselves, other people and their cultures…by exercising common sense as a good neighbor. For decades Gordon College has lent their venue to the neighboring school district to host Hamilton-Wenham High School graduation ceremonies. Some background: Since 1994, Gordon has provided use of AJ Chapel and our campus "at cost"-so that the school district has only paid for their police traffic detail and any out of pocket expenses (costs they'd incur even if they held the graduation at HW high school). They only use the facility-it's their ceremony, it's never been intended to imply some endorsement of Gordon and our mission, and our only intention as an institution has been to reflect Christ's teaching that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. As such, it has much symbolic value for our good relations with the communities with which we have co-existed for more than 50 years. On March 5th the School Committee held a meeting to decide the graduating venue for the 2015 ceremonies. In attendance were High School Seniors and Parents, and other members of the Hamilton Wenham community who presented overwhelming reasons why the relationship with Gordon should be maintained. Despite an overwhelming majority, the committee voted to move the graduation against the community's wishes. Please listen to the people. More info, video and written statements from the meeting at westandwithgordon.com

It should be the citizens decisions to change the make up of the local governing body. North Carolina senator Trudy Wade introduced a bill that would redrstrict the city council and take away the at large seats. This would reduce the individuals say in how the city works. We are a very diverse city and everyone deserves representation. If this happens to Greensboro, who is next? Chapel Hill? Asheville?

Public health officials have tied the rise in pertussis and measles to the lowering of the vaccination rate. If this trend continues, the immunity of the entire population is threatened (known as ‘herd immunity’). Dangerous communicable diseases will spread further, and will also affect people who have been vaccinated—those with weakened immune systems, the very young, the very old, and the like. This petition seeks to address falling vaccination rates by requiring all children to be vaccinated in order to attend Maryland schools unless they have a medical condition that precludes it. "The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death. Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves, but it does not follow that they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children." Justice Wiley B. Rutledge Prince v. Massachusetts