When Ohio charter schools are closed, taxpayers often have to cover costs. The attorney general’s office recouped only $422,000 of $30 million from failed charter schools. As a spokesperson for the state’s attorney general has said, “The charter school book of business is a very difficult book of business to collect on.” The petition asks state officials to take two steps permitted under Ohio law. First, Section 3314.015 Oversight of sponsors allows the State Board of Education to determine that the Concept sponsors are not complying with the requirement to oversee the schools. The board can then revoke the sponsors’ authority and transfer sponsorship to the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of School Sponsorship. Second, once the Office of School Sponsorship has become the schools’ sponsor, Section 3314.029 Ohio school sponsorship program empowers the Department of Education to require each of the 19 Ohio Concept schools to post a “bond payable to the state or to file with the state superintendent a guarantee, which shall be used to pay the state any moneys owed by the community school in the event the school closes.” Further background information can be found at: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2014/07/30/fbi-raid-horizon-charter-school-cincinnati/13364593/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/charges_of_cheating_and_sexual.html http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/21/1217868/-Ohio-School-Bans-African-American-Hairstyles-For-Girls http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/07/15/19-charter-schools-to-be-investigated.html http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3314.015 http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3314.029 http://www.nbc4i.com/story/24778722/nbc4-investigates-taxpayers-left-holding-bill-for-charter-schools

I am concerned about the open-ended nature of this action. We need more than the decision by the executive branch before we again commit resources to a military action in the Middle East. The track record of the US in these types of interventions is disastrous, for both the US and the Middle East. It is time the American people through their elected officials become active participants in these decisions.

Yes I am a victim of mercury poisoning. This is very toxic secondary to plutonium.

The Renaissance Charter School is a PreK-12 public school serving Jackson Heights and surrounding neighborhoods in Western Queens. On September 4th, four days before the start of school, we were informed by the NYPD that they were short staffed and had no crossing guard for our corner. We are on the corner of a busy commercial street, with a public bus stop right in front of our building and many of our students, as well as students attending other local schools, cross this corner on their way to school. Unfortunately, this neighborhood has had many incidents in recent years involving car accidents with children. Our families entrust the care of their children to us and their safety on the streets is a part of that responsibility. Please help us to once again have a crossing guard assigned to our school's street - it is in the best interest of everyone in the neighborhood. Thank you.

Michael Boggs—who as a Georgia legislator was anti-choice, anti-gay and anti-civil rights—is in danger of being given a lifetime judicial appointment to the federal bench, because President Obama cut a deal with Georgia’s two Republican senators. A wide coalition of advocates (from NARAL to the NAACP) have organized against Michael Boggs’ confirmation, and many Democrats on Capitol Hill—including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Georgia Congressman John Lewis—have said they will oppose him. But Senator Sheldon Whitehouse—a Rhode Island Democrat—now says that he will vote to confirm Boggs, simply because Georgia’s two Republican senators support him. Even though as a Senate candidate in 2006, Whitehouse said that a nominee’s position on choice alone was enough to filibuster their appointment to the court. We cannot afford to give more federal lifetime appointments to right-wing judges, and Sheldon Whitehouse should know better. Sign the petition to Senator Whitehouse—urging that he say “no” to Michael Boggs.

The world keeps doing the same actions to try to react to wars and terrorism in efforts to stop or contain them – with only minimal success. The old ways of responding to international problems and terrorism are not working. The only way to control wayward nations or groups that continue to create situations that result in military actions that cause death, destruction, and skyrocketing costs to the world’s peoples is to develop and enforce the World Peace Plan (WPP) outlined above. Note that we currently have been slowly evolving toward approaching international problems through coalitions, but we need to develop a permanent framework for all such action coalitions that include all the nations (not just one or two principle nations) and not have to reinvent a coalition for every separate issue that appears in the world. Success of such interventions will only develop over time as rogue nation/group after rogue nation/group is contained or wiped out through use of these coalitions. Once rogue leaders come to recognize that they will not be able to circumvent the international World Peace Plan (coalition), they will cease to invade other countries, thus reducing/removing major threats to world peace. In other words, peace will not magically and instantaneously appear, but the WPP will provide standard enforceable responses that will, over time, result in a more peaceful planet.

A babies life should not begin with detox. This petition should be supported because these babies born with this syndrome have neither asked nor had the option to refuse the substances in which they are born addicted to resulting in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Not only does this epidemic cost the tax payers $28,592 per baby, due to the extensive treatment required to wean the baby off, but it also removes the baby from the mother at the time that the baby needs their mother most. This is punishing the innocent baby due to no fault of their own. According to recent studies conducted at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, the number of newborns treated or monitored for drug withdrawl shot up 119% in three years, from 31 in 2009 to 68 in 2012. This is just one city in North Carolina and this epidemic is constantly growing. According to an article by The Journal Of American Medical Association, in 2009, they found that 13,359 newborns were born with NAS. These numbers just reflect those babies born addicted to opiates. Just imagine how much higher the numbers will jump when Heroine, Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Marijuana are added to the equation. This Bill/Law will finally give the babies a voice and take the punishment off of them and place it where it belongs......on the mother's.

Vapor is scientifically proven to be a far less toxic alternative to tobacco smoke and is part of the solution to smoking. The positions taken by the state and anti-tobacco advocacy organizations that have testified on this bill ignore the wide and growing body of science that shows vapor to be minimally toxic to users, effectively nontoxic to bystanders, and potentially a huge public health benefit. Honolulu is one of many municipalities that is under the negative influence of anti-tobacco organizations and advocacy groups on the topic of ecigarettes/vapor products. These groups are dependent on tobacco sales and use to survive. They are funded by the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement as well as large corporate donations from pharmaceutical companies that sell nicotine therapy products and smoking cessation drugs. Many politicians involved also receive funding from similar sources. Ecigarettes/vapor products are a disruptive technology that is succeeding in replacing smoking from the grassroots on up, which is rapidly solving the problem of smoking tobacco. This is rendering anti-tobacco advocacy groups unnecessary and cutting into corporate profits. The current anti-vapor stance of these groups is not about public health, but about their continued survival as the rate of tobacco smoking in the US declines, in part thanks to ecigarettes/vapor products.

