The idea that all people in America should have access to a Community College education is a great idea. I have saved for the last 16 years for my daughter's education. Living frugally and forgoing new cars and dinners out so that we could put aside money into the 529k. Now the President is suggesting that these funds be taxed so that others can benefit from my years of saving and planning.

We, the members of Stop Smart Meters of Nevada County, and the undersigned citizens, assert the following: Smart Meters, Gateway and/or Tropos devices are a hazard to the physical and mental health and safety of human beings, flora, and fauna ( plants and animals .) [ Gateway and/or Tropos devices for the purposes of this petition refers to: specific technological devices which aid in the transmission of Smart Meter communications and/or amplify/boost the power of Smart Meters.]; Peer reviewed science has demonstrated that children are especially vulnerable to the harmful forms of radiation emitted by Smart Meters, Gateway and/or Tropos devices; Smart Meters, Gateway and /or Tropos devices and their installation have been partially or completely responsible for numerous fires across the United States and Canada which have resulted in the loss of human life, as well as the lives of animals, and have caused millions of dollars in property damage; Smart Meters, Gateway and /or Tropos devices as they are interconnected and currently function have been proven to often misread utility customers' usage, and to artificially and arbitrarily inflate the bills of hundreds of utility customers; Smart Meters, Gateway and /or Tropos devices have been proven to be susceptible to computer hacking, and could thus be used for Eco Terrorism; Smart Meters, Gateway and /or Tropos devices transmit and report customers' private data without customers' consent; The above illegally collected data is then subject to being sold/used illegally; Smart Meters, Gateway and/or Tropos devices are capable of around-the-clock monitoring of certain activities and behaviors in citizens' homes, thereby violating their right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; Several utility companies have lied, and continue to lie to citizens regarding their right to refuse Smart Meter installation, as well as misrepresented the health and safety risks of Smart Meters, Gateway and/or Tropos devices; Citizens of the United States and Canada have been illegally arrested for their refusal to have Smart Meters installed; Citizens of the United States and Canada have had their property rights violated and their property illegally damaged by utility companies and/or law enforcement when citizens refused the installation of Smart Meters; Utility customers have often been given no notice of Smart Meter installation, or have often been given inadequate notice of Smart Meter installation; The installation and use of Smart Meters, Gateway and/or Tropos devices has resulted in widespread job losses; Local governments' rights to protect the health, welfare, and safety of their citizens may supersede those of the California Public Utilities Commission; The citizens' group Stop Smart Meters of Nevada County shall provide to local authorities documentation to support the aforementioned assertions; We, Stop Smart Meters of Nevada County and the undersigned citizens request the following to these governmental entities of Nevada County, California: Grass Valley – City Council Nevada City – City Council Nevada County Board of Supervisors An immediate MORATORIUM on the further installation of of Smart Meters, Gateway Devices, and Tropos Devices throughout Nevada County, CA. The immediate BAN/ REMOVAL of all Smart Meters, Gateway Devices, and Tropos devices from Nevada County, CA. Utility companies will replace Smart Meters with traditional analogue meters with no costs being levied on the utility customers for said replacement. We also request for a study to be done study to determine the long term health, safety, and economic impact of Smart Meters, Gateway devices, and Tropos devices on Nevada County's citizens. Nevada County is a rural county with finite monetary resources, whereas the county's largest supplier/installer of Smart Meters is Pacific Gas and Electric, which has substantial financial resources. It is the contention of Stop Smart Meters of Nevada County and the undersigned citizens that Pacific Gas and Electric has installed thousands of Smart Meters in Nevada County without performing adequate, unbiased research as to the impact of this technology on the health and well-being of Nevada County citizens. Therefore, as a good faith effort, it is incumbent upon Pacific Gas and Electric to fund the requested study. We request that the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, with the assistance of Nevada County Counsel, oversee the hiring and ongoing work of an independent research firm to do said study. It is hoped that this will insure there is no conflict of interest on the part of Pacific Gas and Electric.

Imani is the only community garden with garden beds in a 20 block area in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Dozens of local residents, school children, and interested groups have spent thousands of hours building up the Imani garden. It features a greenhouse and 13 raised beds. It provides local organic food for its members and the local community. It is a place for learning, working together, and meeting friends, and it's about to be turned into a condo (or something similar), unless the Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development takes it off the list of properties to be developed before Feb. 19th, 2015. There are hundreds of other sites available that do not have community gardens on them.

