There is a pervasive pattern of racially abusive policing and profiling in Berkeley, as well as many other forms of racial inequality. On December 6, a peaceful gathering protesting police abuses nationwide was teargassed, pepper-sprayed, shot with projectiles, and beaten with batons. Mayor Bates and the City Council majority continue to put off addressing these long-term issues in a meaningful way and have postponed consideration of Councilmember Arreguin's proposals twice in the last month. The next City Council meeting is February 10, and we want Mayor Bates to know it's time for real action. All of us in the Bay Area need to come together to address these issues, since any of us could be negatively impacted by the police in a nearby city, or even in our own city because of the mutual aid agreements between cities. Berkeley has a reputation for being progressive -- we need to be leaders on these issues, rather than falling further and further behind. Read below for more background and specific actions we want to see taken. Together our voices are powerful. We can make a difference if we stand up and speak out on these issues of racial justice and freedom of speech. The 2013 NAACP report drew a clear picture of racial discrimination and disparities in Berkeley, making specific and actionable recommendations, yet Mayor Bates has not acted. Encouraging minority youth to become police officers, supporting a federal ban on profiling, and holding regional meetings on these issues may be positive steps but they are far from sufficient. We want real action HERE and NOW in Berkeley. 1. Conduct a Police Review Commission investigation into the actions of the police on December 6, when peaceful protesters – including reporters and the elderly -- were teargassed, beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed, and struck with projectiles. 2. Support the national demands put out by Ferguson Action. 3. Freeze now, and then abolish, the use of teargas, projectiles, and over-the-head baton strikes in crowd management and ban military weaponry and equipment in the Berkeley Police Department, and require that mutual aid agencies meet Berkeley’s standards of conduct. 4. Ban physical assaults on members of the media. 5. Create a broad community process to address the pattern of profiling and racially abusive policing in Berkeley as well as inequities in housing, employment, education, and health faced by African-Americans. 6. Ban undercover officers from covering their faces, and enforce the ban on uniformed officers covering their badges. 7. Strengthen the Police Review Commission to the full extent allowed by state law. 8. Press for independent prosecutors to investigate and prosecute crimes by police. 9. Enforce the implementation, at long last, of the Fair and Impartial Policing policy including demographic data collection, and make the first round of data public, with an analysis by race, by August 1. 10. Review recommendations in People's Investigation of In-Custody Death of Kayla Moore, including extension of mental health services to replace police as first responders in mental health crises.

Last weekend another train carrying crude oil derailed in South Philadelphia, within a mile of thousands of homes. Just like last year, when a train derailed off the tracks in Philly and dangled over I-76, the city’s residents got lucky and there was no significant damage and no one was hurt. The National Safety Review Board has recommended these highly explosive oil trains avoid highly populated areas and rolling by schools, hospitals, and playgrounds. Unfortunately, these trains are filled with Bakken crude oil, a highly combustible substance, and they have a lengthy track record of horrendous accidents and near misses. Just this week, an oil train crashed in West Virginia with the explosion sending flames shooting 300 feet in the air and requiring the evacuation of thousands of people. A disaster in Quebec in 2013 cost 47 people their lives. Throughout Pennsylvania and across the nation, there have been dozens of oil train accidents and close calls in the last few years. This disaster is a clear reminder that we need to get off oil. In the meantime though, we should ban these oil trains from traveling through our cities, before it is too late.

Pennsylvanians from all walks of life and all political affiliations called on Tom Wolf to protect our parks and forests from fracking if elected. He heard their voices and has undone ex-Gov. Corbett's attacks on our precious wild lands, reinstating a moratorium against the further leasing of park and forestlands for fracking. That means everywhere from Ricketts Glen to Ohiopyle to hundreds of thousands of acres of state forests are now off limits to gas drilling. Unfortunately, Governor Wolf’s action is already being attacked by the drilling industry. The Marcellus Shale Coalition called it "deeply misguided and purely political". They may not like the decision—but this is how democracy works. Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians called for these protections and now the Governor is taking action. That’s why he needs to know how much the people of Pennsylvania appreciate him standing up for our state parks and forests and the beginning of his term.

Portland was recently recognized by the White House as a climate leader. The proposed Pembina propane terminal would dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions, making a mockery of Portland's climate action plan while leaving neighbors vulnerable to an explosion during a predicted major earthquake. Before the next hearing on June 4, 2015, from 3:00-7:00 pm at Portland City Hall, let Portland Mayor Charlie Hales know: "The rest of the world needs Portland to lead by example and say 'No!' to Pembina and other fossil fuel infrastructure."