There’s a judicial nominee who would be a huge threat to reproductive rights if he’s confirmed: Michael Boggs. And your U.S. senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, said he's going to support his nomination. Sen. Whitehouse has gone out on a limb opposing judicial nominees because of their hostility to reproductive rights in the past. He should have been one of the first senators speaking up against Boggs’ nomination – but instead, he’s the first pro-choice senator to support Boggs. Boggs isn’t just bad on women’s health. He’s supported legislation to retain the Confederate battle emblem on the Georgia state flag and a bill to block same-sex couples from getting the right to marry the person they love. Boggs’ record stands as a troubling statement of his values—values extremely out of step with the vast majority of Americans. We can’t let Boggs get confirmed and sign off on laws that will take away our reproductive freedom. If enough Rhode Islanders overwhelm Sen. Whitehouse’s office with emails and calls, we can send a message that he made a huge mistake and get him to reconsider.

Fracking is a heavy industrial practice that involves injecting water, sand and toxic chemicals underground to fracture subsurface rock for the extraction of shale gas.* In states where fracking has expanded rapidly, hazardous spills and leaks are common. The process is also known to contaminate water supplies and increase air pollution. Late last month, a report released by Gov O’Malley’s administration recommended a set of regulations for fracking.** The report's 52 recommended steps for minimizing potential health risks fail to address all of the safety concerns raised in the report. The O'Malley Administration has already taken an important and brave step that addresses safety concerns by placing a moratorium on fracking in Maryland. If we can get enough public support, we can convince him to ban fracking in Maryland for good. In every state where fracking is taking place, it endangers nearby communities, despite attempts to make fracking safe through regulations. Governor O’Malley must protect our health by keeping Maryland’s moratorium on fracking in place. Therefore, we the undersigned urge Gov O’Malley to uphold the moratorium that bans fracking and to not endorse any regulations that would put Maryland’s residents in danger while lining the pockets of the fracking industry. Sources 1. Ryan Marshall, "Draft of fracking report draws both sides’ questions," Southern Maryland News, 7/5/14 http://www.somdnews.com/article/20130705/NEWS/130709533/1055/draft-of-fracking-report-draws-both-sides-x2019-questions&template=southernMaryland 2. Governor O'Malley Announces Study of Marcellus Shale Drilling, State of Maryland 6/7/14 http://www.gov.state.md.us/pressreleases/110606.asp

Congress will never address climate change head on as long as powerful members still deny that there is a problem. Earlier this year, the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives placed Rep. David Schweikert, a climate change denier, in charge of a subcommittee that deals with environmental policy matters.* Rep. David Schweikert, R-AZ, now steers the Environment Subcommittee on Science, Space and Technology. That subcommittee has jurisdiction over all U.S. Government efforts to research and combat climate change, including all the work done by the Environmental Protection Agency. But while Congressman Schweikert dithers, Arizona and the rest of the planet are burning. The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing since 1950.*** In 2011, Rep. Schweikert's district in Phoenix, AZ, had 33 days over 110 degrees F.** Let's fill Rep. Schweikert's inbox with emails calling on him to accept climate science and stand up for the environment in his committee. Sources: 1. House Republicans Pick Climate Skeptic To Head Environment Subcommittee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/house-science-schweikert-_n_4613145.html 2. The least sustainable city: Phoenix as a harbinger for our hot future http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-least-sustainable-city-phoenix-as-a-harbinger-for-our-hot-future/ 3. Climate change: How do we know? Evidence by National Aeronautics and Space Administration http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

The elephant poaching crisis reached its peak last year with about 30,000 of these amazing animals slaughtered for solely their tusks.* ­­ With an estimated 96 elephants murdered for their tusks every day, taking all ivory off the market may be our last shot at stopping the killings.** California is the second-largest market for ivory in the U.S., after New York, with major hubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to a 2008 study from Care for the Wild International.*** New York and New Jersey have already taken steps recently to tighten restrictions on the sale of ivory, and now it’s time for California to take a stand and enforce a complete ban on the commercial sale of ivory. A complete ban on the commercial sale of ivory is the best way to help ensure that U.S. markets do not to the further decline of African elephants in the wild. **** It’s up to the Gov. Jerry Brown to propose legislation that would step up enforcement, increase penalties for violations and close legal loopholes. Therefore, we, the undersigned, respectfully request that the State of California Gov. Jerry Brown and the California State Assembly work to enforce a complete ban on the commercial sale of African elephant ivory in California, before it's too late for the majestic African elephant species. Sources: 1. U.S. Limits Ivory Sales! by Emily Pepper, NRDC 2/11/14 http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/epepper/us_limits_ivory_sales.html 2. No wild elephants by 2025? by Ivory for Elephants 2/7/14 : http://ivoryforelephants.org/wild-elephants-2025/ 3. States are eyeing stiffer ivory laws amid a surge in elephant poaching by MARIANNE LEVINE, LA Times 9/2/14: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ivory-bans-20140902-story.html 4. Saving the Elephants? State Bans on Ivory Trade Gather Steam by GIL AEGERTER, NBC News 9/8/14 : http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/saving-elephants-state-bans-ivory-trade-gather-steam-n179121