I'm an educator who is stunned at the inappropriate name of the test that public school students have to now take, called the "SLO student assessment", which is demeaning to say the least. Imagine the name for the "Department of Universal Mathematics" test. Would we call it the "DUM student" test? I would certainly hope not. The same logic should have prevailed here. Such an offensive acronym should never have been approved and should be changed at once.

Drs and Pharmacies are loosing sight of why we need this controlled substance and are focusing more on the drug addicts. Because of some drug dealers and abusers, the ones that really need it are affected by this. It makes them go out and spend more money on the street than buying them legally. I feel if they make it hard on us. It's not going to change the abuse, and drug dealers are making more money and abusers are always going to be there no matter what. Give us the right to have a normal life.

Many Iowans work for minimum wage and that includes many of my friends and acquaintances. I'll bet many of the people you know are trying to feed their children, pay the rent and utilities on minimum wage jobs.

The minimum wage in Iowa is how many people live, not just teenagers. People who earn this $7.25 an hour wage try to support their families every day. It has been calculated that this $290 for weekly full time employment allows the average family only $77 after taxes and housing costs are paid. This is probably overly optimistic, because so few actually work full time. Perhaps if Ms. Ernst were to accept this challenge, she would have a better understanding of all those people she wants to represent.

I have been terminated in a right to work state. Which means they don't have to give you any reasons why they terminated your employment. What was the most disturbing is when I was forced to sign a severance pay package that keeps me from working for other companies that are in the same market. Then when I signed it went from 6 months to 2 years. Who can fight these companies? I sure can't take them on and no lawyer has stepped up to help without wanting more than $15,000.00 . This is so unfair; now I may have to move into a new state just to work in my field.

PETITION TO ASK LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO OPPOSE KINDER MORGAN'S TENNESSEE GAS NORTHEAST ENERGY DIRECT PIPELINE PROJECT Kinder Morgan is proposing a new high pressure natural gas pipeline from Wright, NY to Dracut, MA. This pipeline creates the risk of chemical leaks and explosions that contaminate our soil, water and air, damage our property, and create hazards in our communities. Chemical off-gassing of known carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disrupters happens at the compressor stations and drilling sites, and wherever pipelines are leaking. A recent study submitted to Governor Cuomo cited 41,000 leaks out of 70,000 welds and cement casing samples checked. The gas that will go through this pipeline is extracted using hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking), which is now irrefutably linked to health problems because of the chemicals involved and the contamination to our underground water supplies. And when methane leaks from fracking, compressor stations, and transmission lines are taken into account, natural gas is far more polluting than coal or oil. Although it has been stated this pipeline is necessary to keep prices down and provide a bridge between older fossil fuels and future renewables, mounting evidence strongly suggests this is not true. Shortages could be corrected by fixing leaks in older pipeline and by increasing energy efficiency in homes and businesses. Both the Kinder Morgan website and their project pre-application letter state that some of the gas from this pipeline will be exported, which can raise our fuel prices like last winter when propane got sold overseas and U.S prices soared. Programs that provide jobs like Green Jobs Green NY, State programs that reduce energy use and provide free energy audits, and alternative energy sources like solar panels or wind make more economic and environmental sense than adding pipeline. Some of these programs provide tax credits and rebates, and some mortgage companies give lower interest rates to homes built or retrofitted with energy efficient components. Therefore, we the undersigned, realizing the risks and costs to our families, our property values, our safety, our drinking water, our clean air, our roads, and the potential costs and stresses to our towns that will be created by the Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline Project—which will be using fracked shale gas—do hereby state that it is our desire for our federal, state, county, and town leaders to immediately and permanently declare on our behalf that no new or additional high pressure gas pipelines of any kind shall be placed within the boundaries of our towns. Signed, the following residents:

If we give film companies incentives to use our beautiful state as their location, then we will be creating more jobs, and South Carolina will gain recognition as a great state. It will also bring in millions or billions of dollars in revenue.

We have all been affected by the lack of cell service whether we are hiking, fishing, boating, recreating, traveling or logging. In addition, cell service would aid people who are stranded or injured. Highway 93 is a dangerous and highly travelled corridor between Whitefish and Canada with many accidents. It is imperative that we have cell service now to call for help.

Minimum wage is NOT a living wage. By living off minimum wage for a week, maybe Senators and those running for Senator will be more inclined to find a solution for those currently trying to survive & raise a family on a minimum wage income.

The people of Swan Beach and Carova Beach do not want commercial development in our home neighborhoods. Spanish mustangs that roam this area are already endangered after living here for over 500 years. Commercial development will make their survival and our very way of life here impossible; it needs to be stopped.

Everywhere fracking is happening, from Texas to Colorado to Pennsylvania, the health of people is suffering -- from children with unexplained nosebleeds, to babies born with birth defects, to workers sickened by exposure to toxic, tiny silica particles. In Maryland, we don’t have fracking -- for now. And we need to speak out now to keep it that way. A three-year fracking review process that Governor Martin O’Malley put in place in 2011 is set to conclude in the next few months, potentially leaving Marylanders with no protections against drilling. In mid-August, as part of this process, the O’Malley administration released a study on the potential health impacts of fracking in Maryland, triggering a public comment period through October 3rd. Among many significant dangers, the report warns that fracking is highly likely to harm Marylanders’ air quality -- exposing people to toxins linked to cancer, birth defects, and respiratory illnesses. Rushed and underfunded, the study also leaves many critical questions about the risks to our health unanswered. Join us in calling on Governor O'Malley to protect our health by keeping Maryland's fracking moratorium in place. Let’s make sure this message is heard loud and clear: If fracking were to start in Maryland now, we’d be the next guinea pigs for testing the industry’s impacts on people, and that’s wholly unacceptable. Sign the petition by the October 3rd deadline!

My grandson came by my house one day telling me he had been hitch hiking and panhandling. He is 8 years old and his mother leaves him unsupervised all the time.