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 was intended for education, but was 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, discontentment, 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, were 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

Hiding a discriminatory, hateful bill behind a name like religious freedom is an act of a cowardice. For more information, please see: http://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/

Mike Pence is the worst.

Gun rights groups are intent on everyone in the United States having the right to own and carry guns. In the past, gun safety was emphasized even here in Montana. Now it appears that guns have become idolized as part of Montana's values. Montana is so much more and better than that. Gun safety should be a major component of Montana's hunting culture as well as help prevent the state's very high suicide rate from escalating even higher.

As foster parents in Winneshiek County, my husband and I have first-hand experience of Iowa DHS Director Charles Palmer's lack of effective oversight of his department and his unresponsiveness to complaints we made concerning unethical behavior of some DHS employees and some employees of agencies with whom DHS contracts. Mr. Palmer has not responded to a single letter or email and has, instead, allowed problems to persist at our expense and to the detriment of the human services profession as a whole. Every Iowan should be concerned when social workers lie (in court and elsewhere), fail to fulfill the terms of their contracts with foster parents, insinuate their personal lives into their professional relationships, gossip about clients and co-workers, and retaliate toward those that file complaints-- problems which Palmer has been made aware of but to which he has not offered a response of any kind. It is well known that Palmer has failed to communicate or work appropriately with the Iowa legislature. It is our experience that his performance with Iowa citizens is equally abysmal, despite his self-description as a "problem solver and a bridge builder." He may consider himself "very open to input," but his actions speak otherwise. Iowa deserves better. Please vote Mr. Palmer out and protect foster children, foster parents and all those dependent upon the professional integrity of the Department of Human Services. DHS needs a good house-cleaning and Charles Palmer should be the first to go. Iowa tax-dollars should not support work of such poor quality, and Iowa's most vulnerable need a state agency that is accountable at every level.

AB 700, the Gomez-Levine California DISCLOSE Act, will stop funders from deceiving voters about who pays for ballot measure ads by requiring ads to clearly reveal their top three funders. Funders must be shown in a big contrasting font on a black background for five seconds. The actual contributors must be listed — none of the usual shell games. Just the truth. That's why a remarkable 18 newspaper editorial boards called for passing the 2014 California DISCLOSE Act, more than 400 organizations and leaders endorsed it, and more than 80,000 Californians signed petitions for it. Please thank Assemblymembers Jimmy Gomez (D-Northeast Los Angeles) and Marc Levine (D- San Rafael) for their leadership in the fight against Dark Money in political ads and tell them you're with them and the California Clean Money Campaign!

Fracking is dangerous to the earth and our health. I lived in a county were they were doing this and I could light my water on fire as it came out of the faucet. Reckless greed should not determine everything in our lives especially without giving us the power to protect ourselves.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo promised to make the DREAM Act a reality for undocumented students -- and now he’s all set to walk it back. When Gov. Cuomo was running for reelection, he told DREAMers he’d put the legislation in his budget this year and finally help their college dreams come true. As recently as last week, Governor Cuomo was still promoting the DREAM Act, first in a speech to local groups, and then in an op-ed in the New York Post. But this week, Governor Cuomo announced he would be removing the DREAM Act from the budget because he and the Republican Senate Majority Leader could not come to an agreement. Undocumented students have been waiting for three years for New York to pass the DREAM Act. Is Gov. Cuomo really going to break his campaign promise now? The DREAM Act is good for the State of New York. It would allow more young immigrants to access a quality college education, resulting in better jobs for themselves and their families. A handful of obstructionists in the State Senate shouldn’t stop those dreams from coming true. Tell Gov. Cuomo it’s time to make good on his promise, stop Republican obstruction, and lead.

Current law permits citizens to register to vote in Ohio while retaining an out-of-state driver’s license, however H.B. 53 would require any person that registers to vote in Ohio to pay upwards of $75 to register their vehicle in this state. By forcing out-of-state students to purchase an Ohio driver’s license and vehicle registration, students will effectively have to pay to vote. Over 116,000 out-of-state students attend Ohio colleges and universities and would be negatively impacted by this bill. Legislators should not impose administrative expenses on students to deter voting. Not only is this provision and poor public policy, this provision is also likely to be unconstitutional.

It is important to encourage all citizens to vote, and it is the responsibility of those with legislative and enforcement power to eliminate barriers and develop simple and easy methods for citizens to register and vote.

I am starting this petition because pre-school children can no longer get the hours they need to help for developmental disabilities. 20 years ago my 1 year old son needed and received 12 1/2 hours of in-home therapy to aid his lack of talking, movement, etc. If we asked NY State for the same services today, we would only receive 2 hours. It's a known fact the earlier you work with these kinds of children, the better chances they have to become full functioning adults. Please support this bill.

When practicing as a Clinical Psychologist, I worked with youth and adults whose development had been damaged by conversion therapy. This was often demanded by parents who did not accept their gay, lesbian, or transgendered children.