The President said that he wanted to protect and encourage voting. I can't think of a better way to make voting more accessible than to free up time so that people are able to vote. The National Holiday would also free up the parking lots and schools where most of the voting is done. Also, it would free up more people to work the polls.

Outrageous taxes are causing medical cannabis patients to be unable to afford their medicine of choice. Past and current proposed legislation have called for additional taxes which further separate patients from their necessary medicine. This trend remains detrimental to the health and well-being of medical cannabis patients. Medicine should never be taxed.

The Denver downtown dog community has wanted a place where they can socialize with friends over a craft beer or wine and in the company of their dogs. We are petitioning the City of Denver to permit a private, off-leash dog park to serve beer and wine to their patrons at 719 W. 8th Ave., in the heart of Denver's Arts District on Santa Fe.

My daughter has been charged with multiple charges because she defended herself from an attack from an 18 year old girl, 3 times the size of her. My daughter is in the process of getting expelled and the 18 year old girl hasn't even gotten suspended. The school and officer is favoring the other girl. My daughter since then has been emotionally and physically affected. The School SHOULD NOT favor the other girl! I want my daughter's case to be fair not biased. I believe the school and the school officer have been biased all along!

Internet connectivity on board the Steamship Authority vessels is sub-par or non-existent. It is virtually impossible to work or communicate while on the water, and that is unacceptable, especially when "Free Wifi" signs are posted on the boats.

Because Illinois citizens didn't have the chance to vote against fracking in Illinois state.

WE THE PEOPLE need to stand and fight together to stop the number of people dying from heroin overdoses. Heroin is killing people in staggering numbers in Massachusetts. More often than not, it is killing our younger generation, daily. We are losing the youth of our nation. I have been personally affected by this epidemic, as I lost my best friend, Jason Erickson, and many other close friends throughout 2014. I have watched my friends; family members and others within the community lose young kids and adults to this epidemic. We lost count of the funerals that took place in our town of Billerica, MA in 2014, and there have been hundreds more throughout the Commonwealth in the last year. This is on average 3-4 deaths per day within the Commonwealth. One is too many! As a result, I have made it a personal mission to act and make a difference. I submitted the following to the Governor's office, AGO, Senate and House in January 2015: Proposed Bill: Amendment to Senate Bill 2341, otherwise known as MGL Ch. 258 of the ACTS of 2014; an amendment in order to move up the effective date under Section 45 of the Senate Bill No. 2341, from October 1, 2015 to be effective immediately. This Bill relates to Sections 9 and 19 to 27, inclusive; so that no one can be refused treatment and all people who are willing to work on their sobriety can get the help they desperately need. UPDATE: The author of the above amendment and cofounder of Heroin is Killing My Town, Dina Favreau, is following this legislation very closely. Currently, there is no change in the effective date of October 1, 2015 being moved up at this time. (7/29/15) Proposed Bill: Amendment to Senate Bill 2341 otherwise known as MGL Ch. 258 of the ACTS of 2014; An amendment to Senate Bill No.: 2341, Sections 9, 21, 23, 25 and 27, inclusive, is hereby amended by striking out, the words “for up to a total of 14 days” in a detox treatment facility and inserting in place thereof the following words: - “a total of 30 days,” so that we can start to effectively treat this disease and implement better relapse prevention practices. UPDATE: The author of the above amendment and cofounder of Heroin is Killing My Town, Dina Favreau, is following this legislation very closely. Currently, this amendment has progressed to the Senate Ways and Means Committee under Senate Bill 1502 and is pending their review for financing. This bill was reported favorably with a 22-0 vote in both the House and Senate. (06/12/16) Proposed Bill: An Amendment to MGL Ch.123, Sec. 35; An amendment to insert Section 35A which provides for a mandatory 30 day involuntary commitment to a detox treatment facility, for any person whose life is saved from an opiate overdose with the use of Narcan when administered by emergency first responders or Trauma Response (ER) hospital personnel. “The OD30 Law.” UPDATE: The coauthor of the above amendment (OD30 Law) and cofounder of Heroin is Killing My Town, Dina Favreau, is following this legislation very closely. Currently, a lesser version (3 hour hold) of this amendment has been assigned to House Bill 1824, Sponsored by Congressman Tim Whelan and is pending Joint Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee at 25% progression. We (Dina and I) created this Petition in order to request the assistance of the Governor, the AGO and Congress to engage in real and immediate action to fight and save the lives of people within the Commonwealth who are battling this disease. This is an epidemic and one of the largest in history. It is our hope to use this to develop new programs with better long term success rates. Research tells us that effective inpatient treatment leads to long term sobriety and fewer relapses. In too many cases, the treatment was insufficient and, therefore, ineffective. The relapse rate for people suffering from addiction who have undergone only short-term detox (less than 30 days) is between 40 and 90 percent within the first 30 days after entering into a detox program, often with deadly consequences. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you enactment of the Proposed Amendments submitted to your offices in January 2015. Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/heroiniskillingmytown

