Oregon’s health insurers must get permission from state officials before they can raise premiums on individuals and small businesses. For several years, OSPIRG Foundation has put a magnifying glass to premium hike proposals, and thousands of OSPIRG members have emailed and called the state’s Insurance Division. All this additional scrutiny has helped cut over $155 million in waste from health insurance premiums since 2010. Now, we've dug into the latest rate hike proposals from four of Oregon’s top insurers. None of them has done enough to justify the prices they’ve proposed. • Moda is proposing a 12.5% rate hike on over 95,000 Oregonians, without outlining a plan for passing along cost savings from health reform to their members. • PacificSource, which initially proposed a 15.9% increase, has already admitted that their proposal was based on errors that would have overcharged their customers. They revealed the mistake only after it became clear that the original proposal was more expensive than many other health plans – such as Providence, which is proposing a 16% decrease in premiums for identical coverage. • Health Net and United are paying more for emergency room visits than many other insurers, yet they are both proposing big rate increases without demonstrating that they are doing all they can to reduce these costs and keep their members out of the ER. With study after study showing that one-third of health care spending is waste, we can’t afford anything but a full-court press for more effective use of our health care dollars.

Styrofoam (Polystyrene foam) is terrible for the planet! - Up to 30% of landfill space is filled with Styrofoam and other plastics - When Styrofoam is dumped in the environment, it is notorious for breaking up into pieces and clogging animals digestive systems - Toxic Chemicals can leach out of Styrofoam products into food that can effect human health and reproductive organs. As the third largest city in the United States, it is your responsibility to lead by example and ban Styrofoam containers in Chicago. As potential tourists and residents of Chicago, we urge you to ban Styrofoam containers in Chicago

My brother, my sister-in-law and my nine year old niece were brutally murdered by their 16 year old son/brother. He used my brother's legally purchased, licensed pistol to commit all three heinous acts. He then called in his crime and waited for the police to arrive and arrest him. As a family, we agreed to a plea after nearly two years of waiting in order to avoid a media circus, to facilitate closure and to promote healing. This meant my nephew pled guilty to three first degree murders and was sentenced to three life sentences, two to run concurrently with the third to run consecutively. He would have been eligible for parole in 30 years, not 15, as this new law mandates.

In less than two months, the prices for all Colorado health insurance plans for 2015 will be set in stone. Without proper scrutiny, prices could unfairly go up. Here’s the story: At the end of June, health insurance companies released their proposals for what their plans will cost Coloradans for next year. While some are proposing to charge less, some are proposing increases as high as 25%. It’s up to the Colorado Division of Insurance to review the insurance companies' proposals and ensure they are doing everything they can to cut waste before jacking up rates. These plans are complicated and with only two months to review them, we need to encourage the Colorado Division of Insurance to take out their magnifying glasses and dig deep. Tell the Colorado Division of Insurance: Stop any unjustifiable health insurance rates.

I have been personally affected by the name Shockoe Bottom all my life. It's so sexually charged and hard to pronounce. Say it a few times really fast. See what I mean? So sexual. So difficult. It's time to change this. Are you with me, Richmond?!

My husband and I are over 55 and have been researching future housing options for ourselves, but we are not willing to give up our pets. Our cats are part of our family and should not be discriminated against.

Human history continually teaches us that violence only leads to more violence. The only alternative is peaceful solutions to conflict. As leader of the free world the United States must take the lead to create a more peaceful world. There is no viable alternative.