When I was in kindergarten, I remember going outside for recess and seeing all of the electric wirings being held up by crosses, interrupting the sky, and I thought they were ugly. I wasn't aware of how accurate that was, because I assumed my opinion didn't matter, because I was a child. And no one else was saying anything about it, and my parents used it. I went to go play with the other children, and eventually all of the technology was called "normal". Well, it's not normal, Mr. President. It limits our ability to think for ourselves, because we are so focused on what goes on within the box, that we forget about what's outside of it, until it's all gone. For all of my teenage years, I was busy worrying about my appearance, my weight, my skill, my voice, and my intelligence because of what I saw within the box. It changed my idea of what it meant to be happy. I thought to be happy, I had to be like the people on the TV in every way, and I wanted to be. Now my happiness, and freethinking were taken away. I stopped practicing what I loved to do, because I wasn't as great as the people on TV were. I started worshipping celebrities, because I saw them as above myself. I started paying for their albums and dressing like them and eating like them! And talking about them! I had lost who I was. It wasn't until I got extremely sad about comparing myself to others, that I started smoking weed. Then I realized I was really great at things as long as I gave those things my full attention, and weed helped me do so. I decided to get another role model. I started listening to Capital Steez and Pro Era, until my eye was drawn away from the box back to nature. I saw a bee searching frantically for a flower to land on, until his buzz died down and he fell on the black pavement to his death. I noticed the lack of bees, flowers, animals, plants, water, trees. I noticed the birds posted on top of the crosses holding up the electrical wires. I noticed how long I had been distracted. I noticed all the people filing in and out of buildings, wearing sunglasses and suits, still distracted. It's not right. Everything is violated. Everything is distracted. Everything is destroyed. Everything is unhappy. I don't want money, I don't want a house, I don't want a nice dress, I don't want a cheeseburger, I don't want a bed, I don't want shoes. I just want to be free, happy, and be able to live my life, not as a slave to the institution. Not a slave to the capital. I have my mind. I want everyone else to have theirs back. -Sienna Arcala-Anderson, 18

Last summer, following Deming PRIDE's annual pageant, a group of LGBTQ customers entered their local Denny's looking to celebrate another successful pageant. But, "they sat for more than 45 minutes without being offered drinks, given menus, or provided service of any kind." Supported by the ACLU and New Mexicans across the state, those customers have filed discrimination complaints. It's unacceptable (and illegal) for corporations to refuse service on the basis of sexual orientation, or gender identity. Denny's should be serving up hot cakes not slurs.

More than 1.5 million Michigan workers — about 46% of the state’s private sector workforce — can't take a paid sick day when they're ill. As a result, they go to work while sick or send their sick children to school because they can’t take the day off to care for them. It's wrong to force working families to choose between a day's pay and their health. This commonsense solution is long overdue.

In a recent speech, Governor Cuomo made promises about reforms that, if enacted, would help clean up corruption in Albany. He even threatened to block passage of the budget unless such ethics reforms were included. But the devil is in the details. We’ve heard these promises before and what has come out of the “three-men-in-a-room” negotiation in the past was far from transformative. We need your help to hold him accountable. Sign the petition , and we will deliver your signatures and comments to Cuomo to demand that he follow through and take action!

Our economy is nearing a tipping point. We simply cannot continue to go down this path of ever-increasing inequality. One of the driving factors of this widening gap is that while the economy has recovered from the recession and continues to grow, that growth isn’t reaching the middle class. It’s being gobbled up by Wall Street and company executives. Despite record profits, corporations are giving less and less to help the middle class. A recent report showed that regular employees see the smallest percentage of corporate profit at any point since 1950 -- even while productivity has kept rising. [1] There is a pending bill in the Massachusetts Senate that would push corporations to curb this trend. It's a simple idea: If a company pays their executives more than 100 times what the median salary is for that company, they would pay another 2% in taxes on their profits. This gives companies an incentive to raise the salaries of average employees while limiting CEO pay. Massachusetts does best when everyone gets a fair shot and gets a fair share. Everyone should get a chance to work their way to a living wage. 1. Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute, "In 2013, Workers’ Share of Income in the Corporate Sector Fell to its Lowest Point since 1950." http://www.epi.org/publication/2013-workers-share-income-corporate-sector/

I was a member of Girl Scouts as a child and felt that I was bombarded with conflicting messages. Why are girls still being made to sell (and compete, for tickets to Disney) a product that supports diabetes, obesity, heart disease, mindless eating and poor agricultural practices? We need to be more creative and do better for our nation's youth.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teens start school no earlier than 8:30 AM. Schools that have met this standard are already enjoying the benefits of decreased rates of teen car accidents, substance abuse, obesity, depression, and anxiety – and better academic performance. All Massachusetts schools could enjoy similar success. Statewide support in the form of legislation will help Massachusetts communities mobilize to meet the goal of healthier school start times – and will help coordinate across-town scheduling for academic, athletic, and other competitions and events, which otherwise can be a logistical roadblock. Statewide legislation also avoids the barriers inherent in a piecemeal town-by-town effort, to ensure that the health and well being of our children remains paramount.

This petition is about discrimination. After a meal, some people will use the public bathroom to brush their teeth, especially if they have braces. This is allowed. But, in Burien, Wa., an ordinance was created implying that the homeless are not allowed to brush their teeth in a public bathroom. Oral Hygiene is very important to our health, by taking care of our teeth we all prevent many problems, including some that lead to death. Emergency hospital visits have risen 40% in regards to dental problems. By not allowing homeless people to brush their teeth, many could end up in the emergency room and some will inevitably die from oral diseases. It is inhumane to allow some patrons to brush their teeth in a public bathroom and not other patrons. This is blatant discrimination against people who happen to be homeless.