My name is Katherine Kostreva, and I am the first victim of MRDC fraud to go public, as documented by the New York Times. For more than six months, I pleaded for Bank of America to help me. Their refusal lead to a second case of MRDC fraud. To date, I have suffered financial hardship and emotional duress because of Bank of America's negligence. When they issued a gag order, I realized that those before me have been silenced. Please help me close this banking loophole, that will only grow worse in the near future.

Each state in the United States has enacted statutes to punish individuals who engage in cruelty to animals. The actual codified provisions vary drastically from state to state.

Pennsylvania state officials have looked away while needy children are gravely harmed by the Milton Hershey School, a $12 billion charity located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey provides K-12 children with residential education and is funded by the Hershey Company. The charity’s wealth assures it indulgence from state authorities coveting Hershey patronage, no matter how many children are harmed. The worst Hershey misconduct is against children suffering from depression, such as 14-year old Abbie Bartels, who was expelled by Hershey in a heartbreaking manner, including being barred from her graduation ceremony. A week later, Abbie took her own life. A CNN report about Abbie can be viewed here: http://goo.gl/6ZCHKY Approximately one hundred or more children like Abbie were similarly expelled by Hershey, reportedly to protect its pristine “image.” Hershey also refuses to enroll children with other disabilities—for instance, children who are visually or hearing impaired, or who need crutches or wheelchairs. It is as though Hershey leaders were caught in a policy time warp. This happens because the Hershey system is rigged against needy children. For instance, there are no child welfare professionals on Hershey’s self-selecting board—one that pays its “nonprofit” board members millions in “fees,” and recently squandered $25 million on a luxury golf course where board members liked to play. Hershey administrators also have questionable records and pursue indefensible policies that harm children like Abbie. It is time for this to change and for needy children to get a fair shake. Since Pennsylvania officials refuse to end Hershey discrimination and change a system that cheats poor children, we respectfully ask Federal authorities to take these actions. For more information please visit: www.protecthersheychildren.org.

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is the unnamed actor in the non-indictments of Officer Daniel Pantaleo and Officer Darren Wilson for the killings of unarmed Eric Garner and Mike Brown. The FOP protects police officers who kill unarmed civilians helping them escape justice and putting the rest of us in harms way. It is time for the FOP to stop protecting killer cops, and support communities seeking justice.

Defending diplomatic engagement with Iran is going to be a bigger challenge with Republicans taking over the Senate. Now, even more than before, we need Democratic Senators to speak up for diplomacy. Already, following the November 24 extension of the Iran talks and interim nuclear agreement with Iran, many Republicans and even some Democrats are calling for Congress to pass new sanctions on Iran, which would violate the agreement and kill the talks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders are key voices we need to defend diplomacy. Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders are nationally recognized as leaders of progressive Democrats. But since November 24, Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders —unlike Senators Feinstein, Boxer, Baldwin, [1] Murphy, Levin, Johnson, Schatz [2] Kaine, and Casey [3] —have not yet spoken up for the extension of the agreement and talks. Urge Senator Warren and Senator Sanders to speak up for diplomacy by signing our petition. References: 1. “What Women Leaders Are Saying on the Iran Nuclear Negotiations,” Jessie Calkins, WAND, November 19, 2014, http://www.wand.org/2014/11/19/what-women-leaders-are-saying-on-the-iran-nuclear-negotiations/ 2. “Vienna Nuke Talks: Congressional Reaction,” United States Institute of Peace, November 25, 2014, http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2014/nov/25/vienna-nuke-talks-congressional-reaction 3. “Strong Congressional Support for Extension to Iran Negotiations,” Ryan Costello, NIAC, November 24, 2014, http://www.niacouncil.org/strong-congressional-support-extension-iran-negotiations/

Wall Street has another trick up its sleeve – one that could cost millions of American workers and retirees tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. It involves the rules for many of the financial professionals on whom we depend for retirement planning advice. The Department of Labor (DOL) has been working hard to update those rules, so that more advisers must meet a basic “fiduciary” standard - a simple duty to look out for the best interests of their clients. Because many advisers are not currently subject to such a duty, they can recommend investments designed to generate bigger fees for them, even if it means diminished retirement security for those they are advising. Big brokerage firms and insurance companies, which have enormous profits at stake, have spent millions lobbying against this reform. Now they are pushing Congress to kill the DOL proposal before it even sees the light of day. Don’t let them get away with it!

The election of Cory Gardner this year was a tough loss that progressives must now live with. But we won’t sit quietly while Gardner casually disregards the promises he made to Colorado on the campaign trail. Colorado still deserves better--and we will continue to demand better from Gardner as Colorado’s next U.S. Senator.

The positive effects of the principles of Community Policing have proved a powerful principle in defusing potentially deadly encounters between police and citizens, and fostering positive relationships between police and citizens. More importantly the concept reminds us all of how the simplest and subtlest aspects of our behavior can have profound negative or positive effects. Oftentimes these are not easily measurable or teachable, but this should not deter us, or our town governments, from aggressively pursuing initiation of this training and adopting this policy as an overall guiding principle for all departments.

I almost fell off my bike while biking to class after dark. The bumps are angular and do not accommodate road bikes or mountain bikes to pass over them without tire damage. There are other alternatives that would make the path more accessible for wheelchairs and safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

The killing of my sister LINDA BROWN!

This petition was started to express grievance for the lack of indictment of the officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner by choke-hold and prevent the occurrence of similar situations.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act states that a provider's "religious reasons" could prevent a person in need from receiving medical help, housing, or a driver's license. This Act is discriminatory and unkind. We, the people of Michigan who have signed this petition, do not support this Act.