The American Legislative Exchange Council is an organization consisting of global corporate interests and state legislators that collaborate secretly to draft thousands of model bills that are then introduced simultaneously in state capitols throughout the country. Meeting in backrooms, being wined and dined by corporate lobbyists like the Koch Brothers, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Exxon Mobil, Hughes Oil, Geo and Corrections Corporation of America (the private prison industry), the NRA, and the lobby to privatize our once great public school system, is not democracy of, by, and for the people. When you have government by the private prison industry, the NRA, or by the Koch Brothers, you have a culture where prison is encouraged by the school-to-prison pipeline, young black men are shot down with impunity, and a world where environmental degradation and climate change are the price we all must pay for business as usual. Some ALEC bills you may recognize: "Stand Your Ground Laws," promoted by the NRA; "Right to Work Legislation" supported by the Koch Brothers and other corporate interests, designed to kill living wages and public pensions; voter ID laws to kill democracy; bills to kill meaningful healthcare reform; the Parental Choice Scholarship Act that promotes vouchers and sends our tax dollars to for-profit schools and phony online degree programs. According to Progress Texas, out of 181 state legislators, at least 35 have known ALEC ties. It’s well past time to stop the flow of dirty money into our state legislatures. We must demand our elected officials stop subverting democracy and drop their memberships in ALEC. Let’s have government of, by, and for the people once again.

"The W.O.S.P. is Oakland’s plan to help developers and incoming high wage populations speed up the accumulation of capital in Oakland." The City of Oakland's webpage touts our position as "the most diverse city in America." Without actual plans protecting long-time, low income, disabled, elderly, LGBTQ, and P.O.C. residents, that unique distinction will be lost. Oakland need not suffer the same fate as San Francisco. Council voting on this redevelopment plan should not proceed without more protective policy overlays. The petition will not stop the W.O.S.P., but will provide time to add citizen safeguards. That's essential when we're talking about eminent domain. https://www.facebook.com/Oak.Awake http://oaklandlocal.com/2014/04/wosp-the-city-of-oaklands-plan-for-gentrification-a-target-for-anti-displacement-activity-community-voices/ www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gentrification-transforming-face-of-Oakland-5387273.php

I am really depressed about the way Councilor Fukunaga has singled out these families for removal as part of the rules governing the sale of city owned housing. I know many of these people personally and I think they are being targeted in order for a few wealthy land owners to drive the price of their properties up. It would be easy to manage the sale of the city owned housing without kicking these people out!

I am a resident of Murrieta, and I believe that Mayor Alan Long should be censured for violating Murrieta's Code of Conduct and inciting an anti-immigrant mob that has damaged our City's reputation! After Mayor Long made the time and location of the refugee transfer public and called on residents to send a strong message to Washington DC, a hostile crowd reacted by harassing a bus made up of mostly women and children from Central America and blocking their safe transfer to Border Control. News outlets everywhere caught this anti-immigrant mob waving signs comparing the refugees to wet dogs, and even spitting in someone's face. Although many of these protestors were not even from Murrieta, the national coverage of this incident has stained the reputation of our community. I know of good citizens in Murrieta who in no way share the sentiments of these extremists. Many in Murrieta reject this protest and do not believe it reflects the values of our city and the United States. Mayor Long and others took action that not only harms our reputation, but violates our City's Code of Conduct as well. The Murrieta Code of Conduct requires elected officials to "refrain from participating in negative activity and avoid personal attacks against fellow officials, staff and the public to insure the reputation and integrity of those individuals and the city." But this hostile mob can be traced directly to Mayor Long's press conference and subsequent Facebook posts about the transfer of refugees. He's even said that he's "proud" of what happened! Our City Council’s Code of Conduct also tells elected officials: "Murrieta’s voting citizens are the ultimate enforcers of this code. However, I fully understand that I am subject to the City Council’s commendation or censorship, depending upon my ability to exemplify the ethical behavior promoted by this code." I'm calling on the Murrieta City Council to follow the Code of Conduct for elected officials and censure Mayor Alan Long now!

The deliberate spraying of citizens is UNAUTHORIZED and ILLEGAL. It is destroying our health and our personal property. I personally have been so adversely affected that I have had to leave not only my own property, but the country. This is not to mention that I PAY TAXES on MY PROPERTY and should have the right to clean air over my own home. I cannot even go out to tend to my own backyard garden. I can no longer eat the things I grew, as the soil is polluted and so are my crops. This is deliberate and criminal. Every single individual knowingly responsible for this needs to be taken to JUSTICE. Now!