I am petitioning for President Obama to pass a law stating that all businesses and farms must label all food sold in the United States if it is GMO-free or not. Also, fire Michael R. Taylor from the F.D.A. Monsanto is bigger than America. Monsanto owns and is in charge of almost the entire United States food industry, and genetically modifying food is what they do best. Think organic farmers can save us? Well, guess what? Monsanto gives ZERO about proximity laws of how far away they have to be from homes, schools and other farms when spraying pesticides. So what does this mean for organic farmers who are trying to be healthy? Well, when Monsanto sprays pesticides near organic farm land, pesticide clouds often drifts over to the organic crops and genetically modifies those crops. And if the owner of the once organic land plants wants to keep the GMO seeds and plant them, then Monsanto can claim that the farmer took place in infringement. WE NEED TO STOP MONSANTO. LET'S SUE THE JERKS PUTTING DEATH IN BABY FOOD! That's right: Monsanto has no shame about putting chemicals into children's food, food that is linked to severe health risks in children. In 30 other countries there are bans and restrictions on the production of GMO's because they are not considered proven safe. There have been plenty of tests and evidence stacking up in South America and the United States of incidents of severely poor human health afflictions as a result of Monsanto pesticides and GMO's. Furthermore, no progress of developing and feeding our people healthy food that is good for our bodies if Michael R. Taylor remains Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine at the FDA. He had been Monsanto's attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA. Soon after, he became Monsanto's vice president and chief lobbyist. "GMOs were rushed onto our plates in 1996. Over the next nine years, multiple chronic illnesses in the US nearly doubled -- from 7% to 13%. Allergy-related emergency room visits doubled between 1997 and 2002 while food allergies, especially among children, skyrocketed. We also witnessed a dramatic rise in asthma, autism, obesity, diabetes, digestive disorders, and certain cancers." ---- (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/youre-appointing-who-plea_b_243810.html) As the supporters at Millions Against Monsanto say, GMOs: Don't grow them, don't sell them, don't buy them! Go to http://www.nongmoproject.org/ to learn more about GMO's! Or, if your a movie person, try out "Seeds of Death" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUd9rRSLY4A&feature=youtu.be (http://www.sproutsanfrancisco.com/get-educated/healthy-baby-guides-food/). https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns/millions-against-monsanto

Descendants of Mission Natives strongly oppose the canonization of Junipero Serra. Pope Francis recently apologized to Native peoples in South America for past inhumane treatment and colonization; yet our ancestors were suppressed, dominated and enslaved by Serra and considered collateral damage to the Church and State. The canonization will not celebrate Hispanics (since Serra and his Inquisition Conquistadors were foreign invaders), welcome Native Peoples back to the Catholic Church, or honor our ancestors. It will re-awaken the Inquisition Doctrine of Discovery; a very dark, and brutal time in the history of the Catholic Church and Civilization. The passage of time has not made the reality of dominations and genocide of Indigenous Californians go away, nor has it made the Mastermind of the brutal Mission system a Saint. We respectfully ask you to urge the Pope to vacate this plan and open meaningful dialogue with California Nations, in California, before his visit to Washington D.C.. We do not want an apology; rather, we need immediate action from the Vatican to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery and to recognize the inhumane treatment of our ancestors. This canonization is in direct conflict with the pope's position on protecting indigenous peoples in his encyclical on the environment. If Pope Francis is sincere in his intentions towards Native peoples, he will abandon the canonization of Junipero Serra now.